A Short Story Of Denim Essay

Denim is more than just a cotton fabric; it inspires strong opinions within the hearts of historians, designers, teenagers, movie stars, reporters and writers. Interest bordering on passion can be found among textile and costume historians today, especially in the debate over the true origins of denim. These experts have put decades of work into their research; here are summarized the prevailing opinions about the birth of denim, followed by a discussion of the way Levi Strauss & Co. has helped to contribute to denim’s movement around the world. In 1969 a writer for American Fabrics magazine declared, â€Å"Denim is one of the world’s oldest fabrics, yet it remains eternally young.† If continuous use of and interest in an item makes it â€Å"eternally young† then denim certainly qualifies. From the 17th century to the present, denim has been woven, used and discarded; made into upholstery, pants and awnings; found in museums, attics, antique stores and arc haeological digs; worn as the fabric of hard honest work, and as the expression of angry rebellion; used for the sails of Columbus’ ships in legend; and worn by American cowboys in fact. Legend and fact are also interwoven when scholars discuss the origin of the name denim itself. Most reference books say that denim is an English corruption of the French â€Å"serge de Nimes;† a serge fabric from the town of Nimes in France. However, some scholars have begun to question this tradition. There are a few schools of thought with regard to the derivation of the word â€Å"denim.† Pascale Gorguet-Ballesteros, of the Musee de la Mode et du Costume in Paris, has done some interesting research on both of these issues. A fabric called â€Å"serge de Nimes,† was known in France prior to the 17th century. At the same time, there was also a fabric known in France as â€Å"nim.† Both fabrics were composed partly of wool. Serge de Nimes was also known in England before the end of the 17th century. The question then arises: is this fabric imported from France or is it an English fabric bearing the same name? According to Ms. Gorguet-Ballesteros, fabrics which were named for a certain geographic location were often also made elsewhere; the name was used to lend a certain cachet to the fabric when it was offered for sale. Therefore a â€Å"serge de Nimes† purchased in England was very likely also made in England, and not in Nimes, France. There still remains the question of how the word â€Å"denim† is popularly thought to be descended from the word â€Å"serge de Nimes.† Serge de Nimes was made of silk and wool, but denim has always been made of cotton. What we have here again, I think, is a relation between fabrics that is in name only, though both fabrics are a twill weave. Is the real origin of the word denim â€Å"serge de nim,† meaning a fabric that resembled the part-wool fabric called nim? Was serge de Nimes more well-known, and was this word mistranslated when it crossed the English Channel? Or, did British merchants decide to give a zippy French name to an English fabric to give it a bit more cachet? It’s likely we will never really know. Then, to confuse things even more, there also existed, at this same time, another fabric known as â€Å"jean.† Research on this textile indicates that it was a fustian – a cotton, linen and/or wool blend and that the fustian of Genoa, Italy was called jean; here we do see evidence of a fabric being named from a place of origin. It was apparently quite popular, and imported into England in large quantities during the 16th century. By the end of this period jean was being produced in Lancashire. By the 18th century jean cloth was made completely of cotton, and used to make men’s clothing, valued especially for its property of durability even after many washings. Denim’s popularity was also on the rise. It was stronger and more expensive than jean, and though the two fabrics were very similar in other ways, they did have one major difference: denim was made of one colored thread and one white thread; jean was woven of two threads of the same color. Moving across the Atlantic, we find American textile mills starting on a small scale at this same time, the late 18th century, mostly as a way to become independent from foreign producers (mainly the English). From the very beginning, cotton fabrics were an important component of their product line. A factory in the state of Massachusetts wove both denim and jean. President George Washington toured this mill in 1789 and was shown the machinery which wove denim, which had both warp and fill of cotton. One of the first printed references to the word â€Å"denim† in the United States was seen in this same year: a Rhode Island newspaper reported on the local production of denim (among other fabrics). The book The Weavers Draft Book and Clothiers Assistant, published in 1792, contains technical sketches of the weaving methods for a variety of denims. In 1864, an East Coast wholesale house advertised that it carried 10 different kinds of denim, including â€Å"New Creek Blues† and â€Å"Madison River Browns.† (They sound rather contemporary, don’t they? Another example of denim appearing â€Å"eternally young.†) Webster’s Dictionary of the same year contained the word â€Å"denim,† referring to it as â€Å"a coarse cotton drilling used for overalls, etc.† Research shows that jean and denim were two very different fabrics in 19th century America. They also differed in how they were used. In 1849 a New York clothing manufacturer advertised topcoats, vests or short jackets in chestnut, olive, black, white and blue jean. Fine trousers were offered in blue jean; overalls and trousers made for work were offered in blue and fancy denim. Other American advertisements show working men wearing clothing that illustrates this difference in usage between jean and denim. Mechanics and painters wore overalls made of blue denim; working men in general (including those not engaged in manual labor) wore more tailored trousers made of jean. Denim, then, seems to have been reserved for work clothes, when both durability and comfort were needed. Jean was a workwear fabric in general, without the added benefits of denim as I just mentioned. In Staple Cotton Fabrics by John Hoye, published in 1942, jean is listed as a cotton serge with warp and woof of the same color, used for overalls, work and sport shirts, doctors and nurses uniforms and as linings for boots and shoes. Of denim, Hoye says, â€Å"The most important fabric of the work-clothing group is denim. Denims are strong and serviceable; they are particularly strong in the warp direction, where the fabric is subjected to greater wear than the filling.† Twenty years after this was written, the magazine American Fabrics ran an article which stated, â€Å"If we were to use a human term to describe a textile we might say that denim is an honest fabric – substantial, forthright, and unpretentious.† So how did this utilitarian and unpretentious fabric become the stuff of legends that it is today? And how did pants made out of denim come to be called jeans, when they were not made out of the fabric called jean? One very important reason can be found in the life and work of a Bavarian-born businessman who made his way to Gold Rush San Francisco more than 150 years ago. Levi’s ® jeans, of course, are named for the founder of the company that makes them. A lot of people over the years have thought that Levi Strauss & Co. was started by a Mr. Levi and a Mr. Strauss; or even by the French philosopher/anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss. The truth is, the company was founded by a man born as â€Å"Loeb† Strauss in Bavaria in 1829. He, his mother and two sisters left Germany in 1847 and sailed to New York, where Loeb’s half-brothers were in business selling wholesale dry goods (bolts of cloth, linens, clothing, etc.). For a few years, young Loeb Strauss worked for his brothers, and in 1853 obtained his American citizenship. In that same year, he decided to make a new start and undertake the hazardous journey to San Francisco, a city enjoying the benefits of the recent Gold Rush. At age 23, Loeb either decided to go into the dry goods business for himself (perhaps thinking that the easiest way to make money during a Gold Rush was to sell supplies to miners), or he was sent there by his brothers, in order to open the West Coast branch of the family business. No matter what the reason, San Francisco was the kind of city where people went to reinvent themselves and their lives, and this proved to be true for Loeb, who changed his name to â€Å"Levi† sometime around 1850, – for which we should be grateful, or else today we would all be wearing â€Å"Loeb’s Jeans.† We don’t know how young Levi Strauss got his business off the ground; what his thinking was; if he travelled into the gold country in search of customers, because LS&CO. lost virtually all of its records, inventory, and photographs in the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. This has led to many problems for company officers, researchers, and certainly thos e interested in LS&CO.’s history. Chief of these is digging up the true story of the invention of blue jeans, and separating popular myth from historical reality. For decades, the story ran like this: Levi Strauss arrived in San Francisco, and noticed that miners needed strong, sturdy pants. So he took some brown canvas from the stock of dry goods supplies he brought with him from New York, and had a tailor make a pair of pants. Later, he dyed the fabric blue, then switched to denim, which he imported from Nimes. He got the idea of adding metal rivets to the pants from a tailor in Reno, Nevada, and patented this process in 1873. Luckily, the company obtained copies of the patent papers for the riveting process a number of years ago so we know that Jacob Davis, the Nevada tailor, did come up with this idea and worked with Levi Strauss to manufacture riveted clothing. However, the brown canvas pants story is really just an attractive myth. This story likely arose because evidence had been found of some brown pants made of a heavy material which the company sold in the 19th century. However, historical research done at institutions in the San Francisco area provides us with the truth within the myth. Levi Strauss was a wholesale dry goods merchant beginning with his arrival in San Francisco in 1853. He sold the common dry goods products, including clothing whose manufacturers are unfortunately unknown to us. Levi worked hard, and acquired a reputation for quality products over the next two decades. In 1872 he got a letter from tailor Jacob Davis, who had been making riveted clothing for the miners in the Reno area and who purchased cloth from Levi Strauss & Co. He needed a business partner to help him get a patent and begin to manufacture this new type of work clothing. Well, Levi knew a good business opportunity when he saw one, and in 1873 LS&CO. and Davis received a patent for an â€Å"Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings.† As soon as the two men got their manufacturing facility under way, they began to make copper riveted â€Å"waist overalls† (which is the old name for jeans) out of a brown cotton duck, and a blue denim. It’s likely that a pair of these duck pants (which survived the 1906 fire) confused early historians of the company, as duck looks and feels like canvas. The denim, however, was true blue. Of course, Levi did not dye any brown fabric blue, as the myth has proclaimed, nor did he purchase it from Nimes. Knowing that the riveted pants were going to be perfect for workwear, it’s likely he decided to make them out of denim rather than jean for the reasons mentioned earlier: denim was what you used when you needed a very sturdy fabric for clothing to be worn by men doing manual labor. The denim for the first waist overalls came from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire, on the East Coast of the United States. This area, known as New England, was the site of the first American textile mills, and by 1873 their fabrics were wellknown and well-made. Amoskeag was incorporated in 1831 and their denim production dated to the mid-1860s (this being the time of the American Civil War, the company also manufactured guns for a few years). In 1914 an article about the association between LS&CO. and Amoskeag appeared in the mill’s own newspaper. It read in part, â€Å"In spite of the many cheaper grades offered in competition, the sale of the Amoskeag denim garment has kept up due in part to the superior denim used in its construction and in part to superior workmanship such as sewing with linen thread, etc. Doubtless the Amoskeag denim has contributed in no small degree to the success of Levi Strauss & Co. and, in return, that concern has contributed in an equal degree to the success of Amoskeag denims, advertising as it does, their superiority over all other denims.