Strategic Management Master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic Management Master - Essay Example The political environment of Tesco includes factors relating laws, government agencies and any other pressure groups that can influence Tesco. Fair trading is becoming increasingly important in UK's business environment. For instance, 15000 African slaves working in African cocoa fields is a big concern of chocolate consumers in UK; likewise there are fair-trade factors that influence Tesco as well. Hence it comes under the scrutiny and keen observation of the Office of Fair Trading for applying monophony in agricultural markets. Community organizations in the UK have put in efforts to boycott supermarkets and large confectionary manufactures and supports small scale retailers in order to avoid their use of dominant power by dictating favourable terms and regulations on suppliers. Increased availability of credit is an important economic factor in the UK business environment of Tesco because the availability of credit itself provides financial confidence to the consumer and as a result it leads to the growth of premium foods and less demand on economy products. Large grocery retailers in UK moved in to non food retailing so as to improve margins in the highly competitive market. The UK market is largely affected by negative inflation which is driven by 'Wal-Mart effect'; that is every day law price strategy. Social People like shopping well if they get everything under a single roof. So, the convenient shopping especially 'everything under one roof strategy' is very important in Tesco's business environment. As large scale retailers cut labours by providing self service facilities it consequently local communities are haemorrhaging quantities of meaningful skilled jobs. Confectionary market is largely being affected by 'small treat' trend which in fact leads consumers to select small chocolates and small food products instead of large meals (JESS HALLIDAY -2008). Consumers always seem to be 'time poor' and hence they tend towards choosing small treat and small food items that they can have on the go. These factors as well largely affect Tesco's market. Technological The growing use of electronic data interchange, barcode readers, credit or debit card reader equipments, laser and self scanning and other points of sale tools has become a feature of recent innovation by retailers. The sophisticated technology used in store card system also becomes significant in the UK market. Online shopping and other new trends in retailing like home delivery services, after sales services and home shopping play vital role in consumer satisfaction and hence it is a significant factor that influences Tesco' market. Environmental The environmental issues like pollution and green house gas emission have gained attention from public part. Public always concerns environmental pollution and emissions of green house gas that causes ozone depletion and finally global warming. All the retailers have taken this factor to be a major concern and have taken actions so as to avoid any further consequences. There are other factors like packaging food, cleanliness,

How People Are Changed by Suburbia Occupation Essay

How People Are Changed by Suburbia Occupation - Essay Example The essay "How People Are Changed by Suburbia Occupation" discusses the following issues: what makes suburban life pattern more acceptable, what are the positive and negative aspects of the suburban occupation, how do the people of a suburban culture feel the difference and if they are completely satisfied with their new pattern of life. William Whyte and Herbert Gans present both sociological and psychological aspects of the topic under discussion, whereas Lewis Mumford describes the social aspects of the subject matter and Betty Frieden deals with the psychological impacts of suburbia occupation of the individuals especially the women.The endurance of pressures exerted by society against an individual is termed ‘social ethics’ by William Whyte. Such pressures are treated as morally legitimate. He ascribes this ethics as the factor of mounting pressures on individuals in a society that leads to the formation of suburbia. Park Forest inviting newcomers to its fold happil y advertises itself as a friendly small town instead of the lonely big city. Babysitting bank delineated in his work depicts the convenience felt by housewives of the suburb. Suburbs are created to get away from a machine like busy cities. Suburbs are providing ample leisure. Entertainment and play find large scope in suburbs to change the lifestyle of the people. Herbert Gans views the social life of individuals in Levittown is relatively better than other suburbs, where he supposes proximity does not nurture an intimate friendship.

