The Big Weight Dilemma Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Big Weight Dilemma - Term Paper Example A person is considered obese when the BMI measurement is 30 or more (Solomon, Berg and Martin, 2004, p. 892). Obesity is an acute case of malnutrition. And that it occurs when there is an increase in the size of fat cells or when there is an increase in the number of fat cells, or both. (Salomon, Berg and Martin, p. 892) There are numerous scholarly work and medical research that explain the causes and dynamics behind the problem. For instance, some studies suggest how obesity can be genetically inherited. However, the most widely recognized cause is primarily overeating and the sheer amount of fatty food intake that accumulates during childhood and in many cases until the adult life. There are also experts who point to the role played by social and lifestyle factors because of the patterns of food consumption and the physical activity level prevalent in a particular society. (Mooney, Knox and Schacht, 2010, p. 41). This is the reason why obesity is most pronounced in affluent countr ies. In lower income countries, the incidence of obesity is concentrated in urban areas and in people belonging to higher class (UK 2004, p. 48). Health Risk Obesity is a health problem and it is a cause of concern. This is because this health condition increases the risk for several illnesses such as diabetes, several types of cancer, heart disease, hypertension, arthritis, asthma and other health problems. The World Health Organization reported that it is included in the top 19 health problems and that it contributes to about 300,000 deaths annually in the United States alone (Salomon, Berg and Martin, p. 892). A recent study suggested that obesity will shorten the average life expectancy of people by at least two to five years over the next fifty years, reversing the mostly steady increase in life expectancy that has occurred over the past two centuries (Money, Knox and Schacht, p. 40). Now these are disturbing because statistics depict an increasing trend in America. The latest figures released by the government show that more than 66 percent of American adults age 20 and older are overweight and 32 percent are obese (Hoeger and Hoeger, 2009, p. 149). From 2007 to 2008, it was revealed that at least 17 percent of the US children and adolescents are obese, which is roughly 12.5 million: 10.4 percent of 2-5 year-olds, 19.6 percent of 6-11 year-olds and 18.1 of 12-19 year-olds (O’Dea and Eriksen, 2010, p. 86). In addition to the health risk factors, obesity can also take its toll on the healthcare spending in the United States. By 2018, it is estimated that the medical cost associated with obesity will rise to about $344 billion or about 22 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States. This variable is particularly important especially that the overall cost of health care today is increasingly becoming less accessible to people. Conclusion Having, clearly identified the cause for the high incidence of obesity in America, one could say tha t it is easy to design interventions and solutions in order to deal with the problem. However, experts do not see the trend getting reversed anytime soon. I thin this is because solutions entail lifestyle changes, which is difficult for people to undertake. Also, obesity is widely seen as merely an indirect precursor to many health problems that is why people are taking

Nutrition - Ask and Answer - Characteristics of Life Essay

Nutrition - Ask and Answer - Characteristics of Life - Essay Example The following hypotheses were formulated: First, simple obesity among children is affected by the following environmental factors: educational levels of parents, familial inclination to obesity, and other health patterns. Secondly, a diet with low energy component and low glycemic index results into body mass loss. Thirdly, dietary treatment will involve change in the body mass, reduction in skin thickness and adipose folds, scapula, BMI, body fat content and waist hip ratio. Lastly, administration of dietary treatment will affect biochemical indicators like lipid profiles (Rozwoj, 2006). A sample size of 236 children with known simple obesity from Mazowsze region was used. The research was carried out by Gastroentorogical and Endocrinological Unit of the Institute of Mother and Child for10 weeks. Nutritional state was analyzed on the principle of investigating. Eight essential features and five anthropometric parameters were used besides common biochemical indicators for carbohydrate and fat metabolism. Evaluation was done prior to and after the commencement of the study. Studies were carried out on nutrition that comprised eating habits, composition of food, and the constituent nutritional content of food given daily covering a period of 10-14 for every child prior to the dietary treatment and 3 random days after. Collection of data on environmental factors was administered by a questionnaire (Rozwoj, 2006). It was found that environmental factors constituted major risk to obesity. A relationship was established between a normalized BMI z-score with respect to environmental factors which included paternal obesity (Chi (2) test with p-value less than 0.05). Also a positive correlation was found between relative BMI z-score and the anthropometrical factors. No distortions in carbohydrate metabolism were established except for fats (Rozwoj, 2006). The dietary treatment contained