† At Levi Strauss & Co., the duck and denim waist overalls were proving to be the success that Jacob Davis had predicted. Levi Strauss was now the head of both a dry goods wholesaling and garment manufacturing business. In addition to the waist overalls, the company made jackets and other outer wear out of denim and duck; they also branched out into shirts of plain or printed muslin. Levi Strauss died in 1902, at the age of 73. He left his thriving business to his four nephews Jacob, Louis, Abraham and Sigmund Stern – who helped rebuild the company after the disaster of 1906. The earliest surviving catalog in the Archives shows a wonderful variety of denim products for sale. Within a few years, it became obvious to the Stern brothers that they needed a new source of denim. Near the end of the 19th century Amoskeag and other New England mills had begun to experience a slow decline, due to competition from mills in the southern states, higher labor and transportation costs, outdated buildings and equipment and high taxes. The demand for waist overalls was so great that LS&CO. needed a more reliable method of obtaining the fabric they needed. Interestingly, by around 1911 the company had stopped making garments out of cotton duck. It’s possible that this was due to customer preference: once someone had worn a pair of denim pants, experiencing its strength and comfort – and how the denim became more comfortable with every washing – he never wanted to wear duck again; because with cotton duck, you always feel like you’re wearing a tent. By 1915 the company was buying the majority of its denim from Cone Mills, in North Carolina (by 1922 all the denim came from Cone). Founded in 1891, it was the center of denim production in America by the turn of the century. Cone developed the denim which brought Levi’s  ® jeans their greatest fame during the following decades. By the 1920s, Levi’s ® waist overalls were the leading product in men’s work pants in the Western states. Enter the 1930s – when Western movies and the West in general captured the American imagination. Authentic cowboys wearing Levi’s ® jeans were elevated to mythic status, and Western clothing became synonymous with a life of independence and rugged individualism. Denim was now associated less often with laborers in general, and more as the fabric of the authentic American as symbolized by John Wayne, Gary Cooper and others. LS&CO. advertising did its part to fuel this craze, using the West’s historic preference for denim clothing to advertise Levi’s ® waist overalls. Easterners who wanted an authentic cowboy experience headed to the dude ranches of California, Arizona, Nevada and other states, where they purchased their first pair of Levi’s (the products were still only sold West of the Mississippi). They took these garments home to wow their friends and help spread the Western influence to the rest of the country, and even overseas. The 1940s, wartime. American G.I.s took their favorite pairs of denim pants overseas; guarding them against the inevitable theft of valuable items. Back in the States, production of waist overalls went down as the raw materials were needed for the war effort. When the war was over, massive changes in society signalled the end of one era and the beginning of another. Denim pants became less associated with workwear and more associated with the leisure activities of prosperous post-war America. Levi Strauss & Co. began selling its products nationally for the first time in the 1950s. Easterners and Midwesterners finally got the chance to wear real Levi’s ® jeans, as opposed to the products made by other manufacturers over the years. This led to many changes, within the company and on the products. Zippers was used in the classic waist overalls for the first time in 1954. This was in response to complaints from non-Westerners who didn’t like the button fly (the jeans the y were used to wearing had zippers). We received similar comments from men who had grown up using a button fly, saying rather rude things about finding a zipper where buttons should be. We did offer both products all over the country, but making changes to people’s favorite pants is always a risk. Some things took longer to change. One of them was the attitude that denim clothing was appropriate only for hard, physical labor. This was dramatically demonstrated to LS&CO. in 1951. Singer Bing Crosby was very fond of Levi’s ® jeans and was wearing his favorite pair while on a hunting trip to Canada with a friend in that year. The men tried to check into a Vancouver hotel, but because they were wearing denim, the desk clerk would not give them a room; apparently denim-clad visitors were not considered high-class enough for this hotel. Because the men were wearing Levi’s ® jeans, the clerk did not even bother to look past their clothing to see that he was turning away America’s most beloved si nger (luckily for Bing, he was finally recognized by the bellhop). LS&CO. heard about this, and created a denim tuxedo jacket for Bing, which we presented to him at a celebration in Elko, Nevada, where Bing was honorary mayor. Interestingly, the day set aside for this special presentation was called â€Å"Blue Serge Day† not â€Å"Levi’s Day† or â€Å"Blue Denim Day.† Was the word â€Å"denim† not sophisticated enough for the organizers of the event (who were not from LS&CO.)? I don’t think we’ll ever know the answer to this. The 1950s brought great acclaim to Levi’s ® jeans and denim pants in general, though not in the way most company executives would like. The portrayal of denim-clad â€Å"juvenile delinquents† or, as one newspaper put it, â€Å"motorcycle boys† in films and on television during this decade led many school administrators to ban the wearing of denim in the classroom, fearing that the mere presence of denim on a teenager’s body would cause him to rebel a gainst authority in all of its forms. Nearly everyone in America had strong opinions about what wearing blue jeans did to young people. For example: in 1957 we ran an advertisement in a number of newspapers all over the U.S. which showed a clean-cut young boy wearing Levi’s ® jeans. The ad contained the slogan, â€Å"Right For School.† This ad outraged many parents and adults in general. One woman in New Jersey wrote, â€Å"While I have to admit that this may be ‘right for school’ in San Francisco, in the west, or in some rural areas I can assure you that it is in bad taste and not right for School in the East and particularly New York†¦Of course, you may have different standards and perhaps your employees are permitted to wear Bermuda shorts or golf togs in your office while transacting Levi’s business!† Interesting, isn’t it, how this woman predicted the future trend toward casual clothing in the workplace? But even as some Americans tried to get denim out of the s chools, there were just as many who believed that jeans deserved a better reputation, and pointed to the many wholesome young people who wore jeans and never got into trouble. But no matter what anyone thought or did, nothing could stop the ever-increasing demand for Levi’s ® jeans. As one 1958 newspaper article reported, â€Å"†¦about 90% of American youths wear jeans everywhere except ‘in bed and in church’ and that this is true in most sections of the country.† Events in this decade also led the company to change the name of its most popular product. Until the 1950s we referred to the famous copper riveted pants as â€Å"overalls;† when you went into a small clothing store and asked for a pair of overalls, you were given a pair of Levi’s ®. However, after World War II our customer base changed dramatically, as referred to earlier: from working adult men, to leisure-loving teenage boys and their older college-age brothers. These guys called the product â€Å"jeans† – and by 1960 LS&CO. decided that it was time to adopt the name, since these new, young consumers had adopted our products. Now how did the word â€Å"jeans† come to mean pants made out of denim? There are two schools of thought on this one. The word might be a derivation of â€Å"Genoese,† meaning the type of pants worn by sailors from Genoa, Italy. There is another explanation: jean and denim fabrics were both used for workwear for many decades, and â€Å"jeans pants† was a common term for an article of clothing made from jean fabric; Levi Strauss himself imported â€Å"jeans pants† from the Eastern part of the United States to sell in California. When the popularity of jean gave way to the even greater popularity of denim for workwear, the word â€Å"jeans† seemed to get stuck with the denim version of these pants. Certainly the word jeans has been used to describe any type of pant made out of denim, and not just the riveted, indestructible, working-man’s pants originated by Levi Strauss & Co. in 1873. We even called some lightweight denim Western Wear pants in the 1940s â€Å"jeans.† But until America’s youth decided what j eans meant to them, we stuck with the classic moniker â€Å"overalls.† From the 1950s to the present, denim and jeans have been associated with youth, with new ideas, with rebellion, with individuality. College-age men and women entered American colleges in the 1960s and, wearing their favorite pants (jeans, of course), they began to protest against the social ills plaguing the United States. Denim acquired a bad reputation yet again, and for the same reasons as it had a decade earlier: those who protest, those who rebel, those who question authority, traditional institutions and customs, wear denim. Beginning in the late 1950s, Levi Strauss & Co. began to look at opportunities for expansion outside of the United States. During and after World War II, people in Japan, England and Germany saw Levi’s ® jeans for the first time, as they were worn by U.S. soldiers during their off-duty hours. There are letters in the company Archives from people who traded leather jackets and other clothing items to American G.I.s for their Levi’s ® jeans, and wrote to the company asking how they could get another pair. Word began to spread via individual customers, and American magazi nes which made their way overseas. Letters came to us from places as diverse as Thailand, England and Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific, written by people begging us to send them a pair of the famous jeans. British teenagers would swarm the docks when American Merchant Marine ships came into port, and buy the Levi’s ® jeans off the men before they even had time to set foot on dry land. By the late 1960s, the trickle of jeans into Europe and Asia had become a flood. Denim was poised to re-enter the continent which had given it birth, and it would be adopted with an enthusiasm shown to few other American products. Indeed, despite its European origins, denim was considered the quintessential American fabric, beginning even in the mid-1960s, when jeans were still a new commodity in Europe. We entered the Japanese market a few years later. One writer wrote prophetically in 1964: â€Å"Throughout the industrialized world denim has become a symbol of the young, active, informal, American way of life. It is equal ly symbolic of America’s achievements in mass production, for denim of uniform quality and superior performance is turned out by the mile in some of America’s biggest and most modern mills. Moreover, what was once a fabric only for work clothes, has now also become an important fabric for play clothes, for sportswear of all types.† By the 1970s, these â€Å"play clothes† tended toward the flared and bell bottom silhouette. At the same time, new fabrics were used for products that had traditionally been made out of denim. The product line of Levi Strauss & Co. was no exception. â€Å"Blue Levi’s ®Ã¢â‚¬  were still a staple of the company’s collection, but a glimpse at sales catalogs will reveal that customers also wanted plaid, polyester, no-wrinkle flares with matching vests. What looked almost like the end of simple, cotton denim as the fabric of everyday wear, was merely a pause in denim’s continued ascension to global dominion. A closer look will show that denim never really disappeared. Even in the 1970s, when it seemed that denim was being pushed aside in favor of these other fabrics, writers, manufacturers, and marketing executives worked hard to keep denim in the public eye. A writer in the Fall 1970 issue of American Fabrics said, â€Å"Indigo Blue Denim†¦has become a phenomenon without parallel in our times. To the youth of this country, and many other countries in this shrinking world, Indigo Blue Denim does not stand for utility. It’s the world’s top fashion fabric for pants.† By the mid to late 1970s the craze for doubleknits and other like fabrics began to slow. At the same time, marketing reports in various trade magazines showed an upward surge in the popularity of denim, as seen in the number of denim-clad models in print and television advertising. Those who followed clothing trends into the late 1970s were quoted in the trade papers with comments such as, â€Å"Jeans are more than a make. They are an established attitude about clothes and lifestyle.† This attitude could be seen very clearly in the â€Å"decorated denim† craze which saw beaded, embroidered, painted and sequined jeans appearing on streets from California to New York and across the ocean. Personalizing one’s jeans was such a huge trend in the United States that Levi Strauss & Co. sponsored a â€Å"Denim Art Contest† in 1973, inviting customers to send us slides of their decorated denim. The company received 2,000 entries from 49 of the United States, as well as Canada and the Bahamas. Judges included photographer Imogen Cunningham, designer Rudi Gernreich, the art critic for the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, and the Curator for San Francisco’s De Young Museum. The winning garments were sent on an 18month tour of American museums, and some of them were purchased by LS&CO. for the company Archives. In the Introduction to the catalog published to accompany the museum tour, contest coordinators wrote that Levi’s ® jeans had become â€Å"a canvas for personal expression.† Personal expression found another medium in the 1980s with the â€Å"designer jean† craze of that decade. It seems you can’t keep a good fabric down, no matter what form it takes. We all remember the ways in which denim was molded onto our bodies and the way that jeans were now worn almost anywhere, including places where they would have been completed banned in previous years (such as upscale restaurants). A writer for American Fabrics predicted this trend all the way back in 1969, when he wrote, â€Å"What has happened to denim in the last decade is really a capsule of what happened to America. It has climbed the ladder of taste.† Today, LS&CO. employees wear Levi’s ® jeans to work. Looking back, we see that the very first people to wear Levi’s ® jeans worked with pick and shovel, and though our tools are computer keyboard, PDA and cell phone, we have both been moved to wear the same thing each and every work day: denim jeans. Born in Europe, denim’s function and adaptable form found a perfect home in untamed America with the invention of jeans; then, as now, denim makes our lives easier by making us comfortable; and gives us a little bit of history every time we put it on.