Interview with a Teaching Professional Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Interview with a Teaching Professional - Essay Example I believe the best way to return to the society that had been spoon feeding you the whole life, is to deliver your knowledge and information to other seekers. With this motive in my mind I entered the profession and since then I am contended with my life. I feel as if I have found an inner peace by pursuing teaching. Interviewer: What is the success behind your achievements to date? Teacher: Dedication and sincerity towards my work is the sole reason for where I am standing today. There is no short way of achieving a lasting glory. One needs a lot of energy and hard work to invest and of course unmatchable patience. Interviewer: Coming on to the basics of teaching, what are some examples of typical, quick decisions teachers make on a daily basis? Teacher: Every day is different for a teacher in some way or the other. Although, one of the best practices of a teacher is that s/he is well-planned and organized before entering the class. Yet at times we have to make certain sudden decisi ons not initially planned. For abrupt decision making, the teacher should be capable, confident and decisive about the relevant issues. A change in lesson plan to accommodate with the mood of children and their learning capability is one of the examples. Something effective and interesting needs to be made up instantly to deliver the lesson in a different way as planned earlier. Moreover, a short notice of surprise visit of principal or other professionals to monitor our performance poses a challenge on our decision making ability. We have to modify our plans a little to adjust to the requirement. Sometimes children get ill or injured and deciding quickly as to what to do is an ordeal; whether to treat him/her in the school or call off the day for him/her and send the student home. The teachers are appointed certain duties other then teaching to deal with the other school affairs. If any teacher on duty is absent on that specific day, a change in the schedule cause some difficulties and then the newly appointed teacher has to delay her planned activities. Also here it is a policy that if any teacher is absent, any other teacher needs to take his/her class. In such a case it has to be decided instantly what to teach students. Interviewer: What were the five most difficult school-related decisions you made this week? What made them difficult? Teacher: Just recently we had a load of activity going on in the school, both for teachers and students. I was enrolled in a short course which I had to attend once a week, during week days. This meant that I would be sacrificing my class related plans. Since exams are approaching I had to make certain changes in the lesson plans and shift that one day’s work to other days. This certainly was difficult adjusting as it is recommended not to overload students with work. Then we have a sports day coming up in two weeks time. Preparation for it requires a lot of time which again means sacrificing the teaching-learning sc hedule and making it up for this short fall on other days. We had an unfortunate day in this week when a fire erupted in library wing due to negligence of one of the student. The fire siren created quite a scene with children petrified and struggling to get out of their classes. Organizing them in proper queues, helping them out safely and relaxing them was quite a task. During school break, children often get into fighting with each other while

Decision Making Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Decision Making Case Study - Essay Example Decisions that may affect these groups of people will affect the entire business leading to poor performance occasioned by the employees, the customers and the suppliers. It is therefore a very vital role to control the effects that each decision made in a company has on these sets of people and ensure that they are considered well in all decisions to avoid causing them reactions that would affect their engagement in the business. In quest to simplify decision making in any organizational setting, a number of business models have come to life to aid the decision-making arms of the organization in evaluating the decisions as a way of ensuring the decisions affect the company positively. These models may not necessarily provide a positive approach but base on the application to result into positive results for the company. Considering the assignment at hand, the company is faced with a dilemma related to take over aspects of a company’s management with a family business aiming at engaging their daughter Joan into the business. The experience that Joan has is not sufficient to run all activities in the company and is therefore faced by a number of challenges in relation to making the decisions in the business. The major decision she has to make is with regard to her father who is viewed as an extrovert that has good management skills though considered difficult by many employees on lower cadres but considered a good manger by his senior colleagues. The assignment aims at applying the PrOACT model in helping Joan make the decision with regard to her father’s position in the company. The PrOACT model provides a well-designed systematic approach to the decisions in a company. The decision model as developed by John S. Hammond, Keeney and Raiffa has worked to provide guidance to the different management positions as a guide to decision making as per their book smart choices. The PrOACT model is developed on

