Organizational Behavior and Management Essay

In viewing the Manager’s Hot Seat: Working in Teams: Cross-Functional, I was able to distinguish the difference between the words team and teamwork. Team refers to a small group of people with complementary skills, who work together to achieve a shared purpose and hold themselves mutually accountable for performance results ( Schermerhorm,2011). In this video, yes there was team that consisted of Rosa Denson, Cheng Jing, Simon Mahoney and Joe Tanney who plays the role of team leader for an assigned high priority project. Working in teams is essential in this age of rapidly changing technology, market-driven decision making, customer sophistication, and employee restlessness, as leaders and managers are faced with new challenges . Organizations must build new structures and master new skills in order to compete and survive. And in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness, a group effort is required as it reads in the article MindTools. In the video, the members work in the same organization but at different departmental levels with different knowledge and skills. How these people interact and relate to one another is a key factor in determining how successful the team will be at achieving its mission The group is made up of cross functional team members where there is input from people with a mixture of gender, race, age and ethnicity. It can be difficult managing a group like this because there are individual differences amongst each member. People vary among the layers of diversity: 1) personality, which is unique to every individual, 2) internal dimensions which is race and age, 3) external dimensions which includes religion and marital status and 4) organizational dimensions such as job title(McGraw Hill, 2007) These factors are likely to influence interpersonal relationships and the ability to work with others. Working together is part of many organizations that believe that by practicing teamwork skills can help produce better products and provide better services, faster and at a lower cost. However, there was no evidence of teamwork in this video. There was no defined process of people working together to accomplish a common goal, which is the definition of teamwork. Instead there was a group of knowledgeable people, who did not want responsibility and had no initiative for such project. In fact, Tuckman’s group development model should have been added to the agenda as a refresher course for all members. Schermerhorn defines Tuckman’s development model in stages. Stage 1 of the model is forming, and this was evident in the beginning of the meeting with the initial formation of the group discussing where tasks are understood by members and resources and information that delegated by the leader, in this case Joe. But it wasn’t long into the meeting where storming was evident. Individuals began to question and challenge the given task. Members disagree on the goal of the team and resist the given task. At this point personal to emotional excuses began to surface. I do not think I witnessed the rest of the stages, except the adjourning part. There was no norming stage where the team moves toward harmonious working practices where there is agreement. In fact, Joe the acting leader had to assign different tasks according to his perception of each one. And there was no performing stage displaying functional, interdependent roles that were focused on the performance of the group tasks among the members. In fact, group cohesiveness was not evident, with everyone having an agenda of their own, the interaction and motivation between them was very low. The cohesiveness that should have bonded the small group together and come up with solutions for the problem was not evident. The book states that in order for effective teams to thrive these factors need to be established and be in place: achieve and maintain high levels of task performance achieve and maintain high levels of member satisfaction and retain viability for the future (Schermerhorn, 2011) . With this said, the benefits of effective work teams within an organization are very considerable, and it takes a lot of hard work and dedication on the part of management and team members to develop, implement and maintain effective work teams. I believe that the team in the video is not team, but rather a group of people discussing an organizations’ project based on the fact that there was no commitment to the task at hand. Every member in an organization has a task to do. These roles are the expected behaviors for a given position in an organization. Sometimes roles can disrupt group progress and weaken its cohesion. For example, Rosa demonstrated role conflict when she involved her personal life with her job. She was a self-confessor, disclosing personal feelings and issues. Simon was the opinion giver, expressing his own personal opinions as to why such project has not worked before without offering solutions. Simon can also be labeled a blocker. Joe was the initiator or contributor to the team. He would propose new ideas of getting the project completed by finding solutions to the problems the rest of the team members would come up with. The creation of teams has become a key strategy in many organizations. Team building is an essential element in supporting and improving the effectiveness of small groups and task forces and must be a key part of a total program of organizational change.