Grief in “Hamlet” Essay

Grief is a universal emotion felt by everyone at some point or another during the course of their lives. Its effects can be very diverse and adverse, causing different people to act in very different ways. It is very unpredictable because it is unique for each person, thus it is difficult to ease or even ascertain. It is accompanied by many other painful and confusing emotions and if not dealt with properly, it may prove to be cataclysmic. The theme of grief is quite prevalent throughout William Shakespeare’s â€Å"Hamlet†, as virtually every character in the play experiences it. In fact, all of the main characters experience this emotion before the play is through. Grief has many causes and as a result, many outcomes, but the one thing that remains the same is that it has a profound effect on each person it touches. Grief is sometimes caused by feelings of guilt or remorse, and in cases such as this, it affects the sufferer by making the burden of guilt even more substantial. Oftentimes, feelings of guilty grief are intensified by placing too much blame on oneself. For example, Ophelia, who is being used by her own father and her king, tries to do what she thinks is best to help her love, Hamlet. She is told that this is the right thing to do, but suffers as a result of doing it. Polonius and Claudius use her to spy on Hamlet, but when the plan miscarries, she is the one who feels â€Å"†¦most deject and wretched†¦Ã¢â‚¬  saying: â€Å"[I] that sucked the honey of his musicked vows† (Hamlet, III, I, 169-170). Ophelia already feels bad for having to lie to Hamlet, but this negative feeling is amplified by the fact that she completely blames herself for what happens. Although Polonius seems heartless in using his daughter in this situation, his grievous feelings may prove otherwise. He instructs his daughter not to see Hamlet, but if she must not to respond to his love. This is because he thinks it would be bad for his career, as the king does not like Hamlet. Nevertheless, Hamlet comes to her after seeing the ghost and truly frightens her. Being the obedient daughter that she is, she runs to her father, and he cannot help but feel in part responsible for not having protected her. He tells her that he was somewhat worried for her to begin with and that â€Å"[He is] sorry that with better heed and judgment / [He] had not coted [Hamlet]. [He] feared did but trifle / And meant to wrack [her].† Alas he was wrong, Hamlet does more than  trifle, and now Ophelia is full of dread. Polonius reprimands himself for this, saying: â€Å"†¦beshrew my jealousy!† (Hamlet, II, II, 124-126) He may not have been able to foresee Hamlet’s actions toward his daughter, but he blames himself anyway, intensifying his feelings of grief over what has happened to his daughter. Even the seemingly heartless all have hearts; no matter how evil one may seem one’s conscious always manages to plague one’s guilty soul and cause grief. Claudius, a man who murdered his own brother and stole his crown and wife, is a perfect illustration of this. Claudius finally has everything he wanted but he cannot fully enjoy it because of the guiltiness he feels. â€Å"The harlot’s cheek beautied with plast’ring art / is not more ugly to the thing that helps it / Than is [his] deed to [his] most painted word,† says Claudius in an attempt to explain how this lie he has built up now weighs upon his shoulders, â€Å"O heavy burden!† (Hamlet, III, I, 59-62) Claudius finds covering up lies and pushing them aside does not make them go away, it only makes the angst they cause worse. Hamlet learns this lesson too, not because he is hiding a terrible secret, but because he will not confront his father’s killer or do what he must to exact his revenge. He thinks about it too much and in doing so pushes his courage aside. However, his feeling of culpability continues to cause him more and more grief as the situation progresses. After seeing Fortinbras leading his army to Poland with such charisma and vigour, he wonders:  how [stands he] then, [he] that [has] a father killed, a mother stained, / And let all sleep, whil e to [his] shame [he sees] / The imminent death of twenty thousand men /†¦ for a plot / Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause.† (Hamlet, IV, IV, 59-66) He becomes so angry and ashamed of his lack of action; he even goes so far as to call himself a coward. This only serves to amplify the misery he feels over the murder of his father and speedy marriage of his mother. All of these people have a reason to grieve and a reason to feel accountable, but completely blaming themselves or dwelling on this remorse does nothing but deepen their grief. The death of a loved one also causes extreme grief, but in these cases, many  people look to blame another for this misfortune. In turn, one may feel that the only way to relieve the negative feelings is to seek revenge and kill the person whom one blames for them. Hamlet clearly shows a deep love for his father, and he is utterly heart-broken over his death, especially after seeing his uncle take his place. Therefore, when his father’s ghost informs him that it is a murderer, not a snake, who is responsible for his death, Hamlet immediately responds: â€Å"Haste me to know [who], that I, with wings a swift / As meditation or thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge.† (Hamlet, I, V, 35-37) He does not even know whom he has to kill yet, but he is already sure that he must avenge his father, no matter the cost. Hamlet is so lost without his father, he needs somewhere to place the blame for his death. Thus, when this opportunity arises he endeavours to seize it in an attempt to avenge his father, and alleviate his own heartache as well. Fortinbras, too, seeks revenge for his father’s death. However, unlike Hamlet, he does not have a ghost to incite him, only thirty years of hatred and anger toward the ruler of Denmark. He spends his whole life trying to win back the land his father lost to the Danes, take vengeance for Old Fortinbras, and regain dignity for him and his people. When, finally, he storms the castle to assume the throne and the â€Å"†¦ rights of memory [he has] in this kingdom, / Which now to claim [his] vantage doth invite [him],† (Hamlet, V, II, 432-433) he can finally rest. His feelings of grief can be almost completely forgotten as the Great Chain of Being is restored. The knowledge that he has retaken all that his father lost in war provides him with satisfaction and appeases his soul. However, sometimes revenge is not about the soul, in fact, certain people must completely disregard it to seek their revenge. For example, Laertes, after hearing about the strange death of his father bursts into the castle to demand his revenge of Claudius. â€Å"To hell, allegiance! [He] vows, to the blackest devil! /†¦ [He dares] damnation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  saying to the king: â€Å"Let come what comes, only I’ll be revenged / Most throughly for my father.† (Hamlet, IV, V, 149-154) Evidently, Laertes cares nothing about the consequences of his actions. His grief is so strong that he will have his revenge no matter what will happen to him as a result. In his mind, his anger and scorn over the loss of Polonius can only be assuaged when the person responsible for his death is also dead. Like Hamlet and Fortinbras, he does not care who he kills, as  long as someone pays for this heinous crime. This shows just how much personal grief plays a role in their desire for revenge. All three men want to kill someone, but none are sure who it is that they must kill when they make the decision to become assassins. As long as the desired result is achieved, and as long as they feel better for having killed the person they choose, e verything will be all right, or at least they hope so. True justice is not an easy thing to find, so they will settle for their own grief relief. The emotions and thoughts that accompany grief can be extremely overwhelming. These innermost feelings of sorrow, anger, and confusion can push one to the brink of insanity and sometimes even further. After seeing the ghost of his father, and hearing that Claudius murdered him, Hamlet decides to display an antic disposition as a trap for his uncle. There are both arguments for his true madness and against it, but either way the case is proved, Hamlet acts exceedingly abnormally. His sorrow drives him to act as though he is mad. According to Ophelia: †¦as [she] was sewing in [her] closet / Lord Hamlet†¦ / With a look so piteous in purport / As if he had been loosed out of hell / To speak of horrors – he comes before [her] /†¦And thrice his head thus waving up and down, / He raised a sigh so piteous and profound / As it did seem to shatter all his bulk / And end his being. (Hamlet, II, I, 87-108) Whether Hamlet planned an antic disposition or not, he must be very shocked and bewildered by the news given to him by the ghost, and this outburst with Ophelia is clear proof of this. His woe almost triggers him to go totally mad, causing everyone around him to believe he has lost his sanity. Laertes too suffers from a brief lapse in sense after seeing what has become of his beloved sister. Ophelia does not remember who Laertes is when he returns from France, but speaks to him as though he is someone else. Laertes is astonished, he cannot believe this; he lost a father while in France, and now that he is returned, he loses his sister to madness. â€Å"O heat, dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt / Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,† (Hamlet, IV, V, 177-178) he cries aloud, displaying to all present his crazed frame of mind. He is already infuriated by the circumstances  surrounding his father’s death, and now this. It takes great effort from Claudius to finally calm him down and stop his thoughts of self-destruction. Because his emotions are so overwhelming, he seems to lose the will to live, if only for a short while. Ophelia, the primary cause of Laertes’ near madness, also seems to lose her will to live. She loses her wits due to many reasons, mainly her father’s death at the hands of her true love. Consequently, she is completely unable to restore order to her fragile mind. She babbles and sings mindlessly, and hands out flowers that are not really there to the king, queen, and her brother. She is driven completely berserk with grief, so crazy that she drowns shortly afterward. As Gertrude recounts: †¦she chanted snatches of old lauds, / As one incapable of her own distress / †¦Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, / Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay / To muddy death,†(Hamlet, IV, VII, 202-208) telling her audience just how lunatic this pitiable girl is at the time of her death. Ophelia is totally destroyed by the plethora of bad news she receives, so much that her rational mind is completely paralyzed and her mental faculties are truly lost. These three people feel grief so deeply that their minds are put at great risk. Pathos is created for all three, because of their innocence in these situations and their inability to control what has happened to them. They are victims, for the most part, of the malicious act going on around them, and the grief they feel because of this nearly drives each of them past their mental limits. Because grief is so overwhelming, it may cause people to do things they would not usually do. Many people act quite irrationally under grief’s powerful influence. It can be so consuming that oftentimes there is no room left for logic in one’s mind, so one acts without thinking. Hamlet does this in killing Polonius, who is hidden behind the arras. He stabs through the curtain before he even finds out who is concealed within it. When Gertrude questions Hamlet: â€Å"O me, what hast thou done?† he can only reply: â€Å"Nay, I know not, is it the king?† (Hamlet, III, IV, 31-32) because he is not really thinking when he commits this fatal crime. Hamlet is a strong-minded person and is able to control his emotions for the most part. However, the added grief of his current quarrel with his mother seems to cause a lapse in  judgment which in turn makes Hamlet do something that is very grave indeed, commit murder. Laertes, too, decides that murder is not out of t he question when he allows his pain to consume him. In fact, Laertes is so caught up in his fury and wrath that he would â€Å"†¦cut his [father’s killer’s] throat i’ th’ church† (Hamlet, IV, VII, 144) something that he obviously would not do if he was thinking clearly. During the Elizabethan Era, revenge is a commonly respected notion, but to seek revenge in a church is certainly not regarded with the same esteem. Laertes would undoubtedly go to hell if he were to go through with this rash statement, something he would decide against if he were not so frenzied by grief. Horatio also becomes taken over by his anguish, watching the whole story unfold and witness its gruesome and bloody finish. Seeing his best friend wounded and dying before his eyes makes Horatio â€Å"†¦ more an Antique Roman than a Dane† and he is about to take his own life proclaiming, â€Å"here’s yet some liquid left† (Hamlet, V, II, 374-375). Nevertheless, Hamlet, who is finally free of his grief and now thinking clearly, takes the cup and saves his companion. When one’s mind is full of grief it is very hard to think about anything else, like the good things in life or any reasons there may be to continue on living as usual. It is also difficult to foresee the consequences of one’s actions, or, moreover, to care about them because grief clouds the mind so. Many things that one would typically not even be able to conceive doing become viable possibilities, when grief is equated into the situation. Grief has the staggering ability to cause almost anyone to perform acts that one will surely regret later, making it a very dangerous emotion. Grief affects each person differently because each person possesses their own causes for grief and their own mechanisms with which to deal with it. When one is grieving because of guilt over past mistakes or a personal loss, one most often blames themselves wholly. This makes the guilt worse, and in turn misery only grows stronger and stronger. It is a vicious cycle of remorse and repentance that is difficult to stop once it is begun. Grief is also caused by losing someone that is very dearly loved. To the griever, revenge often seems like the only way to find release from this mourning. Most find that it is not justice they seek, but refuge, from the heavy feelings of sorrow and anger, which they believe they can find in the death of the  person responsible for this grief. These feelings of regret and resentment, caused by angst, often prove to be quite overpowering and sometimes too much to bear. Some unfortunate individuals lose their wits due to extreme emotional pain. Some go further and lose their will to subsist, even further still, their lives. Grief also has the ability to fully envelop a person’s mind and take away their ability to think about anything except for what they are feeling at the moment. It may cause the person to act in a way they are not accustomed to or to do something they would never dream of doing in any other circumstance. It can be very dangerous, in that it can cause one to do things that are absolutely irrational and devastating to oneself or others. As is demonstrated in the play, the effects of grief vary greatly, but to all whom they affect they are profoundly detrimental and destructive. Grief can cause the loss of one’s mirth in life, the incitation to do something rash and ill advised, even the key to one’s undoing. In all cases grief is difficult to avoid, and therefore must be dealt with, and it is how one deals with grief that determines how one’s life will be affected by it. Works Cited: Shakespeare, William, Hamlet, (New York: Washington Square Press, 1992)