Graphene Is The Future Philosophy Essay

Graphene Is The Future Philosophy Essay This report will contain a brief history of, a main body, some properties of and a main description of a material called Graphene. A super material. Within the sub categories and different pages of the report you will come to find out for yourself just how amazing and the seamlessly endless possibilities of this wonderful material. When a new material has been discovered it brings new and exciting times to the scientific and technological world. With a new material you have the opportunities to take a look back on previous unsolved problems and also bring new ones to the table. For the first time ever scientists have been able to isolate single two-dimensional atomic layers of atoms. These are one of if not the thinnest material known to man also just so happens to have the strongest bond in nature, the C-C bond. To accompany the report along the way you will find images and graphics of the super material in its varying form. Also in the report you will come across the properties of graphene and will see that in so many ways that this super material far exceeds possibly all other materials in comparison to itself. A brief description about Graphene Graphene is what we call a 2D material it derives from a single layer of graphite. Its structure is made of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb like structure similar to a chicken wire. Even though graphene is the thinnest material today it also is the strongest material today. Graphene conducts electricity as efficiently if not better than copper and has no comparison in its ability to conduct heat. Graphene is almost completely transparent giving it an already futuristic look. The way it breaks down is: Graphite = 3D material Graphene = 2D material Nanotube = 1D material Buckyball = 0D material Brief History Although graphene has been a known material since 1857 and many people have been trying to find a way to work on or produce graphene in a way that could be used commercially an answer was not forthcoming until the work of Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov. The work that these produced in the University of Manchester in the year of 2007 was to become ground breaking when it came to the super material graphene. Almost everything had been discovered about graphene everything except the properties of the material and this intrigued Andre, who then asked a recently graduated student Kostya in 2002 to see how thin he could make a single piece of graphite by polishing it down. As they could not get thin enough slices the work continued until 2004. At first Kostya could not find a way to get thin enough slices from the graphite, Andre asked his friends and colleagues and a senior member by the name of Oleg Shklyarevskii said to Andre that the piece of tape that they used to peel of layers of graphite would have thinner layers than trying to polish it down. From there on the work on finding the properties of graphene began. Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov went on to win the Nobel Prize in 2007 in physics for their work they achieved on graphene. Timeline of the most recent entries of grapheme 1947 Graphene first studied as a limiting case for theoretical work on graphite by Phillip Wallace 1966 First attempts to grow multilayer graphite Hess W M and Ban L L also Karu A E and Beer M 1984 Massless charge carriers in graphene pointed out theoretically by Gordon Walter Semenoff , David P. DeVincenzo and Eugene J. Mele 1987 Name graphene first mentioned by S. Mouras and co-workers 2004 Graphene isolated in free form by Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov 2004 Observation of graphenes ambipolar field effect by Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov 2005 Anomalous quantum hall effect detected showing massless nature of charge carriers in graphene Andre and Kostya and by Philip Kim and Yuanbo Zhang 2006 Quantum Hall effect seen at room temperature by Novoselov et. Al. 2007 The first ever detection of a single molecule adsorption event by Schedin et. al. 2008 Measurements of extremely high carrier mobility by Bolotin et. al. 2010 Andre and Kostya were awarded the Nobel prize in physics for their work on graphene. Main Body Graphene is the super material that will change the future of this world. Between its outstanding electrical and amazing mechanical properties there is just no other material that even comes remotely close to the potential this material possesses. When Andre and Konstantin revealed their work on graphene not even they could have foreseen what an impact this new and wonderful material would bring to the world. Graphene will forever shape our future. Although graphene at the moment is still not a household name it most indefinitely will be in the very near future. It will be used in almost everything from super-computers to your mobile phone, from separating water from other substances, from creating a futuristic world and to improving the properties of other widely used materials. When the world has found a way of mass producing graphene in a commercial way the world itself will change. Moores law states that computer power will double every 18 months up to and until the point where our silicon can no longer take it passed the barrier, the barrier being that silicon can only conduct electricity at a certain speed, graphene smashes that speed. If you look at the world and technology 10 years ago and think what it is like now there has been a massive change and improvement in the scientific and technological world as we know it. Graphene with its superior properties will take us even further in to the future, on its own and by improving materials and substances of today. Properties of Graphene Although just one atom thick, graphene posses outstanding mechanical, electronic, optical, thermal and chemical properties, described below.  