3 Important People in My Life.

3 important people in my life. There are several people in my life that have served as a source of influence. However, there are three people who have not only impacted a decision or two, but have drastically altered my way of life. These people have completely transformed my life in a positive way. Without these people, my life would not have the same meaning and purpose. These three important individuals are my mom, my dad, and my wife. First and foremost, there is my mother. She has served her role as my mother dutifully and out of love. That would explain any mother in this world.However, she has gone beyond that and has provided a very nurturing childhood while growing up. Growing up in India, there was a large emphasis on academic success. For some of my friends, that meant doing well and succeeding called for praise while failure was simply looked at with disgust. My mother never judged me for my successes or failures. She acknowledged my successes, but also taught me how to l earn with my failures. This applied not only to school, but also to sports. Perhaps, this is why I excelled in both. I received the encouragement and proper guidance I needed.Furthermore, my mom always had a calm attitude. She never worked with a hot temper. I learned how to be patient and how to deal with problems that came my way. Thus, my mom did not only provide me with an exemplary childhood, she role modeled and taught me positive life skills. I always refer back to a problem in terms of what my own mother would do. The second most significant person in my life is my father. Growing up, he was very present in my life even in a patriarchal society. He encouraged me to succeed and excel in everything I do.Not only that, but he also taught me some of the tougher life lessons. I remember that as a child, whenever I wanted something new, I had to wait it out until it was practical to replace whatever I wanted to replace. If I whined or cried, it would be completely out of the quest ion. Thus, my dad in a way taught me how to appreciate the things in life as the way they are instead of always hoping for a change. He also taught me to be strong and patient with goals because crying and whining only leads to time wasted. It is a weakness that only sets you back instead of moving you forward.Another aspect my dad has influenced me greatly is to look at every individual with equality. Growing up, I was raised to not judge a person based on who they were or how much money they made. My dad instilled these values into me and hoped that I carried them forward. He wanted me to understand that people may differ from the surface, but they should all be taken equally. Without my father, my social interactions and way of setting goals and achieving them would not have been the same. Finally, the final person of significance in my life is my wife of 4 years.Right after I moved to Houston, I did not know many people and my life was very simple and bland. I would go to school , focus on my studies, interact with my family, and repeat the same routine every single day. My life was missing an important social sector. I had no one else to talk to. However, I met a girl from Houston and she was very friendly and kind. She did not judge me like others did. She did not concern herself with my style or who I was. She took me like any other person. Perhaps this mindset was what I was looking for in another person.She not only was there when I needed her the most, but she became another reason and another motivation to keep my life moving strong. Thus, she has inspired me that there is always hope even in difficult times. However, the key is to maintain hope and a positive attitude. One of the most important things she has taught me is to always smile and life. Life is too short to carry a frown on your face and to not enjoy every single moment of it. As a result, these three people have served as great source of positive influence. Without them, my life would be incomplete.

Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law: A Book Review Essay

There are a number of laws in any given society. These laws seek to manage the nature of relationships and transactions in the society. The intent is for society to be orderly, stable and based on justice (Black, 1979). In an ideal world where every human being is just and acts for the benefit of all, law might not be applicable anymore, but given the complexities of society, these laws are important in maintaining order and enforcing justice. Laws are written and legislated usually by the duly elected members of the legislature of the government in any nation. These laws are based on the norms, the value system and at times, the dominant ideology in the society (Dworkin, 1986). The major aspects of the relationships and transactions between and among humans are covered by the laws of the land. There are laws that define what is considered as crime in the society and how such crimes will be punished if committed by any member of the given society. There are also laws that govern the contracts and obligations entered into by two or more people. Laws like these prescribe the ideal nature of such contracts and obligations, and also stipulate what are prohibited. In addition to this, there are laws that seek to protect citizens from the negligence of others or any acts committed that may impinge upon the rights of others (Glenn, 2000). The properties of citizens are also protected under the law. Such property laws govern the ownership of people over land and other properties that belong to them. This way, their rights to their properties are protected. On top of these laws, the Constitution is the basic law that guarantees the freedoms, rights, and duties of the citizens of a particular country. The Constitution is also supported by other laws and policies that seek to reinforce and guarantee the freedoms and rights of the citizens. This body of laws collectively seeks to make society orderly (Glenn, 2000). Legislators write and enact laws for the society, the police and other government agencies enforce such laws—those who uphold the law are rewarded, albeit subtly, and the violators are apprehended and punished accordingly. The violators are not punished immediately, however, as they are also entitled to be tried and litigated under the judicial system of the society where they belong to. This is where the judiciary steps in. Through the institution of the dispensation of justice, accused persons may argue about their innocence and the aggrieved parties may bring their cases to the judicial officials against the people who apparently wronged them. In this process, lawyers perform a significant task (Glenn, 2000). Lawyers in the Legal System Lawyers are the professionals who interpret the provisions of the laws of the society and looks at the principles in these laws and present solutions and applications regarding difficulties and interpretations of these laws. In litigations, the services of lawyers are hired by both the accused persons and the aggrieved party. This is because these laypersons do not have a nuanced understanding of the law, its applications, ambiguities and interpretations. As such, they would need the help of lawyers in sorting through their experiences and proving the merits of their case in the courts (Glenn, 2000). Consequently, they would seek redress in cases where their rights are impinged upon. This article reviews Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law, written by Lerman & Schrag (2005). It looks at the major topics covered by the authors as well as the main points they make in the book. It will also evaluate these arguments in light of several literatures written about the same subject matter. In order to review the book more effectively, the role of lawyers in the legal system and the kinds of relationships that they have with their clients should be reviewed first. This will provide a solid background about the law and the nature of the lawyers’ profession prior to the discussion of the major themes and issues discussed by Lerman & Schrag (2005) in their book. The law profession, however, is not limited to this kind of practice. There are various other ways in which lawyers use their knowledge and expertise. Several kinds of responsibilities are performed by lawyers, depending on the country in which they practice. These responsibilities include the following. For one, lawyers present legal arguments in the courts of law. In this regard, the lawyer represents his client in the court proceedings and presentation of arguments. Some countries may allow persons to present arguments in the courts without the help of lawyers. However, this may prove inefficient as individuals may not be aware of how the legal system works. Hence, lawyers make it possible for the proceedings to go as smoothly as possible (Kent, 2002). Lawyers are also engaged in the research, drafting and final writing of papers for the use of courts. Prior to the delivery of oral arguments, lawyers provide a brief of the backgrounds, facts and main points of the case. In short, lawyers are called upon to deliver both their written and oral arguments regarding the cases which they are handling. Before the actual process of litigation and court hearing, however, the lawyer would need to be in consultation with his or her clients about the provisions of the law and other matters that directly affect the case being brought to the courts. Even without litigation or court cases, lawyers still provide necessary legal advice to those who seek their services (Abel & Lewis, 1988). Part of the lawyers’ work is also the protection of intellectual property rights and the management of contracts. In relation to this, contracts are either drafted by a lawyer or the draft passes through them for review and revision in accordance with what the law allows in such cases. The transfer of deeds of real properties is also done by lawyers. The legal documents as well as the necessary processes are facilitated by the lawyer in this regard. Moreover, the wills, trusts of people who expect their demise soon; or those who have already passed away are implemented by lawyers. Lastly, lawyers prosecute or defend people who are suspected of having committed crime (Abel & Lewis, 1988). Before a person could practice law, he should have completed the prescribed course of study, and usually, he should have passed the bar examinations. The purpose of this is to ensure that those who practice law are indeed capable of doing so and that they are accountable to the government and to the society as a whole in the practice of their profession (Abel & Lewis, 1988). Lawyers and the Need for Regulation Requiring lawyers to acquire license prior to practicing law is one strategy in regulating the profession. Only those who pass the required standards would be able to practice law. Once the lawyers have their licenses, however, the necessity for regulation is still evident because of the relationship of the lawyer with its clients. The rights of the clients of lawyers should also be ensured and protected against the malpractice and abuse of lawyers. In some countries, the Department of Justice is the government agency that governs regulates lawyers. In other countries, it is the Supreme Court (Abel & Lewis, 1988). The role of lawyers in the society is important. As such, should they fail or make mistakes, they compromise the reputation of the profession. Because of the sensitivity of the relationship of lawyers with their clients, the need for regulation in the profession cannot be overemphasized. Against the backdrop of the ethical issues besieging the legal profession, the textbook on legal ethics written by Lerman and Schrag (2005) provides practical guidance together with an explanation of the foundational principles and the laws that govern the situations where issues of legal ethics may arise. Another important reason for the regulation of the practice of law is the existence of a myriad of ethical issues that should be confronted by lawyers in their profession. Lerman and Schrag’s (2005) Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law, explores the laws and other related institutions that govern and regulate lawyers and the way that they practice law. In addition to this, the authors dealt with the practical aspects of these laws as they apply to torts, contracts and obligations, the prosecution and defense of suspected criminals, real estate, family law and civil law. The authors formatted their book such that it would be easily accessible and readable. It also contains digests of important related doctrines to the topic that they are exploring. Such highlighting of related doctrines can be found throughout the book. They also presented judicial opinions in their edited versions so that the student will not need to go through every minute detail of the cases. In terms of presentation, the authors used the Socratic method of presenting questions and answers for the purpose of presenting the laws and the major issues governing such issues. Since the law profession is rife with ethical issues, the authors also found it expedient to include rules governing professional conduct. Such set of rules are important for lawyers in helping them practice their profession. This cursory examination of the book will be further expanded in the succeeding sections. A detailed review of the chapters of the book will be made. This review will also look at the language used by the authors, the level of language, the main points of their chapters and the solutions they provided to several problematic areas presented in the text. Background on the Authors The authors of Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law have had experience and authority in the subject that they have written about. They have had extensive classroom experience; they have also researched and practiced the law profession throughout their career and they have been engaged in the policy-making process. This broad range of experience make Lerman and Schrag as veritable authors in the field of legal ethics and their book is a testament to these experiences. Lisa G. Lerman Since 1987, Lisa G. Lerman has served as a law professor at the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America. She has had extensive experience in teaching contracts, exercising lawyers’ professional responsibility and the practicum on public policy. In addition to this, she has written numerous articles on law firms, the practice of law, about lawyers, and law education. Her focus used to be domestic law; however, she has focused on the relationship of lawyers and clients, together with the issue of dishonesty of lawyers occupying her attention. Prof. Lerman has long been considered an expert on ethics on the legal profession. In recognition of her advocacy, she has been named the chair of the ABA National Conference on Professional Responsibility’s Planning Committee. Given these plethora of achievements and experiences, she is an authority on the subject she has co-written with Philip G. Schrag (Catholic University of America Website, 2007). Philip G. Schrag Philip G. Schrag, on the other hand, is a professor of Civil Procedure at Georgetown Law School of the Georgetown University. He is currently the Director of the Center for Applied Legal Studies. He also provides career guidance to lawyers through the Public Interest Law Scholars Program. He has also served as a civil servant by writing legislations, notable among these are New York City’s Consumer Protection Act of 1969 and his involvement with several boards and agencies of the government. He has written twelve books (Georgetown Law Website, 2007). Organization of the Book Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law has been organized thematically. It has ten (10) chapters that explore deeply and comprehensively the end-to-end practice of the legal profession from the provision of legal advice, the conduct of the representation of clients in the courts as well as the legal and ethical obligations of lawyers even after they have represented a client. The Regulation of Lawyers Chapter 1 deals with the regulation of lawyers. They explained the basis of the process of making prospective lawyers go through the bar examinations in order to get their license. They also enumerated and explained the institutions that make the regulations in the legal profession. These institutions are crucial in ensuring that lawyers are practicing their profession in accordance with the law and without impinging upon the rights of their clients. These institutions are: (1) the highest state courts; (2) bar associations; (3) lawyer disciplinary agencies; (4) the American Bar Association; (5) the American Law Institute; (6) Federal and State trial courts; and (7) the Legislatures among others. The authors also took a look at the law governing lawyers. They walked through the special provisions of this law and cited instances in which the provisions of this law could be useful and where there are ambiguities and vagueness. In addition to this, Lerman and Schrag provided cases and examples to illustrate the principles that they discussed. Lawyers and the Confidentiality of Clients Client confidences and the duties of lawyers to protect this confidential information is the subject matter of Chapter 2. The duo started out by defining the bases of confidentiality and the way that clients provide their trust to their lawyers. There are instances, however, in which this duty to protect confidentiality may be exempted and the law and national interest may even compel the lawyer to disclose some important matters confided to him by the client. In any case, however, the lawyer should never disclose confidential information from a client in the interest of personal gain or for the use of another client as this may be construed as a violation of the trust granted to the lawyer by the client. The chapter closes with several tips and suggestions on informing the clients about confidentiality and how such confidentiality may be protected.