Pregnancy: the Effects of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Essay

Abstract This paper examined the effects of alcohol and substance abuse on fetal development in expecting mothers. The critical periods of fetal development during pregnancy are reviewed and discussed in order to determine the effects alcohol and substance can cause during certain stages. In order to gain a more efficient understanding of the effects different substances can have on fetal development the following substances were studied: (1) alcohol, (2) cocaine, (3) opioids, (4) nicotine (smoking), and (5) cannabis sativa (marijuana). Each substance (previously listed) examined was provided with supporting evidenced of past research. Developmental (i.e. physical and mental) impairments were found to be common amongst the general population of newborn infants and children exposed to alcohol and drug substances in utero. Use of alcohol and drug substances during pregnancy not only put expecting mothers own health at risk, but their fetuses as well. Providing expecting mothers with proper treatment for alcohol and substance use has proven to be an effective method in reducing the risk of impairing their fetus’s development (i.e. physical, and mental) during pregnancy and later into childhood. It is essential to provide general awareness to the public about the affects that alcohol and substance abuse can have on fetal development and help pregnant women seek proper care. Pregnancy: The Effects of Alcohol and Substance Abuse on Fetal Development Today alcohol and substance abuse is continuing to increase across the general population, particularly among expecting mothers (Cohen &Inaba, 2007). Many infants being born today suffer from severe physical, mental, and behavioral deformities and impairments due to alcohol and substance exposure in utero (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Research has been continuously conducted in order to examine the effects different substances can have on a developing fetuses growth (i.e. physical, mental, and behavioral) in utero and after birth. The majority of their findings indicate a strong correlation between the time, type and amount of substances mothers use during their pregnancy and the effects it has on their fetuses (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). The purpose of this paper is to address these issues through several different concepts: (a) first, what are the critical levels of development in utero?, (b) an in depth review on substances associated with fetal impairments (i.e. alcohol, cocaine, opioids, nicotine, and cannabis sativa (marijuana)), supported by scientific evidence and possible treatment, and (d) identifying substance abuse in expecting mothers and reducing harm to the fetus. Critical Periods of Fetal Development The first critical period of fetal development is known as the germ cell period. This begins when a sperm and egg unite and their genetic information is fused together (Office of Children’s Health Protection, 2003). During this period exposure to any form of toxicant substances (i.e. alcohol and drug substances) can potentially harm the germ cells development. This can have a direct impact on not only the mother’s fertility, but also her future child’s health (Office of Children’s Health Protection, 2003). After the germ cells have developed past what is known as a single-cell zygote, they are now identified as a fetus (meaning they are capable of living outside of the mothers womb) and have reached the embryonic and fetal period of development (Office of Children’s Health Protection, 2003). The fetus grows increasingly fast during this period, because it is consider more vulnerable to environmental and substance exposures than during other stages o f development (Office of Children’s Health Protection, 2003). This is due to the fact that major organs are beginning to form, grow and develop, which will continue throughout the remainder of the pregnancy and infancy (Office of Children’s Health Protection, 2003). Disruption of development (i.e. environmental toxins and substances) during this period can cause major defects in the structure of developing organs (i.e. brain cellular structure, lungs, heart, kidney, and etc.), and other important structures (i.e. bones and muscles). This may result in the death of the fetus or cause severe physical malformations (i.e. congenital abnormalities) or mental impairments (i.e. disorders) (Office of Children’s Health Protection, 2003). As the stages of prenatal development progress, exposure to environmental toxins and substances can result in the fetus developing an array of defects and deficiencies that can continue after birth and up through adulthood (i.e. physical, mental, and behavioral) (Office of Children’s Health Protection, 2003). It is clear that expecting mothers need to be conscious of what they expose their fetuses to in utero so they develop properly. It is imperative that expecting mothers avoid the use of any alcohol or other drug substances during their pregnancy. Each period of development for a fetus is critical and exposure to alcohol and substances can significantly reduce their chance of being born and living a healthy life (Office of Children’s Health Protection, 2003). The Effects of Different Substances on Fetal Development Expecting mothers need to be cautious of what they expose their growing fetus to throughout the entire pregnancy. Disruption of proper fetal development can cause severe deformities in the fetus physically, mentally, and behaviorally (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Expecting mothers ingest alcohol and drug substances leave their fetus susceptible to severe developmental impairments (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). The following areas will be covered in this section: (1) fetal exposure to alcohol, (2) fetal exposure to cocaine, (3) fetal exposure to opioids, (4) fetal exposure to nicotine, and (5) fetal exposure to cannabis sativa (marijuana). Fetal Exposure to Alcohol When expecting mothers consume alcohol they are immediately putting their fetus’s health at risk. Essentially they are leaving their fetus susceptible to not only structural deformities, but also a variety of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) (Feldman, pg.76, 2011). Out of all of the FASDs, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the most common. Statistics indicate that over â€Å"0.33-2.9 cases per 1,000 births have FAS† (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). FAS typically results in the fetus developing the following problems: (1) severe abnormalities in physical, neurological and behavioral functioning and development, (2) severely reduced weight and cranium size, (3) deformities of the face and other body parts (otherwise known as dysmorphia), and (4) are at higher risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) (Feldman, pg.76, 2011). In essence exposure to alcohol can significantly affect a fetus internal and external body structure, can cause neurological and behavioral abnormalitie s, and even physical deformities. Research Kenneth Jones (1986) supports this assumption through his studies on FAS. Jones (1986) findings suggest that FAS effects the development of the fetus’s brain and facial/bodily structures during utero and after birth. Typically children will be diagnosed with moderate to severe mental retardation due to structural deformities in their the brain (i.e. microcephaly, short palpebral fissures, and etc.) or they will be identified as having severe facial dysmorphia (i.e. long smooth philtrum, thin vermilion of the upper lip, joint anomalies, altered palmar crease pattern, and etc.) (Jones, 1986). Jones (1986) concluded that over 40% of infants who are born are born to alcoholic mothers, whom are then diagnosed with FAS. However, it is possible for doctors to reduce the chances of children developing FAS and other FASDs through preventive forms of treatment. The majority of times children are more susceptible to developing FASD due to the doctors inability to clearly identify the expecting mothers level of drinking (Bakhireva & Savage, 2011). If physicians are given the capability to identify expecting mothers regular drinking patterns they can provide her with alternative methods to drinking and reduce the risk of her child develop an FASD (Bakhireva & Savage, 2011). Bakhireva & Savage (2011) found that in identifying expecting mothers drinking levels, physicians would be able to detect the fetus’s risk for developing FASD and other neurobehavioral disorders later in life and prevent it. Bakhireva & Savage (2011) findings suggest that there are biomarkers that are more sensitive to alcohol metabolism, which are capable of detecting the alcohol in tissue types for longer periods of time since the mother last drank. This will then assist physicians in diagnosing fetal alcohol exposure and possible damage to the fetus, which will then help them discern what preventive measures need to be taken. Developing new methods of detection and prevention of FASD is one of the most effective ways to help children avoid severe d evelopmental impairments. Expecting mothers also need to be informed of the damages that alcohol exposure can cause and seek the necessary care. Fetal Exposure to Cocaine Today over 558,000 expecting mothers abuse cocaine (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)(2005) cited by Cohen & Inaba (2007) determined that there was a â€Å"4% rate of cocaine use among women in their first trimester, 3% among those in their second trimester, and 2% among those in their third trimester†. Because of this expecting mothers need to become aware of how cocaine can affect their developing fetus. Typically the stimulants in cocaine affect the fetus’s heart, which leads to blood vessel to constriction. This causes unhealthy elevations of blood pressure in both the mother and fetus (Cohen & Inaba, 2011). For the fetus there life is put at great risk. This is because the mother’s body will stop the flow of any blood, nutrients, or oxygen from reaching the fetus and can cause retarted fetal development or even a stroke within the fetus’s brain (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). This type of constriction can also increase th e chances of the mother having a spontaneous abortion (due to the separation of the placenta from the uterine wall) or a premature delivery (in some cases (typically the third trimester) cocaine can induce labor) (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Even when an infant makes it through delivery the majority of them suffer from severe withdrawal symptoms. Signs of withdrawal typically consist of: (1) extreme agitation and irritability, (2) hyperactive movement and high respiratory rates, (3) seizures and tremors, and (4) uncontrollable sweating and crying (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Although physical deformities are common amongst the majority of substances infants are exposed do during utero, cocaine has been found to cause the most damage neurologically. Typically children exposed to cocaine show an increase in â€Å"neurobehavioral disorganization, irritability, and poor language development† (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). In fact researchers Brown, Bakeman, Coles, Sexson, & Demi (1998) studied the effects of cocaine and alcohol exposure during utero on mother’s newborn infant’s and how it affected their birth weight, length, ponderal index, and irritability levels. Researchers found that exposed infants showed an increase in fetal growth deficits, infant orientation, and irritability and a decrease in respiratory rate and proper motor development (only affected by cocaine exposure) (Brown, Bakeman, Coles, Sexson, & Demi, 1998). Cocaine exposure clearly has a severe effect on fetal development. Therefore it is essential that preventive techniques be discussed and reviewed for expecting mothers who are using. Just like alcohol use, there are methods to testing expecting mothers for cocaine use. The most commonly used methods are urine toxicology and serum toxicology, which helps detect â€Å"metabolite benzoylecgonine† (substance found in cocaine) from 72 hours to two weeks after the mother has used (Bhuvaneswar, 2008). In the majority of states today it is mandatory for expecting mothers to be routinely screened for drug use during prenatal doctor visits. In some states a positive test before delivery results in the arrest and incarceration of the expecting mother (Bhuvaneswar, 2008). Most health care providers, however, have argued that women should be given proper drug counseling, confidential screening, and referral for treatment and case management rather than criminal penalties (Bhuvaneswar, 2008). That way expecting mothers can receive the necessary treatment to help make sure the fetus is not harmed anymore than it already has. Essentially when it comes to cocaine use, expecting mothers, and what preventive measures to take, proper screening and treatment are most effective in making sure a fetus develops properly and is born healthy. Fetal Exposure to Opioids Opioids are the most common substance used by expecting mothers. Heroin and methadone are the two most abused. It is assumed that each year there are over 7000 opiate-exposed babies being born (Bhuvaneswar, 2008). Typically expecting mothers will continue to use opioids throughout their pregnancy. When expecting mothers use opioids it usually takes less than one hour for the substance to reach the placental barrier. After only 6 hours it is common for not only the mother to experience withdrawal symptoms, but her fetus as well (Bhuvaneswar, 2008). As the mother goes through withdrawal the substance epinephrine may increase in the amniotic sacks fluid, which could cause severe damage to the growing fetus (Bhuvaneswar, 2008). Continued use of opioids throughout a pregnancy usually results in the following: (1) fetal growth retardation, (2) premature abruption of the placenta (which leads to premature delivery, spontaneous abortion, miscarriage, or stillbirth), (3) neurobehavioral abnor malities (i.e. abnormal sleep patterns, behavioral problems, poor motor skills, learning disorders, mental retardation, and others), and (4) greater risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). In some cases opioid use can cause the infant to experience Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) (severe withdrawal after delivery). It can last from 48-72 hours to days, weeks, or even months. It all depends on how much the mother exposed her infant to during utero (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Symptoms of NAS are much more intense than an infant who may be withdrawing from nicotine or marijuana. When an infant is experiencing NAS they will exhibit the following characterisitcs: (1) extreme