Graphene is a one atom thick sheet made of carbon atoms, arranged in a honeycomb (hexagonal) lattice. Its height was measured to be just 0.33nm, almost one million times thinner than a human hair! Graphene is the ultimate 2-dimensional carbon molecule. Graphite, the well known 3-dimensional carbon allotrope found in our pencils, is nothing more than a stack of several graphene planes. Graphene shares its structure with two other materials which are exciting todays scientists: carbon nanotubes and fullerenes (also called bucky-balls), seen as a 1-dimension and 0-dimension rolled pieces of graphene. Electronic Properties Graphene is a great if not thee best conductor of electrons. The electrons are able to flow through graphene more easily than copper, they travel through the graphene sheet as if they carry no mass, as fast as just one hundredth that of the speed of light. The main material in computer chips today is silicon but in order to create faster and more improved computers we needed a new material to take us there. Graphene is that material Mechanical Properties To calculate the strength of graphene, scientists used a technique called Atomic Force Microscopy. By pressing graphene that was lying on top of circular wells, they measured just how far you can push graphene with a small tip without breaking it. It was found that graphene is harder than  diamond  and about 300 times harder than  steel. To put this into context, it will take the weight of an elephant balanced on a needle-point in order to break this one atom thick fabric! The tensile strength of graphene exceeds 1 TPa. Even though graphene is so robust, it is also very stretchable. You can stretch graphene up to 20% of its initial length. It is expected that graphenes mechanical properties will find applications into making a new generation of super strong composite materials and along combined with its optical properties, making flexible displays. Optical Properties Graphene, despite being the thinnest material ever made, is still visible to the naked eye. Due to its unique electronic properties, it absorbs a high 2.3% of light that passes through it, which is enough that you can see it in air (if you could manage to hold it up!). To help enhance the visibility of graphene flakes we deposit them on to silicon wafers which have a thin surface layer of silicon dioxide. Light shining on to these three-layer structures will be partially transmitted and partially reflected at each interface. This leads to complex optical interference effects such that, depending on the thickness of the silicon-dioxide layer (which we can control to a high degree of accuracy), some colours are enhanced and some are suppressed. This technique takes advantage of the same physics which causes the rainbow effect that you see when you have a thin layer of oil floating on water. In this case, the different colours correspond to longer/shorter optical path lengths that the light has had to travel through the oil film. Those above are the most common attributes of graphene but there are a few more. What you are about to read will come across as something straight out of a science fiction movie or novel, graphene can heal itself thats right heal itself, because of the fact that graphene is only one atomic layer thick it seeks out other atoms to bond to, so it grabs the other graphite atoms around it closing the gap and essentially healing itself. But it doesnt stop there as graphene is so thin it can be placed over other materials giving it a graphene coating which in turn improves the material it has been placed on top of. If you place that membrane of graphene over copper it will almost completely stop the copper rusting creating longer lasting materials. Graphene is tougher than diamond previously thought of as the hardest material on earth and 300 times stronger than steel yet is so ductile than it can bend, paving the way for a future where you can fold up your mobile phone and put it in your pocket. Graphene has also been found able to distil water making it cleaner. The uses for this could almost wipe out diseases spread where water is contaminated, creating healthier and greater living conditions. The list of properties and applications of graphene grow almost on a daily basis and bring with it new and innovative ideas to the world. Future Applications The future applications of graphene are almost limitless, because of the abundance of properties that graphene has people, science and technology will be inventing new and wonderful ways to integrate it into our world. With graphene being so thin yet so strong there are markets for it such paper thin flexible displays for televisions, watches