Factors Influencing Decisions to Undertake Financial Savings

Factors Influencing Decisions to Undertake Financial Savings Background Information The concept of saving does not provide itself to a concise definition leading to diverse definitions put forward by various researchers and economists in the economic literature. In the macroeconomics literature, it is considered as disposal income less consumption. Issahaku (2011) contended that saving goes beyond the proportion of disposable income that is not spent and that, spending on durable goods such as furniture, home accessories, appliances, computer, equipment and accessories, automobiles among others are ways of saving too. Andrea and Francisco (1998) also pointed out that investment in human capital such as medical products, apparatus and equipment, professional health services, health insurance and so forth are forms of saving. Nonetheless, the short coming of this view is that it conceals the clear distinction between expenditure and saving because several of the human capital components mentioned are more or less current expenditure items. This study seeks to consider saving as deposits in savings accounts which are done with banks, microfinance institutions, susu groups and other saving avenues (Schultz, 2005). This definition is in line with the definition put forth by the 2013/2014 Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS 6) report as the setting aside of unspent income in a bank or a non-bank financial institution or in other forms of arrangement such as pension plans and some insurance products. The reason for this definition is that, it is through these saving window that financial institutions get to increase their credit standing and promote investment. Notwithstanding the lack of a common definition for the concept saving, it is an important macroeconomic variable to be studied under the purview of the economic arena of an individual as well as household level. Saving according classical economist like Adam Smith, David Ricardo and J.S. Mill is an important determinant of economic growth. For the individual or household, savings serves as a cushion against future unforeseen and uncertain circumstances of life while for a country’s economy as a whole, it leads to higher economic growth. For Rao (1980), saving constitute the basis for capital formation and capital formation constitute a major determinant of economic growth. Unlike developed economies where income is generated at a higher rate which encourages more saving thereby translating into more capital formation, developing economies like that of Ghana where income standard is almost uncertain coupled with low rate of financial inclusion of the various sectors of the eco nomy, it will be appropriate to pay more attention to the patterns and determinants of saving in the economy. On average East Asia saves more than 30 percent of gross national disposable income (GNDI) while Sub-Saharan Africa saves less than 15 percent. Regional differences have been rising: over the past three decades, saving rates have doubled in East Asia and stagnated in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Latin America and the Caribbean (Loayza et al., 2000). By a hike in aggregate saving, the social value of saving can exceed its private value in many developing countries. National savings of every economy can be broadly categorized into three saving type namely the household sector saving, private sector saving and finally the private sector saving. Public savings is the saving done by government such as state, local and federal government while private savings is the saving done by corporate business, institutions and organisations. Household sector savings is the saving done by families and individuals. Among these three savings type, the household sector savings is said to contribute a larger share to the total domestic savings of the economy (Rehman et al., 2011). Household sector savings is of utmost importance to the capital formation of every economy in that, the sector engages in substantial financial and non-financial investment and make possible both private and public investment by transferring accumulated savings. The Ghanaian household sector savings is made up of savings from urban households and that of rural households. Rural household sector is vital to the Ghanaian economy not only because of its potential in generating employment and income, rather, because of the limit set by this sector to the growth of some other sectors. Hence the growth of the aggregate economy is enormously dependent on the amount of savings emanating from this sector and how they are transferred into the hands of the enterprising investors. Ghana’s quest to mobilizing enough domestic resource through financial savings for capital formation which will eventually manifest itself in economic growth is believed to have begun when the country embarked on a comprehensive financial sector reform. Preceding this era, the country’s financial system was shallow , fragmented and almost at the verge of