Christanity Essays - African Slave Trade, , Term Papers

Christanity What do people look for in religion? Do they look for guidance, beliefs, reason, or do they look for help? African-Americans have looked for all of these for many years. They found all of these in Christianity. Christians believe in one God who they worship, trust, and look up to. Since Christianity was first introduced in the early Colonial Period, African-Americans have used their Christian beliefs to fight horrible things that have gone on in America such as slavery and segregation. As African-Americans were captured through the slave trade and brought to the colonies they possessed many different religious beliefs. Many people are extremely ignorant in history and believe that all African-Americans were once united together as a whole in Africa. This was not nearly the case. Africa was made up of many different states with many different people and with many different beliefs. These people were dark skinned, but aren't all white people light skinned. The white man has never agreed on one main language. As the African-Americans were brought to the colonies from Africa, they used Christianity to help bring them together. Some people use song and dance to express their Christian beliefs. The slaves started all this. African-American slaves used songs, dances, and often stories to show their feelings about God. These stories were called trickster stories. As African-American slaves became more involved in the Christian faith it gave them something to live and fight for. Instead of doing labor for their white owners, they did their work for themselves and most importantly, they did it for God. Slaves were treated as animals. They were forced to work in the fields, in the house, or on the farms for free. They were beaten, deprived of food and clothing, and even raped. If slaves tried to run away they were captured and beaten. Being beaten meant being stripped of their clothes and whipped severely with a leather strap. Some were whipped up to 300 times. As time passed, African-Americans were beginning to speak English. This helped significantly. Now they could preach and spread their beliefs. As Christianity spread through the country, slaves were beginning to worship the Lord out loud. They began to build churches and have marriages. Having Christian marriages provided a family for the slaves and this gave them a sense of brotherhood. The white man degraded the slaves so much that many had an extremely how self-esteem. Many slaves felt that their duty in life was to be the white man's slave. However, Christianity showed them that they were equal to everyone and this often raised the slaves self-esteem. Through churches and marriages the African-Americans were now creating a community for themselves. Slavery ended and blacks were finally free to some extent. Although they were now free, they would still remain under the white man's foot. This was a huge step for the African-Americans though. I believe that Christianity had a lot to do with the ending of slavery. The blacks already knew that slavery was wrong, and finally enough whites realized, through God that this was wrong and immoral. However, there will still be many whites who are ignorant in the preachings of God and still treat the blacks as though they are slaves. African-Americans will keep their heads high and fight for their freedom through the strength of God. Even though African-Americans were no longer slaves, they still do not have the freedom that everyone in America deserved. Slavery was now gone, but the main issue became segregation. Blacks still did not received the same rights as the whites did. They could not attend the same schools, use white bathroom facilities, eat in the same restaurants, ride on the front of buses, or even drink fro the same water fountains. This went against everything that God said and the blacks knew that. They knew that God created everyone equal and their are some African-Americans who will fight for this. Most blacks were scared to come public and fight for their rights. There was still a lof of violence and hostility toward blacks at this time. Blacks were being hung, beaten, and brutally murdered. This put a lot of fear into the eyes of African-Americans. Some tried to fight back, but most

How Many Glasses Are in a Gallon of Water

How Many Glasses Are in a Gallon of Water SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Research suggests that there are numerous health benefits to drinking water, including increased energy, weight loss, improved skin complexion, and more. Water's many benefits are well-known and often touted, but how much water should we actually aim to drink in a day? One common recommendation is to drink a gallon of water in a day. In this article, I'll cover how many glasses in a gallon for standard and non-standard glasses and talk about how many glasses of water in a gallon you should actually drink each day. How Many Glasses in a Gallon: Standard Glass A gallon contains 128 ounces. A standard glass contains eight ounces. So, one gallon equals 16 eight ounce glasses of water. How Many Glasses in a Gallon: Non-Standard Glass Other common types of glassware include pint glasses, which normally hold 16 ounces, or smaller, lowball glasses which hold between four to eight ounces, depending on the glass. Since a pint glass holds 16 ounces, and a gallon is 128 ounces, one gallon equals eight pint glasses. A gallon holds 32 4-ounce lowball glasses, approximately 21.3 6-ounce lowball glasses, and 16 eight ounce lowball glasses. In order to find out how many glasses of a particular size are in the gallon, you can divide 128 (the number of ounces in a gallon) by the number of ounces your glass holds. How Much Water Should You Drink in a Day? Now that we know how many glasses of water are in a gallon, let's discuss how much water you should drink a day. The Mayo Clinic recommends that average, healthy adults living in temperate climates drink eight standard glasses of water a day, which is half of the 16 standard glasses of water that make up a gallon. If you're extremely active, dehydrated, or live in a more arid part of the world, you'll want to increase the amount of water you consume every day. People who sweat a lot are more likely to need to drink a gallon of water every day than people who have a normal, moderate activity level. The bottom line- you should aim to drink at least eight glasses of water every day to receive health benefits such as increase hydration, better sleep, and more. If you're highly active, consider upping the amount of water you consume to one gallon to replace the fluids you lose while sweating. What's Next? Looking for more liquid measure answers? Find out how many cups are in four quarts here.

Cultural communication in relation to the culture of India Essay

Cultural communication in relation to the culture of India - Essay Example Cultures have individual perceptions of society, and norms and values affect the manner in which people of varying cultures communicate and understand the world. Inability to understand the difference in culture may cause misunderstanding or hinder communication between people of varying culture. The culture of India is one of the most unique since there is cultural diversity throughout the country. The North, south, and Northeast have unique cultures and their combination has led to development of the Indian culture.It is vital to note that tourism is the most apparent method of intercultural meetings since people of diverse cultures travel to far away lands such as India to learn different cultures. There is normally a difficulty in intercultural communication not only because of the difference in language but also because of the varying attitudes of people of varying culture. Through speech humans are able to communicate with each other and to do so they use language. Humans use s ystems of symbolic communication to pass across messages and the variety in language makes human communication very complex. Language is the most important tool for the transmission of various cultures. It is also the greatest barrier of communication between individuals of different cultures. In India, different states have various official languages identified by the central government. For example east India speaks Hindi, Urdu, and Bengali. English is considered globally as the language most understood.

Criminology and criminal justice in The United Arab Emirates Essay

Criminology and criminal justice in The United Arab Emirates - Essay Example UAE has been established in December 2, 1971 with Abu Dhabi as the capital owing to its industrial and cultural activities. Their official language is Arabic and their official religion is slam. Economic wise, UAE is considered to have a strong high income with a GDP of $ 47,407. UAE based their political system on the 1971 constitution however each ruler of each federation retain an absolute power in their own emirate. Interestingly, the seven emirs vote for a president of the seven federations to be their leader however this does not affect the governance of each emir. UAE also has a semiautonomous body referred to as the National Guards with duties to guard the border, utilities in the oil field and other strategic locations. They also act as reserve in cases the metropolitan police force is in need of reinforcement from them. Abu Dhabi and Dubai police are the leading police forces in the UAE with their quality services. Abu Dhabi police department is honored to have maintained the shining image of the country with the dedication, honesty, and integrity of the policemen. Dubai policemen also pride themselves of preventing crimes before it occurs, bringing justice, maintaining security and order, and honoring and protecting lives with their mission in making Dubai the best in such services around the world. UAE has several police divisions to include traffic, criminal investigation, emergency police, nationality and passport, civil defense, immigration, prison, trials and court-martials with their own functions and responsibilities.