hyperactivity, agitation and irritability, (2) high-pitched crying, sweating and tremors, (3) intense muscle spasms, (4) restlessness, (5) increased respiration, (6) vomiting, and diarrhea, and (7) severe seizures, which may lead to death (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). If an infant successfully makes is through withdrawal they are capable of being cleaned of any opioid substance that they were exposed to during utero. Just as there are preventive measures for expecting mothers using alcohol or cocaine, there are preventive measures for mothers who use opiates. Today there are several clinical options for management of opiate use during pregnancy: (1) methadone maintenance, (2) the use of buprenorphine and naltrexone, and (3) opioid detoxification (usually done during the mothers second trimester) (Bhuvaneswar, 2008). Although not all risks to the fetus are eliminated with these types of treatment, the use of methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone does help reduce the amount of spontaneous abortions and transmission of infections that opiate use usually causes (Bhuvaneswar, 2008). The main purpose of these methods is to essentially stop the mother from using altogether and reduce the chances of NAS when the child is born. If the expecting mother is able to detox and stop opiate use the chances of her child being born healthy is greater. Fetal Exposure to Nicotine There are over 2,000 different compounds that can be identified in one cigarette. Regardless of the many unhealthy substances contained in one cigarette, more than 17% of expecting mothers still smoke throughout their pregnancy (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Cigarettes contain both nicotine and carbon dioxide. Which are two known compounds capable of crossing over the placental barrier during pregnancy and reducing the fetuses supply of oxygen (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). However, restriction of oxygen to the fetus is only one concern. The expecting mother is also increasing her chances of having a premature delivery, miscarriage, or even a stillbirth. Nevertheless, premature births are the most common occurrences among expecting mothers who smoke (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Infants who are born prematurely are abnormally small â€Å"on average they weigh, 7 ounces less, are 1.4 centimeters shorter, and have a smaller head circumference compared with babies of nonsmoking and non-drug-abusing mothersâ €  (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Although less common than exposure to other drug substances, smoking can cause a variety of defects. The most typical are as follows: (1) congenital abnormalities (heart malformation, cleft lip/palate), (2) brain damage and nerve damage, (3) depressed immune system, (4) poor cognitive abilities (i.e. learning disabilities), and (5) increase chance of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Typically though cognitive abilities are most likely to be impaired. In fact researcher Karen Law (2003) studied the effects nicotine exposure can have on a fetuses neurobehavioral development after birth. Law (2003) found that the infants who were exposed to nicotine during utero were more excitable and hypertonic and showed higher stress levels and abstinence signs when born. Shea & Steiners (2008) research on the effects of prenatal exposure to nicotine found the same results as Law (2003). Shea and Steiners (2008) findings indicated that the nicotine from cigarettes directly affects the fetus’s placental vasculature. This can lead to cognitive and learning deficits in childhood and adolescents, increased risk of hypoxia induced brain damage, and an increased chance of perinatal mortality or even sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) (Shea & Steiner, 2008). Law (2003) and Shea and Steiner (2008) suggest that pregnant women need to avoid smoking during pregnancy in order to prevent serious impairments in neurodevelopment of their fetus. To the majority of expecting mothers exposing their fetuses to nicotine seems much less irresponsible than if they were to expose them to a substance like cocaine or heroine. However, research shows that smoking can and will affect expecting mothers children. May be not to the same extent as cocaine or heroine, but to a point where your child will still be incapable of proper development. Fetal Exposure to Cannabis Sativa (marijuana) It is said that over 17% of expecting mothers smoke marijuana (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Some mothers condone their use of marijuana throughout their pregnancy, because it is said to help reduce pain when labor occurs. Many people would suggest that the majority of studies today imply that the use of marijuana during pregnancy causes only minimal side effects to the overall health of a fetus. Therefore, it is acceptable for mothers to use when pregnant. This is not true. Jutras-Aswad, DiNieri, Harkany, & Hurd, (2009) studied the use of marijuana during pregnancy and the affects it can have on the fetus during utero and after birth. Researchers did this by examining the endocannabinoid (eCB) system and the effects it has on children’s behavior and mental health. Research indicated that eCB has a direct effect on the fetuses’ central nervous systems (CNS) patterning by influencing migration, survival, and differentiation of committed neurons. Researchers discovered that eCB affects the neuronal systems that control mood, cognition, reward, and goal directed behavior. This then effects the fetus’s brain development, which leaves them vulnerable to severe behavioral problems and neuropsychiatric disorders more so than others after birth. After reviewing this research it obvious that marijuana can have a direct impact on the fetuses brain development (Jutras-Aswad, DiNieri, Harkany, & Hurd, 2009). Although the affects may not be apparent during a mother’s pregnancy, they are clearly identified later in infancy and childhood. In fact previous research conducted by Richardson, Day, and Goldschmidt (1995) studied the effects of marijuana use during pregnancy. Children who had been exposed to marijuana during utero were assessed repeatedly during the neonatal period until the age of six. Results indicated that prenatal marijuana exposure became apparent around ages four through six. There was an increase in childre n’s behavioral problems (i.e. affected their goal directed behavior, planning, organized search, and impulse control) and a decrease in their performance on visual perceptual tasks, language comprehension, sustained attention, and memory (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). These findings support the theory that marijuana use during pregnancy can have an effect on children’s neurological development (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). So like many other drugs, it is strongly recommended that expecting mothers avoid the use of marijuana. Identifying & Providing Treatment for Substance Abuse in Expecting Mothers After reviewing the effects of alcohol and other drug substances on fetal development it is evident that expecting mothers need to abstain from substance use throughout their pregnancies. Rassool & Villar-Luis (2006) further support this assumption through their review on the effects that substance abuse can have on fetal development. Researchers identified several drug substances (i.e. alcohol, cocaine, opioids, nicotine, and cannabis) and found direct causes each substance has on expecting mother’s fetuses after birth. Researchers discovered the following primary concerns for each substance: (1) alcohol use can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome an d possible miscarriage of the fetus, (2) cocaine, opioids, and nicotine can cause perinatal complications and unwanted abortions, and (3) cannabis sativa (marijuana) can cause perinatal complications (miscarriage), intrauterine growth restrictions, abruption placentae, pre-term deliveries, and neurobehavioral abnormalities. After reviewing each substance and potential damage it can cause the Rassool & Villar-Luis (2006) suggest that different measures of prevention should be taken by expecting mothers to reduce the risk of harming their fetus. There are forms of prevention and treatment to help expecting mothers reduce the risk of harming their fetus’s development. The most efficient way to help expecting mothers find treatment is through using the necessary screening techniques in which physicians can identify alcohol or substance abuse (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). By doing so physicians can provide proper intervention, treatment, and preventive services to substance abusing mothers (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Typically expecting mothers who use drugs during pregnancy are classified as â€Å"AODs† (i.e. â€Å"pregnant women who use alcohol and other drugs†). The most commonly used instrument to identify AODs was developed by Dr. Ira Chasnoff (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). It is known as the 4Ps Plus Instrument, which consists of four basic questions that essentially help identify AODs (Cohen & Inaba,2007). The questions are listed below: 1.) Did either of your parents ever have a problem with alcohol or drugs? 2.) Does your partner have problem with alcohol or drugs? 3.) Have you ever drunk beer, wine, or liquor? 4.) In the month before you knew you were pregnant, how many cigarettes did you smoke? In the month before you knew you were pregnant, how much beer, wine, or liquor did you drink? Once women with AOD are identified they can properly be treated in order to protect the mother and the growing fetus. Treatment may not seem effective once the expecting mother has already exposed her fetus to alcohol or other substances, but that is not true. Although the fetus is still at risk for some developmental damage it is still possible to stop any more from occurring if the mother stops using. Researchers Mayet, Morgan, MaCormack, & Strang (2008) have support for this assumption through their assessment of mothers who exposed their children to substances during utero and then proceeded to attended perinatal addiction treatment throughout the remainder of their pregnancy. Researchers administered a cross-sectional audit of health-care records in order to compare the outcomes of women in 2002â€⠀œ2005 with data from 1989–1991 and the local (i.e. non-substance abusing women) maternity population in 2004–2005. Research found that less newborns required treatment for neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in 2002–2005 compared to 1989–1991. However, there were higher rates of miscarriages, low birth weights, and premature infants, compared to the local maternity population between 2004–2004. Findings suggest that perinatal addictions treatment can be extremely beneficial to mothers abusing substances. It lowers the risk of the mother harming her fetus by reducing the amount of drug substances she exposes her fetus to. It also suggests that addiction treatments are becoming more evolved and are better servicing people compared to 1989-1991. In helping women become abstinent from substance use during their pregnancy it will help both them and their child live a healthier life during and after birth. Conclusion In conclusion, it is clear that alcohol and substance use is an increasing problem for the population of expecting mothers. As discussed in the paper the majority of expecting mothers are exposing their fetuses to the followings substances: (1) alcohol, (2) cocaine, (3) opioids, (4) cigarettes (nicotine), and (5) cannabis sativa (marijuana). Expecting mothers are unaware that they are putting their growing fetus at risk for severe developmental deformities and impairments (i.e. physical, mental, and behavioral) due to such exposure in utero and after birth. Not only that, but mothers are increasing their chances of premature deliveries, miscarriages, spontaneous abortions, and stillbirths. Even if their child makes it through delivery the majority of them experience severe Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), or are born with disorders like fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). However, there are preventive measures that can be taken to avoid substance-abusing mothers risking their fetus’s developmental health. If physicians are able to identify expecting mothers substance use they will be able to give them proper a treatment and care. This will help reduce the chances of the mother impairing her fetus’s development any further (Cohen & Inaba, 2007). Mothers will also be able to get â€Å"clean† and raise their child in a healthy environment. Although it may seem impossible, there are ways to help expecting mothers properly nourish their child back to health even when it comes to substance abuse. References Bakhireva, L. N., & Savage, D. D. (2011). Focus on: Biomarkers of fetal alcohol exposure and fetal alcohol effects. Alcohol Research & Health, 34(1), 56-63. Bhuvaneswar, Chaya (2008). Cocaine & opioid use during pregnancy: Prevalence & Management. Prime Care Companion J. Clinical Psychiatry. 10(1): 59–65. Brown, J. V., Bakeman, R., Coles, C. D., Sexson, W. R., & Demi, A. S. (1998). Maternal drug use during pregnancy: Are preterm and full-term infants affected differently?. Developmental Psychology, 34(3), 540-554. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.34.3.540 Cohen, W.E., & Inaba, D.S. (2007). Uppers, downers, all arounders (6th ed.). Medford, OR: CNS publications, Inc. Feldman, R. S. (2011). Development across the life span (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN:0558937071. Jones, K.L. (1986). Fetal alcohol syndrome. Department of Pediatrics; 8:122-126. Jutras-Aswad, D., DiNieri, J. A., Harkany, T., & Hurd, Y. L. (2009). Neurobiological consequences of maternal canna bis on human fetal development and its neuropsychiatric outcome. European Archives Of Psychiatry And Clinical Neuroscience, 259(7), 395-412. doi:10.1007/s00406-009-0027-z Law, K.L. (2003). Smoking during pregnancy and newborn neurobehavior. Pediatrics Vol. 111: 1318-1323. Mayet, S., Groshkova, T., Morgan, L., MacCormack, T., & Strang, J. (2008). Drugs and pregnancy—Outcomes of women engaged with a specialist perinatal outreach addictions service. Drug And Alcohol Review, 27(5), 497-503. doi:10.1080/09595230802245261 Rassool, G., & Villar-Luà ­s, M. M. (2006). Reproductive risks of alcohol and illicit drugs: An overview. Journal Of Addictions Nursing, 17(4), 211-213. doi:10.1080/10884600600995242 Shea, A. K., & Steiner, M. (2008). Cigarette smoking during pregnancy. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 10(2), 267-278. doi:10.1080/14622200701825908 The Office of Children’s Health Protection (2003).Critical periods in development. ICF Consulting, Inc.