Listening to Rap: Cultures of Crime, Cultures of Resistance

Listening to Rap: Cultures of Crime, Cultures of Resistance Julian Tanner, University of Toronto Mark Asbridge, Dalhousie University Scot Wortley, University of Toronto This research compares representations of rap music with the self-reported criminal behavior and resistant artirudes of the music's core audience. Our database is a large sample of Toronro high school studenrs (n = 3,393) from which we identify a group of listeners, whose combination of musical likes and dislikes distinguish them as rap univores. We then examine the relationship between their cultural preference for rap music and involvement in a culture of crime and their perceptions of social injustice and inequity. We find thar the rap univores, also known as urban music enthusiasts, report significantly more delinquent behavior and stronger feelings of inequity and injustice than listeners with other musical tastes. However, we also find thar the nature and strengths of those relationships vary according to rhe racial identity of different groups within urban music enthusiasts. Black and white subgroups align themselves with resistance representations while Asians do not; whites and Asians report significant involvement in crime and delinquency, while blacks do not. Finally, we discuss our findings in light of research on media effects and audience reception, youth subcultures and post-subcultural analysis, and the sociology of cultural consumption. Thinking About Rap The emergence and spectacular growth of rap is probably the most important development in popular music since the rise of rock ‘n' roll in the late 1940s. Radio airplay, music video programming and sales figures are obvious testimonies to its popularity and commercial success. This was made particularly evident in October 2003 when, according to the recording industry bible Billboard mzgnzme, all top 10 acts in the United States were rap or hip-hop artists;' and again in 2006, when the Academy award for Best Song went to It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp, a rap song by the group Husde & Flow. Such developments may also signal rap's increasing social acceptance and cultural legitimization (Baumann 2007). However, its reputation and status in the musical field has, hitherto, been a controversial one. Like new music before it (jazz, rock ‘n' roll), rap has been critically reviewed as a corrosive influence on young and impressionable listeners (Best 1990; Tatum 1999; Tanner 2001; Sacco and Kennedy 2002; Alexander 2003). Whether rap has been reviled as much as jazz and rock ‘n' roll once were is a moot point; rather more certain is its pre-eminent role as a problematic contemporary musical genre. Direct correspondence to Julian Tanner, Department of Social Science University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265Military Trail, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, MIC 1A4. Telephone: (416) 287-7293. E-mail: Julian. [email  protected] ca. † rh8 Uniiersily of North Carolina Press Social Forces 88121 693-722, December 2009 694 †¢ Social Forces 88(2) In an important study of representations of popular music. Binder (1993) examined how print journalists wrote about rap and heavy metal in the 1980s and 1990s. While both are devalued genres (Roe 1995), she nevertheless contends that they are framed differently: the presumed harmful effects of heavy metal are limited to the listeners themselves, whereas rap is seen as more socially damaging (for a similar distinction, see Rose 1994). The lyrical content of the two genres is established as one source of this differential framing: rap lyrics are found to be more explicit and provocative (greater usage of â€Å"hard† swear words, for example) than heavy metal lyrics. The second factor involves assumptions made (by journalists) about the racial composition of audiences for heavy metal and rap-the former believed to be white suburban youth, the latter urban black youth. According to Binder, rap invites more public concern and censorious complaint than heavy metal because of what was assumed to be its largely black fan base. At the same time, she identifies an important counter frame, one component of which elevates rap (but not heavy metal) to the status of an art form with serious political content. In both the mainstream press (i. e.. The New York Times) and publications targeting a predominately black readership (i. e.. Ebony and/^i), she finds rap lauded for the salutary lessons that it imparts to black youth regarding the realities of urban living; likewise, rap artists are applauded for their importance as role models and mentors to inner-city black youth. Thus, while rap has been framed negatively, as a contributor to an array of social problems, crime and delinquency in particular, it has also been celebrated and championed as an authentic expression of cultural resistance by underdogs against racial exploitation and disadvantage. How these differing representations of rap might resonate with audience members was not part of Binder's research mandate. ^ Furthermore, while she does acknowledge that ournalistic perceptions of the racial composition of the rap audience are not necessarily accurate-that more white suburban youth, even in the 1980s and 1990s, might have been consuming the music than black inner-city youth-this acknowledgment does not alter her enterprise or her argument. At this point in time, when the listening audience for rap music has both expanded and become increasingly diverse, our research concerns how young black, white and Asian rap fans in Toronto, Canada relate to a musical form still viewed primarily in terms of its criminal and resistant meanings. Researching Rap Much of the early work on audiences preoccupied itself with investigating the harmful effects of media exposure, especially the effects of depictions of violence in movies and TV on real life criminal events. Results have generally been inconclusive, with considerable disagreement in the social science research community regarding the influence of the media on those watching the large ot small screen (Curran 1990; Abercrombie and Longhurst 1998; Freedman 2002; Sacco and Kennedy 2002; Alexander 2003; Newman 2004; Savage 2004; Longhurst 2007). Listening to Rap †¢ 695 Listening to popular music has, on occasion, been said to produce similarly negative effects, although these too have proven difficult to verify. For example, in one high profile case in the 1980s, the heavy metal band Judas Priest was accused of producing recorded material (songs) that contained subliminal messaging diat led to the suicides of two fans. This claim was not, however, legally validated because the judge hearing the case remained unconvinced about a causal linkage between the music and the self-destructive behavior of two individuals (Walser 1993). Strong arguments for the ill effects of media consumption rest on the assumption that audiences are easily and direcdy influenced by the media, with frequent analogies made to hypodermic syringes that inject messages into gullible and homogenous audiences (Abercrombie and Longhurst 1998; Alexander 2003; Longhurst 2007). In contesting this view of audience passivity, critics also propose that texts are open to more than one interpretation. Again, TV udiences have been studied more frequently than audiences for popular music, although research on the latter has illustrated how song lyrics are not necessarily construed the same way by adolescents and adults. Research conducted by Prinsky and Rosenbaum (1987) indicates that songs identified by adults as containing deviant content (references to sex, violence, alcohol and drug use, Satanism) were not similarly categorized by adolescents. Evidence that there are diflferent ways of watching television or listening to recorded music has led to an alternative conception of audiences-one more concerned with what audiences do with the media than what the media does to audiences. The development within communications research of the uses and gratifications model (McQuail 1984) is one result, with TV once more the media form most commonly investigated. Nonetheless, a few studies have documented how young people listen to popular music in order to satisfy needs for entertainment and relaxation (among other priorities), and utilize it as an accompaniment to other everyday activities, such as homework and household chores (Roe 1985; Prinsky and Rosenbaum 1987). More recent research has added identity construction as a need that popular music might fill for young listeners (Roe 1999; Gracyk 2001; Laughey 2006). One particular usage emphasized by British cultural Marxists associated with the now defunct Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies has focused attention on how active media audiences counter dominant cultural messages in their consumption of popular culture. In what has, by now, become a familiar story, a series of music-based, post-war youth cultures (Teddy Boys, Mods, Rockers, Skinheads, Punks) in the United Kingdom have been represented as symbolically resisting the dominant normative order (Hall and Jefferson 1976; Hebdige 1979). This argument has, however, relied on a reading of cultural texts and artifacts for its evidentiary base, rather than observations of, or information from, subcultural participants themselves (Cohen 1980; Frith 1985; Tanner 2001; Bennett 2002; Alexander 2003). 696 †¢ Social Forces 8S(2) More recently, the utility of the term subculture for understanding young people's collective involvements in music has been questioned. The focus of this criticism is, once again, the Birmingham school and its conceptualization of subculture. Its critics argue that, nder conditions of post modernity, music audiences have fragmented, and young people are no longer participants in distinctive subcultural groups (Bennett 1999b; Muggleton 2000). Instead of subcultures, they are now involved v^^ith neo tribes and scenes (i. e. , Bennett 1999b; Bennett and Kahn-Harris 2004; Hesmondhalgh 2005; Longhurst 2007; Hodkinson 2008). Post subcultural research has been much less inclined than the Birmingham era researchers to decode and decipher texts, and much more likely to engage in ethnographic studies of music and youth groups (Bennett 2002). However, while there has been occasional work on modes of (female) resistance in the â€Å"tween scene† (Lowe 2004) and â€Å"riot girrrl scene† (Schily 2004), there has been no equivalent research on rap scenes and resistance. Examinations of audience receptions of rap are not numerous and have been of two main kinds: a few studies have explored how young people perceive and evaluate the music, while others have studied the harmful effects of rap by trying to link consumption of the music with various negative consequences. An early study by Kuwahara (1992) finds rap to be more popular with black than white college students, and more popular among males than females. However, reasons for liking the music varied little by race, with both black and white audience members prioritizing the beat over the message. A more recent study by Sullivan (2003) reports few racial differences in liking the music, although black teenagers were more committed to the genre and more likely to view rap as life affirming (Berry 1994) than those from other racial backgrounds. In a small but important study conducted in California, Mahiri and Connor (2003) investigated 41 black middle school students' perceptions of violence and thoughts about rap music. In focus group sessions and personal interviews, informants revealed a strong liking for rap music, valuing the fact that it spoke to their everyday concerns about growing up in a poorly resourced community. They did not, however, like the way that rap music on occasion (mis)represented the experiences of black people in the United States. They challenged the misogyny evident in some rap videos and rejected what they saw as the glamorization of violence. Overall, their critical and nuanced engagement with rap music fitted poorly with depictions of media audiences as easily swayed by popular culture (Sacco 2005). The search for the harmful effects of rap music has yielded no more definitive results than earlier quests for media effects. While some studies report evidence of increased violence, delinquency, substance use, and unsafe sexual activity resulting from young people's exposure to rap music (Wingood et al. 2003; Chen et al. 2006), other researchers have failed to find such a link or have exercised extreme caution when interpreting apparent links. One review of the literature, conducted in the 1990s, could find a total of only nine investigations-all of them Listening to Rap †¢ 697 mall-scale, none involving the general adolescent population-and concluded that there was an even split hetween those that found some sort of an association between exposure to the music and various deviant or undesirable outcomes, and those that could find no connection at all Moreover, in those studies where the music and the wrongdoing were linked, investigators were very circumspect about whether or not they were observing a causal relationship, and if so, which came first, the music or the violent dispositions (Tatum 1999 ). A mote recent investigation conducted in Montreal is illustrative of such interpretative problems. While a preference for rap was found to predict deviant behavior among 348 Frenchspeaking adolescents, causal ordering could not be established, nor an additional possibility ruled out: that other factors might be responsible for both the musical taste and the deviant behavior (Miranda and Claes 2004). The notion that rap is or can be represented as cultural resistance-the counter frame identified by Binder-has become increasingly prominent in the rap literature over the past 20 years (Rose 1994; Krims 2000; Keyes 2002; Quinn 2005). In his influential book. Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the new Reality ofRace in America, Kitwana (2005) expounds at length on his emancipatory view of rap's history and development. Kitwana sees hip-hop as a form of protest music, offering its listeners a message ofresistance. He also makes the additional claim that the resistive appeal of hip-hop is not restricted to black youth. Indeed, as the tide of his book suggests, he is patticularly interested in the patronage of rap music by white youth, those young people who might be seen as the contemporary equivalents of Mailer's â€Å"White Negro† or Keys' â€Å"Negro Wannabes. (Keyes 2002:250) In his view, the global diffusion of rap rests on the music's capacity for resonating with the experiences ofthe downtrodden and marginalized in a variety of cultural contexts. Quinn (2005) similarly explains the crossover appeal of gangsta rap in the United States in terms ofthe â€Å"common sensibilities and insecurities shated by post Fordist youth. † She continues: â€Å"many young whites, facing bleak labor market prospects, were also eager for stories about fast money and authentic belonging to ward off a creeping sense of placelessness and dispossession. (Quinn 2005:85-86) Thus, rap's appeal is as much about class as it is about race. Nor is the resistive view of rap restricted to the North American continent. At least one French study-conducted in advance ofthe riots in the fall of 2005 -has noted how French Rap has become the music of choice for young people of visible minority descent who have grown up in the suburban ghettos (Les Cities) of major cities. They have been routinely exposed to police harassment on the streets, subjected to prejudice and discrimination at school, and struggled to find decent housing and appropriate jobs (Bouchier 1999, cited in Miranda and Claes 2004). The idea that popular music might serve as an important reference point for rebellious or resistive adolescents is not a new one. As we have already noted, this is how a British school of subcultural analysis once interpreted the cultural activity of wotking-class youth in the United Kingdom (Hall and Jefferson 1976; Hebdige 698 †¢ Social Forces 88(2) 1979). Some attempt has been made to understand rap fandom in similar terms. Bennett's (1999a) ethnographic study, set in Newcastle, reveals how one group of white rappers translate the racial politics of blacks into the language of class divisions in the United Kingdom. However, for the most part there has been limited application of this kind of analysis to young people's involvement with rap music. Rap scholars who construe the music as an authentic expression of cultural resistance directed against exploitation and disadvantages at school, on the streets, or in the labor market, do so primarily without much input from the young people who make up its listening audience. Because they have not often been canvassed for their views about the music, we do not know to what degree they share in or identify with the message of resistance readily ound in content analysis of the rap idiom (Martinez 1997; Negus 1997; Krims 2000; Stephens and Wright 