Business Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Business Law - Case Study Example During the exam, Grothe asked Eelbode to do an exercise and during it Eelbode experienced immediate sharp and burning pain in his lower back and down the back of his right leg. Consequently, Eelbode filed a suit in a Washington state court against Grothe and Chec, claiming that he was injured because of an improperly administered back torso strength test. Based on the exculpatory document signed by Eelbode, Grothe and Chec filed a motion for summary judgment. The issue is whether the court should grant the motion and consider the exculpatory clause valid. RULE:Â   An adhesion contract is a legally binding contract, presented by one party to the other in a standardized form which contains clauses written exclusively by one party, without them being properly negotiated with the other party. This is the result of unequal bargaining power and causes unfair consequences to the adhering party. APPLICATION: The agreement signed between Norbert Eelbode and Grothe and Chec is an adhesion contract which did not offer Norbert the opportunity to negotiate its clauses. Norbert did not have a choice to sign or not to sign the exculpatory clause as he needed to pass the medical exam in order to get a job at Travelers Inn. Therefore, he was forced by the circumstances to sign the contract. Agreeing to that clause would not have been a problem if the physical injuries suffered by Norbert would not have occurred during the improper strength test. The exculpatory clause signed by Norbert actually forced him to give up any legal method of protecting his rights and repairing the suffered damages. This is unfair to Norbert, and, therefore, the agreement signed by him and Grothe and Chec is an adhesive one and should not be enforced. CONCLUSION: The court should consider the agreement signed by Norbert Eelbode an adhesive one and should not enforce it. Therefore, the exculpatory clause should not be considered

Three Negative Impacts Of Information Systems Information Technology Essay

Three Negative Impacts Of Information Systems Information Technology Essay Information systems are a basis for running business today. In many industries, survival and even existence without extensive use of IT is implausible and IT plays a vital role in increasing productivity. Although information technology has become more of a commodity, when coupled with corresponding changes in organization ad management, it can give the basis for new product, services, and ways of conducting business that provide firms with a strategic advantage. Information technology has become the largest constituent of capital investment for firms in the United States and many industrialized societies. On the other hand, there are the challenges for management when constructing and using information systems. Although information systems have provided vast benefits and efficiencies, they have also generated new ethical and social problems and challenges, such as threats to individual privacy and intellectual property rights; hence, managers face an ongoing struggle to maintain security and control, they have to design systems that people can control, understand, and use in a socially and ethically responsible way. Acquiring business value from information systems is another key challenge for management. Because not all companies realize good returns from information systems investments, in which the greatest challenge managers encountering today, they ensure that their companies indeed obtain meaningful returns on the money they spend on information systems. Besides, managers should understand the system requirements of a global business environment. Since the rapid growth in intern ational trade and the emergence of a global economy require information systems that can support both producing and selling goods in many different countries; however, it may result in chaos and the failure of central management controls. Therefore, management has to develop integrated, multinational or create cross-cultural accounting and reporting structures and design transnational business processes. Distinguish between and describe the uses of and advantages/disadvantages in HTML and XML. HTML is the main format used on the World Wide Web that stands for Hypertext markup language, which is a page description language for indicating how text, graphics, video, and sound are placed on a Web page document; however, HTML is limited to describing how data should be presented in the form of Web pages. HTML is actually a loosely defined subset of XML. However, whereas XML is a strict language, HTML takes liberties that may have helped it become the popular presentation tool it is today. Although the spirit of the young Internet encouraged freedom, developers have now recognized that the freedom of HTML has ramifications. Because HTML is so flexible, many browsers and Web applications have added their own functionality to the base HTML protocol. As all enhanced functionality is, this comes with additional security risks. XML stands for Extensible Markup Language that is the fundamental technology for Web services. XML can perform presentation, communication, and storage of data; however, in XML a number is not simply a number the XML tag specifies whether the number represents a price, a date, or a ZIP code. XML allows certain elements of the content of documents possible for computers to manipulate and interpret their data automatically and perform operations and the data without human intervention. Besides, XML offers a standard format for data exchange, enabling Web service to pass data from one process to another. Provide an explanation of the five layers of the TCP IP reference model. TCP/IP uses a suite of protocols, the main one being TCP and IP. TCP refers to the Transmission Control Protocol, which handles the movement of data between computers. TCP establishes a connection between the computers, sequences the transfer of packets, and recognizes the packets sent. IP refers to the Internet Protocol, which is responsible for the delivery of packets and includes the disassembling and reassembling of packets during transmission. There consists of five layers for the TCP/IP reference model, they are: application layer, transport layer, internet layer, network interface layer and physical layer. Application layer allows client application programs to access the other layers and defines the protocols that application use to exchange data. One of these application protocols is the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that is used to transfer Web page files. On the other hand, transport layer is accountable for providing the application layer with communication and packet services. This layer includes TCP and other protocols. Internet layer is the third layer that is responsible for addressing, routing, and packaging data packets called IP datagrams. The Internet Protocol (IP) is one of the protocols used in this layer. Besides, network interface layer is responsible for placing packets on and receiving them from the physical network medium, which could be any networking technology. At the bottom of the reference model is physical layer, which is the physical connection whether using a Network Interface Card (NIC) or with a modem to connect to the local network. 7. What steps do the authors recommend be taken to develop an international information systems architecture? International information systems architecture contains the basic information systems required by organizations to coordinate worldwide trade and other activities. Recommend by the authors, there are five major steps for developing of an international information systems architecture, which included business drivers and challenges, corporate global strategies, organization structure, management and business processes, and technology platform. A business driver is a force in the environment to which businesses must respond and that influences the direction of the business. Meanwhile, examine carefully the inhibitors or negative factors that generate management challenges that could ruin the development of a global business. Once the global environment is examined, consider a corporate strategy for competing in that environment. After developing a strategy, it is then time to think how to structure organization so it can practice the strategy. Next, consider the management issues in implementing strategy and making the organization design come alive, the key here will be the design of business processes. The last issue to consider is the technology platform. Although changing technology is a key driving factor leading toward global markets, it may need to have a corporate strategy and structure before it can rationally choose the right technology. Once the process of reasoning have completed, it will be well on the way towa rd appropriate international information systems architecture capable of achieving corporate goals.

Materialism In Hong Kong :: essays papers

Materialism In Hong Kong Is the Materialism serious in Hong Kong? Do people in Hong Kong dream of wealth and bodily comfort rather than spiritual and intellect things? Absolutely. Living in a thriving, busy and booming city which dreams for wealth and treat the luxuries as a sign of success through the effect of media and the attitude of enjoy-the-life-the-most, misery and impoverished characteristics are dishonoured, however, it makes the whole society in Hong Kong falls into an unlimited cliff, people would never remember what the reality and the value of their life. The most obvious way of proving materialism in Hong Kong is the flooding of advertisement and quick develop of luxuries, brand-named goods companies. The idea of become "rich" is hot around Hong Kong. There was a survey states that almost 70% of the undergraduate student looking for the goal of a better job, high salary and higher living standard after they graduate rather than study for their interest or fulfilment of their unlimited field. Theory of success has been distorted by the over loaded mass media in Hong Kong. It is easy to know where you can buy the brand-named and expensive clothes and usually they strongly mention about which successful person or movie stars have them. People then agreed with the message comes from the mass media and make themselves "look like" a successful person rather than being a "real" successful person. The dreams of wealth has the first position in Hong Kong atmosphere. Most of the children who are raised in a high living standard family and bathing in the pool of parents' adore has been receiving over loaded information from television and advertisements. Before a child enters first grade class, and before entering in any real way into our religious ceremonies, a child will have soaked in a large amount of advertisements. The time Hong Kong teenagers adsorbing advertisements more than their total stay in high school. Especially in the small area residence environment in Hong Kong. Most of the small sized families have their corresponding small sized flats since the price of real estate in the market was in hyper inflation few years ago and never fall down its price. Children spend their time in watching TV instead of going outside, doing sports or reading books compared to the other countries. They have been raised and built up their mind mostly by the commercial TV programmes such as advertisements where children receive their ethnic value, their basic grasp of worlds' meaning and therefore create the habit of buying luxury