Impacts of Immigrants to UK and UK Immigration Policy on its Labour Essay

Impacts of Immigrants to UK and UK Immigration Policy on its Labour Market - Essay Example The composition of the of the incoming immigrants is usually very different from that of the population of the receiving country on matters pertaining to demographic, cultural and socioeconomic attributes (Okkerse, 2008). As a corollary, the demographic and socioeconomic effects of international migration have become very apparent in the contemporary world and this has gained the attention of policy-makers and the society in general. This has consequently made the immigration process a playing field for numerous studies in the 21st century (e.g. Clark and Drinkwater, 2010; Macura et al. 2005) In theory, the effects of international migration on earnings and jobs for the population in the host country is critically contingent to the extent to which migrants’ skills are complements or substitutes to the skills of the population in the host country, and on how immigration impacts the demand for labour in the host country (Hatton and Tani, 2005). Apart from changes in salaries and employment Dustmann et al, (2008) asserts that there are at least two other adjustment mechanisms in which an economy acts in response to immigration. Besides enlarging labor supply, immigration has the propensity to increase the demand for labor (Saleheen, and Shadforth 2006). Immigrants increase the consumer demand for goods and services in the host country and in the long run, immigration can lead to more investment in the host country (Schmitt and Wadsworth 2007). As a result, this paper aims at identifying the effects of immigration to the UK and UK immigration policy on its labor market . An empirical and experimental research by Dustmann et al (2013) on the labor market impacts of immigration in the UK shows that immigration has a moderately insignificant impact on the average earnings and salary distribution low, medium, and high paid employees.  Ã‚  

Logistics in context Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Logistics in context - Essay Example At present, the total strength of the company employees’ stand at a robust 5600 figure spread over 30 countries in international destinations.   The sea food restaurant chain has been able to sustain the market glitches due to its consistent performance and desire to lead the industry with exhilarating new techniques to attract and help out people enjoy more fish. The development of the Grimsby town and the Humber region was eclipsed till the 19th century. However, the business activities initiated with the building of new ports and docks which led to the sharp rise in the export / import activities of the Humber region. At present, the Grimsby Port and Immingham possess the largest tonnage capacity in the UK, and the deep waters of the Humber playing a perfect host to the largest shipping companies across Europe, thereby being the main promoter of the region’s economy. The far reaching effects of Globalization have already transformed the sefood industry across the globe. Young’s seafood, Grimsby is not an exception. Globalization has assisted the company to reform its production methods, expand its distribution area, and venture into the previously unknown territory of retail marketing of seafood industry. The company is looking at new ventures and investments along with some acquisitions in the Humber region so as to support the rising needs of its clients. Also, the power of Globalization has revealed an all new territory of clients to the company who are willing to pay more for better quality, rather than paying less for more quantity. Therefore, grasping this opportunity, Young’s seafood has been able to legally source better quality product to clients worldwide and as a result command a larger market share with higher profit margins. Youngs sea food has been able to attract a lot of attention from its customers as well as competitors. In

Dq-4-Terence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dq-4-Terence - Essay Example n of Research Objectives; this is the second step that should be undertaken when implementing the research design, specifically, it entails the formulation of clear objectives, which are achievable and realistic. Objectives are usually applied to facilitate or guide the study for instance in this study, the objectives could be (Bryman & Cramer, 2011): To assess the psychological effects of the 2010 murder on Northern Illinois University Faculty, students and Parents; to explore how affected persons manage psychological stress concerning the murder and; to investigate actions taken by the faculty to prevent such incidences. 3. Determination of Types and Sources of Data needed; there are different dimensions of data; however, the researcher should identify and determine the types of data needed to for the research (Yin, 2011). This information should be clearly stated in the research. In the case provided, sources of data that could be used include; secondary data, which basically involve documented or already researched information as well as primary sources of data, which involves first hand information collected from the research field collected through interviews, questionnaires et cetera. 4. Data Collection Techniques; in this case, the researcher will identify reliable, appropriate and realistic methods of data collection. This information should be state clearly within the research. In the Illinois Case Study, the research would use primary data collection techniques such as; questionnaires focus groups, observation as well a action research. Additionally, a research secondary data sources can also be undertaken through critical research techniques as well as analysis (Salkind, 2011). 5. Scope of the Study; in this step, the researcher should clearly identify and state the scope of the study, basically indicating the specific sample size and geographical coverage of the study for example: The study of effects of 2010 murder on faculty members, parents and

SE Asia Basin History project (South China Sea Platform and South Essay

SE Asia Basin History project (South China Sea Platform and South China Ocean Basin) - Essay Example Geologically, the nearly 3.5 million square kilometers area is primarily surrounded by a series of sedimentary successions which are highly rich in petroleum resources (IHO, 1998). According to many experts, South China Sea platform and ocean basin has a complex geologic structure comprised of folded fundament dating back to the pre-Cambrian period, Indo-china period and Herynina periods. The rhomboid shaped marine basin is largely confined by crustal structure fractures, lithospheres as well as massive tectonic belts. This paper presents the history of the South China Sea basin including its stratigraphic columns and dissects as well as the history of its deposition. South China Sea basin is locacated at a junction of three major tectonics namely; the Eurasian,Pacific-philippine and the India-Australian plates. The basin lies on top of a continental self that was drowned during the ice age. According to many experts, the oceanic as well as the stretched continental crusts that are presently underlying the South China Sea basin have always experienced a series of tectonic movements since the Cenzoic times. The basin is located within the juncture area of the Indo-Australian, Eurasian and Pacific plates and the Regional Plate Tectonic events have played crucial roles to control the formation plus evolution of continental marginal basins. It is widely speculated that the basin may have been formed by underlain by continental crust before it was affected by rifting and subsequently overprinted by forearc structural setting after the initiation of subduction. For example, the evolution of the region may have been as a result of a collusion of the Eurasian and Indian plates, the northward drifting of the Australian plate as well as the westward subdution of the Pacific continental plate during the Cenozoic period as shown in figure 1 below. With regard to its crustal structure, the basement of the basin

An Evaluation At Primark Stores Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