2000; Bennett 2001; Sullivan 2003; Kubrin 2005; Quinn 2005; Lena 2006). Thus contemporary rap scholarship follows British subcultural theory in gleaning evidence of resistance from the texts, not the audience. Resistance is sought, and found, in the words and music rather than in the activities and ideologies of subcultures or audience members. We can suggest, echoing Alexander's (2003) earlier critique of British cultural studies, that the audience for rap music has been theorized rather more thoroughly than it has been investigated. The Present Study The present study is concerned with three key questions: First, is there a relationship between audiences for rap and representations of the music? Second, as compared to other listening audiences, are serious rap fans participants in cultures of crime and resistance? Third, if such a link is found, what are the sources of variation in their participation in these cultures of crime and resistance? The need to address these questions, as we see it, emerges from several limitations in the existing research on rap. These limitations are as follows: First, there is a significant disjuncture between dominant representations of the music as a source of social harms and evidence unambiguously supportive of this proposition. Second, the case for a resistant view of rap music is usually advanced, as we have already intimated, by examination of the designs and intentions of musical creators, both artists and producers, as well as music critics. We do not know whether or not resistant messages register and resonate with those who listen to the music. Third, we do not have an accurate gauging of the sociodemographic composition, particularly racial and ethnic, of the audience for rap music. Rap's dominance of the youth market is widely understood as a crossover effect-the original black audience now joined by legions of white fans (Spiegler 1996; Yousman 2003). However, purchasing habits-the usual arbiter for claims about rap's increasing popularity with white consumers-may not be an entirely reliable measure of either rap's popularity or racial and ethnic variations therein (Krims 2000; Quinn 2005). The system devised by the recording industry to gauge record Listening to Rap †¢ 699 sales-Nielson Soundscape-does not gather data on the race, or indeed any other personal characteristic, of purchasers. What it does do is categorize sales in terms of whether they were made in retail stores in high-income locations or in lowincome locations. Record companies, journalists or academics then choose to equate those high-income sales with white suburban youth, and low-income sales with inner-city black youth, but are doing so without any direct measures of the racial background or identity of buyers (Kitwana 2005). Moreover, it has been argued that sales figures â€Å"under represent the taste preferences of the poor. † (Quinn 2005:83) As Rose (1994) explains it, in the black community, particularly in impoverished neighborhoods, many more rap CDs are listened to than bought-a single purchase being passed on from one fan to another. Similarly, homemade tapes and bootleg CDs are often produced and shared within local fan networks. The implications of this point are clear enough: the appropriation of rap music by suburban white teens might not be as extensive as is commonly supposed. Finally, we do not know whether or how the rap audience relates to the dominant frame of the music as a catalyst for crime and delinquency or to the counter frame of the music as an articulator of social inequity. The mainstreaming of rap may have cost the genre its underground or counter-culture status as protest music, or made it less attractive to delinquent rebels. Rap also may play no part in crime or resistance subcultures because, under post modern conditions, young people have become increasingly eclectic and individualized in their musical tastes; the close relationship between musical tastes and lifestyles, implied by subcultural theory, no longer applies. On this formulation, therefore, we would not expect to find strong connections between a preference for rap music and subcultures of crime and subcultures of resistance. On the other hand, reasons for believing that rap music may be a basis for subcultural lifestyles, at least among black youth, are more compelling. At the time that we were conducting our research there was considerable debate, in the local media and among local politicians, about issues involving race and crime-racial profiling and the desirability of collecting race-based crime statistics, for example. Contributing to this debate were findings from another study, confirming what black youths in Canada have always suspected, namely that they are much more likely to be arbitrarily stopped and searched by police officers than are members of other racial and ethnic groups-even when their own self-repotted deviant activity is statistically controlled for (Wordey and Tanner 2005). In addition, contemporaneous research on the media coverage of race and crime in Toronto newspapers carried out by Wortley (2002), found black people disproportionately portrayed in a narrow range of roles and activities (principally those involving crime, sports and entertainment) than members of other racial and ethnic groups; and when featured in crime stories, depicted primarily as offenders. Capricious policing and media misrepresentation may therefore contribute to a sense of injustice among black youth, a sense of injustice that has them gravitating to rap as an emblem of cultural resistance. 00 †¢ Social Forces SS{2) Commercial success and artistic valorization has not diminished rap music's capacity to provoke moral panic. The music is still seen as threatening, dangerous and socially damaging by many political figures and established authority. ‘ Previous research suggests that negative media coverage ofthe cultural preferences and practices of adolescents often intensifies subcultural identifications (Cohen 1973; Fine and Kleinman 1979; Thornton 1995). Rap based moral panics may therefore tighten connections between the music and delinquent lifestyles and/or resistive attitudes and behaviors. The lack of attention paid to rap's consumers renders these questions relatively open ones, the meaning of rap music still to be discovered. Methods Whereas most contemporary research on rap focuses on those who create the music-artists and producers, and those who write about it, music critics-we pose questions about rap's audience. Further, while audience studies usually employ qualitative data-gathering techniques (for example, Morley 1980; Radway 1984; Shively 1992), we use the methods of survey research. We are more concerned with how audience members interact with the music than with the issue of cause and effect. We are interested in how music might be used as a resource in their everyday lives (Willis 1990; DeNora 2000), how it might contribute to identity formation (Roe 1999) and, especially, how audiences might align themselves with (or distance themselves from) cultures of crime and resistance. Nonetheless, in our analyses, we treat rap fandom as a dependent variable. While there is considerable academic and public debate about whether music produces or is a product of cultural activities, legal or otherwise, existing research has failed to provide a compelling or consistent rationale for any particular causal logic. As we have seen, the idea that exposure to rap music causes crime is not unequivocally supported in the research literature. Research on resistant youth cultures, by contrast, is much more likely to reverse the relationship and see musical style as a result of subcultural activity (Willis 1978; Hebdige 1979). Hebdige, for example, infers that punk rock in the United Kingdom was a cultural response to the subordination of existing working-class youth groups. Laing (1985) has countered that punk the musical genre existed before punk the subculture. In the absence of agreement about the direction of the relationship between musical taste and cultural practices, our decision to operationalize rap appreciation as a dependent variable is made more for pragmatic, heuristic reasons than unassailable theoretical ones. Our strategy is to focus on listening preferences rather than purchasing habits. By asking students to report on and evaluate the music that they like, dislike and in what combinations, we gain a clearer and more detailed picture of where rap is situated in the consumption patterns of groups of students differentiated by, among other factors, their racial identity. Our goals are to: (1. distinguish students with a serious, exclusive taste for rap from more casual fans; (2. to calculate the Listening to Rap †¢ 701 size and racial makeup of rap music's prime audience; and (3. to map relationships between that core audience and resistant and delinquent repertoires. Few surveys of general populations of young people have established any kind of connection between rap and deviancy, net of other factors. We contend that rap's reputation as a corrosive force is validated by that linkage, and that without it that representation becomes more ontestable. A similar logic applies to the relationship between rap and social protest. The claim that the music carries a serious message-that it is an expression of resistant values and perceptions-is substantiated with evidence of a link between the music and a collective sense of inequity, and weakened by its absence. Data The data for this research are drawn from the Toronto Youth Crime and Victimization S tudy, a stratified cross-sectional survey of Toronto adolescents carried out from 1998 through 2000 (Tanner and Wordey 2002). Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 3,393 Toronto students ages 13-18, from 30 Metropolitan Toronto high schools in both die Cadiolic (10 schools) and larger Public School (20 schools) systems. Within each school, one class from each grade, 9 (ages 13 and 14) through 13 (ages 18 and 19), was randomly selected. The overall response rate was 83 percent (83. 4% for Catholic vs. 83. 1% for public schools), and is a conservative estimate as it was based on the number of students enrolled in each class rather than those present the day of the study. Informed consent was given for participation in the study. Surveys were completed during class under the supervision of a member of the research team (and without a teacher present) and took approximately 45 minutes to complete. The survey asked young people about a broad range of topics, including family life, educational experiences, leisure activities, delinquent involvement, victimization experiences and so forth. The survey instrument was designed by members of the research team and evolved out of a series of 11 focus groups with adolescents in Toronto schools. The completed survey was reviewed by a series of institutional ethics boards, including those at the University of Toronto, the Toronto Public School Board and the Catholic School Board. As the survey does not include high school dropouts, institutionalized youth and street youth, it is a school sample and thus any generalizations speak only to the experiences of school-based adolescents. Our sample is ethnically and racially diverse and is representative of the Metropolitan Toronto high school population. Measures Musical Preferences Guided by Bourdieu's work (1984) and Peterson's recasting of musical taste in terms of omnivorous and univorous patterns (1992), we focus our attention on 702 †¢ Social Forces 88(2] how musical choices are combined: if young people liked (or disliked) one style or genre, what other styles or genres did they like or dislike (what Van Eijck 2001 has referred to as â€Å"combinatorial logic†). Indicators of musical taste were derived from the question: â€Å"How much do you like each of the following types of music? Respondents were then asked to evaluate each of 11 contempotary musical genres: Soul, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, Hip/Hop and Rap, Reggae and Dance Hall, Classical and Opera, Country and New Country, Pop, Alternative (including Punk, Grunge), Heavy Metal (Hard Rock), Ethnic Music (traditional/ cultural), and Techno (Dance). Musical tastes were assessed on a five-point Likert scale that addresses whether respondents liked the musical genre very mu ch, quite a lot, a little bit, not very much or not at all. Unlike previous research that dichotomized musical tastes, focusing exclusively on the musical genres most liked (Peterson and Kern 1996) or disliked (Bryson 1996), we target the level of appreciation (or lack of appreciation) each respondent has for a particular musical genre. For space considerations a detailed overview of the clustering procedure has been omitted but is available upon request. We employed a two-stage cluster analysis (hierarchical agglomerative and ^-means) procedure to derive groupings of adolescent musical tastes. Cluster analysis assembles respondents based on their common responses to questions/ measures, and is useful for identifying relatively homogenous groups, groups that are highly intetnally homogenous (members are similar to one another) and highly externally heterogeneous (members are not like members of other clusters) (Aldenderfer and Blashfield 1984). Employing cluster analysis techniques, we uncovered seven musical taste clustets. Table 1 outlines the results of our cluster analysis. The largest group (n = 616) was the Club Kids, composed of those who report an above average enjoyment of techno and dance, mainstream pop, and hip-hop and rap. Next were the Urban Music Enthusiasts (n = 605). Members of this group combined a strong appreciation of Rap and Hip Hop with considerable disinterest in most other musical styles. These adolescents are the primary focus ofthe current study. Then there was a fairly large (n = 482) group of youth, the New Traditionalists, who have an above average liking of classical music and opera, jazz, soul, R&B, country music and mainstream pop. The fourth largest (n = 425) group, the Hard Rockers, comprised a sizeable number of heavy metal and hard rock, alternative, punk and grunge fans. Then there was a surprisingly large (n = 384) group of adolescents, the Musical Abstainers, who are only marginally interested in any kind of music. The group we call the Ethnic Culturalists (n = 380) were so described because of a dominant preference for a quite wide range of ethnic music, as well as a greater than average liking for soul and R&B, jazz, classical music and opera, country music techno and dance, and mainstream pop. The smallest group (n = 338), the Musical Omnivores, was composed of those who have an above average appreciation for all 11 musical genres. These clusters vary considerably, not only in the musical Listening to Rap †¢ 703 Q-CM O O U O O U O O U O O -COIOCOCOCNJCJ>COIO † †¢ ^ – T— c3^ h ^ h†¦ c o 3†² UJ CD o .Si i -T— COCOCDCO s m eu rocMincDco -T— CMC3 co co i Q. CL tu . S o .2 U) o tu tpcooin CNJcOCOCOcdcOCMCOM-‘^COCNI co T—CMOCI5 ? CO en (U ro â€Å"o 0} Q. CL ro â€Å"o en CM CM co â€Å"cD t n tu . 2 2 Oi tn -D C to to CZJ eu co CNI co o tD tu. —. _ 2 CD â€Å"O en ! c: o c: 03 sa | ^ sV ndical . 0011 V CL ro o tu . S P o | idd tn tu V p. 704 †¢ Social Forces 8H2) likes and dislikes, but also with respect to sociodemographic, socioeconomic class indicators, and measures of school experience, cultural capital, leisure patterns and subcultural delinquency (Tanner, Asbridge and Wortley 2008). Social Injustice, Property Crime and Violent Crime The sense of injustice that rap is said to speak to often involves the dealings that young people have with the police and courts. Six items in our questionnaire invited respondents to evaluate their perceptions of the equity of the criminal justice system, fairness in the educational system, and more general perceptions of the equality of opportunity in Canada. Some of the questions addressed racebased inequality, while others invoked age, class- and gender-based discrimination. These six items were condensed into a scale and standardized (alpha = . 65) with higher values indicating greater feelings of social injustice. Respondents were also invited to report their participation in illegal activities. Our measures of crime and delinquency covered a spectrum of activities, varied by type and seriousness. Two scales items are constructed based on the following question: â€Å"How many times in the past year have you done any of the following things? Would you say never, once or twice, several times, or many times? † The first scale captures involvement in property crime, including self-reported property damage, theft under $50, breaking into a car, stealing a car, stealing a bike, breaking and entering a home, drug dealing and theft over $50 (alpha = . 6). The second scale measures violent offending and includes carrying a hidden weapon such as a gun or knife in public, using physical force on another person to get money or other things, attacking someone with the idea of seriously hurting him or her, hitting or threatening to hit a parent or teacher, getting into a physical fight with someone, and taking part in a fight where a group of friends were up against another group (alpha = . 