Smrt Buses

Marketing CA Report 1 |No |Name ( as in IC / Passport) |IC / Passport Number |Telephone Number |Email Address | |1 |  Ker Shihan |F2880485R |98576248 |[email  protected] sim. edu. sg | SMRT Buses There are two types of environmental forces on SMRT buses, Macroenvironmental and Microenvironmental forces. For Macroenvironmental forces, the factors are Demographic, Economic, Natural, Technological, Political, Social and Cultural forces. For Microenvironmental forces, the factors are the company itself, suppliers, Marketing intermediaries, competitors, Publics and customers affect its ability to serve its customers. However, I will only be covering 2 of each Microenvironmental and Macroenvironmental forces. Introduction SMRT first started off in the year 1983, offering services such as Trains, Buses, and Taxis. From 1983 to 2003, SMRT buses were 2 different companies, namely, Trans Island Bus Services (TIBS) and SMRT. To increase competition of customers between local buses, 16 SBS services were given to TIBS (SMRT before merger). Operation of bus services in the north-east corridor was also offered to TIBS (SMRT before merger). In 1999, when TIBS (SMRT before merger) lost the offer to operate the north east line, TIBS and SMRT decided to merge to increase rails and buses synergy. SMRT then merged with TIBS in 2004. Microenvironmental Forces SMRT buses’ only has one competitor, the SBS Transit. SBS Transit monopolised the scheduled bus market share until SMRT was established in 1982. Now SBS Transit has about 265 bus services and daily ridership of over 2 million passengers, equivalent to 75% of scheduled bus market share. Compared to SMRT, with a daily ridership of over 730000 passengers, which is equivalent to 25% of scheduled bus market share. SMRT needs to observe their competitor to see what they are doing, find a way to counter their actions and then create a better competitive advantage. In doing so, SMRT can increase their scheduled bus market share and eventually monopolise the market. The other microenvironmental force affecting SMRT buses is their customers. To meet customers’ needs, passengers are constantly being observed. In the year 2010, SMRT introduced a new bus that is both elderly and wheelchair-friendly. The buses have steps that are low which allows the use of wheelchairs and at the same time enables swift and ease movement for passengers when moving to the rear of the bus. Also, the bus is quieter and vibrates lesser compared to buses used previously. This allows passengers to experience a smooth and comfortable ride when travelling long distances on buses. To create better competitive advantage over their competitors, SMRT opens feedback from passengers, wanting to know passengers’ opinions, so as to improve their bus services. Macroenvironmental Forces One of the Macroenvironmental forces affecting SMRT buses is the Social force. To make SMRT greener, the new bus as mentioned in the Microenvironmental force, are almost one ton lighter, compared to the older buses used. This improves both mileage and fuel efficiency by about 7%. This new bus has a passenger capacity of about 80 passengers and 1 passenger-in-wheelchair, which is almost the same as older buses. Also, harmful gases like Nitrous Oxide are converted to mostly Nitrogen and water vapour with the BlueTec ® SCR engine, thus making emission from the buses safer and cleaner. With all these new features, there will be lesser pollution, and thus creating a better image for SMRT. The other Macroenvironmental force affecting SMRT buses is the Economic force. Due to the recession in the year 2008, passenger’s spending power and patterns are affected. In September 2008, although in terms of percentage, the bus ridership is stable at 64%. However, the monthly bus ridership has decreased by more than 70000, from 23,788,000 passengers to 23,714,000 passengers. Even though there is a drop in passengers, SMRT is earning profits more than before the recession. Conclusion In conclusion, Microenvironmental and Macroenvironmental forces can affect a company in many ways. It may affect the company in both positive and negative ways. For example, from above, the economic force, during the recession even though there were lesser passengers, the profits earned still increased, but, if the number of passengers did not decrease, the profit will be higher. However, for the microenvironmental force, competitor, it may be a good and a bad thing. When there is competition, companies tend to improve their services to be better than each other. In a way, this creates a competitive advantage for the company who can meet more customers’ needs. References SGWiki (2011 February 26) The Year In Buses, Singapore, SGWiki (http://sgwiki. com/wiki/The_Year_in_Buses) (25/10/2011, 12:38) SBS (No Date) Bus Services, Singapore SBS (http://www. sbstransit. com. sg/transport/trpt_bus_overview. aspx) (25/10/2011, 12:41) SMRT Corporation Ltd(9 March 2010), SMRT INTRODUCES SOUTHEAST ASIA’S FIRST FULL LOW FLOOR EURO 5 BUS – PROVIDING GREATER ACCESSIBILITY FOR PASSENGERS, Singapore, SMRT Corp Ltd (http://www. mrt. com. sg/Upload/201031010315179993. pdf)( 23/10/2011, 20:38) Abhijit (2 November 2009, Monday), Six rail journeys for every 10 bus rides in Singapore, Singapore, PressRun (http://www. pressrun. net/weblog/2009/11/six-rail-journeys-for-every-10-bus-rides-in-singapore. html) (24/10/2011, 21:11) Seraphina Wee (22 October 2009), Mass Media Continues to Perform in Times of Downturn: NielsenConsumption of newspapers, te levision, cable, magazines, and radion have remained stable while the Internet saw considerable growth,

Sedimentary rocks can become a significant reservoir for the adsorption of uranium The WritePass Journal