An Evaluation At Primark Stores - Essay Example They are expected to produce and market the products and services ethically and in an environment-friendly manner, provide good working conditions for the employees, etc,. Along with these, the organisations owe their revenues to the society, and thus have to pay back a part of it by serving the community at large. All these expectations in Toto make up the Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) of a firm. It is defined as, â€Å"a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis† ((Mcnall & Hershauer, 2011) CSR is a means of ensuring the sustainability of an organization. Unless it conducts the trade morally, the malpractices and loop holes in the operations may surface at any time and become the organisations’ weakness in winning the hearts of customers. Decent working conditions attract good job-seekers and make the organization a better place for the employees, this again reflects on their loyalty. When a percentage of profits are diverted towards community development, the company appeals to the attention of larger audience and helps it build a brand image. Finally, the stress on environment is the order of the day and there is growing concern in the consumers towards using eco-friendly products. Thus, CSR is a social investment that reaps huge competitive advantage to the companies and guarantees their viability in the competitive markets (Banerjee, 2007). 2. Primark Stores Primark is a chain of 235 clothing stores spread in 7 countries including Ireland, Spain, UK, Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and Belgium. Associated British Foods (ABF) plc., is its parent company. The clothing line offered by Primark include men, women, kids and baby clothing, accessories such as shoes and home linen and upholstery. Its competitive advantage lies in presenting variety to the fashion-conscious customers at affordable rates. The factors tha t allow Primark to sell high fashion products at such low prices are Bulk-buying merchandising only the most popular sizes Stream-lining of operations their easy and unsophisticated design logic low expenses on promotion good ties with suppliers 3. Corporate Social Responsibility at Primark Primark’s CSR is aligned according to the instructions drawn out by ABF. These initiatives fall into 6 categories under the Twinings Ovaltine Strategy Model developed by ABF. The model is illustrated in figure 1. The facets of this strategy pertinent to Primark are discussed in the following sections. Figure 1: Twinings Ovaltine Strategy Model of CSR at ABF (Source: Associated British Foods url: http://www.abf.co.uk/our-decentralised-approach.aspx) 3.1. Its People The company believes that its human resources are one of its main assets. All the employees are treated equally, provided with equal opportunities in case of employment, training, promotion, etc., based on their skill and ability . The company gives due regard to their safety during work. They abide by the regulations set by national and international statutory bodies in the countries where they operate. Harassment is considered as a crime. Primark accords due respect to the cultural differences among employees, who belong to different backgrounds. Open communication among the entire workforce is encouraged. The strong whistleblowing policy guarantees that the employees abide by Primark’s code of conduct (Werther & Chandler, 2011). 3.2. Upstream and Downstream

Discussion 10 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Discussion 10 - Essay Example e a model to guide practice because of need for consistency in problem solution and possible efficiency that follows repeated application of a particular model. Consistency is necessary for reliability because models have different elements and procedures that could initiate differences in results. Identifying and relying on a single model however resolves this and allows for a basis for comparisons. Repeated application of a model also ensures competence in its application for better accurate evidence. The four models are similar in their methodology to evidence based practice in that they are structured. The Stetler model has five major steps: â€Å"preparation,† â€Å"validation,† â€Å"comparative evaluation,† â€Å"application,† and â€Å"evaluation† (Profetto-McGrath, Polit, & Beck, 2010, p. 376, 377). The IOWA model identifies such steps as recognizing triggers, evaluating priority, identification of problem, and implementation of a change (Profetto-McGrath, Polit, & Beck, 2010). Despite existence of well-defined methodologies in the models, each model has its specific procedure and this establishes the models’ differences (Profetto-McGrath, Polit, & Beck, 2010; Ackley, 2008). The models are also suitable for different areas of specialization. While the IOWA model is suitable for practice in areas with limited evidence, John Hopkins models is suitable for scientific research and Rosswurn & Larrabee model is suitable for acute care sc enarios (Rempher, 2006). In selecting a model in a setting, I would consider suitability of the model for the setting and complexity of the problem. This is because the factors are significant to successful intepratation of evidence (Profetto-McGrath, Polit, & Beck, 2010). Rempher, K. (2006). Putting theory into practice: Six steps to success. American Nurse Today. Retrieved from:

Change models Essay Example for Free

Change models Essay Scenario Planning: Supplementing Traditional Strategic Planning It is clear the rate of change in todays work environments has been aggravating with more emphasis nowadays on smaller teams, incremental and rapid delivery, faster payback, and frequent project status reporting. This acceleration has instigated uncertainty that forced organisations to start supporting their strategic planning with a longer term perspective of planning called scenario planning or scenario thinking/analysis. Scenario Read More A Simple Method to Split a WordPress Post into Multiple Pages One of the most effective ways to increase the number of page views and decrease the bounce rate of your site is by splitting your long posts into several pages. In the first part of the article, you will learn in 2 steps how to split a post in WordPress using the codex function wp_link_pages() and the tag. In the second Read More Boosting Your WordPress Sites Performance By Enabling GZIP Compression Ever heard of GZIP? It is a simple software application that compresses/decompresses files based on an algorithm named DEFLATE. It works by finding similar strings in a text file and replacing them temporarily to make the overall file size smaller which would drastically improve the performance of your website. The algorithm perfectly works with CSS and HTML filetypes which typically Read More Improving Quality of Project Estimation It is clear that estimating a project is important for the project manager to determine how long the project would take, to figure out how much the project would cost, to decide whether the project is worth doing, to measure variances against the baseline plan, and to take corrective actions. However some project managers nowadays tend to put minimum effort Read More Avoiding Common Pitfalls of High Performance Project Teams Previously in one of my earlier articles, I discussed the key qualities required for a project manager to be effective in building a high performance project team. Believe it or not, though high performance project teams can produce incredible outcomes, there still remain some serious pitfalls that project managers need to be aware of in order not to fall victims Read More Contract Management Must-Knows For Project Managers Contract management constitutes a major component of a project procurement system. Most work done nowadays on projects involves dealing with contracts or has a contractual nature. Although some companies have purchasing departments that specialize in procurement, one of the basic knowledge and skills of a project manager is to be able to read and manage contracts. This post basically discusses Read More Understanding And Managing Your Boss The idea of â€Å"managing your boss† may sound quite unusual for some managers, considering the widespread adoption of the traditional top down management  approach in most organizations. Even though talented and aggressive managers nowadays carefully control and administer their subordinates, services, and products, they might reveal, on the other hand, a passive stand with their bosses (Gabarro and Kotter 1993). Read More Changes in Project Management Processes Between PMBOK 4 And PMBOK 5 This post presents a tabulated summary of diff erences in the names, inputs, tools, and outputs of project management processes between PMBOK 4 and PMBOK 5. Note that terms in Red which exist in PMBOK 4 have been removed or replaced in PMBOK 5, terms in Blue have been newly added into PMBOK 5, and terms in Black have not Read More Critical Analysis of Porters Five Forces Model Information Technology (IT) Industry In order to appropriately formulate their corporate strategies and distinctively compete in the market, organizations are in a need for a framework that would help them in understanding industry structure and in overcoming rivalry. This essay aims at discussing, analyzing, and criticizing Porter’s Five Forces model using a wide variety of academic literature. The first part introduces the model, discusses Read More Key Qualities For An Effective Project Manager This post describes key qualities needed for an effective project manager. It discusses the differences between leading and managing a project, explains the importance of managing stakeholders, describes how to gain influence by reciprocity, stresses on the significance of leading by example and managing by wandering around (MBWA), explores how to deal with the contradictory nature of work, and finally Read More 12345678910 Home ; Change Management ; Change Management Diagnostic Models – Case Study â€Å"Jamie’s Food Revolution† Change Management Diagnostic Models – Case Study â€Å"Jamie’s Food Revolution† April 14th, 2012 Leave a comment Go to comments This essay presents three different diagnostic models that serve as a change management guidance for organizations by helping them in considering what factors are important for this change and how these factors are interrelated together (Nadler and Tushman 1980). The main purpose of these models is to help in reducing the complexity of the change situation by identifying what change variables require attention by the organization, what sequence of activities to adopt in dealing with the change situation, and how the various organizational properties are interconnected (Ian Palmer 2009). The essay compares and contrasts Burke-Litwin, Six-Box Weisbord, and Congruence models, pinpoints their strengths and weaknesses, and then applies one of these models to the case study â€Å"Jamie’s Food Revolution†. The first organizational and causal model to be discussed is the Burke-Litwin model. The strength of this model lies on the fact that it consists of twelve key variables, at three different organizational levels (external environment, leadership, strategy, and culture at the total system level; structure, management practices, systems and climate at the group or work unit level; and tasks, motivation, needs, and values at the individual level)(Burke and Litwin 1992). The variables on the top have a stronger influence on systems than the bottom variables (Leadersphere 2008). The model is based on an open systems principle whereby it considers the external environment as an input and the organization performance as output with a bidirectional feedback between them (Jackie Alexander Di 2002). What makes this model unique is that it houses almost all of the variables considered in the 7-S, Six-Box Weisbord and Congruence models (Burke and Litwin 1992) and it also stresses on the point that changes can lead to transformational organization-wide (leadership, strategy, and mission) as well as internal transactional (management, structure, system, individual needs, tasks) dynamics which altogether affect individual and organization performance (Jackie Alexander Di 2002). Burke and Jackson (1991) demonstrated the scenario of a successful merge between two companies, SmithKline and Beecham, which concentrated on establishing a unique culture with a loose-tight behavioral leadership, and on adopting a customized Burke-Litwin model to increase its performance. This model however may impose some complexity in its usage. Dana (2004), in her study to apply this model to a quality management system, has limited her research to specific variables for this model because of the big amount of information required to be gathered on each variable. Also, a quantitative study done by Jackie Alexander Di (2002) on the model’s variables failed to reveal the hidden communication variable, which shows that this model may not foresee all organizational problems. The second model to be discussed is the one developed by David Nadler and Michael Tushman, the Congruence model. Like the Burke-Litwin model, the pragmatic Congruence model is based on the open system’s principle (input environment, transformation, output)(Nadler 1982) and deals with the organization as a whole dynamic and social system where the purpose lies in realizing the state of congruence among the various subparts or components of the organization (Nadler and Tushman 1980). The measure of organizational effectiveness depends on the total degree of congruence as a normative approach to ensure fit among these components (Hatton and Raymond 1994). Nevertheless adopting this model is dynamic (should be changed with time) and poses a lot of challenges including the management of political dynamics, the anxiety created by the change, and the control of the transition state (Nadler and Tushman 1989). Additionally, it requires special care to ensure appropriate fit between strategy and environmental conditions, as well as among the four organizational components (work, people, formal structures and process, and informal structures and processes). Burke ; Litwin (1992) state that the number of items to be matched for congruence is great and the Congruence model fails to provide a mechanism for determining which of these items are important and what level of congruence yields desirable results. For further help, several studies have presented major efforts to discuss strategies to attain the maximum congruence. Hatton and Raymond (1994) concluded with several postulates that describe how congruence can be achieved by interrelating together specific dimensions of these key variables (environment, strategy, technology, task, structure, and individual). Also, Nadler and Tushman (1989), in their view of organizations as political systems, posit that there is no general way for dealing with change. They stressed that managers should understand these political dynamics of change by diagnosing the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, developing a clear vision, creating energy within teams, and possessing active leadership, thus achieving the congruence between strategy and environmental conditions, as well as among the four organizational components.