81). SES, School Measures and Cultural Capital The impact of students' sociodemographic backgrounds is initially examined in terms of demographic variables-age, gender, Canadian identity (â€Å"Do you think of yourself as Canadian? â€Å"-a measure of perceived inclusion in Canadian society), and race. Socioeconomic status is captured through indicators of parents and family situation, and includes measures of parental educational attainment (whether or not they had attended postsecondary education), family intactness (whether or not respondents grew up in a two-parent household), a measure of subjective social class based on perceptions of family income. Next we include a set of measures related to educational attainment, experiences and expectations: self-reported grades (proportion receiving mostly As), skipping school, suspension from school, educational stream (general or academic stream) and a more evaluative question about the degree of importance that young people attached to education. Listening to Rap †¢ 705 Finally, we include a measure of respondents' own cultural capital activities. While mainly used as an explanation of educational and occupational attainment (DiMaggio 1982; DiMaggio and Mohr 1995; Aschaffenburg and Maas 1997), measures of cultural capital have also been deployed to uncover dispositions, or orientations, towards the arts (Bourdieu 1984; Swartz 1997). We use it here as a further measure ofthe characteristics and lifestyles ofthe audience for rap-its possession bestowing status upon individuals and the music that they listen to, its absence denoting the opposite. Our seven-item cultural capital index comprises both traditional highbrow pursuits-going to the symphony, visiting museums-and the sorts of respectable leisure activities (playing a musical instrument, attending cultural events, going to the library, reading a book for pleasure and hobbies) that contribute to the cultural resources available to young people. The sum of these seven items is standardized and has an alpha of . 65. Descriptive statistics and other details on all measures can be found in Appendix A. Analytic Procedure Multivariate logistic regression is employed in four separate analyses. First, a strong preference for Rap and Hip/Hop-being an Urban Music Enthusiast-is regressed on sociodemographic, socioeconomic status and school measures. Next, we regress being an Urban Music Enthusiast on sociodemographic, socioeconomic status and school measures for three racial groups-white, black and Asian/South Asian youth. For each racial group we run four separate models that include baseline measures only, followed by models that add social injustice, property crime and violent crime. All analyses were conducted with the Stata 8. computer program (StataCorp 2001) using the survey commands that account for intra-cluster correlation due to the complex sampling strategy. Results We can quickly confirm the enormous popularity of rap with our respondents. It has the highest average approval rating of any musical genre, with some 33 percent of students saying that they liked it â€Å"very much,† and 21 percent saying that they liked it â€Å"quite a lot. † Rap clearl y appeals to a broad range of young listeners and is, therefore very much part of a common music culture among high school students. But our cluster analysis (Table 1) also isolates a group of students who enjoy rap music and little else. Examining the approval radng for each music genre relative to the cluster means, where scores approaching 1 indicate a strong approval ofthe genre, and scores approaching 5 indicate a strong dislike, demonstrates that Urban Music Enthusiasts have a strong preference for rap and hip-hop, reggae and dance hall; a more moderate liking for soul and R&B, and a below average liking for all other musical genres. We think that our Urban Music Enthusiasts fit the profile of music univores-individuals who appreciate a few musical styles while disliking everything 706 †¢ Social Forces mi) else-as described in the research of Peterson (1992) and Bryson (1997). Bryson links univorous taste among American adults to low status, particular racial and ethnic groups, and regional differences. She also notes that univorous taste, when compared to omnivorous taste, is more likely to be related to what she calls â€Å"subcultural spheres. † (Bryson 1997:147) Our Urban Music Enthusiasts appear to be rap univores who may also be adhering to â€Å"sub-cultural spheres. Of the 605 Urban Music Enthusiasts in our sample, 275 {A6%) are black, 117 (19%) are white, 115 (19%) are Asian or South Asian, and 98 (16%) are from other racial groups. These figures tell us that young black people still comprise the central component of the rap audience; moreover, roughly 57 percent of black youth is Urban Musi c Enthusiasts). At the same time, we observe evidence of a significant racial crossover. White Urban Music Enthusiasts constitute 8. 6 percent of the white students in our sample, while Asian Urban Music Enthusiasts make up 9. 5 percent of all Asian students. The racial composition of the Urban Music Enthusiast taste culture prompts two further questions: Eirst, of the black students surveyed, what factors in addition to race predict their univorous interest in rap? Second, of white and Asian students, what factors encourage their involvement in an essentially black music culture, an involvement that clearly sets them apart from other white and Asian students? Table 2 provides results for Urban Music Enthusiasts membership regressed on sociodemographic, socioeconomic status and school measures, with separate analyses for white, black and Asian/South Asian young people. Paying particular attention to the findings for each racial group, what is common to all three groups of Urban Music Enthusiasts is that, compared to other students in our sample, they are poorly endowed with cultural capital and are not especially good students. Few other background factors have any significant or consistent impact upon a disposition towards Urban Music. For white students, parental SES, family structure and subjective social class, have no bearing upon their musical preferences, whereas school suspension and poor grades are strong predictors. For black students. Urban Music enthusiasm is more common among younger students and those less likely to identify as Canadian. Being a black youth identified as an Urban Music Enthusiast is also strongly related to growing up in a single-parent family and skipping school. For their part, Asian/South Asian youth are something of an anomaly-among them. Urban Music Enthusiasm is positively associated with social class and having well-educated mothers-but like other Urban Music Enthusiasts it is also strongly related to school suspension and skipping school. We are less interested, however, in the sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors that may lead to being an Urban Music Enthusiast than in the relationship between being a Urban Music Enthusiast and representations of rap-either as part of a culture of resistance and/or as a basis for subcultural delinquency. Tables 3 through 5 describe the distribution of being an Urban Music Enthusiast across three racial groups (white, black, Asian/South Asian) as shaped by perceptions Listening to Rap †¢ 707 I i I u (O re (/> CO o (U 1. 76 4. 37 ,01a ‘V— re . r; o — U; c n t – – CO CO cr; – ^ †¢ ^ CD – ^ CO CO CD CM CNl T – CD CN? -â€Å"i^ CO CNJ – . CNj CO r-1 †¢2 . o o CO CO c n 0 5 t-~- M – ,59c ,55c I CO ro ro CNl CD c n r— CO CZ> CO CO CNJ cu CD CO CO CNl CO o CNI m E cn o O) T— †¢T— LO r CO CNl CN LO CD CZ> CM LO †¢Ã‚ «Ã¢â‚¬â€ e n LO CO CD LO CM †¢ ‘o ro CNJ †¢ c n CO CO u o O r-. – CO h ~ T— CO CM -sj- CO CO CO ,41 ro CO u o u CO CO CO ^ – CO LO o ro ro CM LO T – CO T— c u LO c n -. 11 -3. 67 Tl- CNl l CO cp h.. – LO cn CO T— LO CO CO †¢ C35 CNJ CNl C D CO h— CJ) †¢ ^ CO CD LO CNl c n CO LO CNl c n CI3 c n r— CO CD – ^ CO CO ‘ ‘ T-^ CU T— CO CO r l CO CD CO h-^ CO J ro c j o LO LO r~- I— CO CT> CO LO CD CO †¢ o> I— co O5 o> lO Tt lO t^ †¢*†¢ CM t ^ co LO r T co CD csi ro g ‘†¢ co E Q: S o 0 ~ ~ CM †¢ 05 EntlNusi ts Memi nd Vioie Prop iociai Stice t-ratlo _o >, 0 E o. E Q. / fV le 0 S ^^ 0  « †¢rat †¢g CO t-~ - «aO5 CIS co co CM r~. – ^ CM r – i r j co cz> †¢ ^ co co OO m LO co r-.. co †¢ ^ T — en lO CM LO † CO o †¢ †¢ – r— cz; CM r— UO OO T l – I— CD ^ 1 – LO CD T— O ‘ CSI CO CO T T- T-^ OO ^ CO oq – ^ †¢ LO O I— ^† 05 †¢ h – co LO C3 CSl i T-^ c s i T-^ ‘ c s i re re 3 s o: 0 CM LO †¢;* O; CD CD CJ C 3 CO T— CO – ^ co Ti† i^.. OO co T – 1 ^ CM CD O ) OO CD co eu r O r co CD ci> u 3 S ice a Bas iViod _o d) ro .? † 5 ‘S V 3 iO r- co CM CM LO CD CD CM LO †¢ < – CD LO co o LO T^ T-^ T^ cri i~~- c o h – †¢>— c o CM – †¢ – o ^ – CD CM OO h-; oq CO csi T-: csi T-^ ‘†¢ CD †¢s c 0 ?ai ir 1 ? ir _3 s oc 0 CSJ T— I— CD CD c o CN – ^ co OO co i csi CSI C3 co CD T t co O; CD o 3 o u 0 coiSS ? 3 (O re à ‚ «^ CL O) O a; ro .^ re 0) Logi! .†¢^ O fe 5 5 ID ? -O ^Et » {‘iyMA-d3. †¢ 1997. â€Å"What About the Univores? Musical Dislikes and Group-Based Identity Construction Among Americans with Low Levels of Education. † Poetics 25(2-3): 141-56. Chen, Meng-Jinn J. , Brenda Miller, Joel Grube and Elizabeth Waiters. 2006. â€Å"Music, Substance Use and Aggression. † Journal of Studies on Alcohol 67(3):373-81. Cohen, Stanley. 973. Folk Devils and Moral Panics. MacCibbons and Kee. †¢ 1980. Folk Devils and Moral Panics. 2†³Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Edition. Martin Robertson. Curran, James. 1990. â€Å"The New Revisionism in Mass Communication Research: A Reappraisal. † European Journal of Communication 5 (2): 135-64. DiMaggio, Paul. 1982 â€Å"Cultural Capital and School Success: The Impact of Status Culture Participation on the Grades of U. S. High School Students. † American Sociological Review A7(2):\%9-1Q. DiMaggio, Paul, and John Mohr. 1985. â€Å"C ultural Capital, Educational Attainment and Marital Selection† American Journal of Sociology 90(6):I231-6l. DeNora, Tia. 2000. Music in Everyday Life. Cambridge University Press. Fine, Gary Alan, and Sherryl Kleinman. 1979. â€Å"Rethinking Subculture: An Interactionist Analysis. † American Journal of Sociology 83(l):l-20. Ereedman, Jonathan. 2002. Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression: Assessing the Scientific Evidence. University of Toronto Press. 718 †¢ Social Forces 88(2] Frith, Simon. 1985. â€Å"The Sociology of Youth. † Pp. 301-68. Sociology: New Directions. Michael Haralabos, editor. Ormskirk: Causeway Press. Gracyk, Theodore. 2001. / Wanna Be Me: Rock Music and the Politics ofIdentity. Temple University Press. Hall, Stuart, and Tony Jefferson. 1976. Resistance through Rituals. Hutchinson. Hehdige, Dick. 1979. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. Routledge. Hesmondhalgh, David 2005. â€Å"Subcultures, Scenes orTribes? None ohe. Ph(ywt! ‘ Journal of Youth Studies 8(l):21-40. Hicks, Jeffrey. 2006. â€Å"How Hip-Hop Destroys the Potential of Black Youth. † Project 21 New Visions Commentary: National Leadership Network of Conservative AfricanAmericans. 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Surette, Ray. 1992. Media, Crime and CriminalJustice: Tmages and Realities. Brooks/Cole. Tanner, Julian. 1981. â€Å"Pop Music and Peer Croups: A Study of Canadian High School Student's Responses to Pop Music. † Canadian Review ofSociology and Anthropology 18(1):1-13. †¢ 2001. Teenage Troubles: Youth and Deviance in Canada. 2^ Edition. Toronto: Nelson Canada. 720 †¢ Social Forces BH2) Tanner, Julian, Mark Asbridge and Scot Wortley. 2008 â€Å"Our Favourite Melodies: Musical Consumption and Teenage Lifestyles. † British Journal ofSociology 59(1): 117-44. Tanner, Julian, and Scot Wortley. 2002. The Toronto Youth Crime and Victimization Survey: Overview Report. Toronto: Centre of Criminology. Tatum, Becky L. 1999. â€Å"The Link Between Rap Music and Youth Crime and Violence: A Review of the Literature and Issues for Future Research. † Justice Professional ll(3):339-53. Thornton, Sarah. 1995. Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital. Polity Press. Tsunokai, Glenn, and Augustine Kposwa. 2002. â€Å"Asian Cangs in the United States: The Current State ofthe Research Literature. † Crime, Law and Social Change 37(l):37-50. Van Eijck, Koen. 200 L â€Å"Social Differentiation in Musical Taste Patterns. Social Eorces 79(3): 1163-85. Walser, Robert. 1993. Runningwith the Devil: Power, Cender, andMadness in Heavy Metal Music. Wesleyan University Press/University Press of New England. Weinstein, Deena. 2000. Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Culture. Da Capo Press. Willis, Paul. 1978. Profane Culture. Routledge and Keegan Paul. . 1990. Common Culture. Open Univer sity Press Wimsatt, William. 1994. We Use Words like ‘Mackadocious,'Bomb the Suburbs. Subway and Elevated Press. Wingood, Cina M. , Ralph DiClemente, Jay Bernhardt, Kathy Harrington, Susan Davies, Alyssa Robillard and Edward Hook. 2003. A Prospective Study of Exposure to Rap Music Videos and African-American Female Adolescents Health. † American Journal ofPublic Health 93(3):437-39. Wortiey, Scot. 2002. â€Å"The Depiction of Race and Crime in the Toronto Print Media. † Pp. 55-82. Marginality and Condemnation: An Introduction to Critical Criminology. Bernard Schissel and Carolyn Brooks, editors. Fernwood Publishing. Wordey, Scot, and Julian Tanner. 2004. â€Å"Social Groups or Criminal Organisations? The Extent and Nature of Youth Gang Activity in Toronto. † Pp. 59-77. Enforcement and Prevention to Civic Engagement: Research on Community Safety. Bruce Kidd and Jim Phillips, editors. Toronto: Centre of Criminology. . 2005. â€Å"Inflammatory Rhetoric? Baseless Accusation? A Response to Gabors Gritique of Racial Profiling Research in CAm. a2i. † Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 47(3):581-609. Yousman, Bill. 2003. â€Å"Blackophilia and Blackophobia: White Youth, the Gonsumption of Rap Music, and White Supremacy. † Communication Theory 13(4):366-91. Listening to Rap †¢ 721 Appendix A. Descriptive Statistics for all Measures Variables Independent Measures Age Gender Do you identify yourself as Canadian Race Coding Years Male Female Mean/ Cases Percent 3331 1696 1700 2533 16. 62 49. 9 50. 1 74. 8 25. 39. 4 14. 2 11. 5 19. 3 15. 7 31. 5 68. 4 27. 0 73. 0 76. 7 23. 3 3. 26 Yes No White Black Asian South Asian Other 850 1334 Father Received Postsecondary Education Mother Received Postsecondary Education Two-Parent Family 480 391 653 531 1073 2327 Subjective Social Class 1 (poor) to 5 (rich) Z-score Cultural Capital Leisure (index o f frequency of involvement in playing a musical instrument, attending cultural events, volunteering, going to meetings/ belonging to organizations, going to the library, going to the symphony or opera, going to the museum, reading a book for pleasure, and involvement with hobbies, with an a=. O). Have been suspended from school at least once Have skipped school at least once Primarily receive â€Å"A† Grades Educational Stream Education is Important Part of Life Yes No Yes No Yes No 917 2483 2609 791 3032 3325 Yes No Yes No Yes No Educational General 450 2950 2493 907 1092 2308 2642 13. 2 86. 8 73. 3 26. 7 32. 1 7. 9 78. 0 22. 0 71. 8 28. 2 18. 7 81. 3 736 2309 Yes No 905 605 2625 3277 Dependent Measures Yes ~ Urban Music Enthusiasts No Social Injustice (index of amount of agreement or Z-score disagreement regarding the following statements: people from my racial group are more likely to be unfairly stopped and questioned by the police than people from other racial groups; discrimination makes it hard for people from my racial group to find a good job; discrimination makes it difficult for people from my racial group to get good marks in school; students from rich families have an easier time getting ahead than students from poor families; everyone has an equal chance of getting ahead in Canada; it is rare for an innocent person to be wrongly sent to jail, with an a=. 65). continued on the following page 722 †¢ Social Forces 88(2] Appendix A. ontinued Coding Variables Independent Measures Property Crime (index of frequency of involvement Z-score in breaking into cars, minor theft under $50, property damage, stealing bikes, breaking and entering into homes, ste aling cars, major theft over $50, and drug dealing, with an pi=. 86), _ . ^ Violent Crime (index of frequency of carrying a hidden Z-score weapon like a gun or knife in public, using physical force on another person to get money or other things; attacked someone with the idea of seriously hurting that person, hit or threatened to hit a parent or teacher, getting into a physical fight with someone, and taken part in a fight where a group of friends were up against another arouD. with an a=. 81). Mean/ Cases Percent 3344 3288 Copyright of Social Forces is the property of University of North Carolina Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or