Sedimentary rocks can become a significant reservoir for the adsorption of uranium Summary Sedimentary rocks can become a significant reservoir for the adsorption of uranium SummaryIntroductionGeological SettingSampling ProcedureSample Pre-treatment ProcedureSuggested Analytical TechniquesRadiochemical Analytical TechniquesAlpha, Gamma, and Liquid Scintillation CountersXRD XRFEMPAINAAICP-AESLA-ICP-MSTIMSAMSSIMSGDMSICP-MSBibliographyRelated Summary Radon is an important factor that could result in health hazard by many investigations. This health hazard can be minimized by preventive measures in the North of Derbyshire area due to high level of radon concentration. In the North of Derbyshire, are the largely composed of shales and limestones   having a high level of radon; therefore, Determination of radium isotopes and radon gas has been an important part of the University of   Manchester research programs in Derbyshire. This report also provides a brief description of the both radiochemical and mass spectrometric techniques have been used to determine radium isotopes in barite collected samples from the North of Derbyshire. Introduction Sedimentary rocks can become a significant reservoir for the adsorption of uranium. The presence of clay minerals and organic matter can support the adsorption of uranium (1). Barite is a sedimentary rock which consists largely of barium sulphate and small   concentrations of   F, Sr , and SO3   (2). Due to similarity of chemical properties between barium and radium and   since their location underneath each other in the periodic table, normally radium precipitates with barium in veins forming a   very stable crystalline structure of barium and radium [Ba(Ra)SO4] (3) . Therefore, barite has a relatively considerable amount of radium and its decayed daughter radon as well. Radon is a radioactive noble gas that is produced through decay radium. It has naturally three different isotopes, 219Rn (Actinon), 220Rn (Thoron) and 222Rn (Radon), where 222Rn with a half-life of 3.8 days is most important isotope of radon while other isotopes are very short-lived (219Rn 55.6s, 220Rn 3.96s). According to the recoil-theory, as during alpha decay of radium to radon the energy released causes the alpha particle to be fired away from the nucleus and the newly formed radon atom is fired in the opposite direction to the alpha particle,   the recoil energy of 222Rn transports each atom of radon approximately 20-70 nm in a rock and different possible paths can be identified; therefore, the chance of radon atoms escaping out of grain into the pore space is greater once radium atom is located near by the surface of the grain (4) and radon progeny remains embedded in the grain. In addition, radon can also emanate from minerals in barite but it is very slow process. Since ba rite is unconsolidated rock, radon atoms can escape from the barite grains into pore space to be emanated (5). Radium has four naturally occurring isotopes shown in the flowchart among these isotopes radium-226 and radium-228 have been the most studied as they are the most radiotoxic due to their radiological effects,   both have long biological half lives. For radium-223 and radium-224, they are less importance because of their very short half lives.   Moreover, 223Ra, from uranium-235 decay series, has a comparatively   very low natural abundance in comparison to the   other naturally occurring radium isotopes. 224Ra as previously mentioned is less importance due to fact it is a daughter of 228Th and 228Th is immobile elements (6). There is only oxidation state for radium (П); therefore, no other stable oxidation states exist meaning no solid phase thermodynamic diagrams exist for radium either so for this reason radium chemistry is considered simple. Radium and Radon gas were identified as environmental contaminants and posses a health hazard to human associated with both ingestion of Ra and the inhalation of Rn and its daughter products (7). Many scientists have extensively investigated these elements since 1950s due to their health risk. High concentrations of radon in houses and soil gas in some areas in the UK are associated with two factors. The main factor is the distribution of uranium-bearing source rocks. The classic example is the high heat producing granitic rocks that lead to high radon values in SW England and Aberdeenshire. Other area of the UK also have high radon. One particular hot spot is the Peak district of Derbyshire where there is a relationship between limestone outcrops and high level of radon. The second factor is related to he availability of fracture and   permeable pathways that can act as conduit for the transport of soluble radium which is the source of the radon (8). The association of radon and granitoids is found worldwide. For instance, the highest indoor and soil-gas radon levels in Czech Republic are most associated with granites, granodiorites, syenites in Bohemai containing 12-20 ppm of uranium (9). In Germany, the highest radon occurs over granites and the soil gas radon associa ted with German granites span from 100 to 200 BqL-1 for uranium (10). In France, one of highest radon levels occur in in Hercynian metagranitoids in western France (11).   In Bulgaria, Sandstone in Servia was found to contain high concentration of uranium up to 50 ppb (12). The Peak District is of particular interest because the limestones host the South Pennine Orefield, a series of large vein structures containing galena, fluorite, barite and calcite mineralisation (Ixer and Vaughan, 1993). These were formed from late or post Carboniferous hydrothermal fluids in dilating fractures and are major conduits for present day radon migration. Many studies have found that radium is concentrated in barite scales from oilfield drilling operations,   and barite bearing sludge can contain thousands of picocuries per gram of radium (compared to radium in typical soils ranging of 0.5 to 5 picocuries per gram) (13). Moreover, some states have enacted to protect their environment and others considered to set regulations for NORM. Therefore the barite of the Pennine Orefield may contain evidence of a palaeo-radium (and radon) migration through the fracture system. The primary objective of this study is to assess the processes controlling the behaviour and concentrations of the long lived Ra isotopes and Rn in barite and carbonate. The first focus is on the Peak District as it represents an active radon area with associated health risks to the public. The limestone of this area has been studied by the Health Protection Agency Radiation Protection Division (HPA-RP) examining the link between soil gas radon and ground based uranium, as well as between airborne uranium and indoor radon concentrations. The levels of indoor radon in many buildings and caves are above the minimum acceptable level of 200 Bq m-3 (The UK Action Level) based on gamma spectrometry surveys. Moreover, this area was found to be high in uranium as the average reported values for uraunium in Monsal Dale Limestone at Chelmorton, Derbyshire is 5ppm (14) and relatively low in thorium and potassium, in comparison to the neighbouring areas, as defined by the radiometric data. How ever, there has not been any determination of Ra concentrations in scales or barite in area, recent or ancient. There is therefore interest in determining the Ra content of recently precipitated barite and calcite (in natural cave formations and pipe systems and examining ancient barite for evidence of daughter elements (Pb) reflecting original Ra contents. Interestingly, a new link between health effects and geology has gained considerable attention in a variety of respectable publishing journals leading to the birth of a science called ‘Health Geology or Medical Geology; this study is strongly linked   to this new emerging field of science (14). Geological Setting It is well know that geology of Derbyshire can be classified as MISSISSIPPI VALLEY-TYPE DEPOSITS (MVT) so that this Orefield can be compared with MVT deposit. South Pennine Orefield is located within Derbyshire Dome in central part of England.   South Pennine in Derbyshire as well in centre mostly consist of shale, limestone as the eroded part has been revealed belonging to Lower Carboniferous, and gritstone rocks .   The Limestone thickness is up to about 1800m and the rest is probably Precambrian volcanic where volcanic layers also occur within the limestone and these volcanic layers can form from basaltic lavas to tuffaceous clays in span from few meters down to few centimetres   (15). Therefore, the Carboniferous carbonate rocks overlie lower Paleozoic or Precambrian basement of volcanic rocks. In addition, Much of the limestone in south Pennine follows a gently undulating topography (16). Sampling Procedure For field sampling, A very detailed information with regard to the sampled location must be recorded in a lab note and the sampling procedure performance should also be written in the lab note recorded. This is standard practice and the information will be required for documentation for   future publishing the data and where location details as many publishers will be demanded a description of the studied area. Sample Pre-treatment Procedure In any analysis for geological materials   before it can be preformed, there must be certain criteria carried out in order to make sure no contamination might be in sample during sampling and handling processes and to make the analysis in highly optimum level of performance that surely can lead to high quality and healthy results (17). From previous experience, the weathering effect on the sample’s surface must be sufficiently removed using non-metallic tool. Once the weathered sample   is removed completely, the sample should be cleaned with deionized water and finally with ultrasonic for further cleaning (18). Finally, the sample must be thoroughly crushed and sieved and then dehydrated at highly elevated temperature in order to get rid from the moisture in both barite and minerals as it is important to remove the moisture because moisture can ruin the sample or might lead to false results such as in case of XRF because XRF is surface analytical technique. It is often preferable to use non-destructive analytical techniques in order to avoid introducing contaminations to the sample by the chemicals. It is proposed before starting the pre-treatment steps, loss on ignition (L.O.I) and loss on dry must be estimated with the row material as it is quite important to carry out (L.O.I) for later XRF analysis. L.O.I can easily be done using muffle furnace and the cooking standard procedure can be found elsewhere (19). Suggested Analytical Techniques In this section, analytical techniques for Ra and Rn gas will be briefly discussed. The analytical techniques can be broken into two categories, mass spectrometric techniques and radiometric techniques. In general, the preference between these techniques is that long-lived radioisotopes are better analyzed by mass spectrometric techniques whilst short-lived radioisotopes are preferably performed by radiometric techniques (20).   The radiometric and mass spectrometric techniques can also be divided into two groups, destructive techniques and non-destructive techniques. Radiochemical Analytical Techniques Alpha, Gamma, and Liquid Scintillation Counters The radiometric techniques which will be covered in this report are high resolution gamma spectrometry technique, alpha spectrometry technique, and liquid Scintillation counting (LSC) as they are most capable techniques widely used for radium concentration determination. First, we highlight some issues of radiometric techniques starting of gamma spectrometry. It is a very fast scanning and do not require any chemical separation so it is basically a non-destructive technique which allows us to determine many radioanuclides such as uranium isotopes and thorium isotopes in bulk samples (21).   For 226Ra, the determination can be carried out using gamma counter of the decay lines of immediate daughter 228Ac (22). 