collapsing as a result of excessive state control and weak institutional framework leading to lower rate of financial savings. Many were the significant strides made in the economy during the reform which was mainly driven by liberalization policies such as interest rate deregulation and credit allocation, improved regulatory and supervisory frameworks especially in the financial sector. All these were geared towards enhancing banking intermediation that would improve financial savings mobilization. Despite these significant strides made, it is worth noting that most of the expansions in the financial sector were only c oncentrated in the urban areas at the expense of the rural societies (Osei-Assibey and Baah-Boateng, 2012). In recent times, the economy has witness a considerable increase in the number of both foreign and local financial institutions with the licenced Micro Finance Institutions leading with a total of 409 as at July 2014. Rural/Community Banks follows with 137 and finally, 58 Non-Bank Financial Institutions. (Data source: Bank of Ghana Website). Despite these significant increase in the number of financial institutions, the 2005/2006 and 2013/2014 Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 5 and 6) reports have revealed that rural areas have higher percentages(78% and 78.5%) of households that do not owns a bank account or undertake financial savings as compared to that of urban households( 61% and 53.6%) respectively. This leaves us with mind boggling questions such as; what factors at all are responsible for these high percentages of rural households without savings account? What are the factors that influences the decision by rural households/individuals to hold bank account or undertake fin ancial savings? Do the operations of financial intuitions actually play a role in influencing the decision by rural households to hold bank accounts or/undertake financial savings? These questions and many other more are begging for answers. It is against this backdrop that the study seeks to investigate the factors that determines the decision by Ghanaian rural households to undertake financial savings or hold bank account. The hypothesis to be tested is whether operations of financial institutions actually play a significant role in the decision-to- save by rural households in Ghana. For the purpose of this study, it must be emphasized that â€Å"saving† refers to an individual having a bank account or is financially contributing to a loan/savings scheme in any of the financial institutions (i.e. banks, microfinance institutions, susu groups and other saving avenues). Problem Statement: It is now widely understood that saving has great potential impact. This insight is grounded in evidence that the poor do save in cash and in-kind—whether as a way to build assets, manage household cash flow, or effectively cope with risk. However, much of their savings remain informal and outside of the financial system (The SEEP Network 2013). Savings makes it possible for combating or meeting any emergency accrued by the individuals or the households or any corporate agencies. Saving is more often meant for meeting contingencies but sometimes it also acts as a form of investment. People are sometimes not inclined towards saving and the very reason for this, is the lack of awareness. Given the proliferation of financial intuitions (both locally and foreign owned) in recent times, one will expect that the percentage of households (particularly rural households) that undertake financial saving or/ holds bank account will be higher or at least match the increase in the number of financial institutions. Rather, the opposite is what is being observed. According to the 2005/2006 and 2013/2014 Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 5 and 6) reports, rural areas have higher percentages(78% and 78.5%) of households that do not owns a bank account or undertake financial savings as against that of urban households(61% and 53.6%). This reflects a worrying phenomenon and leaves us with mind boggling question such as; what factors are accounting for these high percentages of rural households without savings account? What are the factors that influences the decision by rural households to hold bank account or/undertake financial savings? Do the operations of financial intuitions a ctually play a role in influencing the decision by rural households to hold bank account or/undertake financial savings? This is where the study becomes relevant in providing answers to the above mentioned mind boggling questions. Aggregate saving in any economy is dependent on a number of variables. For effective economic planning, the planners should have an idea regarding the capacity of saving of different groups of people and the method by which saving can be improved. To advocate for financial saving, there is a need to know about the saving motives of the individuals. An understanding of the saving preferences also helps in calculating the saving instruments which can efficiently arouse saving. Objectives of the Study: The study seeks to investigate the factors influencing the decision to undertake financial saving in rural Ghana. 