Buddha Essays - Gautama Buddha, Arahants, Ascetics, Buddhas

Buddha Chris This report will be about the life of Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, and his influences on the people around him. It will explain how the religion of Buddhism came about and how the Buddha created it. It will also include not only what influenced Buddha to start preaching, but what influenced the people to listen. Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who would later be known as Buddha, was born in Lumbini, Nepal around the year 563 BC. He was the son of two important great people. Siddhartha?s father?s name was Shuddhodana, the King of the Sakyas. His mother, Queen Maya, was a lady ?of perfect form and bee-black tresses, fearless in heart and full of grace and virtue.? Siddhartha got his name from one of his mother?s dreams. Her dream was that an elephant with 6 tusks, carrying a lotus flower in its trunk, touched the right side of Queen Maya?s body. That was when Siddhartha was miraculously conceived. When she told her husband about her dream, he called Brahmins, or learned men to interpret it. They predicted that the child one-day would be the greatest king in the world or the greatest ascetic in the world. So that?s why they called him Siddhartha, meaning ?he whose aim is accomplished.? When Siddhartha was about 20 years old he married Yasodhara, who was the daughter of one of the King?s ministers. S iddhartha and his new wife had a child a year after they got married. They called their son Rahula, which means ?impediment.? Nine years later Siddhartha asked his charioteer to take him for a ride throughout the city. While riding he saw three things he had never seen before. One was an elder man, another was a man suffering from illness, and finally he saw a dead body surrounded by mourners. Since he had never seen anything like that before he asked his charioteer, Channa, what was wrong. He responded and told the Prince that these things were natural and unavoidable, that happen to all kinds of people. ?Everything is transient; nothing in permanent in this world?.Knowing that, I can find delight in nothing?How can a man, who knows that death is quite inevitable, still feel greed in his heart, enjoy the world of senses and not weep in this great danger Once again Siddhartha asked Channa to take him out into the city again and this time he was to see the last of four images that would change his life forever. The last sight he saw was a wandering old holy man with no possessions. His head was completely sh aved and he was wearing a yellow robe. The Prince stopped and talked to him. The holy man said some inspiring words to the Prince. When Siddhartha got home that night he kissed his family goodbye and ordered his charioteer to take him out of the city. When he came to the edge of a forest he got rid of his prized possessions, shaved his head and beard, put on the yellow robe of the old man, and gave his clothes and jewelry to Channa and told him to bring it back to his father. According to legend he left his family and wealth to find the cause of human misery. Next Siddhathra traveled throughout the northeastern portion of India, seeking out holy men, who taught him ancient Indian techniques of meditation. Even though meditation was important to him, his main quest was to find the answer to the problem of suffering. He wanted to know why they were suffering and how this suffering could stop. So Siddhartha studied the teachings of Hinduism. He was very fascinated by the belief of reincarnation or Samsara. This was the belief of the soul, after death, would travel to a new body-being born again. Depending on the person?s previous life, its soul could enter a body of higher or lower state of existence. The determining factor of a soul?s new existence is how the person lived his last life. This is called Karma. Siddhartha found this very interesting, so he adopted a life of self-denial and penance?s, meditating constantly. After many other complications, like fasting for several years, Siddhartha was enlightened. The experience of enlightenment was really the

Institutional Review Board Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Institutional Review Board - Assignment Example Therefore, IRB will protect the researchers by ensuring that they have not been implicated in issues involving violation of rules related to conducting researches. Furthermore, IRB protects reputation of the University by reducing chances of being involved in unethical research, which is conducted by their students and supervised by their lectures. On the other hand, IRB protects participants by ensuring that the research meets ethical standards while eliminating cases of unauthorized disclosure of their private information to other parties. The type of research that qualifies for Full review, which is also referred to as Level III involves subjects that require protection (St. Catherine University, 2013). Therefore, this form of research subjects the participants to a greater risk (Aurora University, 2013). In this case, the research involves nursing home residents, who are subjects to be protected. In fact, the research has exceptional consideration for protection that applied for their welfare due to vulnerability (The University of New Hampshire, 2012). Furthermore, the research will involve their personal information which require protect from the

Changes in English Overseas Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Changes in English Overseas Trade - Essay Example For example, this group maintains the English tradesmen manipulated the Civil War that affected the Dutch in taking over the textile industry and the woolen sector of Italy. In addition, the paper looks at their other claim that the economic dominance of the English was because of political power and favoritism (Luu 2005, p.47). On that aspect, this paper provides evidence proving that the market expansion and increase of commodities came because of business strategies that other nations could foresee. Furthermore, the argumentative paper gives the economic benefits that England enjoyed because of being an economic powerhouse and implications of powers to its citizens. There have been several debates whether there have any changes or not in the English overseas trade. This concerns changes in the markets, commodities and commercial coordination among the traders who conducted business between 1500-1700. Those who are against the changes state that there were no increase in imports an d exports in during the English trade. Alternatively, those in support point that there were significant alterations in trade of the English tradesmen during the sale of their commodities and other businesses such as merchanting, warehousing, banking and insurance among others. On that account, there were many changes in English overseas trade during the period of 1500-1700 (Coclanis 2005, p.134). These changes pertain to markets, commodities and influences in commercial organization. For example the joint annual value called free on board consisting of exports, imports and re-exports inclined in the years of 1663-69 to 1699-1701 from ?8.5 million to ?12.3 million. Around this period, there were alterations in the geographical directions and the composition of commodities concerning English trade. Furthermore, the year of 1621 saw the northern Europe record a total of 62.4 percent of London imports while the southern Europe registered 31.2 percent. However, only 6.4 percent of impor ts came from outside Europe. These imports accumulated to 35.7 percent, 29.7 percent and 34.7 percent in all the three regions (Divitiis 2003, p.99). Additionally, there was domination of woolen textiles of varying types sold overseas by England in the beginning of 1600s. There was also the presence of re-exports entailing produce of colonial nature from the East Indian colonies and the Americas in the period of 1699-1701. These exports accrued to a total of 30.9 percent while the woolens registered 47.4 percent. However, those in opposition of the main changes in English overseas trade argue that between 1500-1700, the changes were meant to save labor and to control forces of nature and not trade. On that note, they argue that the change in the national income per person was not because of the increase in the exports and imports but due to transformations in employment (Fisher et al 2004, p.11) On that aspect, this is untrue because the saving of both human and capital labor came a s result of the accrued profits in the sale of commodities and changes in the markets. Furthermore, contrary to the assumption that the national income per head did not increase because of the rise in exports and imports during overseas trade, the truth is that alterations in the