226Ra can also be easily quantified by gamma counter using different range of gamma energies, for instance, gamma line at 186.5 keV (3.59%) and gamma line of granddaughter 214Bi 351.9 keV (37.6%). However, there is a drawback in some of these gamma lines such as 214Bi 351.9 keV due to leak of radon gas, the daughter of 226Ra as well as the parent of 214Bi so radon gas can make the reliability of measurement very low. If radon-222 does not escape from the sample ( close system ), 226Ra can be determined by measuring any other of the direct shor t-lived progenies. There are two types of detector equipped in gamma counter, one so-called hyper pure germanium detector which most of gamma detector equipped with it due to higher efficient, the other one is so called sodium iodide which offers qualitative measurement and regards as fingerprinted of isotopes to be determined, thus it is less suitable for our study.   For further regarding gamma analysis for radium, it can be found in elsewhere (21) (23). Second, from previous experience dealing with   226Ra in geological and environmental samples using alpha spectrometry, it requires the sample to be in liquid form. A suitable acid   digestion procedure must be preformed, but keeping in mind that there are many minerals present in the barite and these minerals are highly acid resistant (refractory minerals). To overcome with refractory minerals it is preferable to digest the sample in Pt/Au crucibles in hot water path due to increase in heat conductivity instead of using Teflon beakers. A similar matched standard reference must be used in any destructive method in order to obtain healthy results and to accurately calculate the chemical yield of the chemical separation for quality control assurance reason. Therefore, it is highly recommended to order a barite certified reference material such as IGS 38 from US Geological Survey or any certified reference barite commercially available. 226Ra has a very clear peak in alpha spectrome try because the digestion method follow by ion-exchange (e.g AG1-X8) chromatography, that is a selective method to extract only Ra from the matrix and ultimately a very thin source in electrodeposited source must be made to improve the resolution. 224Ra can also be quantified by alpha spectrometry in the same run while measuring 226Ra. The major disadvantage of alpha spectrometry is related to tedious digestion procedure and longer counting time where the entire analysis may take up to several weeks in order to obtain the results. Third, 228Ra can be quantified by LSC, but this method requires very long chemical treatment to dissolve the sample following up an extraction by ion chromatography and it is very long analytical time which takes at least one month. 226Ra can be measured   using its granddaughter 214Po with the same digestive method as in 228Ra and then followed by extraction by organic scintillation cocktails. Other radionulides e.g. 222Rn can be analyzed in the same procedure like 228Ra (24) XRD This technique might be not a useful technique in the studied material of barite due to high level of concentration of barium that can strongly absorb the X-ray (25). XRF For our purpose in order to determine the major elements ( above 0.1% or 1000ppm ) XRF offers high precision for major elements as well as minor elements ( between 0.01-0.1% or 100-1000ppm ) determination. There are two types of equipments in XRF spectrometry, first is so-called energy   dispersive (ED-XRF) and the other is called wavelength dispersive (WD-XRF). The major difference between ED-XRF and WD-XRF is the resolution as WD-XRF is much more better over ED-XRF. There are other differences between ED and WD-XRF but they are not concern to us. Since barium is the major constituent element in barite matrix, it is better to use WD-XRF over ED-XRF because there is sever interference from titanium to barium in case of ED-XRF leading to inaccurate result for barium. It should be noted that XRF is not quite sensitive   for heavy elements like uranium and thorium due to use of L-lines which are less intense than K-lines (26). Analysis by fluorescence of x-rays (XRF) is a technique essentially based on comparison with standards, the accuracy and the reliability of XRF depends largely on the sample preparation. The preparation of the specimen is a process to obtain from the sample an entity. The matrix,   grain size effects,   atomic number correction, fluorescence correction and absorption correction should be taken into considerations when quantitative measurements are demanded. Therefore, it is preferable to use fused beads techniques to pressed pellets to avoid the matrix and grain size effects (27) and to improve the homogeneity of specimen for the analysis (28) and to not dust the X-ray tube. In addition, fusion technique has also important advantages such as possibility of high or low sample dilution for purpose of maximization of fluorescence intensities and possibility of adding internal standards to decrease or compensate for matrix effects (29) Furthermore, there is Fundamental Parameter Method in XRF, but it is less than accurate empirical methods (empirical method is previously described as methods using range of certified references to set up a calibration curve for analysis.)   because it is based on calculation and computation methods. EMPA Microanlytical technique of EMPA has limited of usefulness in our purpose due to high detection limits for uranium. However, for imaging using secondary electron technique, it enables us to visualize the minerals and their content. INAA INAA is considered the most accurate multi-element analytical technique especially for geological applications as it does not require any chemical separation nor treatment like in case of ICP-MS which is regarded as immune from contaminations of dissolution procedure. The accuracy of INAA is well know by many certifying bodies such as international Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and US Geological Survey (USGS) since they consider INAA as primary analytical technique (30). Most of elemental composition in barite can be accurately determined by INAA, except for Ba and Sr which INAA is not sensitive due to interferences (31). The disadvantages of INAA it needs an access to nuclear facilities such as research nuclear reactor or neutron source and deals with irradiated samples. Further, analysis by INAA takes longer time than any other techniques, 4-6 weeks. It is highly recommendable to carry out this analysis by INAA since it is the most accurate analytical technique ever used for uranium and thorium. However, INAA is not capable for radium determination. ICP-AES It is a destructive analytical technique which is based on fact the atoms of elements can take up energy from an inductively coupled plasma, are thereby excited, and then fall back into their ground state again emitting characteristic radiations. The identification of these radiations permit us for the qualitative analysis of a sample. A quantitative determination takes place on the basis of the proportionality in emission of light of unique frequencies and element concentration in calibration and analysis samples, is the fundamental basis of atomic emission (32) (33). This technique is not capable to quantify either radium or radon in barite sample. However, it is very useful to determine uranium and thorium down to ppt level but less accurate than ICP-MS. Mass Spectrometry Techniques The recent improvements in mass spectrometry since 1998 have enabled precise determination of radium as   substitute for conventional radiometric techniques previously described., especially the new development in multi-collector ICP-MS has offered a precise determination for radium as well as other radionuclides within very short time for analysis. The mass analyzers that are commercially available are quadarpole, time of flight, and double-focusing   sector field.   Quadrupole mass separation has been used in most common mass spectrometry but it has low resolution (34). Time of flight mass spectrometry is regarded as medium resolution mass analyzer while sector field   is   high resolution mass analyzer. Therefore the primary difference is the resolution. For our application, it would be better to consider using sector field mass spectrometry. The main advantage of mass spectrometry is short analytical time. However, in our case it is necessary to carry out chemical separation in order to remove barium before mass spectrometry analysis is taken place. It is required for isotopes study to carry out all the experimental conditions in a clean lab and to use high grade chemicals which are costly. LA-ICP-MS It is regarded as most   powerful multi-elements technique particularly for isotopic studies. However, probably it is not suited technique for elemental analysis. It is a destructive technique as well as microanalytical. Sample preparation for LA-ICP-MS is very simple that it reduces that risk of contamination, except glass disc preparation method. There are three methods of barite   sample preparation in LA-ICP-MS, as pressed pellet, on superglue, and as glass disc (fusion with sodium carbonate Na2CO3 ). Several laser ablation of ICP-MS concern the isotope analysis of radionuclides have been carried out with obtained relative standard deviation of less than 1% using reference materials (35) and the reported results by LA-ICP-MS are comparable to primary analytical techniques. TIMS Due to high concentration of barium present in barite where barium can cause a big interference to radium; therefore, this technique is not applicable to our study unless barium must be removed from barite (36). Because there is   quite similarity   in chemical characteristics of Ba and Ra   and to overcome with this difficulty   to it suggested in literature an   extraction chromtamatographic resin supporting a crown ether such as Sr-Spec   resin from Eichrom which needs many chemical separations (37). The Sr-Spec resin is very expensive (25 gram costs 1050 Euro without VAT) and according to my past experience it is only valid for max 10 runs because after the 10 runs the resin starts degrading. Moreover, I was able to obtain a chemical recovery of 92% for water samples which was comparable to the reported value in literature. Some scientists have reported fractionation of about 2-2.5% by TIMS and this fractionation is difficult to suppress; a correction of mass fractionation is required ( fractionation is part of isotopes ratio calculations )   (37) (38). AMS It has been demonstrated for radium isotopic analysis by many researchers in field of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) that AMS has higher sensitivity, easier sample preparation and requires smaller sample volume (weight) than alpha spectrometry and gamma spectrometry  Ã‚   (39) (40). In addition, AMS furnishes a very excellent determination with low interferences for radium and more importantly the capability of AMS to measure radium-228 without the necessity of waiting for the in grow time. The detection limit is comparable   for 226Ra to   alpha spectrometry but for 228Ra the detection limit is not so good. SIMS It is a surface analytical technique mostly used for depth profile studies for qualitative analysis, especially   in material science, but it is difficult to perform the analysis using SIMS for quantitative analysis due to loss in the   sensitivity. GDMS This has technique has low sensitivity for radionuclides and has limitation in our application; thus, it not useful for our purpose. ICP-MS One of most widely multi-elemental analytical technique used for geological materials. This technique needs the solid sample to be digested by suitable standard digestion method such as microwave assistant digestion method, although it is well know that microwave digestion[1] is not suited for geological materials due to hard matrix, open wet digestion which often used in geochemical labs, and fusion digestion using good flux at high temperature (900-1200 oC) but