and phones. When it comes to our computers and the chips inside them that are used control them the material that we use is silicon, but there is only so much that silicon can do and so far it can take our computers today, this is where graphene comes in. Graphene because of its amazing electrical properties it will be the material to take our computers into the future. Graphene being so thin it can be cut or crumbled into small flakes and introduced to other materials to make a composite material. If you added the graphene flakes to plastic to make a composite material that way it could be used to make a lighter and conductive material for aircraft making it effective against lightning and because of it being lighter it will also be fuel efficient. Graphene can also be introduced to other material in such a way as a bond, if you bond graphene to the likes of copper it will reduce the amount and time it takes for the copper to oxidise or rust. Thus making the copper last longer and become more efficient. Conclusion Graphene the material that can barely be seen yet will change the world in so many ways. From its unique ability to heal itself to its incredible strength down to its incomparable ability to conduct electricity. This amazing material has no boundaries. Graphene although not yet a household name in many peoples eyes will soon become a well known worldwide phenomenon. Just as everyone wants the new latest technology or gadgets on the market, people will want the new technology, materials and computers that have graphene in them. Graphene the super material has no limits to what it can achieve. With its unbelievable properties and applications in so many fields, the possibilities are endless. Graphene will change our future to cleaning up the water in Africa to making materials that are in use today become more effective and sustainable in a way that if you put a graphene, layer over copper it will reduce the amount of time it takes to oxidize and rust, making it a more efficient material. It can also be used for composite materials so if you take one material and bond it to another it makes a composite material, if you put graphene with a plastic t will create a lightweight material that can withstand lightning which would be extremely useful in aircrafts, making them lighter and more fuel efficient. Graphene has many different properties ranging from the normal to the extreme and to some that even seem straight out of a science fiction novel. Graphene is the material that will make our technology today seem like we have been using caveman techniques for the past 10 years. It is the material that will pick the world up and throw it in to a brighter and better future. Graphene is the future! à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦

A Comparison of Death in The Scarlet Letter and My Antonia Essay

Importance of Death in The Scarlet Letter and My Antonia It is universally acknowledged that one who comes into this world must also leave. Just like everything else, even life and death is a binary composition. You cannot have one without the other. Although not many people like to think about it, death is a very important factor not only in life, but also in literature. Most often, death is portrayed as evil or gruesome, especially in commercial fiction. However, there are literary texts, which portray death through other factors. Through the depiction of the deaths of Arthur Dimmesdale and Mr. Shimerdas in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and Willa Cather's My Antonia, respectively, the reader is able to associate the significance of such issues as guilt, revenge/murder, religion, and the consequences of the two deaths. It may seem odd that instead of concentrating on the central female characters to portray these important issues, I have chosen two male characters. However, it is through the deaths of the male chara cters that the central females, Hester and Antonia are able to shine as women. In both these novels, the death scenes of the characters are ambiguous. In relation to one issue or another there is always something vague or missing, which leaves the readers to judge for themselves. The death scene in The Scarlet Letter is very powerful and full of remorse . Arthur collapsing into the arms of his loved one, after pleading with the people to look at Hester's scarlet letter once again, showing Roger how he had sinned as well, acknowledging Pearl and relieving her of her "...errand as a messenger of anguish" (Hawthorne 222) by kissing her, and fin... ...moil and keep her father's past alive. Both deaths also imply more than what meets the eye. While Arthur's death is surrounded by the possibility of revenge, Mr. Shimerdas' death is encircled by the likelihood of murder. The two deaths also highlight the importance of religion. Arthur, being a Reverend, is given the strength by God to confront his sins, while Mr. Shimerdas, also a Reverend of sorts, is buried and forced to live an afterlife of uncertain paths due to his faith. Lastly, the aftermaths of these deaths, is what makes The Scarlet Letter and My Antonia two great works of literature. Through Arthur's death, Hester is once again able to display her inner strength by making her own choices and standing by her love, whereas Antonia through the death of her father is able to excel in a man's world, while not forgetting her womanhood.