Evaluating Evidence for Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Evaluating Evidence for Practice - Essay Example Continuous check on the skin- If risk factors for pressure ulcers have been known, its imperative for one to check the skin daily for any signs of pressure ulcers, i.e. discolored parts of the skin. This is mainly important if one has an underlying condition, such as diabetes or nerve damage, which may numb or dampen feelings of pain in some parts of the body. Changing already established the behavior of any kind is not easy. It is mainly challenging especially in healthcare as a result of the complex relationships between a varied range of professionals, patients, organizations, and careers. In order to evaluate the anticipated change in practice, one has to understand the barriers to change within an organization. To develop a successful change strategy, one has to understand the types of barriers faced by the healthcare sector. With this knowledge, one can consider which levers and barriers may be operational in the organization and which may be applicable to a particular problem. As a result of this, it is likely to come up with a tailored approach to overcoming the anticipated barriers, encourage behavior change and eventually implement the guidance. Baccalaureate-prepared nurse act as the direct and care providers where they are patient educators and advocates. They emphasize partnership with the patients i.e. whether families, individuals, groups, population or communities so as to support and foster the active participation during the collection and analysis of practice change. Baccalaureate Nurses also bring an exceptional blend of knowledge, skills, judgment and caring for the evaluation of practice changes Once a change program is created, of course, it must be implemented. Though there are various ways of disseminating out plans for change, the following general approach is recommended, which is flexible to various situations, and which has proved to be successful in various health care settings. 2. Targeting the message to

Medicare and Medicaid-SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Medicare and Medicaid-SLP - Essay Example Apart from Pharmaceutical labelers that refer to drug prior approval information supplied with the drug by the CMS, the Automated Voice Response System (AVRS) is used to reinforce the Drug Prior Approval process. Through AVRS pharmacy providers can inquire about or enter a request for a drug prior approval via either a touch-tone or rotary dial phone, (www.hfs.illinois.gov/avrs, 2009). The State of Illinois has the All Kids medical insurance program. Under this program, children who have no medical cover because their parents cannot afford insurance premiums are covered at rates their parents can afford. The aim of the program is to ensure that all children benefit from medical coverage no matter what their ascribed social status. They are covered under comprehensive, affordable health insurance, regardless of family income, immigration status or health condition, (www.allkids.com, 2009). Under the program children can access hospitals, medicine and physicians when the need arises. The program recognizes the fact that every child deserves to grow up healthy without any medical discrimination. It covers doctor calls, hospitalization, prescribed drugs, optician visits, dental check-ups, eyeglasses, regular check-ups and immunization shots. Other services like medical equipment, speech therapy and physical therapy are also covered for the children in need. Anyone 18 years and below living in Illinois is a potential candidate for All Kids, provided that they are not in a position to afford regular health care from conventional programs. There is no income limit since all uninsured kids can qualify for All Kids regardless of what their parents earn. All Kids is different from the State’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan (Chip). CHIP is funded partly by participant premiums and partly by appropriations of the state’s General Revenue

Picture Description Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Picture Description - Essay Example Mai describes having encountered discriminatory glances; comments and treatment from people who deemed her delinquent simply from her new look. For instance, she recalls getting late to school and on requesting the vice principal for a pass, she got a stern warning. During a music performance, shortly after her radical change in appearance, the audience focus less on her ability to perform and more on her look. Even though she overhears parents warning their kids not to be like her, she gets a complement from her friend’s father. This makes her realize that is still the same person she was prior to the transformation. The incident also bolsters her self esteem and confidence, reaffirming her identity (Davies 335-336). The other text to be compared with Mai Goda’s â€Å"Still me Inside† is based on â€Å"Zits†, a popular cartoon strip, which describes the life of a teenager named Jeremy Duncan. The comic strip under scrutiny, â€Å"my folks never let up about my clothes† depicts Jeremy engaging in an argument with his mother over his mode of dressing. The mother is unpleased that Jeremy does not tuck in his shirt, while he asserts that his way of dressing reflects his identity. He insists that he is an individual, and has to be autonomous. The irony in the comic strip is that when his friends show up, they are all dressed the same way (Davies 333). The principal message in both the cartoon and the narrative is that, adolescents tend to undergo numerous conflicting emotions about their appearance. Characters in both works, that is, Jeremy and Goda uphold the perception that their appearance defines their identity. For instance, Mai feels invisible by being conservatively dressed, an emotion that prompts her to change in an attempt to get recognized and fit in with the other teenagers. Likewise, Jeremy feels the urge to dress in a manner that does not set him apart from his friends, even though he claims otherwise. Both the narrative and the cartoon serve to

How Setting Goals Lead to Success Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 19

How Setting Goals Lead to Success - Essay Example Goal setting is one of the most likely natural things that we do as humans.   We tend to move from one region to the other with goals.   The challenge is that most people fail to harness the power of it fully.   Therefore, I learned that there is a magic in setting goals.   More specifically, a written down goals is essential towards my success as the writing clarifies my thoughts.   It helps in committing towards something that I am passionate about, be it in the short term or the long run.   Therefore, a well-written goal instils the inspiration on how to move forward having the goal in mind (Rouillard, 2010).Goals give a direction in all areas of success, be it in personal life or career. It gives a purpose to carry on with a particular task. Working on a well-set goal gives hope and determination to succeed in all activities. Without goals, it is rather difficult to focus and to have a direction in a particular task. Therefore, goal setting provides a benchmark for de termining whether one is succeeding or not. A well-set goal is a secret to success. As the saying goes, â€Å"a goal well set is halfway accomplished† (Rouillard, 2010). Setting goals is the foremost and the most important step towards any achievement in life. The action level, as well as the action itself, stands as the catalyst to turn a particular goal, which is inert, into something that is dynamic. Therefore, to realize the objectives, it is recommendable to know how to set the goals. It is not a matter of merely saying, â€Å"I want it, â€Å" and it happens all of a sudden. Goal setting starts with a careful consideration of what should be achieved and ends with hard work in the process of obtaining it. At the intermediate, there are rules that one has to embrace to make the set goals a success (Rouillard, 2010). The rules noted as follows. At the foremost, it is important to set a goal that motives a person. It is substantial that the set goal is valuable to the set ter, and similarly, there should be an interest in the outcome. It is important to set goals that relate to the high priorities in life. Without such focus, it is possible to end up with too many goals leaving less time to devote to each objective. Hence, goal achievement needs a commitment to maximizing the likelihood of success.

Virgin Holidays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Virgin Holidays - Essay Example In addition to this the company has an established ski programme, known as the Virgin Snow and also Taste of Adventure product range. New destinations were also added in the year 2007 which basically consists of Malaysia and also Mauritius. In 2008 Virgin Holidays acquired the assets and also the brand name of the Travel City Direct from the XL Leisure Group, which was collapsed in the year 2009. The Travel City website has now been re launched along with a Virgin Holidays style design and layout. Since its creation the Virgin Holidays has gone from the strength to strength. The company thus now offers an extensive selection of the holidays to mainland USA, Florida, Canada, Caribbean and also to South Africa. In addition to this a well-established programme has also been developed in order to make this service the better one. Virgin holiday is also known as one of the best part or area with the help of which one can enjoy and can easily spend the time. The rates are different for dif ferent occasions. If you really want to enjoy then you can visit and can also book your flight with the Virgin holidays and can enjoy your holidays. It is also marked as one of the best holiday operators all over the world. One can gain as much benefit as much he/she wants from this service. Discounts are also being offered and you can avail much more discounts too. Virgin Holidays is basically meant for tourists and people can acquire as much as they can and as much as they want. As mentioned earlier Virgin holidays is working along with other facilities too for instance Virgin air lines, Virgin mobiles and many more and this is the main reason that how and why Virgin holidays has became the best one. (Trawicky & Gregory, 311) When working in any company or in any organization, different kind of problems occurs and therefore different solutions are also