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Global governance - Coursework Example Every nation has its own laws, but due to the existing shared resources such as the oceans, the atmosphere, and climate among others, the necessity of global governance on such environmental issues has to be in place, to protect the environment and the biodiversity. There are series of environmental challenges which span several nations, regions, and eventually the entire globe causing serious harm. Some of the main global governance issues relating to the environment include health, energy, hazardous chemicals, green house gas emissions, invasive species and polluted water, and depleting resources. Truly, it is each nation’s and its societies’ responsibility to safeguard the environment, but their efforts are too small to handle the increasing issues; hence international cooperation has to take responsibility, by enforcing policies to guide and discipline nations. Health Issues The increasing health problems are matters of global concern, especially now when the transm ission of diseases, either sexually, contact or airborne is on the rise. New diseases are emerging, all threatening the lives of the global population, who have unrestricted movements across different boundaries. Health problems are wide, but the growth of global health partnerships is helping to address majority of them. ‘Health threats such as HIV/AIDS, influenza, SARS, or avian flu threaten every country and the global community as a whole, due to the rapid spread based on global travel and mobility; their impact is frequently very serious in economic terms.’2 Some of the diseases are arising or spreading due to human, economic, and social actions, which could be regulated easily to counter the diseases. Nations are spending huge amounts of money that could be drained in other sectors, to assist the citizens to meet the costs of treatment of these diseases. Food processing, alcohol, and tobacco companies have been accused of being channels that steer certain diseases like Diabetes and cancers within the societies. As financing healthcare continues to be a political issue, inequalities in accessing health care still persist with nations like the United States spending $7285, while developing nations such as Eritrea and Myanmar may have to spend less than $10 per individual annually.3 Often, human health has a relation with the health of the ecosystem; hence environmental degradation does not affect terrestrial organisms only, but generally lead to diseases that are severe to human health than infectious diseases. Malaria is partly attributed to environmental changes arising from human activities for economic gain. Parts of the Amazons, Peru, and Bangladesh demonstrate increasing malaria cases, as the clearing of the forests left pools of water bodies, creating ideal sites for mosquitoes to breed; these human caused changes encourage mosquitoes movement into areas populated by humans as their habitats are destroyed.4 This problem is also a health problem in Africa, since the tropics are much warmer due to deforestation activities, influencing organisms’ evolution (insects tend to live longer and breed faster than before) and as they migrate to other newer environments,