fusion is only employed for refractory elements, such as Ba and Sr in barite, determination in geological samples because flux can introduce interferences in the plasma and contaminate to the sample from Pt/Au crucibles. Moreover, fusion methods have disadvantage for trace elements measurements because of limited levels of purity of the fluxes. The sample preparation for ICP-MS, ICP-OES, and AAS is the same in case of elemental analysis order. In our study, it is important to separate barium and strontium from radium before the ICP-MS analysis in order to avoid isobaric interferences like 88Sr138Ba. Elemental Analyzer It is a technique used for determination of Sulfur content in barite samples by using thermal conductivity detection method and it can offer a highly accurate measurement for Sulfur in barite. Brief Comparison between Radiometric and Mass Spectrometric Techniques for Radium and Radon determination In table 2, a summery presents main comparison of the above techniques for our application of barite samples. Gamma spectromertry is considered as the simplest and most rapid technique, but with low sensitivity. Alpha spectrometry technique is well known and reliable technique for 226Ra measurement with very low detection limit, but it not capable to carry out 228Ra analysis and it requires the sample   to be digested by mixture of acids and then follows by ion chromatography for selective radium separation method. LSC can only be used to measure 228Ra down to 25mBq; however, it needs many steps for chemical separation as well as chemical digestion for barite. All mass spectrometric techniques with an exceptional of LA-ICP-MS   require the removal of barium from the barite sample in order to prevent interferences and the chemical isolation of barium from radium of certified reference geological material showed a very comparable date with the recommended   values in the certificates. From the above analytical techniques survey of radium isotopes, It is suggested to carry out   determination of radium and radon isotopes using MC-ICP-MS because it is the right technique as it ensures the precise and efficient measurement of not only radium but for uranium and thorium series isotopes, too. Comparison between radiometric and mass s 1 Technique Nuclides Detection limits Chemical separation Interferences Counting time ÃŽ ³-Spectr 226Ra 0.1-1Bq No 235U 4-6h LSC 226Ra (via its daughter.) 0.3-1.4mBq Yes(1 month) 6-8h ÃŽ ±-Spectr. 226Ra 0.2-0.5mBq Yes(more than month) No 16hr TIMS 226Ra 37 µBq Yes (more than month) Ba and Sr 20-30 min ICP-MS 226Ra 0.1-0.5mBq Yes (more than month) Ba, Sr, and Pb 10min AMS 226Ra 0.1mBq Yes (more than month) 30min ÃŽ ±-Spec. 228Ra Not possible LSC 228Ra 25mBq Yes (more than month) 1h TIMS 228Ra 12mBq Yes (more than month) Ba, Sr 30min Further Suggestions Since both radium and radon isotopes are generated in barite and that can subsequently be transported to the water by a variety of means such as diffusion across the barite-water interface and then later water can be driven by wind. Therefore, it is a wisdom of   advise to study these isotopes in water, too, in order to guarantee of compliance of health effects of radionuclides in the studied area. Bibliography 1. Distribution of radon sources and effects on radon emanation in granitic soi1 at Ben Lomond, California. Flexser, S., Woilenberg, H. A. and Smith, A. R. 162-177, s.l.  : Environmental Geology, 1993, Vol. 22. 2. ONLINE CATALOG GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS. 3. Environment, Alberta. SOIL QUALITY GUIDELINES FOR BARITE: ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND HUMAN HEALTH. s.l.  : ISBN No. 0-7785-3163-5 (Printed Edition). 4. Isotopic Disequilibrium of Uranium: Alpha-Recoil Damage and diseqiulibrium and radon release. Fleisher, R. L. 2191-2201, s.l.  : Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1982, Vol. 46. 5. Geological structure and geochemistry controlling radon in soil gas. Kemski, J., Klingel, R., Schneiders, H., Siehl, A., and Wiegand J. s.l.  : Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 1992, Vol. 45. 235-239. 6. FS–142–99, U.S. Geological Survey. Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM )in Produced Water and Oil-Field Equipment An Issue for the Energy Industry. s.l.  : U.S. Geological Survey, September 1999. 7. USEPA. National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. s.l.  : Federal Register 56-138, 33050-33127., 1991. 8. Geological and geochemical factors affecting the radon concentration in homes in Cornwall and Devon, UK. . Ball, T.K. and Miles, J.C.H. 1993. , Environ. Geochem. Health.15., pp. 27–36. 9. Geological support to the National Radon Programme (Czech Republic). Miksˇova ´, J. and Barnet, I. 2002. , Bull. Czech Geol. Surv. 77, pp. 13–22. 10. Mapping the geogenic radon potential in Germany. Kemski, J., Siehl, A., Stegemann, R. and Valdivia-Manchego, M. 2001, Sci. Total Environ. 272, , pp. 217–230. 11. Radon (Rn-222) level variations on a regional scale: influence of the basement trace element (U, Th) geochemistry on radon exhalation rates. J. Ielsch, G., Thieblemont, D., Labed, V., Richon, P., Tymen, G., Ferry, C., Robe, M.C., Baubron, J.C. et al. 2001., J. Environ. Radioact. 53, pp. 75–90. 12. Uranium content in groundwater in Stara. Nikie, Z., Kovacevic, J., Radosevic, B. Freiberg, Germany  : Proceedings of the International Conference Uranium Mining and Hydrogeology III and the International Mine Water Association Symposium, 2002. 99-106. 13. Institute, American Petroleum. Bulletin on Management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) in Oil and Gas Production (API Bulletin E2). Washington, DC.  : s.n., 1992. 14. Medical geology: new relevance in the earth sciences. Charlotte A. Bowman, Peter T. Bobrowsky, and Olle Selinus. December 2003, Episodes, Vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 270-278. 15. Mineralization of the South Pennines. QUIRK, TREVOR D. FORD DAVID G. s.l.  : GEOLOGY TODAY, , September-October 1995/177. 16. THE QUATERNARY EVOLUTION OF THE BRITISH SOUTH PENNINES. FROM URANIUM SERIES AND PALAEOMAGNETIC DATA. Peter ROWE, Timothy AUS11N and Timothy ATKINSON. 111, s.l.  : Annales de la Societe geologique de Belgique, Sept 1988, Vol. T . 17. Laboratory Procedures Manual. South Carolina  : South Carolina Department of Transportation Office of Materials and Research, Sept 2006. 18. Research, North Central Regional. Recommended Chemical Soil Test Procedures for the North Central Region. Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station SB 1001  : Publication No. 221, Jan 1998. 19. Loss on Ignition as a Method for Estimating Organic and Carbonate Content in Sediments: Reproducibility and Comparability of Results. Heiri, O., A. F. Lotter, and G. Lemcke. 2001, Journal of Paleolimnology.(25), pp. 101-110. 20. Critical comparison of radiometric and mass spectrometric methods for the determination of radionuclides in environmental, biological and nuclear waste samples. Per Roos, and Xiaolin Hou. Feb 2008, Analytica Chimica Acta V.608, issue2, pp. 105-139. 21. A comparison of alpha and gamma spectrometry for evironmental natural radioactivity surveys. Saidou, Francois Bouchud, Jean-Pascal Laedermann, M. G Kwato Njock, Pascal Froidevaux. 2008, Applied radiation and isotopes 66, pp. 215-222. 22. Daily ingestion of 232Th, 238U, 226Ra,228Ra and 210Pb in vegetables by inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro City. Santos EE, Lauria DC, Amaral ECS Rochedo ER. 2002, Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 62, pp. 75–86. 23. Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM IV). IAEA. Szczyrk, Poland  : IAEA-TECDOC-1472, 17–21 May 2004. 24. Determination of radium in natural waters by alpha and liquid scintillation. W. C Burnett, W. C. Tai. 1992, Analyt. Chem 42, pp. 1691-1697. 25. www.api.org. Petroleum and natural gas industries - Recommended Practice Chemical analysis of barite. s.l.  : API RP 13K, 2010-08-31. 26. X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Rare Earth Elements in Rocks Using Low Dilution Glass Beads. NAKAMURA, Kenichi NAKAYAMA and Toshihiro. 2005, Analytical Sciences (21), p. 815. 27. PROBLEMS BY USING PRESSED POWDER PELLETS FOR XRF ANALYSIS OF FERROSILICON ALLOYS JCPDS International Centre for Diffraction Data. Mikkelsen, Torkild Eivindson and 0yvind. 2001, Advances in X-ray Analysis,Vol.44. , p. 408. 28. Quantitative analyses of silicate rock major and trace elements by X-raySpectrometer: Evaluation of analytical precision and sample preparation. Tatsumi., Kenichiro Tani. Hiroshi Kawabata. Chang Qing. Keiko Sato. Yoshiyuki. 2006, Frontier Research on Earth Evolution, 2, 1, p. 8. 29. X-ray fluorescence analysis of rare earth elements in rocks using low dilution glass beads. T, Nakayama K and Nakamura. 2005, Analytical Sciences Vol. 21, p. 815. 30. Neutron activation analysis and provenance research in archaeology. Neff, Michael D Glascock and Hector. 2003, Meas. Sci. Technol. 14, pp. 1516–1526. 31. Comparison of Major and Trace Element Analyses by ICP, XRF, INAA and ID Methods. M.D. Norman, W.P. Leeman, D.P. Blanchard, J. G. Fitton, D. James. 1989, Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research Volume 13 Issue 2, pp. 283-290. 32. A, Varma. CRC Handbook of Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy. Florida  : CRC Press, 1991. 33. Ebdon L., Evans E.H., Fischer A.S. et al.,. An Introduction to Analytical Atomic Spectrometry. New York  : John Wiley and Sons, 1998. 34. Theory, Design, and Operation of a Dynamic Reaction Cell for ICP-MS. Baranov, Scott D. Tanner and Vladimir I. March 1999., Atomic Specroscopy.Vol.20(2). 35. Inductively coupled plasama mass spectrometry ( ICP-MS) laser ablation ICP-MS for isotope analysis of long-lived radionuclides. Becker, J. Sabine. 2005, International Journal of Mass Spectrometry , pp. 183-195. 36. High precision uranium, thorium and radium isotope ratio measurements by high dynamic range thermal ionisation mass spectrometry. Anthony S. Cohen, Nicholas S. Belshaw and R. Keith ONions. July 1992, International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes, pp. 71-81. 37. Precise analysis of the 228Ra/226Ra isotope ratio for short-lived U-series disequilibria in natural samples by total evaporation thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TE-TIMS). Nakamura, Tetsuya Yokoyama and Eizo. 2004, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (19), pp. 717-727. 38. Precise and accurate measurement of 226Ra-230Th-238U disequilibria in volcanic rocks using plasma ionization multicollector mass spectrometry. Pietruszka AJ, RW Carlson, EH Hauri. 2002, Chemical Geology 188, pp. 171-191. 39. Measurements of Pu and Ra isotopes in soils and sediments by AMS. S.G. Tims, G.J. Hancock , L. Wacker , L.K. Fifield. 2004, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 223–224, pp. 796–801. 40. J.E. McAninch, T.F. Hamilton. Measurement of plutonium and other actinides at the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry: A comparative assessment of competing techniques. s.l.  : Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Report No. UCRL-ID-133118, 1999. 41. Recommended Chemical Soil Test Procedures for the North Central Region. Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station SB 1001  : North Central Regional Research Publication No. 221, Jan 1998. 42. Theory, Design, and Operation of a Dynamic Reaction Cell for ICP-MS. Baranov, Scott D. Tanner and Vladimir I. March/Aperil 1999., Atomic Specroscopy.Vol.20(2). 43. Precise analysis of the 228Ra/226Ra isotope ratio for short-lived U-series disequilibria in natural samples by total evaporation thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TE-TIMS). Nakamura, Tetsuya Yokoyama and Eizo. 2004, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, pp. 717-727. [1]   According to my knowledge microwave digestion offers incomplete dissolution for geological matrix. There some published articles have claimed that digesting   procedures have got   more 90% recovery using microwave.