Motorcycle Helmet laws Essay

Over the past 30 years, many states have enacted mandatory helmet laws for motorcycle drivers. There have been many states that have rescinded these laws for reasons that may not be known by those most interested – the motorcycle rider him/herself. Currently, less than half of all U. S. states require helmets for motorcycle operators. One who is interested in this topic may wonder how those that are in positions to give the thumbs up or thumbs down regarding these laws make their decision one way or the other. Do they have facts, data and evidence to support their verdicts? Or, are they influenced by stories of horrific motorcycle fatalities recited to them by friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, church members, or acquaintances at the grocery store, garden center and/or the local pub? Could there be a possibility that they might pass a mandatory helmet law due to a knee-jerk reaction to a particularly heinous accident that recently occurred and been covered by television, radio, newspaper and the internet? What are the chances that one of those decision makers was an avid rider who escaped serious injury due to donning a helmet while riding? Those questions might also lead to others, for example, about how much influence lobbyists have when it comes down to the final moments prior to the enactment or veto of a particular bill. Does a lobbyist that is pro-mandatory helmets have more â€Å"clout,† or would, for example, a group of motorcycle drivers have any influence? The typical motorcycle rider and/or the general public most likely has no idea what factors are explored prior to the determination of those who have license to make the decision as to how one should dress if they are heading out on a motorcycle. Despite empirical evidence that supports the use of helmets, avid motorcyclists argue that helmet laws violate the Ninth Amendment, which states, â€Å"no law shall be enacted that regulates the individual’s Motorcycle Helmet Laws 3 freedom to choose his personal actions and mode of dress so long as it does not in any way affect others. † Trends over the past several years have been to review and disseminate accident and other reports written by police and highway patrol officers, hospital workers, witnesses to the scene and road construction workers who may have been at the site at the time of the accident. Figures and findings resulting from the National Highway Safety Act have been accessed. Compilations from states’ motor vehicle divisions and departments of transportation have also been employed extensively to determine if enactment of mandatory helmet laws decreases injuries and deaths from motorcycle crashes. These reports and statistics, however, have not included details regarding factors such as age and/or sex of the driver, style and size of motorcycle, geographical demographics, or the number of months one rides or the time of day that the incident occurred. Published research studies regarding statistics from several states were analyzed for this assignment. Some studies include all states of America, while many others focus on a particular state or group of states. Other types of research reviewed included telephone interviews with motorcyclists, articles by motorcycle groups pertaining to published findings and observations of riders, documenting whether or not they were wearing helmets. This student has a particular interest in this subject as she rides a motorcycle. In the state where she resides (Minnesota) there is no mandatory helmet use law. Unfortunately, she is not aware of the particular reasons that her state has made the decision not to enact this law. Nevertheless, if she were extremely astute, she would have reviewed any statistics regarding her home state. The author is interested in discovering the reasoning that the â€Å"powers that be† chose to allow her to have the freedom Motorcycle Helmet Laws 4 to decide whether or not she will don a helmet prior to embarking on a journey. Her hypotheses as to the reasons are probably so far off base that she would be hesitant to admit them to another. Ultimately, her quest is to evaluate the writings and attempt to discover if mandatory helmet laws do, indeed, decrease injuries and deaths as a result of a motorcycle crash. There are a variety of reasons a motorcycle driver makes the decision as to whether to wear a helmet while riding vs. not wearing one. Some of the factors that influence this decision appear to be age, demographics (urban vs. rural living), and style and size of motorcycle. Other factors involved are where the person is riding (highway, city, side streets, rural areas, etc. ) Weather conditions and time of day (early morning, rush hour, nighttime) also should be taken into consideration. Maneuvering through hundreds of vehicles on the road and the rising or setting sun in one’s eyes have a bearing on how well a driver can see. The incidence of accidents that result in injury and fatality has fluctuated with the enactment and rescinding of mandatory helmet use. The United States federal government has had a vacillating approach to the use of motorcycle helmets since 1967, when the National Highway Safety Act (NHSA) was first passed, which required states to enforce helmet laws or be ineligible for certain funding programs at the state level. By 