Discuss these questions for The United Nation Environments Program ( Essay

Discuss these questions for The United Nation Environments Program ( UNEP ) - Essay Example The operations in crucial matters such as Economics, Industry, and Technology are made more favorable by situating their major offices in Paris and Geneva. Any organization, no matter the size, must have key stakeholders (Shafritz & Ott, 1996). In the same way, UNEP has major actors in its daily operations, which ensure that the ecosystem of the organization favors the objectives and that all the goals are fully achieved. UNEP’s comparative advantage lies in working with technical and scientific communities; in monitoring and assessing, as well as linking to environment ministries. The Committee of Permanent Representatives and the Governing Council, who are the chief formal governance mechanisms, meet on a regular basis to give adequate guidance and oversight. There are a few challenges that the environment presents to UNEP. The worst of all are the environmental disasters. Developmental and economic operations interact with components of the habitats and may probably cause the changing patterns of activities; creating severe environmental and natural phenomena (Tompkins, 2004).This is a major challenge to the UNEP as it may not be in a position to handle natural calamities, which are harmful to both the ecosystem and to human beings. Human behavior is another factor of the environment that challenges this organization. They are directly linked to various trends, such as population growth, increase in poverty, unwise land use, disturbance of initially stable ecosystems, and environmental degradation. Such factors exposed to the environment may be a big problem for UNEP to handle within a short period of time. The environment is still at the margin of socio-economic growth. Excessive consumption and poverty continue putting heavy pressure to UNEP, especially in places where awareness and action are not coordinated

Cloverleaf PLC Case Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cloverleaf PLC Case Analysis - Essay Example The author has rightly presented that the selling and purchasing process followed by a company plays imperative role in their success in the long run. Nowadays, companies around the world are trying to implement different types of strategies and techniques by which they can increase the overall sales and at the same time can streamline their purchasing process. The company observed that it has great opportunities in the European market as there are more than 1000 organizations that are active in Europe. The company mainly targeted countries such as France, Germany and Benelux countries. Despite, competitive edge over the rivals in terms of technological expertise and better quality, the company failed to get the order of Commercial SA. The company recently opened sales offices in countries such as France, Germany and the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg). The principal intention of the company behind opening new branches in other parts of Europe was to capitalize on the market opportunities and along with that, driving sales was another motive. The company has not been performing to the desired standard since the last few months. The sales figures of the company also represent the same as the company has only been able to sell three units, which is far below the expectations. Hence, to get rid of the financial debacle and strengthen its financial position, the company has decided to make its presence felt in other parts of the world. According to eminent scholars such as Adler (2010) a company with international business holds the opportunity to increase the overall sales and profitability of the firm. The author also emphasized on the fact that the chances of sales go up because of the greater marketplace. Echoing the same, authors such as Pride & Ferrell (2004) stated that the dependence of a business on the domestic market reduces greatly. Kapil (2011) mentioned that it allows companies to learn new methods and makes them more competent in the global marketplace. Hence, from this discussion and statements of the eminent scholars, it is evident that given the company's superiority in product quality and technology, the decision of the company to expand in other parts of Europe was fully justified (Fournier, 1998). Sales Strategy of Cloverleaf PLC According to Solomon (2008) a company must formulate and implement the most appropriate strategy of marketing and selling. This is because, even if a company manufactures superior products, the same will remain unknown to the customers if not promoted properly. Thus, it is obvious that a company should put in equal efforts in developing a product as well as promoting it. In the context of Cloverleaf

Analysing online consumer shopping motivations for luxury products Essay

Analysing online consumer shopping motivations for luxury products (Methodology) - Essay Example Research Methodology This part of the study discusses the methodology which has been adopted for addressing to the research topic (Perry, 1998). The research has been made related to the topic ‘whether online shopping motivates the customers towards purchasing luxury products’. This part of the study would be sub divided into various segments, each part displaying some specific portion of the research methodology which has been implemented. 2. Research Philosophy Ontology Ontology is the initial point that will lead to the own established theoretical framework. It refers to the study of assumptions related to the nature of the social reality, what are the units that constitute this reality and how they interact with each other (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Lowe, 2002). Epistemology It is the branch of research philosophy which mainly focuses on the scope and nature of the knowledge. It is also referred to as ‘the theory of knowledge’ (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe an d Lowe, 2002). 3. Research Approach There are mainly two types of research approaches. One is the deductive research approach and the other is the inductive research approach. Deductive Research Deductive research approach helps in testing the validity of the research study in waterfall manner (Shaheen, n.d). This model follows a series of procedure i.e. theory establishment, followed by hypothesis generation, observation of the behavior of variables and then reaching the conclusion. Inductive Research Inductive research approach is a useful tool for converting the observation into theoretical conclusion (Shaheen, n.d.). This model follows a series of procedures i.e. observation of the behavior and relationship between the variables, identification of the type of relationship, establishing a suitable hypothesis and then reaching to the conclusion. 4. Data Sources The study requires collecting primary as well as secondary data in order to satisfy the research objective. Primary Data The Primary data is collected by the researcher himself/herself for conducting the research work. The primary data is generally collected by gathering the responses of the customers participating in the close ended survey that have been conducted for carrying out the research work. There are many forms of primary sources such as responses of the participants in the surveys, interviews etc (Somekh and Lewin, 2005). Secondary Data The secondary data is collected by reviewing the literatures that have been made on the same topic earlier. Secondary data collection is the process of collecting data where someone other than the user gathers the entire set of data (Vaivio, 2008). The data collected from the secondary research has helped to reach to the research objective in an appropriate manner. The secondary data sources like newspapers, journals, books, and data obtained from company websites and different working and research papers published by various academic scholars are utilised w hile conducting any research work. The collection of these data helps in proceeding in the research process in an appropriate manner. 5. Data Collection Approaches Quantitative Methodology The quantitative research methodology is such a research methodology which involves various computation techniques or statistical calculations (J. Hussey and R. Hussey, 1997). The methodology takes into consideration various statistical data for carrying out

Gender of art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gender of art - Essay Example The two males are putting on suits, with the groom donning a black coat, white shirt and a yellow tie, and on the right side of the coat’s lapel, there is a yellow flower. The other male is donning a blue jacket, with a white shirt and a maroon tie and a light maroon pocket-handkerchief on the top left pocket of the jacket. On the lower left side of the painting is a woman who seems to be having mixed feelings as she seems to be grinning while at the same time her grin has a mild sadness to it with the eyes closed. The man seated on the left shows content in his facial expression while the younger girl on the lower right side of the painting seems to be cynical of the whole ceremony being portrayed in the painting as shown by her gaze fixed away from the main theme. The faintly painted entrance or exit on the background acts as a reference point indicating the physical location or context of the scenario, which in this case an indoor private ceremony given the few number of pe ople portrayed by the painting. This analysis of the geographical context of the painting is further augmented by the flowers Strause has included on the lower left side next to the seated woman. ... Strause uses well-defined and bold lines, which appear carefully planned to paint the figures of people in the artwork, indicating her precision and accuracy in painting. The background has shades of light green, blue and white which seem to have been done in a manner to portray them as if they were left unfinished. Items on the surface in front of the female figure on the lower left of the painting have also been painted as if left unfinished. The artist has used a variety of techniques in applying oil paint in the artwork, as some subjects in the painting appear carefully planned leaving no spaces while in other instances, the artists application of the oil paint on canvas appears to be more inconsistent and seems to have been done in alacrity. This shows enthusiasm of the artist in her work while on the other hand application of the paint with careful planning creates a feeling of easiness and patience. As I sit and view this artwork, my eyes are occasionally veer from the pair of scissors and the rope tied in a knot on the left top and right top of the painting respectively to the focal point around the wedding couple cutting what appears to be a wedding cake. This movement happens mainly because of the bold lines the artist has applied in painting the two objects at the top and the color intensity of the bride and grooms costumes. The pair of scissors and the knot are standing out since the artists has painted them in a manner that makes them appear isolated from the other subjects in the piece while the focal point, that is the wedding couple have been painted using very intense colors as seen with the groom who is donning a black suit. The