1.3.1 Specific objectives: The above objective of the study will be achieved by; Analysing rural households’ attitude towards financial savings Examining whether the operations of financial institutions such as proximity to financial institution and the extent of flexibility in opening accounts significantly play a role in influencing the decision by rural households to save. Research Questions: Some of the questions that this study is seeking to answer are; What are the factors that influence the decision by rural households to undertake financial saving or/ hold bank accounts? Among the factors, which of them significantly influence the decision-to-save? Do the operations of financial institutions such proximity to financial institution and the extent of flexibility in opening accounts have significant bearing on the decision by rural dwellers to save? Significance/Justification of the Study: Recounting the saving potential of rural households, Meyer (1985) provided some reasons in support of the saving potentials of rural households and these are; 1) rural households save automatically between harvests, and/or sell a portion of their crops to pay off debts or to expand consumption; 2) rural households are heterogeneous rich and poor; rich households can always save over long and/or short periods while poor households can save only over short periods; and 3) more modern farming methods allow farmers to increase income and, therefore, savings. It appears the intervention measures (such as interest rate deregulation and the liberalization of financial sector) which has resulted in the upspring of a number of financial institutions and establishment of Rural/Community Banks put forward by Ghana to take the maximum advantage of the saving potentials of the rural households is not yielding its intended objectives as indicated by the 2005/2006 and 2013/2014 Ghana Living Standa rd Survey (5 and 6) reports. It is just appropriate that more time and resources are spent in studying and paying more attention to the savings decisions of rural households so as to take advantage of their saving potential if the objective of mobilizing enough financial resources for capital formation is to be achieved as a country. This is what the study stands to furnish us with. Also, many are the studies that have been found in the literature to exist on saving prior to (Mills and Ricardo 1884) through Harrod and Domar’s postulation about the essence of savings on economic growth to date. These studies rather focus on the determinants of the amount or rate of savings (Issahaku, 2011; Alma and Richard, 1988), macro level analysis (Gupta, 1970; Khan et al., 1992 😉 and description of savings behaviours using descriptive statistics (Komla, 2012) leaving out the quantitative analysis as gap in the literature. In the Ghanaian context, studies done on the determinants of saving of rural households using a micro level approach have mostly been skewed toward a specific rural area, on gender basis or a group of rural areas in Ghana such as Issahaku, (2011); Munin et al. (2013); Komla, (2012), Oduro et al. (2012 ) etc. This study takes a micro level approach and a nationwide analyses of the determinants of financial saving decision of rural households i n Ghana by employing quantitative and descriptive statistics. This study again gives an insight into the correlation between the decision to save by individuals in the rural areas and the operations of financial institutions. Financial institutions such as banks and other non-bank financial institutions also stand to benefit from the findings of this research as the findings will make them aware of opportunities to provide rural communities in the Ghana with accessible savings outlets which will enable these businesses to make profit. Finally, the current study will add to the existing literatures on financial savings and shall be a reference material for future study. Methodology: The study is focused on using secondary data from the Ghana Statistical Services on the Ghana Living Standard Survey 6(GLSS 6). This is because it captures well most of the variables of interest such as age, marital status, educational status of household heads family size, income dependency rate etc. The study takes a look at two analysis i.e. descriptive analysis and quantitative analysis. The quantitative analysis takes a look at the determinants of the decision to hold bank account/undertake financial savings by rural households (being binary in nature) with the other independent variables carried out by adopting the model employed by Munin et al (2013) with some modifications. Organization of Study: The study is organized into six chapters including the present one. The second chapter of the study covers an overview of financial saving in general, the importance of rural financial savings to an economy especially the economy of Ghana etc. The third chapter includes related theories of saving, views on the savings potentials of rural households and studies conducted on the saving behaviour both rural and urban households in Ghana and other countries . The fourth chapter presents the methods used in this study and the source of the data used. The fifth chapter includes the empirical estimation and discussion of the results generated. The sixth and last chapter includes the summary, recommendations and conclusion.