Escalating Costs of Social Health Insurance Essay Example for Free

Escalating Costs of Social Health Insurance Essay Unlike any other country in the world, the United States continually experience rising cost of healthcare provision. Wolfe (1999) reports that healthcare costs has been increasing at a high rate for decades, it is estimated that every 40 months, the share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spent on healthcare goes up by 1 percent. Health expenditure which stood at 12. 3 percent of GDP in 1990 increased to 16. 0 percent of GDP in 2006 and is projected to reach 20 percent in the next 7 years. Between 2005 and 2006 alone, healthcare spending increased by 6. 7 percent, exceeding nominal GDP growth by 0. 6 percent, to a whooping $2. 1 trillion, representing an estimated $7,000 spending per person (Kuttner 2008; Catlin et al 2008). Various factors including inflation, aging population and advances in medical technology has been indicted as been responsible for the global increase in health expenditures, however, the American situation appears to be peculiar. Kuttner (2008) contends that the proliferation of new technologies, poor diet, lack of exercise, the tendency for supply (physicians, hospitals, tests, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and novel treatments) to generate demand and the culture of the American litigation, resulting in excessive malpractice litigations and the practice of defensive medicine, all adds together to ensure that the country experiences the largest and fastest growth in health expenditures, while at the same time, defeating efforts at cost containments. Like every other developed country, health insurance systems, especially social health insurance systems constitute the primarily methods of health financing (Carrin and James, 2004). This arrangement ensures that most of the cost of healthcare are paid by third parties, either through public establishments, as in social (public) health insurance systems, or by private bodies, as in private health insurance system, or in some cases, a mixture of both (Wolfe, 1999). The mixture of private and social health insurance is present in almost every country, with variations in their coverage. While in most European countries, social health insurance is deeply ingrained in societal fabric and provides the largest source of funding and insurance coverage (Saltman, 2004), the vast majority of Americans receive their health insurance coverage through employer based private insurance, with the rest of the country covered by any of the several public health insurance programs (Glover et al 2003). It is estimated that employer private health insurance covers approximately 63 percent of the population, with 51 percent of these amount covered by their own employers, while the remaining 41 percent are covered as a workers dependent; 14 percent are covered by public programs, 5 percent covered by individual insurance policies while an estimated 17 percent of the population are uncovered by any insurance (Devi, 2005). Medicare is largely regarded as the primary national (social) health insurance program in the United States, providing coverage for an estimated 44 million Americans over the age of 65. It is also estimated that Medicare provides health insurance coverage for about 7 million Americans under the age of 65 who have a disability or chronic condition (Fact Sheet, 2007). Social health insurance is a vital part of any countrys health care and health financing program, in some part of Europe, there is a general contention that social health insurance is not just an insurance arrangement, but a way of life, they are seen as a part of a social incomes policy that seek to redistribute wealth and health risk evenly amongst the population, however, the rising costs of these systems, not just in the United States but across the modern world, threatens the system. Before an analysis of the costs and factors driving costs of social health insurance systems, especially in America and in other European countries, it is important to first briefly describe the underlying principles of the social health insurance system and its difference from the private health insurance programs. This will be followed by a description of the United States Medicare program and some social health insurance programs in selected European countries and then a look at the costs of these programs. Steps taken towards cutting costs of the social insurance programs and the differences in cost cutting approaches between the United States and European Union countries will be examined. Lastly, future approaches that could help ameliorate the financial challenges facing the United States public insurance programs shall be recommended. Social Health Insurance Social health insurance, in its basic principle, in any society achieves a set of societal objectives through its peculiar form of financial cross subsidies, which covers redistribution from the healthy to the ill, from the well off to the less well off, from the young to the old and from the individual to the family. This redistributive focus of any social health insurance program distinguishes it from what is nominally regarded as insurance, thus, in several societies, it entrenches solidarity, income redistribution and is thus seen as a key part of a broader structure of social security and income support that sits at the heart of civil society (Saltman, 2004:5) Saltman and Dubois (2004) contend that although Germany is considered the source of the modern day form of social health insurance, when it codified existing voluntary structures into compulsory state supervised legislation in 1883, the history of social health insurance (SHI) dates back longer to the medieval guilds in the late Middle Ages. However, they agreed that the structure and organization of SHI over time has considerably evolved; the number of people covered has increased from a small number of workers in particular trades to a larger portion of the population, the central concept SHI has evolved from wage replacement a death benefit into payment for and or provision of outpatient physician services, inpatient hospital care and drugs; thirdly, the administrative structure of SHI has also evolved from cooperative workers association to state mandated legislative character, beginning with Germany in 1883 and the most recent, 1996 in Switzerland. Structurally, social health insurance everywhere possesses three common characteristics. Social health insurance programs are administered privately in both funding and in the provision of health services; as a result of their private administration, social health programs are self regulating, and lastly, as a consequence of their independence and self regulation, social health insurance programs are relatively stable, both in organizational and financial terms (Saltman, 2004). As a fall out of these structural characteristics, social health insurance posses several core components that differentiate them from private health insurance programs. Under SHI, the raising of funds is tied to income of beneficiaries, usually in the form of a transparent and fixed percentage of wages. As a result, contributions are risk independent and thus encourage maximal risk pooling. Also, collection and administration of revenues for the program are handled by not-for-profit and sometimes, state run funds and these funds are usually managed by board members that are usually representative and elected. The United States Medicare program posses most or all of the characteristics of a social health insurance program. For over 40 years, the program has successfully provided healthcare access for the elderly and millions of people with disability. It is regarded as the nations single largest health insurance program and it covers a wide range of the society for a broad range of health services. For example, Potetz (2008) report that one out of ever five dollars spent on healthcare in 2006 came through the Medicare program. The program is also reported to fund, at least, one third of all hospital stays, nationally. In most European countries too, national, public (social) health insurance programs reportedly covers a large proportion of the population, in most cases, reaching up to 100 percent coverage. Saltman and others (2004) reports that in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland and from 1995, Israel, all have health insurance systems where (public) social health programs plays predominant roles in organization and funding of health care services, where between 60 to 100 percent of the population are mandatorily covered. They further argue that even countries like Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, Greece and Portugal that have a tax funded National Health Service schemes, segments of SHI based healthcare funding also exists. Explaining the difference between social health insurance programs and private health insurance, Thomson and Mossialos (2004) contend that private health insurance play very insignificant role in the health systems of several European countries, either in terms of funding or access to healthcare. Unlike in the United States where more than 60 percent of the population are covered by private employer based insurance, private health insurance programs covers a relatively small proportion of the population and accounts for less than 5 percent of the total health spending, with the exception of France, Germany and the Netherlands. The most common difference between social and private health insurance includes eligibility, risk pooling and benefits. For social health insurance programs, contributions are mostly based on a fixed or varying proportion of wages, without regard for risks, thus a wider proportion of the people are eligible and benefits i. e. health services offered are broader with less out of pocket costs (Thomson and Mossialos, 2004; Saltman 2004). For private health insurance, the reverse is the case in most situations. Especially in for-profit private health insurance systems, contributions are adjusted according to risks and for the most part high risks individuals are rejected or expected to pay higher premiums. Consequently, eligibility requirements are strict; out of pocket expenses might be higher, while services provided vary significantly across programs, depending on an array of factors. Depending on the generally functions and services offered by private health insurance, the relation to social health insurance can be substitutive, complementary or supplementary. Substitutive private health insurance programs provides insurance covers that is otherwise available from the public programs purchased by individuals or groups who are excluded from the SHI. The larger proportion of the US society is excluded from the public insurance programs, which are usually available to the elderly, the disabled or the very poor, the rest of the population must rely on private employer based insurance. However, in European countries with effective SHI, only certain individuals with income above a certain upper threshold are excluded from the public insurance program e. g. in Netherlands and Germany, while the rest of the population are eligible. Complementary private health insurance programs provide cover for services not fully covered by the SHI programs or totally excluded, the Medicare + Choice plans is an example of such covers. Lastly, supplementary private health insurance provides cover for faster access and also increased consumer choices for individuals who can afford it (Thomson and Mossialos, 2004). Eligibility and Coverage  The United States Medicare program is essentially for the elderly, thus, individuals are eligible for Medicare coverage if they are citizens of the United States or have been a permanent legal resident for five continues years and over 65 years old. Individuals younger than 65 years of age can also be eligible for Medicare coverage if they are disabled and have been on the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or the Railroad Retirement Board benefits for a period of two years. Further, individuals with end state renal disease (ESRD) or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) known as Lou Gehrig’s disease also qualifies for Medicare coverage. However, many people with disability do not qualify for SSDI benefits and by extension, Medicare. To qualify for these benefits, disabled individuals must have a family member under age 65 who have a work history which included Federal Income Contribution Act tax (FICA), an individual may also qualifies for SSDI on the FICA contributions of a parent as a Childhood Disability Beneficiary (CDB) or as a disabled spouse of a deceased spouse. Whichever qualification route applicable, an individual qualifies for Medicare two years after he/she starts receiving the SSDI benefits, except for the Lou Gehrig’s disease where Medicare benefits starts in the first month SSDI payments are received or in the case of the ESRD where Medicare benefits starts within three months of the first dialysis (Fact Sheet, 2007). As of 2007, it is estimated that Medicare provides cover and health services to about 43 million Americans. This figure is expected to double to 77 million by 2031 when the baby boomers of the post World War II period start to retire. However, as mentioned previously, SHI in European countries offer universal coverage that is mandatory in some countries. Coverage for these countries varies from 63 percent in Netherlands to 100 percent coverage in France, Israel and Switzerland. In most of these countries, it is usually the highest income groups that are either allowed or required by law to leave the social health programs for private health insurance (Saltman, 2004:7). Benefits Benefits for Medicare members have continually been modified. The original program has two parts, Medicare Part A and part B. The Part A program known as Hospital Insurance, covers hospital stays with stays in skilled nursing facilities for limited periods if certain qualifying criteria are met. Such criteria include the length of hospital stay, which most be three days, at least, excluding the discharge day and stay in skilled nursing facility must be for conditions diagnosed during the hospitalization. Medicare Part A allows up to a maximum of 100day stay in skilled nursing facilities, with the first 20 days completely paid for by Medicare and the remaining 80days paid in part and requiring a co-payment from the beneficiary. The Medicare Part B covers services and products not covered by Part A, but on an outpatient basis. The benefits under this coverage includes physician and nursing services, laboratory diagnostic tests, influenza and pneumonia vaccinations x-rays and blood transfusions. Other services include renal dialysis, outpatient hospital procedures, Immunosuppressive drugs for organ transplant recipients, chemotherapy, limited ambulance transportation and other outpatient medical treatments carried out in a physicians office. This coverage, to some extent, also includes medical equipments like walkers, wheelchairs and mobility scooters for individuals with mobility problems, while prosthetic devices, such as breast prosthesis after mastectomy or eye glasses after cataract surgery are also covered. The recently added Part C and D of the Medicare benefits slightly deviate from the original Medicare concept. After the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 came into effect, Medicare beneficiaries were allowed the option of receiving their Medicare benefits through private health insurance plans if they do not want to go through the original Medicare plans. These became known as Medicare + Choice as beneficiaries could choose any private health insurance plans and have it paid for by Medicare. The Medicare + Choice or Part C arrangement later became known as the Medicare Advantage Plan after the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 came into effect. The Part D plan, on the other hand, covers mainly prescription drugs and anyone in the original Plan A or B is eligible for this plan. However, in other to receive the benefits of the Plan D, a beneficiary must enroll and be approved for a Stand-alone Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) or Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage (MA-PD). However, because Plan D is effectively operated by private health insurance companies, there are no standardized benefits, like the plan A and B; the private insurance companies could choose to cover some drugs or classes of drugs and not cover others, with the exception of drugs excluded from Medicare coverage. Beneficiaries are therefore restricted to the drugs coverage of the plans they choose (Merlis, 2008; Potetz, 2008). Contributions towards Social Health Insurance Medicare financing, like social health insurance everywhere, is financed through a complex mix of taxes, contributions, co-payments and the likes. The most important source of financing for the Medicare expenditures is through the payroll tax imposed by the Federal Insurance Contributions Act and the Self-Employment Contributions Act of 1954, while other sources of financing includes general revenue through income taxes, a tax on Social Security benefits, and payments from states required for the Medicare drug benefits which started in 2006. In addition to these, beneficiaries also contribute directly to Medicare financing through premiums, deductibles and co-insurance. It is reported that income cases, physician do charge beneficiaries an additional out-of -pocket balance billing to cover for services rendered (Potetz, 2008). The federal payroll taxes are paid by the working population or by the beneficiaries throughout their work history. The tax equals 2. 9 percent of gross wages, with half (1. 45 percent) deducted from the workers salary and the other half paid by the employer. Initially, there was a ceiling on the maximum amount any single person can contribute; however, beginning from 1994, the maximum limit was removed. Self employed people who do not have an employer to cover the other half of their taxes are mandated by law to pay the full 2. 9 percent of their estimated earnings. However, the contributions from the beneficiaries vary considerably depending on the plan and also range from premiums, deductibles, co-payments or in some cases, the balance billing mentioned previously.