Should employers be allowed to ask for an employee's social networking Research Paper

Should employers be allowed to ask for an employee's social networking information Can an employee's Facebook or Twitter activity impact their job Is this fair Necessary - Research Paper Example â€Å"Traditional social networks have expanded from a few dozen acquaintances to hundreds of friends, friends of friends, connections and followers† (Kelleher, 2009). Employees’ use of social media websites is a matter of huge concern for some employers, while others are indifferent to the employees’ Facebook and Twitter activities. In either case, employers have very little control over their employees’ social media activities. Employers cannot deny the employees’ right to use these websites. This paper explores this matter from numerous dimensions. Social media websites are places of casual chit chat. They are forums where juniors can interact with their seniors in a comparatively casual way. Sometimes, managers and leaders have a rosy view about letting their subordinates the freedom to ask them personal questions or interact with them on an equal level. When a manager gets a friend request from an employee, he/she may not want to accept that, yet he/she half-heartedly accepts the request just to keep his relationship with him/her good. Some employees tend to have separate work and social identities and yet there are others who don’t differentiate between the two. This lack of dual identity is not always appreciated by others. Many people are very particular about not discussing business issues outside the workplace. When a subordinate or manager does discuss them on Facebook or Twitter, this may be very irritating for the other person. Many employees have been fired in the past for discussing their job related issues on the Facebook and Twitter. â€Å"Five workers fired for complaining about their jobs on Facebook will go back to work after the National Labor Relations Board ruled in their favor, affirming workers can safely vent their frustrations about the workplace on social networks† (Forbes, 2011). This raises challenges for the governing bodies that have to take a lot of criticism both if they decide in favor of the employees or

Use of Force Essay Example for Free

Use of Force Essay Use of force can be defined as the right granted to the authority or an individual to settle conflicts through measures that are aimed at either preventing or dissuading a given party from a certain course of action or physical intervention to stop the individual(s) from taking a certain course of action. As such, use of force may be applied by the military, the police, other security personnel or corrections in an effort to stop or prevent crime. The executive branch may also exercise the use of force in such cases as deploying the military or the police in an effort to maintain law and order or to defend the sovereignty of the country in question. However, the use of force by the executive branch is dependent on political jurisdiction passed by the legislative branch. In essence, the use of force is vested in statutes in the constitution with a series of progressive actions authorizing given authorities and security bodies to apply the use of force in certain situation. Unlike the use of negotiation and conflict resolution techniques, forced is useable by a law enforcement officer if a law breaker decline from desisting a certain course of action or if he attempts to run. Use of force in this context includes physical restraint and lethal force to solve or to restrain such an individual from committing the crime. The general rule however remains that only a reasonable force maybe used and only the necessary one given the circumstances under which force is required. As such, individuals authorizing the use of force are always held accountable for the degree or the level of force employed in any given situation (Marie, 2001, p. 43). Law enforcement officers and security personnel are usually faced with varying situation in their line of duty that requires them to use force in deterring crime or even to protect themselves. An example of such a situation is when a police officer is involved in a shoot out with criminals. In such a situation, force will be required not only to deter the criminals but also for self defense. While use of force is permissible in certain circumstances, the level and the degree to which force is applied is usually limited by the circumstance in question. Security and police officers are required to use only the necessary force given a certain circumstance and are thus held responsible and accountable for force used in such circumstances. On the other hand, the degree of force applied by an officer is dependent on not only the circumstance at hand but also on how such an officer is equipped in terms of a gun, handcuffs or other equipment and tools used by law enforcement officers such as pepper spray. As opposed to police officers, security officers are not authorized to make arrests but situation may bid them to take a criminal into custody. Whether a security officer or a police officer, dealing with any situation require the application of reasonable force by avoiding excessive force under the circumstance in question (Regina, 2001, p. 38). In this regard, the officer involved is required to access the seriousness of the situation, the risk associated with such a situation and the situation immediacy. In case it is a security officer who is present in such a situation, the best action to take is to inform law enforcement authorities to take the relevant action. Diffusing any given situation requires that the police officers be well trained and informed regarding the laws applicable and especially on the use of force continuum which gives the necessary guidelines in regard to the degree of force applicable in different situations (Thomas, 2002, p. 62). The use of force continuum can be broken down to six levels that are designed in an elastic manner in the context of the need for using force given that situations keep on changing. For example, a situation may require that the level of force used bounce from level one to level two and back again in a matter of minutes or seconds. In regard to the use of force continuum, the first level includes the presence of a visible and uniformed police officer or a marked vehicle. This is usually seen as enough to stop or deter a crime. The presence of an officer here includes walking, running or standing. Also defined in the concept of presence is use of vehicle lights, speaker or a horn. In this context, the police officer is capable of stopping a crime without a word but rather through the use of gestures and body language. However, such gestures should be professional and non-threatening. The second level involves the combination of presence of an officer and the use of verbal communication to deter or stop a crime in progress. In essence, variation in voice can be used such as whispering, shouting or just normally to achieve the desired results. Officers are usually advised to start calmly in a firm but non-threatening manner. Words chosen and their intensity can be varied as deemed necessary and short commands can be used in dealing with serious situations. This level requires that a police officer be well trained in communication skills so as to be able to communicate effectively in any given situation. In essence, the use of verbal communication combined with the presence of the police officer can be able to deter or stop a crime without the need for physical force (Ian, 1998, p. 23). Level three involves the use of control holds and restraints where words and presence fails to apply. This requires the physical involvement of the police officer present in the situation. However, minimal force should be used including bare hands for guiding, restraining or holding the law breaker. Thus at this level, use of offensive moves such as punching should be avoided. The officer in question may make use of pain compliance holds where ordinary holds fail to control a suspect who is aggressive. On the other hand, the officer may make use of handcuffs where a suspect exhibits traits of aggression, where he or she poses a real threat of where such a suspect exhibits the possibility of fleeing. On the other hand, not all suspects require handcuffs and if the officer uses handcuffs, he is responsible for guiding such an individual to prevent him from falling or tripping. Great care should also be observed to avoid any bodily harm to the suspect such as positional asphyxiation. Training is therefore important to help police officers apply the necessary measures in situations that require use of control holds and restraints (Marie, 2001, p. 52). The forth level of use of force continuum involves the use of chemical agents to diffuse a crime. If the officer establishes that the suspect is threatening or violent, extreme but non violence measures can be used to control the suspect. This however is subject to the assumption that all other levels of force continuum have failed to be effective. In this regard, pepper splay or tear gas can be used to diffuse the situation. It is important to note here that proper care should be taken when using chemical agents to deter or stop a crime as such agents may cause death or severe reactions to suspects with allergic and other medical conditions. Moreover, they can cause the suspect to fall down a staircase or walk into traffic (Regina, 2001, p. 27). Level five involves measures aimed at temporary incapacitating the suspect in question. The assumption behind use of force in this level is that the circumstance was extreme, immediate and violent. The officer then can use empty hands or impact tools. In this regard, defensive and offensive moves are allowed but must be applied properly and in the right circumstances. Temporary incapacitation is useful in preventing an injury in regard to the officer and other people involved in the situation. The officer may make use of baton blows on certain joints areas or on soft tissues or use of stun gun to incapacitate the suspect long enough to handcuff him or get more help. Care must however be taken while applying any measures as some of them such as neck compressions are very risky and poses a threat to the livelihood of the suspect.