Military Essay -- Department of Defense, ASVAB

According to the DOD, (2011) the department of defense doesn’t allow any third party anything in association with the military or any of it’s governmental functioning counter parts ala... national guards, reserves, commission corpse, naval reserves , marines reserves etc†¦ DODD rule 8750 insures that all military servicemen must be certified in their prospective fields and be proficient in their MOS field after boot camp and AIT. (DoDD, 2011) To become a soldier one must first visit a local recruiting office; there a person may engage in talks with a recruiter, the recruiter’s main job is to help assess the civilian enquires about their military desires, the recruiter must talk to a recruit and his legal guardian or parents as no one under 18 can’t make decisions for themselves without their parents/ guardians permission. The recruiter then will start the process, one of the recruiter’s first assignments is to get the civilian ASVAB scores from their local high school or if the recruit is from out of town they can be retested on the ASVAB. The ASVAB stands for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test and it accesses a recruit’s probability for enlistment, military job placement and career exploration after the military. ASVAB scoring is based on (IRT) Item Response Theory, this model is used because it measures the examinee’s ability to be placed on the same scale as everyone else and each test is tailored to a specific ability level needed when the examinee picks their military job. The IRT model uses the (3pl) in which measures a examinee’s level of ability to respond to a individual item or characteristics, especially those characteristics that represents difficulty, discrimination (How an item discriminates among ex... ...any part of the (PRT) they’ll be giving more intense exercises to perform this is to increase their stamina, and get them ready for the next phase of Army training as each phase last 3 weeks and get’s more intense until the last phase. Boot Camp Continued, The 2nd phase of boot camps consists of recruits performing tactical foot marches, learning basic rifleman marksmanship, field training exercises and engaging in skills and situational training exercises as well as the confidence obstacle course. Recruits at this point are being drilled daily on the rank & insignia badges as well as their chain of command from their drill instructor to the President of the United States; and they still have to pass (PRT) for phase II and with only 3 weeks left any recruit that fails has to devote their own free time into running and training to pass the final PRT in phase 3.

Formal Lab Report

Douglas Mitchell Biology 111 Laboratory Report 18 FEB 2013 The Scientific Method Introduction In life, both human and animal, reaction time can mean the difference between life and death. Reaction time is defined as â€Å"the time it takes to react to a stimuli (Norman, 2011). † In humans, hand dominance (left-handed vs. right-handed) can further impact this reaction time. In this case a simple study of reaction time and hand dominance is being used to illustrate the practical application of the scientific method in the laboratory. ObservationHuman reaction times vary person to person and often increase with age. This change in reaction time can have little impact on a person’s daily life, such as when answering a ringing telephone. But this change can also have a dramatic impact when driving, working in dangerous environments, and negotiating busy streets and sidewalks. Literature Search â€Å"Reaction time has been used as a psychological test since the mid-19th cent ury (Deary, 1). † Several studies have been conducted dealing with reaction time and the factors that can affect it.In their study titled â€Å"Validation of reaction time as a measure of cognitive function and quality of life in healthy subjects and patients†, Jakobsen, Sorensen, et al studied and reported findings regarding diminished reaction times and the effect that poor health had on those times. Findings were conclusive that the healthier the individual, the better their responses. Hypothesis Individual’s reaction time with their dominant hand is faster than those with their non-dominant hand. Conversely, there may be no statistically valid difference in the reaction time from one hand to the other. ExperimentTo test the variance in reaction time from dominant hand to non-dominant hand we set up an experiment using a simple reaction time test found in the free marketplace on an Android telephone. This application required the user to touch one of four colo red stars that match the color of an identified star in the upper right hand corner. The subject was asked to repeat this response 20 times and the total time was scored as the reaction time. If a subject made an incorrect â€Å"touch† then their time would continue until the correctly touched 20 stars. The subject would then be ask to repeat this test with their non-dominant hand.To standardize the testing instructions were provided by my team mates and it was decided that the subject would place the device on a flat surface in front of them and use the index finger on first their dominant hand and then their non-dominant hand. Data was collected for 30 random subjects and analysis performed. Data Analysis Data collected from the 30 random subjects was input and the following summary statistics were produced. Dominant Hand Mean Reaction Time (D)| | | 18. 