Licensed Casino Gambling Essay Example for Free

Licensed Casino Gambling Essay Individual effects: Is gambling generally harmful to the individual gambler?| Yes * Gambling is irrational and reckless and should, therefore, be regulated by the government. There may be the possibility of winning a big prize, but the overwhelming likelihood is that a gambler will lose money. This is ensured by the fact that Casinos are profit-minded organizations, and calculate their odds so that they will always make a profit. Because gamblers are always likely to lose and suffer as a result, the activity can be seen in many ways as an irrational engagement. Gambling attracts people with little money who are desperate for a windfall. These are the people who can least afford to lose money. They should be protected from the temptation to gamble.| NoContention that the general individual losses from gambling are justified by it being a fun and leisurely activity worth paying for: Gamblers know that, overall, they are likely to lose money. They gamble because it is a leisure pursuit that they enjoy. There is nothing irrational about this. Some people get an enjoyable thrill from the remote possibility that they might win a huge prize – even if they lose, they enjoy the experience. Some forms of gambling are highly sociable. For example, many people go to bingo halls to spend time with friends. Society accepts people spending (â€Å"wasting†?) money on other leisure pursuits with no material benefits (e.g. cinema tickets, watching sport) – gambling should not be any different. It is patronizing to suggest that people, including those on low incomes, should not be able to choose how they spend their money. * Psychological benefits of gambling: Some argue that gambling offers psychological benefits. The psychological benefits may include: 1. A feeling of control (which some describe as God-like). 2. Confidence that extends from feelings of executive control in decision-making. 3. Benefits in the ability to psycho-analyze other peoples thoughts, and placing mone yed interests and incentives behind the results of such psycho-analysis.[1] 4. Total engagement and peak experience. It provides the gambler with peak experience, that godlike feeling when all of ones physical and emotional senses are go.'[2] 5. The release from daily tension. 6. Feelings of exercising the adventurer within us that part of ourselves which lusts for change, the wooing of the unknown, change, danger, all that is newIt is part of what makes us human.[3] 7. Feelings of engaging in a ubiquitous, historical human tradition. 8. Emotions of non-conformity and freedom. One source quoted a gambler who said, All day long you do what them dumb bastard supervisors tell you. Dont make no difference whether it makes sense or not. Sometimes you just gotta get out of line.[4] * Gambling increases individual efficiency: Studies show that, contrary to popular belief, gambling is by and large beneficial to the gambler and increases rather than decreases his efficiency. It is beneficial in that it stimulates, offers hope, allows decision making, and, in many cases,| Crime effects: Does gambling cause an increase in various kinds of related criminal activities?| [][Edit]Yes * Casinos are often associated with criminal activity. Drug dealers and prostitutes ope rate near casinos – they know that there are a large number of potential clients in the area. Casinos can therefore be devastating to neighborhoods.| [][Edit]No * People committing crimes should be prosecuted. The existence of criminals does not make nearby businesses (including casinos) immoral. It is perverse to punish people who just want to gamble (and not take drugs or use prostitutes) by taking away their chance to do so.| Bad industry? Are casinos an industry with bad merit? Is nothing of value produced by casinos?| Yes * Casinos dont produce any product: Many contend that gambling is inappropriate because it does not generate any tangible product. One commentators says that gambling is an ethereal substancea biological substancethat produces highsgenerated usually by anticipation.[5]| No * Contention that casinos are involved in the entertainment business, and need not produce a tangible product: Gambling is a form of entertainment that is similar to many other forms of entertainment; the objective is merely to foster a desired emotional response from the audience. Mo vies, theater, fair-grounds, concerts, sporting-events, and casinos are all similar in that their primary function is to foster an environment of entertainment. That is their product, which need not be physical in order to be viewed as valuable.| Addiction: Is gambling commonly addictive, and would this be a reason for regulating it?| Yes * Gambling is addictive. Many people end up gambling to try to recover money they have already lost. This is known as ‘chasing losses’. It results in people staking more and more money, most of which they will lose. Gambling addicts often turn to crime to feed their addiction. Addiction is highly damaging to families, since gamblers will spend whatever money they can on gambling. People start to gamble without thinking that they will become addicted. Once they become addicted, it is too late. As with drugs, it is better to ban gambling to stop people getting started in the first place. * Analogy that gambling truly is like a drug, and should be treated as a controlled substance: * It is drug-like in the way that it dramatically utilizes human chemicals: William M. Thompson, Gambling: A Controll ed Substance, PBS Interview, 1994 Is the comparison of drugs and gambling unfair? Consider the words of Thomas R. OBrien, formerly Director of Gaming Enforcement for the state of New Jersey. In 1984 he told a conference on gambling that the success of Atlantic City was tied to how well it sold its only products. He then said: That product is not entertainment or recreation or leisure. Its really adrenaline: a biological substance capable of producing excitementhighs and generated usually by anticipation or expectation of a future event, especially when the outcome of that event is in doubt. According to chief regulator of the industry, gambling was not only a drug, but a mind-altering drug. * The addictive and destructive nature of gambling is also drug-like:William M. Thompson, Gambling: A Controlled Substance, PBS Interview, 1994 Where governments do not prohibit, the majority can exercise self-control. Seventy-five percent gamble responsibly. They find it an entertaining diversion. But another 20 percent overindulge. They incur debts that impair abilities to support their families, unless they stop. Usually they can. Four percent cannot stop without intervention of others. Then there are the one-half to one percent (and these are conservative estimates) who fall into destructive behaviors when exposed to gambling. Families are destroyed, friendships broken, employment disrupted. Cycles of deception and crime lead to ruined livesand in many cases, suicide.| No * Contention that gambling is not physically addictive: Unlike drugs, gambling is not physically addictive. It is only psychologically addictive in some people. Only a small percentage of gamblers have an addiction. Many more get enjoyment from gambling without problems – why should these people suffer because a few others get addicted? The risks of gambling addiction are well known. People can make a conscious choice to start gambling, and are aware of the risks of addiction. Treatment programmes can address the problems of those who are addicted.| Economic harm? Do casinos casinos cause economic harm or provide ver y few economic benefits?| Yes * The long-term economic negatives outweigh the short-term economic gains: John Warren Kind, The Business-Economic Impacts of Licensed Casino Gambling in West Virginia: Short-Term Gain but Long-Term Pain, PBS, 1994 While the dollars invested in various legalized gambling projects and the jobs initially created are evident, the industry has been criticized for inflating the positive economic impacts and trivializing or ignoring the negative impacts (Goodman 1994). The industrys tendency to focus on specialized factors provides a distorted view of the localized economic positives, while ignoring the strategic business-economic costs to the state as a whole (such as West Virginia) and to different regions of the United States (California Governors Office 1992, Kindt 1995). In 1994, all of the various experts who testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business criticized the impacts that casino-style gambling activities inflict upon the criminal justice system, the social welfare, system, small businesses, and the economy (Congressional Hearing 1994). Utilizing legalized gambling activities as a strategy for economic development was thoroughly discredited during the hearing. * The actual economic benefits of casinos are exaggerated. They generally only create low-paid jobs for local people; the casino companies usually bring in managers from elsewhere. * There are too many economic externalities surrounding gambling , which nullify the benefits: * Crime * Risky behavior Compulsive gambling may foster poor, sometimes risky money-management habits. These habits may transfer over to other areas of the economy, where risky behaviors translate into a higher likelihood of loss in various markets. * Time consumption Compulsive gambling often entails significant time consumption, which detracts from more productive ends. * Jobs could be created through many other industries that cause fewer moral and practical problems (e.g. theme parks). * Any economic benefits would not matter, if the industry is deemed immoral: * Estimated losses from compulsive gambling: William M. Thompson, Gambling: A Controlled Substance, PBS Interview, 1994 Conservative numbers suggest it costs society $13,000 per year for each compulsive gambler. The losses include treatment costs, lost productivity, criminal activity and judicial costs. Estimating that widespread gambling across America would create one million compulsive gamblers, the resulting annual economic loss would exceed $13 billion.| No * Casinos cause money to be spent on transport infrastructure, which is very beneficial to economies: * Casinos help the tourism industry of a place: The jobs are not just in the casino itself. More jobs are created in hotels and other parts of the tourism industry. * Examples in which casinos have helped to regenerate many places that previously had considerable poverty and social problems: * Atlantic City. * New Jersey. * Legalized gambling on reservations is very important to Native American tribes: Anthony Pico, Chairman of the Viejas Indians, explains the benefits to his tribe of legalized gambling on his tribes reservation in a PBS interview.[6]| Social welfare effects: Are the charitable generations from gambling substantial, and can this go toward justifying their existence?| Yes * It is immoral for the state or charities to raise money by exploiting people’s stupidity and greed. * Gambling is regressive (this means that the poor pay a greater proportion of their income in tax than the rich). This is because poor people are more likely to gamble. Regressive taxation is deeply unfair. * Legalized gambling activities act as a regressive tax on the poor (Clotfelter and Cook 1989). Specifically, the legalization of various forms of gambling activities makes poor people poorer and can dramatically intensify many pre-existing social-welfare problems. Demographic analyses reveal that certain disadvantaged socioeconomic groups tend to gamble proportionately greater amounts of their overall income and marketing efforts, particularly by state lotteries, have allegedly been directed at these target groups. John Warren Kind, The Business-Economic Impacts of Licensed Casino Gambling in West Virginia: Short-Term Gain but Long-Term Pain, PBS, 1994 * Contention that education is harmed by gambling practices: Kind, PBS, 1994 Legalized gambling activities also negatively affect education both philosophically and fiscally (Better Government Association 1992; Clotfelter and Cook 1989). Adherence to a philosophy of making a living via gambling activities not only abrogates the perceived need for an education, but also reinforces economically unproductive activities (and is statistically impossible since the house always wins eventually). In states with legalized gambling activities which were initiated allegedly to bolster tax revenues to education, the funding in real dollars has almost uniformly decreased.| No * Gambling is often used to raise money for the state or good causes. Charities use prize draws to raise funds:| Should online gambling be banned?| Yes * Internet gambling is especially dangerous. Someone can become addicted very easily – they don’t even need to leave their home. This also means that they are gambling in private. They may therefore be less reluctant to wager very large sums they cannot afford. It is very hard to know the identity of an online gambler – there have been several cases of people (including children) using stolen credit cards to gamble online. Online gambling may be hard to control but that is not a reason to try – making an activity more difficult to pursue will still reduce the number of those who take it up. It is not impossible to put effective deterrent steps in place, such as the recent US ban on American banks processing credit card payments to internet ]\.| No * It is impossible to stop online gambling. When it has been banned, people have just used sites based in other countries. It is better to legalize and regulate online gambling than to drive gamblers to poorly-regulated foreign operators. Regulation can reduce the problems identified by the proposition. For example, online gamblers can be required to give personal details when registering (e.g. occupation, income). If this information suggests they are spending more than they can afford, the company can block their credit card. In any case, most online gamblers do not get addicted. Why should they be denied an activity that they enjoy?|