Consumer Driven Health Care Essay Example

Consumer Driven Health Care Essay Example Consumer Driven Health Care Paper Consumer Driven Health Care Paper Executive Summary The issues surrounding the full adoption of consumer driven health care range from cost pressures, employer concerns and the need of effectively engaging the consumers in decision making through the provision of adequate choice and information. Until now the government has been supremely instrumental in propelling the consumer driven health care system. While the merits remain engulfed in hot debates, the fact that consumer driven health care simultaneously creates both the movement, the financial responsibility, as well as the involvement in health care choices of the consumers has created serious concerns. As the evolution moves on, all stakeholders in the health care system are going to be affected. The plans will enable the consumers to personally navigate the system and directly engage with the providers. On the other hand, the pharmaceutical sector may become educators and an intermediary consumer movement may serve to satisfy the fact that transparent information will have bec ome a necessity for health care decisions. Leveled in line with these demands, the ensuing discussion analyzes the impacts on health care in terms of costs, efficiency and effectiveness in addition to the impacts with regard to the new consumer, and the stakeholders; notably the pharmaceutical sector. Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Descriptively, consumer driven health care system allows individuals to draw from their Health Savings Accounts or their Health Reimbursement Arrangements or such similar payment products to directly   meet routine health care expenses while protection from catastrophic health expenses is guaranteed by a high deductible health insurance policy. These policies cost less as the consumer meets routine medical claims from a pre-funded spending account. Should the balance in the account run out, medicals claims are paid just like in a regular deductible. Yearly unused balances increase future balances that can be invested for future medical expenses. The term â€Å"consumer driven health care† applies because routine medical claims are paid through a consumer controlled account verses a fixed insurance benefit. This scenario allows the consumers to occupy the role of a primary decision maker as regards the nature of health care they re ceive. Patients are therefore more likely to choose less expensive options and for those with chronic conditions, the system would promote compliance to treatment regimes(Goodman 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Proponents of such a health care system argue that in the long run, Americans will pay less for health care provision because of reduced monthly premiums and increases free market variability. Market variability due to the use of Health Savings Accounts fosters competition which in turn lower prices and stimulate improvements in the quality and delivery of health care services. Opponents of the system cite the fact that individuals who are less wealthy and less educated will tend to avoid the health care cost burden, when this is coupled to the inability to make informed decisions, then the result is lowered health outcomes. Additionally, since the system simply shifts the cost burden to the patients, those with chronic conditions will never be able to save anything. In the end, inequality in health care quality and delivery may reign(Gross 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Basically, consumer driven health care system is a derivative of the business model for health e-commerce ventures which were designed to enable consumers of health products and services to engage more directly with the providers in making the health care purchases. In essence, consumer driven health care is geared towards giving individuals more choice in making health care decisions and to help stabilize these costs. This system is a product of the same theories that sought to capitates payments to providers. The rejection of such a prompt gave rise to the consumer driven health care system(Kovner 2008). In the initial conceptual model, cost and quality of the relevant information was made available through the internet. The primary model relied on the creation of   Health Savings Accounts(HSAs) before the inclusion of a second model; the Health Reimbursement Arrangements(HRAs) which are funded by the employers who receive tax benefits for funding such accounts(Grudzien 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Impacts of Consumer Driven Health Care   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The phrasal representation â€Å"consumer driven health care† is in itself a revelation of the transformation in health care where consumers of health care services and goods are gaining more and more importance in health care industry. The consumers being the purchasers of goods and services in the health care industry suggests an existence of economic relationships between the consumers and the suppliers. The word driven implies that the supplier is going to be compelled to react according to the consumers’ demands and position as regards the provision of these goods and services. Implicitly, the complete phrase can thus be used to describe a situation where there exists a two way business interaction that is able not only to transform the health system structure but also reconfigure the health industry to engage in a competitive conduct. Such a paradigm shift in the management of health care is bound to present strong chal lenges, advantages and disadvantages.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What effect will such a system of health care have on the effectiveness and efficiency of health care provision? Currently in the United States, over $ 1 trillion dollars is spent annually on health care. Critically analyzed, this is 15% of the Gross Domestic Product and is more per capita that anything spent in other developed countries. The magnitude of the expenditure itself calls for a need a novel idea such as consumer driven health care. If such a system of health care were to be adopted, then what forces will shape the new consumer of health care services? On this basis, it is prudent to discern the effects of the key players such as employers, insurers, providers, and government entities. All these forces will only support such a system if most beneficial to them. A third scale of analysis desires that we look into the ways in which the industry is going to change. This analysis borders on the certainty of a fundamental restructuri ng of the system through a set of rules governing the new competitiveness. These structural changes will most certainly be orchestrated by the new nature of buyer-supplier relationship(Ferrari 2004). The Effect of Consumer Driven Health Care on the Efficiency and Effectiveness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To understand the changes that may occur in the efficiency and effectiveness after the transition to consumer driven health care, it is prudent to establish the objective function which measures productivity. Generally, productivity is descriptive of the magnitude of outputs achieved for a given level of inputs. In the health care industry, the physical inputs like labor, capital and supplies should be able to achieve certain levels of health outcomes. In essence, this means that productivity will be used in providing improvements on the management or treatment of diseases since this is the fundamental production process of the health care system. However, the simplicity of the productivity measure can only be taken to be useful and sustainable if it is coupled to the variety of other societal entanglements as well as other complexities in health care provision.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Given that the current health care system in the United States is the most expensive system in the world, a comparison with other developed countries on the basis of mortality and life expectancy attests that the system is less productive. However, on the basis of four disease states (diabetes, cholelithiasis, lung cancer and breast cancer), evidence suggested that it was more productive comparative to Germany and the United Kingdom. The high costs were attributable to the high administrative costs, higher compensation of doctors and other medical personnel. Consumer driven health care poses as the most reliable option in changing features which contribute to productivity hence health outcomes. For instance, a transformation to prospective payment from cost plus system of reimbursement for health institutions. Other reimbursement plans that supremely focus on the health outcomes rather that the activity also furthers the gains(Ferrari 2004 ). Customer driven health care has the ability to create incentives for providers to adopt more efficient technologies hence increasing productivity due to the underlying market competitiveness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since this transformation does not in any way threaten the existence of a competitive market, the cornerstone of such a market will have to be an informed buyer who has the capacity to make an accurate judgment of the value of outputs received with reference to the level of inputs injected into the system. This would usher in an era of comparative shopping among the suppliers as well as differentially reward the suppliers who provide the best goods and services at the least cost. Moreover, the system would also allow the buyer to choose a level of productivity that is desirable and affordable and trade off other savings for needs outside the health care system. Given the nature of the transformation and the rewards consequent to the paradigm shift, it is reasonable to expect an increase in productivity, improvement in health outcomes and the improvement on the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system(Forster 2007). Forces Shaping the New Consumer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are two major forces that possess the potentiality of shaping the evolution and the pace of the novel system. The first force is the degree to which the buyers of health care goods and services become empowered to spend their own financial resources and making their own buying decisions. The second force is the quality of health care provision and the accessibility of the relevant information that pertains to the inputs and the outcomes in the health care process.   