Ebola Virus: History, Symptoms and Treatment

Ebola Virus: History, Symptoms and Treatment Vijayatheeban Jeyanandan Ebola virus outbreaks: The deadly and incurable Hemorrhagic fever Contents (Jump to) 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 History of Ebola virus. 1.3 Characteristics of Ebola virus. 1.4 Symptoms of Ebola infection. 1.5 Diagnosis methods. 1.6 Treatment methods. 1.7 Conclusion Reference list 1.1 Introduction A reported by the World Health Organization (2014) Ebola virus disease once known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever is a serious, frequently deadly disease, with a case casualty rate of up to 90%. There are no authorized particular medications or vaccine accessible for utilization in individuals or creatures. Stanford education (2014) states that Ebola virus was initially recognized as a possible new strain of Marburg virus in 1976. Stanford education states that Ebola infection is initially wide spreading in Sudan and Zaire. Ebola virus is a member of filoviridae family. Farrar and Piot (2014) reported that as of September 14, 2014, a total of 4507 confirmed and likely instances of Ebola virus disease, and also 2296 deaths from the infection, had been accounted for from five nations in West Africa — Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leon. Contact with body fluids demonstrated a solid affiliation. Francesconi et al. (2003) comments that Persons who had immediate physical contact with a infected person were more inclined to have gained the disease. 1.2 History of Ebola virus Peters and Leduc (1999) comments that biomedical science initially experienced the virus family filoviridae when Marburg virus showed up in 1967 and in the late 1970s, the global group was again startled, this time by the revelation of Ebola infection as the causative executor of significant flare-ups of hemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sudan. History of Ebola infection can be found online (Stanfort education, 2014) The first outbreaks of infected in excess of 284 peoples, with a 53% death rate. After the few months the second Ebola infection caused from Yambuku, Zaire, Ebola-Zaire (EBOZ). EBOZ, with the most astounding death rate of any of the Ebola infection (88%), contaminated 318 peoples. In 1989, a novel infection, Reston Ebolavirus (REBOV) was secluded from commonly tainted cynomolgus macaques imported from the Philippines into United States. All shipments aside from one were followed to single supplier in the Philippines; however, the main beginning of the infection and mode of sullying for the office has never been learned. While pathogenic for regularly and tentatively tainted monkeys, constrained information demonstrate that REBOV may not be pathogenic for people as creature overseers without delivering clinical side effects. A review by Georges et al. (1999) reported that, in 1994, at Gabon, Occured in Mà ©kouka and other gold-mining camps profound in the downpour backwoods. At first thought to be yellow fever; recognized as Ebola hemorrhagic fever in 1995. Zuckerman(2008) reported that In 2000, Happened in Gulu, Masindi, and Mbarara areas of Uganda. The three most essential dangers connected with Ebola infection contamination were going to funerals of Ebola hemorrhagic fever patients, having contact with infected patients in ones family, and giving restorative forethought to Ebola infected patients without utilizing sufficient individual defensive measures. In this situation, reported number of human cases is 425 and reported number of deaths among cases is 224. 1.3 Characteristics of Ebola virus A review by Sullivan et al. (2003) comments that Ebola was found in 1976 and is a member of the Filovirus family, which are pleomophic, negative-sense RNA viruses whose genome organization is most similar to the paramyxoviridae. Geisbert et al. (2010) states EBOV particles contain a non-infectious RNA genome of roughly 19 kilobases that encodes seven structural proteins and one non-structural protein. The gene order is 3†² leader, nucleoprotein, virion protein 35 , virion protein 40, glycoprotein, virion protein 30, polymerase L protein, and 5†² trailer.3 Four of these proteins—nucleoprotein, virion protein30, virion protein35, and the polymerase L protein—are associated with the viral genomic RNA in the ribonucleoprotein complex.Crowley and Crusberg (2014) states Ebola viruses are long and filamentious, essentially bacilliform. However the viruses mostly get on a â€Å"U† shape. The particles of these viruses can be above 14,000 nm in long and average 80 nm in diameter. Visualscience.ru (2014) states Ebola has a layer envelope its shaped from the film of the host cell during virus budding. The viral molecule additionally catches various human proteins. Ebola surface protein, encoded by the gp gene. Transmission of the virus PHAC-ASPC.GC.CA (2014) states, that in an outbreak, it is theorized that the first patient gets to be infected as an aftereffect of contact with an infected animals. Person to person transmission happens by means of close personal contact with an infected individual or their body fluids during the late stages of disease or after death. Centers for Disease Control (2014) reported that Ebola is not spread through the air or by water, or in general, foods. However Ebola is spread through direct contact with blood or body fluids including but not limited to urine, salivation, dung, regurgitation, and semen of an individual who is infected by Ebola. And also Ebola virus can be transmitted by objects like needles and syringes that have been contaminated with the virus. 1.4 Symptoms of Ebola infection Smith (2014) stats that, the symptoms of Ebola may be shown out from 2 days to 21 days after the infection of Ebola virus, but the average is 8 to 10 days from the infection. The symptoms are quite similar to the flu, cholera, typhoid, and malaria. The symptoms usually include high fever, serious head pain, body weakness, retching, diarrhea, stomach torment, Lack of apptite, and sore throat. Symptoms of Ebola can be found online (Health24, 2014). Progression of Ebola fever causes bleeding inside the body, and from the eyes, ears, nose and anus. Some individuals will vomit or hack up blood, have wicked looseness of the bowels, have impaired kidney and liver function, have continues hiccups and get a rash. Diagnosing methods of Ebola can be found online (Cdc.gov, 2014). In the earlier stage is really very difficult because the early symptoms are quite similar to the symptoms of malaria and typhoid fever. In his analysis Zubay (2005,pp) says that tests with live virus must be performed in Biosafety Level 4 regulation research centers, due to the compelling harmfulness and infectiousness of disease. 1.5 Diagnosis methods Diagnosing methods of Ebola can be found online (Centers for disease control and prevention, 2014). In the earlier stage is really very difficult because the early symptoms are quite similar to the symptoms of malaria and typhoid fever. In his analysis Zubay (2005,p.71,72) says that tests with live virus must be performed in Biosafety Level 4 regulation research centers, due to the compelling harmfulness and infectiousness of disease. A review by Saijo et al, (2006) says after the isolation, the virus can be detected via various laboratory diagnostic methods like virus isolation, reverse transcription, real time quantitative method , antigen-capture enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay method (ELISA), antigen detection by immunostaining, or IgG-and IgM-ELISA using authentic virus antigens (9, 18, 28-30, 32, 48, 50, 53, 64). Diagnosing methods can differ with the time line of infection which can be found online (Centers for disease control and prevention, 2014). Within a few days after the symptoms shown out we could use Antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing or IgM ELISA or Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or Virus isolation and for retrospectively in deceased patients we need to use Immunohistochemistry testing or PCR or virus isolation and later in the disease course or after recovery we could use IgM and IgG antibodies. In his analysis Bray (2014) says that as indicated by the WHO, people who no more have signs and indications of Ebola infection sickness can be released on the off chance that they have two contrary PCR tests on entire blood, differentiated by no less than 48 hours. 1.6 Treatment methods Schoenstadt (2014) says that there are no proven treatment methods to kill the Ebola virus therefore, treatment concentrates on giving easing of side effects as the body battles the virus. This is called supportive care. Ziady and Small (2004) stats that patients receive supportive treatments like balancing fluid and electrolytes, maintaining tissue and pulmonary oxygenation, maintaining blood circulation by replacing blood loss, and treating complications symptomatically. Gupta, (2014) comments that chronicled examples in medication improvement recommend that there is a slim likelihood of accomplishment with the current arrangement of potential Ebola treatments. Torrence (2005) stats that scientists have also examined the potential of heterologous live viral vectors in effectively preventing Ebola virus infection. And we also can say good nursing care and using antibiotics to prevent secondary infections from bacteria also supportive care for Ebola. Lamontagne et al. (2014) says General wellbeing mediations including describing the episode the study of disease transmission, contact following, social assembly, and state funded instruction are fundamental steps in ceasing Ebola and will at last spare a lot of people a larger number of lives than can be spared by individual patient forethought. (Geisbert, 2014) says that antibody therapies and several other methodologies mentioned here should ultimately be included in an arsenal of interventions for controlling future Ebola outbreaks. 1.7 Conclusion Ebola is infection and highly lethal and with no verifiably effective vaccine available. However the ebola hemorraghic fever can be control by spreading virus. First of all, the health ministry of government and who knows about the Ebola virus disease they should be Awareness to essential peoples. Because everyone must be attention about the Ebola infection. The ebola infection only can diagnosis under the advanced laboratory, but there are no lab facilities backwardness areas and also some essential countries. However who the person shows the ebola virus symptoms, we should be try to transfer to where can diagnose. In the future government should be provide advanced lab facilities for diagnose the infection when the infection highly spreading. The medical workers of ebola virus diagnosing or researching they should be wear protective clothing transport a man suffering from Ebola. Reference list Bray, M. (2014). Uptodate. Available at: http://www.uptodate.com/contents/diagnosis-and-treatment-of-ebola-and-marburg-virus-disease# (Accessed 30 October 2014). Centers for disease control and prevention (2014) Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/diagnosis/ (Accessed 29 October 2014). Centers for disease and prevention (2014). Transmission of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever [online] Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/ (Accessed 27 September 2014). Crowley, J. and Crusberg, T. (2014). Genomic Structure, Comparative and Molecular Biology. Available at: http://www.mcb.uct.ac.za/ebola/ebolagen.html (Accessed: 28 September 2014). Farrar, J. and Piot, P. (2014). ‘Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa -The First 9 Months of the Epidemic and Forward Projections’, New England Journal Medicine, 371(16), pp.1481-1495 [Online]. Available at: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1411100 (Accessed: 6 November 2014) Francesconi, P., Yoti, Z., Declich, S., Onek, P., Fabiani, M., Olango, J., Andraghetti, R., Rollin, P., Opira, C., Greco, D. and Salmaso, S. (2003). ‘Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Transmission and Risk Factors of Contacts, Uganda’. Emerging Infectous Disease, 9(11), pp.1430-1437, National Center for Biotechnology Information [Online]. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3035551/ (Accessed: 6 November 2014) Geisbert, T., Lee, A., Robbins, M., Geisbert, J., Honko, A., Sood, V., Johnson, J., de Jong, S., Tavakoli, I., Judge, A., Hensley, L. and MacLachlan, I. (2010). Postexposure protection of non-human primates against a lethal Ebola virus challenge with RNA interference: a proof-of-concept study. 375(9729), pp.1896-1905, The Lancet. (online). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(10)60357-1 (Accessed 28 September 2014) Geisbert, T. (2014). ‘Medical research: Ebola therapy protects severely ill monkeys’, Nature, 514(7520), pp.41-43, Nature Publishing Group [Online]. Available at: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vnfv/ncurrent/full/nature13746.html (Accessed:6 November 2014). Georges, A., Leroy, E., Renaut, A., Benissan, C., Nabias, R., Ngoc, M., Obiang, P., Lepage, J., Bertherat, E., Benoni, D. (1999). Ebola hemorrhagic outbreaks in Gabon. Journal of Infectious Diseases. 179(Supplement 1), pp.6575. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9988167 (Accessed: 6 Oct. 2014). Gupta, R. (2014). ‘Rethinking the development of Ebola treatments’, The Lancet Global Health, 2(10), pp.e563-e564 [Online]. Available at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(14)70304-3/fulltext (Accessed: 6 November 2014). Health24 (2014). Available at: http://www.health24.com/Medical/infectious-diseases/Ebola/Signs-and-symptoms-of-Ebola-20140729 (Accessed 29 October 2014). Lamontagne, F., Clà ©ment, C., Fletcher, T., Jacob, S., Fischer, W. and Fowler, R. (2014). ‘Doing Todays Work Superbly Well — Treating Ebola with Current Tools’. New England Journal of Medicine, 371(17), pp.1565-1566 [Online]. 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