Spectrophotometric Assay for Lipase Activity

Spectrophotometric Assay for Lipase Activity Decomposition of human and animals bodies depends on numbers of factors. One of these factors is the presence of bacteria, both endogenous and exogenous of the body. They use the environmental factors to drive the decomposition of the tissues in the body. The various tissues are degraded at different rates by different bacterial cells. As it was seen in the model burial of a pig that is the early stages of decomposition Gram negative bacterial were mostly present in the decaying body. But after 6 7 weeks later the Gram negative bacteria started to decrease as the number of Gram positive bacteria present in the decaying body started to increase. The bacteria produce enzymes which break down any tissue in the body. In the adipose tissue bacteria produces lipases which is secreted in to he tissue and slowly starts to break down the fat. Lipases producing bacterial has been collected from a model burial environment without any environmental factors to see if there is a difference in the activity of the lipase enzyme which are produced by different bacteria species. These bacteria were used in two of the spectrophotometric assay that has been described in the literature. The turbidity assay shows how quickly the lipase enzyme can break down the lipid in the emulsion solution. On the other hand the BALB (dimercaprol Tributyrate) DTNB (5, 5- dithiobis (2-nitrobenzoic acid)) method shows the increase in the product that is produced by the lipase. INTRODUCTION Lipases are found naturally as it is produced by plants, animals and micro-organisms. In the last few decades, the micro-organism production of lipases has been studied for commercial use, which leads to bacterial lipases being studied a great deal. Lipase enzymes breakdown and mobilize lipids which are present within the cell of the organism and the breakdown of lipid is also present in the environment. However there are many questions still unanswered. For example, is the activity of the lipases different when they are produced by different strains or species of bacteria? Hopefully in this research paper, this question will be answered. Bacterial Lipases When bacteria is grown in a surrounding of hydrophobic media, the bacterial cell releases lipase for the breakdown of fats in the environment for a source of energy. Bacteria produce lipases during the late phases of log phases and in the stationary phases. Lipases are hydrolases which hydrolyzes triacylglycerols in aqueous conditions to form fatty acids and glycerol. The reaction releases energy which is used for growth of the bacteria which is why the bacterium produces lipases within these phases. The substrates of the lipases are triacylglycerols which are hydrophobic and the reaction occurs in aqueous condition and this leads to the reaction occurring in lipid-water interface. Some lipases can also catalyze the synthesis of long chain fatty acids. Lipases contains ÃŽ ±/ÃŽ ² fold, which has eight ÃŽ ² sheets in the middle which are parallel except for the second ÃŽ ² sheet and the sheets are surrounded by ÃŽ ± helices. This fold offers a scaffold for the active site in the lipase molecule. The active site or binding site of the lipase molecule is where the interface occurs. This is where the chains of the enzyme are subdivided; at the bottom of the active site is where the ester bond binds to which means this region is hydrophilic. Towards the surface of the enzyme is where the molecule binds to the fatty acids and therefore this region is hydrophobic. Within the ÃŽ ²-sheets there is an area which is highly conserved which is made up of the triad which is a nucleophile and histidine. The nucleophile is made up several amino acids, which are Serine, Cysteine or aspartic acid. The nucleophile is present on ÃŽ ²5 and the histidine is present on ÃŽ ²7. The histidine is the only highly conserved area of the active site/enzyme that d iffers in shape and structure from one type of lipase enzyme to another. Another area of the active site that is important but only present in some type of lipases is the lid. This area is what gives the lipase enzyme the structural explanation of the interface property. When the substrate comes into contract with the lid, it opens the lipid water interface where the substrate binds to for the reaction to occur. Some lipase molecules are only active in the presence of Ca2+ and this is due to the subdivisions of the active site being bound together by the Ca2+ion. The hydrophobic region of the active site leads to less inhibitors that can bind to and inactivate the enzyme. Since lipases are extracellular enzymes, the secretion/production of these enzymes is affected by a number of factors: Nutritional enzymes are produced when the bacteria is in the presence of a lipid environment such as oil, tweens, hydrolyzable esters and triacylglycerols. These are the main sources of lipid but many bacteria can produce lipases in the presence of various sources of substrates. For example Pseudomonas aeruginosa produce lipase in the presence of long chain fatty acids such as oleic and linoleic acid. Temperature the temperature at which maximum production of lipase can occur depends on the optimum temperature for growth of bacteria. The temperature normally ranges from 30 60Â °C, but some can survive at colder or warmer temperatures. Therefore it depends on the type of bacteria in question. pH normally bacterial lipases are active in neutral pH or alkaline pH. However there are a few exceptions like Pseudomonas fluorescens lipase has an optimum pH of 4.8, whereas most bacterial species possess stability over a broad range of pH of 4 10. Effect of ion one type of lipase which is produced by Pseudomonas species is activated by the presence of Ca2+ ion in the environment. Growth of bacteria if the bacterial cell is present in the log phase then the production of lipase is decreased in the bacterial cell. Inhibitors inhibition of lipases does not affect the production or the secretion of the enzyme but affects the activity of the enzyme. There are two types of inhibitors; irreversible or reversible. The reversible inhibitors are split into two types. The first of which are non specific as they bind to the enzyme but not at the active site. When the inhibitor binds to the enzyme, the active site changes and therefore prevents the lipases from binding to the substrate as the structure of the active site has been changed. An example of this type of inhibitor is bile salts. However bile salts can activate some lipases such as the lipase produced by the pancreas. The second type of reversible inhibitors is specific inhibitors as they bind to the active site of the lipase enzyme. They can also be irreversible as the interaction between the inhibitor and the enzyme is so strong that it cannot be broken. An example of this type of inhibitor is boronic acid which can bind to the active site f or a long time but can still be removes leaving the active site unchanged. These types of inhibitors bind to the triad of the active site, which means that when they bind to the triad, the interaction is irreversible. There are three major types of microbial lipases depending on the substrate they bind to. Nonspecific these enzymes act randomly on the lipid substrate molecules which then completely breakdown the molecule. For example with the triglyceride molecule, the enzyme will break the ester in random fashion until the molecule is complete broken down to fatty acids and glycerol. Regiospecific these enzymes only hydrolyze the primary ester bond, these are the C1 and C3 bonds in the triglyceride molecule , which means that when hydrolyzing triglycerides the final products are free fatty acids, 1, 2(2,3)-diacylglyceride and 2-monoacylglyceride. Fatty acid-specific there are some bacteria that only produce this type of lipase and they bind to fatty acids which are then broken down by the lipase. One type of bacteria that can produce lipases that only bind fatty acids is the Achromobacterium lipolyticum. Other bacteria that produce this type of enzyme are Bacillus species which mostly bind to long chained fatty acids. However other bacteria like Pseudomonas species produce lipases that can bind to short or medium length of fatty acids. Staphylococcus aureus can produce a lipase molecule that can bind to unsaturated fatty acids. Lipase in Decomposition The bacteria that are going to be used in the research project are bacteria that were purified from a model burial environment. The bacteria that were present in the model burial environment must have been already been present in the pigs body, which means that all the bacteria that are going to be used are endogenous bacteria that are part of the pigs microflora. The bacteria sample had been taken out of the fluid from the decaying organism in a steel box which was free from all external environmental factors except from oxygen. The sample of bacteria was taken two times a week and then towards the end it was reduced to once a week. It was discovered that at the beginning of the decaying process the bacteria that were present were Gram negative bacteria. However after week 9 the bacteria that were growing in the decaying pig changed from Gram negative to Gram positive. These bacterial cells can release lipases which can break down fats in the body which leads to the formation of adi pocere. Adipocere is made up from a mixture of saturated fatty acids which have been produced during decomposition of the adipose tissue in the body. These adipoceres are formed straight away after death by lipases which are present inside the body. These lipases are mostly produced by the bacteria in the body of the pig which breaks down triglycerides to free fatty acids. If in a suitable environment, bacteria release lipases for hydrogenation of unsaturated fatty acids to its saturated form. Lipase Assays There are two assays that will be performed to find out the activity of the lipase which are present in the solution. The first is based on BALB DTNB method and it uses dimercaprol tributyrate (BALB) and 5, 5 dithiobis (2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DNTB). The lipase enzyme binds to BALB and cleaves it to form an SH group which then binds to DNTB. The product then forms a yellow product which then increases the absorbance which can be measured using a spectrophotometer. The colour intensity is measured at 412 nm; the colour change is proportional to the activity to lipase at to 1:1 ratio. The second assay also uses the spectrophotometer but this time it measures the optical density of the solution instead of measuring the amount of product that is formed. Tributyrin and olive oil is emulsified in the solution which gives a turbid appearance. As the lipase breaks down the lipid in the assay solution, the optical density of the solution decreases which can be measured. The optical density of the solute ion can be measured at 450nm. Both assays measure the activity of the lipase but in two different ways. The first measures the amount of product that is formed while the second measures the breakdown of the substrate. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Decomposition of human or animal bodies is dependent upon a number of factors. Bacteria which are endogenous (in the body) and exogenous (in the environment) are the key components of decomposition. Different tissues in the body degrade at different rates and are degraded by different bacteria. Previously it has been shown that bacteria in the model burial environment can produce lipases which breakdown the lipids found within the tissues of the body. However it does not tell you if there are different lipases that are secreted by different bacterial cells. Lipase production was demonstrated by using plate assay when lipase breaks down tween 20. Therefore it does not compare the different lipases produced and the activity of different bacterial species. There have been different spectrophotometric assays that have been described in the literature to calculate the activity of lipase enzymes, but only two of these will be used. The bacteria that is going to be used in the assay has been purified from fluid from a decaying pig in a steel box which is free from all external environmental factors expect oxygen. Two assays are going to be preformed to find the activity of lipase, the first one similar to the BALB DTNB method. Lipase forms a SH group on BALB which then binds to DTNM to give a yellow product. The amount of product that is formed in a solution is related to the activity of lipase in a 1:1 reacting ratio which is a direct measurement of the activity. The colour change is measured at 420 nm. The second assay is also measure the change in the solution but this time it measures the decrease of the substrate that is left in the solution. It measures the density of the solution, as the substrate (olive oil) is denser than the product. The density is measured 450 nm. The decreased of the substrate is related to the activity of lipase. At first before anything can be done we need to see if the bacteria cells produced lipase is by growing them in a plate which contains Tween 80. If the Tween is broken down then the bacterial cell produces lipase. MATERIALS AND METHODS The bacterial strains that were given to me were extracted from fluid from a pig that was decaying in a steel box which had a controlled environment that was free from all external environment factors expect fresh air. Bacterial Media The bacterial strains were grown in half nutrient agar which was made from 2.6g of nutrient broth (OXOID, Basingstoke, England) and 4.8g of Agar bacteriological (OXIOD) in 400ml of water which was autoclaved and then poured in to 20ml Petri dish. The bacterial strains were plated and left in a 30Â °C incubator overnight. After the bacteria were grown on just half nutrient agar, they were then grown on half nutrient agar with 4ml of sterile Tween 80 (SIGMA ALDRICH, UK) and 400Â µl of 10% of CaCl2 (scientific equipment, Loughborough, England). Again the plates were placed in a 30Â °C incubator. The bacterial strains were also grown in minimal medium agar which contained 2.8g of Potassium Hydrogen Orthophosphate (BDH Laboratory Supplies, Poole, England), 1.2g Sodium Dihydrogen Orthophosphate (BDH LS) and 0.04g of Magnesium Sulphate (BDH LS) in 200ml of sterile water and 2.4g of Agar bacteriological. After the solution came out of the autoclave, 2ml of Tween 80 was added and 200Â µl of 10 % CaCl2. For the bacterial strains to be used in spectrophotometric assay, the strains had to be grown in liquid media. The bacterial strains were grown in two different types of media, Tryptic Soy Broth and Minimal Medium. The Tryptic Soy Broth (TBS) was made from 30g/L Tryptone Soya Broth (OXIOD) which was autoclaved. After the bacteria were added to the media, the bottle was placed in a shaking incubator at 37Â °C over night. The Minimal Medium contained 14g/L of potassium hydrogen orthophosphate, 6g/L sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate and 0.2g/L of magnesium sulphate. 100Â µl of Tributyrate (SIGMA ALDRICH) was added to 10ml of the Minimal Media. The bacteria were added to the media and then placed in a shaking incubator at 37Â °C over night. Sample Solutions After the bacteria are left to grow, the media is used to make up three different samples of bacteria to use in both of the assays. The first sample is purified bacterial strain from the media and this was obtained when 1ml of the media was placed in a sterile eppendorf tube which was then centrifuged at full speed for 2 minutes. The supernatant was replaced with 500Â µl of 150mM of CaCl2 and 500Â µl of 200mM of Tris buffer (12.11g of Trizma base in 150ml of water and then 0.1M of HCl was added to make the pH of the solution 8, this to make 0.5M Tris Buffer which was then diluted to make 200mM solution) (SIGAM ALDICH). The second sample was done in the same manner but instead of adding Tris buffer and CaCl2 to the pellet, PBS (Phosphate buffered saline) solution is utilized to re-suspend the pellet and 2ml of the media solution is used. Each suspension was transferred in to a different Bijou Bottle which is kept on ice. The suspension in the Bijou Bottle is sonicated twice for 30 seconds at 30W. The last sample was made when the media solution is filtered with the use of a sterile syringe and sterile 0.2Â µm pore syringe filter and placing the filtered solution into a sterile universal bottle. 3ml of the media was only filtered. The samples were ready for the assay and two different that were used. They both measured the absorbance of the solution at different wavelengths. One measured the turbidity of the solution while the other looked at the change in the absorbance of the solution. Turbidity Assay For the turbidity assay an emulsion solution is made and it is made from 100mM of Tris buffer (4.975ml), 50mM of CaCl2 (4.975ml) and 50ml of lipid source (either olive oil or Tributyrate or both). The solution was sonicated for 3 minutes at 40W. The solution is left in a water bath until it is used for the assay. The emulsion solution is used in three different ways as the assay was performed in a cuvette, Petri dish or 96 well plate. When done in a cuvette, 40mg of low melting point agarose (SIGMA ALDRICH) is added and the boiled before sonication. The agarose stabilises the emulsion. If the assay was done in a 96 well plate, then no agarose is necessary. The last test that is performed is in 20ml plates; 20ml of the emulsion solution is made up with 80mg of agarose to made a solid media (INVITROGEN, Paisley, UK) which is then boiled before and after sonication. For the 96 wells plate, 200Â µl of the emulsion solution was placed in each well and then 20Â µl of the sample solution was added. As soon as the sample was added the absorbance is measured at 450nm to measure the optical density of the solution. The absorbance was then measured every 15 minutes up to 60 minutes. Here the samples that were used were grown in the Minimal Medium. The lipid source in this part of the assay was 25Â µl of olive oil and 25Â µl of Tributyrate in 10ml of the emulsion solution. For the assay that was done in the cuvette 1L of the emulsion solution was added to a micro cuvette and 100Â µl of the sample solution. The absorbance was also measured at 450nm as soon as the sample is been added and then every 5 minutes up to 45 minutes. The lipid source is 50Â µl of olive oil in 10ml of emulsion solution. For the plate assay after the solution was boiled for the second time, the solution was poured in to a plate for the agarose to set. After the agarose was set, wells were made in the agarose using a hollow punch about 8mm in diameter which was filled with 10Â µl of the sample solution and the plate was left at room temperature over night. In 20ml of the emulsion solution the lipid source was 50Â µl of each olive oil and Tributyrate. Colour Assay (BALB DNTB Method) The second assay measures the absorbance change in the working solution. The working solution is made from BALB (SIGMA ALDRICH) and DNTB (SIGMA ALDRICH) and Tris buffer solution. The working solution was made from 1 ml of BALB is added to 17.5ml of 0.5M of Tris Buffer at pH 8.5 and 625mg of DNTB. 150Â µl of the working solution is added to the well after adding 150Â µl of water. To this 10Â µl of the sample was added. When the assay was done in 96 well plate the absorbance was measured after the sample was added at 405nm and then every 10 minutes for 30 minutes. When the assay was done in a cuvette, at first 400Â µl of water was placed in the cuvette then 380Â µl of the working solution was added to the water. Then the 20Â µl of the working sample was added into the cuvette. The absorbance was the measured at 412 nm for the 20 minutes. The reason why there is a difference in the wavelength in which the absorbance is measured is due to the plate reader not being able to read the absorbance at 412nm. For this assay the samples that were used were prepared from the bacteria that were grown in TSB. RESULTS When the bacteria colonies were grown on the agar plate which had Tween 80 and CaCl2, around the colonies there was the presence of halos or the colonies has a halo this can be seen in figure 1a. The arrow shows the halo colonies of the bacteria species. The bacteria colonies that were placed on other plates was not as clear as 16C but the halo can only be seen when the plates are held up by the light (result not shown). Turbidity Assay The first assay that was done was the turbidity assay in a cuvette, the optical density of the solution did not increase or decrease, and it just stayed the same. But when the assay was done in the 96 well plate the optical density increased when the bacteria were added to the well, and then decrease and keep decreasing even after 60 minutes (figure 2a). Then the filtered media was added to the emulsion solution in the 96 well plate, the optical density again decreased. However not all the bacteria were filtered to see if there was a decrease in the optical density (figure 3). Only some of the bacteria were used to see if it was an enzyme that was decreasing the optical density and not the bacterial cells. However the general result showed a decrease in the optical density except for 2 bacterial strains (1A and 4A) which showed an increase in the optical density after 30 minutes and then it optical density again. Then the bacteria cell free lysates were added to the welled plate and the same result appeared as the optical density levels decreased once again. The bacteria that were used were the same bacteria that were used in the filtered part of the assay (figure 4). After 45 minutes the optical density is starting to level off. The gradient of the line for all the bacteria strains are the same as they all decrease at the same rate expect for bacteria strain 5 which has flatter gradient than the rest. For the plate test in the turbidity assay, the bacterial solution in the well was not present and no zone of clearance was noticeable in any of the plates (figure 1b). Only one of the plates is shown in the figure and the rest of the plates looked the same as no zone could be seen. Colour Assay (BALB DNTB Method) In the BALB-DNTB method, the absorbance increases when bacteria strain 6 was added to the working solution in a cuvette and measured for 20 minutes. The increase was slow for the first 10 minutes and then increased at a faster rate for the next 10 minutes, figure 5. When the assay was done in the welled plate, the absorbance increases for all the strains but some increase more than others. For example strain 5 increased from 4.204 to 4.412 while strain 1 only increased from 4.241 to 4.265. This is shown in a table in figure 2b. When only the media in which the bacteria grew in was added as the sample, the absorbance also increased for most of the bacterial strains but not as much as when the bacterial cells were added. For some of the strains the absorbance decreased. For example in strain 1 there was a decrease from 4.241 to 4.235, figure 2c. The same happened when the content of the bacterial cell was added to the working solution. But when the absorbance increased, the increase was bigger than the increase when media was added (figure 2d). However there were still some strains in which the absorbance still decreased in 20 minutes but the absorbance increased from 0 to 10 minutes and then decreased from 10 to 20 minutes. Figure 1, (a) the plate has been plated with strain 16C (left) and 16B (right); the halo can be seen clear by the arrow which is the colonies of bacteria 16C. However the halo can not be seen clearly in the colonies of bacteria. (b), the plate contain solid emulsion solution with well which contain lipases from different bacteria, and there is no presence of zone of clearance from any of the well. There were 3 plates in total and all look the same (only one is shown) but the well had different lipases from different bacteria. Figure 2, A is a table that shows the optical density change when bacterial was added to emulsion solution for the turbidity assay. The optical density decreases when the bacterial cells were added to the emulsion solution. The next 3 tables are showing the absorbance change when the strains were added to the working solution for the colour BALB-DNTB method, (B) has bacterial cells added to the working solution; (C) has only filtered media, which had bacteria growing in, was added and lastly (D) had bacterial cells free lysates added. In the colour assay the absorbance increased in all three cases. DISCUSSION Bacteria produce lipases that can break down or hydrolyse lipid molecules such as fats and oils. They produce lipases in the log phase of growth when there is a high level of lipid source for energy. There are different lipases which can break down different lipid molecules. The bacterium produces lipases to break down lipid for energy as adequate amount energy is present in lipids. As most of the lipids cannot cross the cell membrane, the lipid has to be catabolised into smaller lipid molecules which can then enter the cell where it is broken down further. Lipases from bacteria are studied for industrial uses. Here it was studied to see if the lipases that were produced from different bacteria are different and if there was any variation in the activity of the lipases. When the bacterial cells were grown on agar plate without any Tween 80 the bacterial colonies do not have any halos or precipitate around the colonies. But when some of the bacteria were grown in agar that contained Tween 80 and CaCl2 the colonies had halo colonies 3 to 8 days after they were inoculated. In the past Tween has been used for lipase activity to see if the bacteria produce lipase. If lipases are produced then it binds to the Tween and breaks the Tween down to fatty acids. The fatty acids then bind to the Ca in the media which forms crystals. These crystals then become soluble in the media which can then be seen by eye as halos. Some of the colonies had halos which meant that the cell produced lipases. Figure 6, the turbidity plate assay should have looked like this but what the figure 1b shows. There the one of clearance can be seen very clearly where as in the plate in figure 1b there are no clearing at all what meant the assay did not work at all. The turbidity assay that was done is the plate which showed no zone of clearance, it should have had zone of clearance around the well which contained the sample of bacteria. The bacteria in the wells should have diffused out of the well and in to the agarose media in which the bacteria should have released lipases to break down the olive oil and Tributyrate. When the lipids were broken down the media would have become clear. The plate should have look like figure 6 from, the zone of clearance is shown very clearly. The other assay that did not work was the same assay that was done with the cuvette. This is when the absorbance levels did not decrease but just stayed the same. The absorbance levels should have decreased and the reason in why this did not occur is not known. It might have been due to the stability of the solution as the agarose must have been concentrated which meant that the bacteria solution was not able to diffuse through the media. The concentration of agarose might be the problem because when agarose was not added like in the 96 well plate part of the assay, the absorbance of the emulsion solution decreased. This was due to the emulsion solution being turbid by lipid in the solution when sonicated, when the bacteria sample was added the optical density increased slightly as the bacteria cell scatter the light which leads to the increase in the optical density absorbance levels. The bacteria cell then releases lipase in the solution or lipase that are inside the cell break down the lipid in the emulsion solution which then leads to the decrease in the level of lipid in the emulsion solution which then means that less light is scattered. The well plate assay was done to 3 different type of sample solution, one of which contained bacteria cell, one of which contained the filtered media solution and the last contained the bacteria cell free lysates. The bacterial cells were used to see if the bacterial cell produced lipases. The filtered media was used to see if the bacterial cell released lipase in to the media and if it was in fact the lipase that was decreasing the absorbance and not anything else. The bacteria content was used after the bacteria cell were sonicated for one minute, to use all the lipases that had been produced by the bacterial cell but not secreted. As not all the bacteria cells release the lipase in to the media and sometime the lipid molecule is too big to cross the cell membrane and wall of the bacteria. To see if there are any differences in the activity of the different lipases which are produced by different bacterial cells, cannot be done by adding the sample to the emulsion solution as different concentration of lipase must have been in the sample for each of the strains. In order to make the test fair, the amount of bacterial cell and the lipase concentration must be the same for each of the bacterial strain. But still it might be a fair test as some of the bacterial cells can still divide inside the emulsion solution and then increase the concentration of lipases. The lipases produced by the bacteria are produced in the log phase. The same can be said for the BALB-DNTB method. This assay is not like the other assay because the absorbance does not decrease but increase. This is due to the lipase bind to the BALB in which is cleaved to form a SH group. The SH group then binds to DNTB which is in excess in the working solution, to form a yellow substance. The complex then absorbs light hence increasing the level of absorbance. The bind of the BALB with the new SH group binds to the DNTB in a one to one reacting ratio, this means that increases is absorbance is proportional to the reacting activity of the lipase. When bacterial cells were mixed to the working solution the absorbance for most of them increase. This meant that lipases that were present in the well were cleaved BALB. The same thing also occurred when filtered media was added to the working solution but the increase were small and this must be due to the fact that not a lot of lipases were released by the bacterial cells in to the media solution. However, when the bacterial cell free lysates is added not all of the absorbance levels increase but in fact some of them decrease and then increase. It may mean that the lipases need time to start working since they had been on ice before the experiment. To see if this was true, the test needs to be done again but for a longer period of time. In the cuvette test, only one strain, it was used when the first assay was done it had the largest change in absorbance. It was used to see a general increase of the solution over 20 minutes and the absorbance was measured every minute to see the turning point when the rate of enzymatic activity change from being slow to a steady normal rate. The graph in figure 5 shows that the rate was slow during the first 10 minute this meant the bacteria cell needed to adapt to the new environment before the activity of the enzyme can to back to normal. If the test was done longer then the graph would start to level due to the substrate concentration starting to decrease. From the results, there is not enough evidence to conclude that there any differences in the activity of the different strains of lipase. To see if it is true then the both of the a