In the case of marginalized consumers with inadequate heath care information, there is going to a continuity of the turbulence as seen in the health care system today. Such a scenario slows down the transformation to consumer driven health care system. On the other hand, when marginalized consumers have the benefit of adequate information, the consumer as the main driving force in the system retains a marginalized role in the purchases but is also associated in the trade-offs(Herzlinger 2004). The end result is an unstable relationship among the players since consumers are well informed and possess the power to make their own decisions in seeking out productive suppliers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Empowered consumers with inadequate information may create a scenario where there is a rush for the establishment of a brand making consumers to almost completely rely on the value associated with a brand. It is on the basis of such information that consumers will make their buying decisions. With the help of interpreters, superior information may be passed to consumers or alternatively, the interpreters may broker the brand to the consumers(Ferrari 2004). However, the best scenario is when there are empowered consumers in possession of adequate information. This scenario aptly captures the spirit of the productive economic system. It implies that the market is awash with consumers buying on their own account. The existence of such a scenario itself may eliminate the need for intermediaries. Not that there is going to be a vacuum where these intermediaries had occupied but that such a space will be occupied with a different faction, for instance, it may be the marketing or sales front end of the provider entities(Herzlinger 2007). This would demonstrate the productivity of the providers(suppliers of health services) to the consumers. Alternatively, the space may be occupied with an aggregator of consumers which may leverage the consumers’ volume power in negotiating a unit price for making the buying decisions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the end, the trend towards informed consumers who are able to make their own health care purchasing decisions will lead to an unprecedented change in the nature and quality of services and goods offered. These changes are not only positive in nature as they will shift the burden of health care costs on the shoulders of individuals. Such a change greatly challenges the deeply rooted societal perspectives on the roles of democratically elected governments. The creation of new consumer oriented intermediaries may usher in another era of misguided government regulatory intervention. Assuming that such a scenario does not arise then a consumer driven health care system has the potential to move health care provision to anew level of productivity hence better health outcomes for the United States citizenry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the contrary, because of these sub classifications of consumers based on empowerment and availability of information, individuals who are less educated and healthy may avoid the needed health care services due to the cost burden coupled to the ability to make well informed and appropriate health decisions. Moreover, as Jonathan Oberlander; a political scientist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill reiterates, the system simply shifts the health care cost burden back to the patients. Patients suffering from chronic health sicknesses may not be able to afford such costs, since with a deductible of between $ 3000 to $ 4000, these patients will thus be unable to save anything in their accounts. Employers are specifically impressed because the system is beneficial to them. They will not adequately fund replenish the employees health care accounts even though they will save money(Gross 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The success of the consumer driven health care is dependent on the ready access to relevant information on health services, products and pricing. Due to the absence of free market variables in the health care industry, the lack of transparency will saddle consumers with additional expenses. This means that despite the theory that health insurance based on higher deductibles results in consumers shopping around for better products and services(based on quality and price), the inadequacy of such pertinent information practically goes against the attainment of benefits in a consumer driven health care model(Shearer 2007). Impacts on the Pharmaceutical Industry Currently the pharmaceutical industry has been shouldering the blame for the double digit increase in health care costs. Between the year 2001-2002, the consumer price index for health care increased by 4.4% while the industry index grew by 5.5%. A simple analysis of these percentages shows that the industry can only account for all the increase in the event that all other health care components shrunk. These statistics aside, the expenditure pent on informing consumers; $ 2.8 billion and a further $ 13.2 billion on informing doctors invariably increase the costs of health care in the long run. Therefore, unless new products are distributed for consumption without additional costs from these activities of pharmaceutical industries, the health care costs will continue to be high(Herzlinger 2004). Consumer driven health care has the potential of eliminating these costs hence advancing quality health care at lower costs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Health care markets are extremely sensitive to the presence of a market power. Medical device companies and pharmaceutical companies retain monopoly over devices and drugs for a considerably long period of time due to the patent laws. It is during this period before the expiry of the monopoly period that these companies earn monopoly rents, in effect leading to higher drug pricing. This is unlike the traditional neoclassical supply curve(Jost 2007). This trend will be reversed as consumers will be looking out for cheap but equally effective therapeutic alternatives, hence bringing the prices down in the long run.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With the death of the intermediary between the suppliers and the consumers, the pharmaceutical industry has started to align itself with the consumer of its products through direct to consumer advertising. This has only become necessary after the FDA lifted restrictions on direct to consumer advertising. This move has been viewed by many as a gap that allows the pharmaceutical companies to foist their drugs on the gullible public in the name of providing pertinent drug information. Moreover, the use of billions of dollars in advertising only increases the overall costs of the drugs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the other hand, there are those who view direct to consumer advertising as being revolutionary and instrumental in promoting consumer involvement. Such an exposure of drugs to consumers acts as an educational tool and helps the consumers to be more informed in making decisions in health care. Apart from getting information direct from the pharmaceutical companies, information technology is increasing consumer empowerment making them seek high quality but less expensive choices(Mason et al 2007). Therefore, even though the pharmaceutical companies bypassed the physicians and moved directly to the consumer in advertising and promotion, consumer empowerment means that the era in which the extra expenditures were passed onto the consumers will be long gone. Such an eventuality will stimulate a dramatic restructuring of the industry. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The potential of a consumer driven health care system to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the quality and delivery of health care are huge. However, the fact that access to health care is hinged on the ready access to relevant information remains the main obstacle in the realization of the full benefits. Health care and market forces are mutually exclusive. The existence of a competitive market; the cornerstone of which is an informed buyer increases the capacity of the buyer to make an accurate judgment of the value of outputs received with reference to the level of inputs injected into the system. So long as information is easily and cheaply accessible and transparency in the health care industry is promoted, the system may well be the answer to age old failures of the current most popular health care system. By putting insurance money under the complete control of the patients themselves, giving the employers cost relief, and eliminating the intermediary in the doctor-patient relationship, the system will undoubtedly achieve its health outcomes. References Ferrari, T. Bernard. (2004). Where Will Consumer Driven Health Care Take the Health Care   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   System. In Consumer-driven Health Care: Implications for Providers, Payers, and   Ã‚  Ã‚   Policymakers. Regina E. Herzlinger(Eds). John Wiley and Sons. p. 399-403 Forster, R. (2007). Market Forces and Health Care are Mutually Exclusive. Intelligently    Connecting Institutions and Expertise. Gerson Lehrman Group. Goodman, John (2006), Consumer Driven Health Care, Networks Financial Institute Policy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brief, Indiana State University Gross, T. (2007). Fresh Air from WHYY, July 9, 2007. Diagnosing U.S. Health Care and Sicko,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Too. Terry Gross interviewing Jonathan Oberlander, associate professor, University of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Grudzien, L. (2006). Can Consumer Driven Health Care, Health Reimbursement Arrangements   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   and Health Savings Accounts Save Employer Sponsored Health Care Reform From Ruin.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Benefit Express. Herzlinger, Regina. (2007).   Who Killed Health Care? Americas $2 Trillion Medical Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚   and the Consumer-Driven Cure. McGraw-Hill Press. Herzlinger, Regina E. (2004). Consumer-Driven Health Care: Implications for Providers,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Payers, and Policymakers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Jost, S. T. (2007). Health care at risk: a critique of the consumer-driven movement. Duke   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   University Press. Kovner, R. A., Knickman, J., Jonas, S. (2008).   Jonas and Kovners Health Care Delivery in    the United States. Springer Publishing Company. Mason, J.D., Leavitt, K. J., Chaffee, W. M. (2007). Policy politics in nursing and health care.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Elsevier Health Sciences. Shearer, G. (2007). Testimony of Gail Shearer, Director, Health Policy Analysis, Washington   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Office, Consumers Union before the Joint Economic Committee, on Impact of   Ã‚   Consumer-Driven Health Care on Consumers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   consumersunion.org/pub/0225JECTestimonyNoSummary.pdf.

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