865 sec. | Median Reaction Time (D)| | | 17. 264 sec. | Variance (D)| | | 28. 235 sec. | Standard Deviation (D)| | | 5. 31 4 sec. | Non-dominant HandMean Reaction Time (N)| | | 17. 734 sec. | Median Reaction Time (N)| | 16. 412 sec. | Variance (N)| | | 16. 130 sec. | Standard Deviation (N)| | | 4. 016 sec. | The graphs below illustrate the mean for each hand as well as error with in plus or minus one standard deviation. Conclusion After conducting this experiment and reviewing the data, a few things became clear. One is that age of the subject had a significant impact on results with both hands. This is presumed to be the result of the interaction with a new technology. Younger subjects seemed to grasp the concept of what they were expected to do more quickly.Second, in this case, familiarity did not breed contempt, but it did breed faster reaction times. As subjects became more comfortable with the application they were using, their response times decreased. The later of these two factors had a more global effect on our outcomes, thus disproving our hypothesis in this case. I do not believe these resul ts to be conclusive or authoritative and simply put, more research is needed. References Deary, I. J. , Liewald, D. & Nissan, J. (2011) A free, easy-to-use, computer-based simple and four-choice reaction time programme: The dearly-liewald reaction time task.Behavior Research Methods (Online), 43(1), 258-268. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/920259801? accountid=39001 Jakobsen, L. H. , Sorensen, J. M. , Rask, I. K. , Jensen, B. S. , & Kondrup, J. (2011). Validation of reaction time as a measure of cognitive function and quality of life in healthy subjects and patients. Nutrition, 27(5), 561-570. Doi: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1016/j. nut. 2010. 08. 003 Norman, Celia (2011). General Biology 111: Laboratory Manual. Denver, CO: Department of Biology, Arapahoe Community College.

Meaning to Human Life Essay

Is there any meaning to human life? After listening to the first two lectures I gathered what I felt to be Professor Amrbosio’s definitions of the hero and the saint. I took notes and after going back through and reading them it helped me to put a few things together. He asks the question about whether or not human existence is meaningful or absurd. We live in a hostile and deadly environment so we try to find our purpose and meaning so we have some sense of security. It is a defense mechanism. Why is there so much evil in this world? We have the good and the bad. The good being our loving parents and the soldiers who put their lives at risk to defend our freedom and our lives. But then you have the bad and the evil such as the homeless people and the terrorist attacks and the holocaust. It is unfair how there are so many people with nothing and living on the streets when there are just as many people who have much more then they need to survive. The hero and the saint represent traits that can and will be inherited and passed on across different cultures and over time. The hero and the saint are metaphors that humans have used to search for the meaning of life. With the hero, reality is formed and driven by the struggle of humans. They believe in honor and self-esteem along with self-fulfillment and admiration. They always run up against bad things and they believe the good guys will come in last. The Saint believes that reality is made up of our personal and loving relationships. These relationships are based around unconditional trust. They feel like humans really have no goal but they have a purpose. Love and gratitude define them. Some people say life is a wrong turn and it’s down a dead end street. Saints and heroes show us ways we can share and participate in living every day and still asking our questions about life. The best we can do is to live the most meaningful life. Make every day count and always tell the ones you love how much you love them because you never know when it could be the last time that you are able to tell them. Sometimes you just have to trust that our life has a purpose.