Impact of Nitrogen on Carbon Stocks

Impact of Nitrogen on Carbon Stocks 2. Literature Review: This chapter will provide an overview of; the scientific basis behind why adding nitrogen will cause an increase in carbon stocks, the impacts of nitrogen deposition on tree carbon stocks documented in the current literature, the impacts of nitrogen deposition on soil carbon stocks documented in the current literature and information more specifically targeted at the UK and the South Downs. 2.1. The global nitrogen cycle The nitrogen cycle is strongly coupled with the carbon cycle, this dependence on one another and key feedbacks is illustrated in figure 2. 1. If the availability of one of these elements changes it will affect the biochemical cycle of the other element and eventually the functioning of the entire ecosystem (Gruber Galloway, 2008). Reactive nitrogen (Nr) is a requirement for the growth of plants and soil microorganisms, the processes of both play key roles in the global carbon cycle. The rise in anthropogenic CO2 has been observed to increase plant photosynthesis and therefore plant growth and carbon storage (Oren et al., 2001). This growth however can be limited by the levels of Nr available in soils (Vitousek and Howarth, 1991), hence in Nr poor ecosystems the potential carbon sink could be limited. In some regions it is conceivable that anthropogenic production of Nr could provide the nutrients necessary to reduce limitations on plant growth (Ciais et al., 1995). Prior to the industrial revolution reactive nitrogen, any form of nitrogen species other than N2, was only made available to the terrestrial ecosystem by natural processes, such as biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and lightening, since industrialisation a number of sources of Nr have become much more significant (Figure 2.2). BNF allows the terrestrial ecosystem to acquire essential nitrogen compounds a through a series of reactions that convert N2 into ammonia (Ciais et al., 2013). Initially there was an equilibrium between the input of Nr to the ecosystem and its loss through the process of denitrification, however since industrialisation this equilibrium no longer exists. Humans produce a quantity of Nr that is much greater than that produced naturally in ecosystems. This Nr is produced by humans in a number of wa ys: 1) it is produced industrially by the Haber-Bosch process, producing NH3 as a fertiliser for crops, this nitrogen is then spread through run off and emission into the atmosphere; 2) the growth of crops such as legumes that are associated with mycorrhizal fungi and higher levels of BNF (Hayman, 1986); and 3) the combustion of fossil fuels which converts N2 and fossil fuel nitrogen into nitrous oxides (NOx) which are emitted into the atmosphere and then deposited on terrestrial ecosystems and the ocean (Ciais et al., 2013). This undeniable evidence of the anthropogenic perturbation of the nitrogen cycle and the close relationship between the nitrogen cycle and the carbon cycle highlights the need to understand how additions of nitrogen will interact with the carbon cycle, and in what way this will impact carbon sinks and therefore feedback to the climate. The increased supply of Nr can be expected to increase terrestrial CO2 uptake by increasing NPP (net primary productivity) (chapter 2.2.1) or reducing the rate of organic matter breakdown (chapter 2.2.2). It must be noted however that additions of Nr will not exclusively increase CO2 uptake by the terrestrial biosphere: negative direction (in situations where it accelerates organic matter breakdown)-> ) O3 formed in the troposphere as a result of NOx and volatile organic compound emissions reduces plant productivity, and therefore reduces CO2 uptake from the atmosphere. On the global scale the net influence of the direct and indirect contributions of Nr on the radiative balance was estimated to be –0.24 W m–2 (with an uncertainty range of +0.2 to –0.5 W m–2)(Erisman et al., 2011). The balance between the directions will determine the potential. 2.2.1 Forest Carbon Uptake- Trees Various studies have assessed the possible impact of increased nitrogen on tree carbon stock and a variety of methods have been employed. One approach involves assessing the relationship between the spatial trends of carbon uptake, found by study of forest growth or net ecosystem production (NEP), and nitrogen deposition. In their 2007 study Magnani et al. employed a variation of this technique. Carbon stocks and their fluxes were measured in 5 representative chronosequences in Europe. In addition data from the literature, from a further 13 chronosequences and two uneven aged stands were used. Estimates of wet deposition of nitrogen were calculated from various data sets. The relationship between wet nitrogen deposition and NEP was then analysed graphically and statistically. Studies of the influence of nitrogen deposition at stand level have also been carried out, one example of this is a study by Solberg et al. (2009). The impact of nitrogen deposition was evaluated by using deposi tion values from the growth period (1993-2000). These values were then correlated with the values for relative volume which was calculated as actual increment in % of expected increment. In their study Magnani et al. (2007) found a strong relationship between C sequestration and wet N-deposition (Figure 2.3d) with an R2 value of 0.97. Though they found this relationship was largely obscured by age effects when individual stands were considered. Solberg et at. (2009) found that nitrogen deposition had a fertilising effect of slightly higher than 1% increase in volume increment per kg N ha-1 yr-1. The results of these papers can be converted into nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUE) in order to make them comparable, where NUE is the response of carbon sequestration to nitrogen deposition in kg C/kg N (de Vries et al., 2009). Thus it was calculated that Magnani et al. (2007) found an NUEeco value of approximately 475 kg C/ kg N (de Vries et al., 2009). Sutton et al. (2008) found this value to be unlikely and tested the data against more appropriate N-depostion values for the period suggested and produced results calculated by de Vries et al. (2009) to be between 91 and 177 kg/C/N. The NUE value for trees in the study by Solberg et al. (2009) were calculated to be equivalent to 19-38 kg C/ kg N. Another important area of research in this field is the evaluation of C-N stoichiometry of ecosystem compartments because it strongly influences the potential for carbon fixation to respond to nitrogen deposition (de Vries et al., 2009). Nitrogen entering the ecosystem can be traced by applying isotopically labelled nitrogen (15N) to the forest floor and tracking its movement. Melin et al. (1983) applied this techniques in nitrogen-limited Scots pine stand in Sweden, to study the distribution and recovery of the labelled fertiliser. The application rate was 100kg of ammonium nitrate-N/ha. Nadelhoffer et al. (1999) carried out similar 15N tracer experiments in nine temperate forests for three years. Further to this de Vries et al. (2006) used the same methodology as Nadelhoffer et al. (1999) at over 6000 level I plots (From a large-scale forest condition monitoring scheme based on a 16 x 16 km gridnet across Europe). Site specific soil C/N ratios were utilised and the assumption of an increase of upto 0.1 of N retention fractions in stem wood that are influenced by N deposition. Melin et al. (1983) reported a value of between 12 and 28% of nitrogen applied recovered in trees. De Vries et al. (2009) used the C/N ratio of 500 for stem wood estimated by Nadelhoffer et al.(1999) to calculate a NUEtree of 30-70 kg C/kg N. A NUEtree of 25 kg C/kg N was calculated in the same way for the results presented by Nadelhoffer et al. (1999) which showed 5% of nitrogen applied to be recovered in woody biomass. The results of direct fertilisation experiment methodologies are important to consider for this research paper, low doses of N fertiliser are applied to selected sites for a long-term (8-30 years) study. Hyvonen et al. (2008) ran experiments in Sweden and Finland in Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris stands. 15 sites were selected for long-term experimentation that ranged from 14 to 30 years. Low (30-50 kg N ha-1 yr-1) or high (50-200 kg N ha-1) doses of N-fertiliser either alone or in combination with other nutrients were applied to plots no smaller than 30 x 30 m. Diameter at breast height (DBH), number of trees ha-1 and tree height (when available) at each plot on each occasion of measurement were utilised to calculate biomass. The amount of carbon at each site was estimated to be 0.5 of the biomass. Changes in the C-pool was calculated for each site and the effect of N-fertilisation was calculated as the difference between the fertilised plots and the control plots. Pregitzer et al . (2007) applied 30 kg N ha-1 yr-1 from 1994 to 2004 to four different hardwood forests in Michigan. Tree growth was measured yearly and compared with control sites. Hogberg et al. (2006) ran a 30 year experiment in unpolluted boreal forest. N fertiliser (ammonium nitrate) was applied to replicated (N=3) 0.09 ha plots. 3 doses were prescribed, 34, 68 and 108 kg N ha-1 yr-1. The highest level of application was cancelled after 20 years to allow recovery to be assessed in the subsequent decade. Hyvonen et al. (2008) presented their results as kg C/kg N and so no further calculations were necessary. They found that for the low dose application of N NUEtree was 25 kg C/kg N whereas for high dose it was 11 kg C/kg N. NPK addition produced values of 38 and 11 kg C/kg N for low and high doses respectively. Pregitzer at al. (2007) found an increase of 5000 kg C ha-1 in woody biomass, with a total application of N of 300 kg N ha-1 for the whole study period this equates to 17 kg C/kg N (de Vries et al, 2009). Hogberg et al. (2006) found an initial increase in tree growth at all doses of nitrogen treatment. However in the long-term the impact of fertilisation was found to be highly rate dependant. The high dose showed no gain, medium dose gave an increase of 50 m3 ha-1 and low dose a growth increase of 100 m3 ha-1 as compared to the control. In order to calculate NUEtree de Vries (2009) assumed a wood density of 500 kg m-3 and C content at 50% to calculate a net C gain of 25, 000 k g C the total N input was also calculated and net C gain was divided by this value to give 25 kg C/kg N for the lowest levels of N application. Model simulations have been used extensively in the literature. Levy et al. (2004) used three models (CENTURY, BCG and Hybrid) that employ a Monte Carlo approach, utilising conceptual algorithms that depend on repeated random sampling to obtain numerical results. The models were applied to a coniferous forest in Sweden for a 100 year period. Simulated nitrogen deposition levels were from data by Schulze (2000) the current ambient nitrogen deposition of 12 kg N ha-1 year-1 or 10 Ãâ€" current ambient nitrogen deposition, 120 kg N ha-1 year-1. Sutton et al. (2008) used the same inputs as Levy et al. (2004) but calculated a smaller value of total N-deposition (6-26 kg N ha-1 yr-1). Milne and Van Oijen (2005) used a complex forest growth model (EFM) directly parameterised to 22 specific sites selected across Europe, because growing conditions such as soil nitrogen levels were available for the sites. Model simulations were run for an 80 year period, control runs maintained N-deposition v alues at their 1920 levels whereas environmental change scenarios ran observed values of change averaging 10.5  ± 5.2 kg N ha-1 yr-1 for the whole period.