1976, Congress responded to pressures from individual states and motorcyclist interest groups by revoking the federal authority to assess penalties for non-compliance. Within 4 years after the NHSA was revised, 28 states repealed their mandatory helmet laws. Congress later enacted the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act in 1991, which created incentives for states to enact helmet use; yet by the fall of 1995, Congress lifted sanctions against states lacking helmet law enforcement. This final repeal set the stage for state legislatures to repeal helmet laws entirely. Only Motorcycle Helmet Laws 5 20 states currently require the use of a protective helmet for all motorcycle riders, three states do not require a helmet for any riders, and 27 states require helmet use only under specific conditions. Several studies suggest that injuries and deaths from motorcycle crashes significantly decline after the passing of mandatory helmet laws in a variety of states. Consequently, the impression one perceives is that helmet use is the panacea to obliterating any injuries and deaths from serious motorcycle mishaps. The statistics that are embodied in these studies are Death to Accident Ratios, which compare the number of deaths to the number of related accidents. Limitations of these studies are that many fail to take into account the fact that motorcycle registrations declined upon resolution of the mandatory helmet use. One such study was entitled â€Å"Motorcyclist Deaths Spike as Helmet Laws Loosen. † When one glances at the title of this report, it appears alarming and gives the impression that once a compulsory act is rescinded, anyone that hops on a motorcycle in a state that does not have the helmet law will surely perish. The finer print indicates that southern states are among those with the highest motorcycle death rates. The smallest print, even smaller than the print in the body of the findings (approximately a size 6 font), disclosed that states with a year-round riding season are those that report higher death rates during the year. It takes the findings from a small number of states and proceeds to construe these across the entire country. Consequently, how can this study be proof that motorcycle helmet use decreases injury and death from riding? In the state of Minnesota, for example, in an exemplary year weather-wise, cycle riders have the opportunity to ride for six months out of twelve. In a year where there is an unseasonably long winter, a short spring season and an early beginning for autumn, Minnesotans may have an entire riding season of only three months. Limitations to the majority of studies looked at the findings and drew conclusions Motorcycle Helmet Laws 6 based on the death to accident ratios alone. Very few attempted to delineate the number of months one would be riding, seasonal road conditions or other factors. The use of a causal model distinguished the research methodology of one particular study from other studies. This methodology appealed to this writer, as many factors can influence not only the occurrence of a motorcycle crash, but the resulting predominance or lack of injury and/or death. The causal model considered crash speed, helmet use, alcohol use and other pertinent variables in an attempt to isolate the separate contribution of each determinant of the severity of injury or probability of death. The advantage of this approach was in the ability to estimate the separate effects of several simultaneous and interrelated causes of motorcycle fatalities and injury severities. Previous studies simply divided accident victims into a helmeted group and non-helmeted group. As a result, all differences in fatality rates, injury rates and injury severities between groups were attributed to helmet use. These comparisons failed to consider other differences between helmet users and non-users which influence the probability of death and the severity of injuries. The writer’s hypothesis was that helmeted riders were more risk-averse and thus: (1) had lower pre-crash and thus crash speeds; and (2) were less likely to combine alcohol consumption and driving (Goldstein, 1986). This researcher surmised that the behaviors of riders might make the difference between the probability of fatality and severity of an injury vs. the wearing of a helmet being the deciding factor. A study conducted by the University Medical Center at Brackenridge in Austin, Texas aimed to identify risk factors leading to riding and crashing a motorcycle without a helmet and to compare outcomes of helmeted vs. unhelmeted motorcyclists involved in a motorcycle crash. This retrospective study took place over a 13-year period and employed the analysis of the trauma registry at the medical center. Data was collected regarding pre-injury characteristics such as the use of protective helmet, age, Motorcycle Helmet Laws 7 gender, ethnicity, insurance status, blood alcohol content and whether the patient was the driver or the passenger. Once more, the research conducted (above) delves into the data related to cycle crashes after the fact. And, as the majority of studies that relied on numbers and formulas concluded, unhelmeted riding was associated with more severe injuries, longer hospitalizations, increased mortality and higher hospital charges. The conclusions of this particular report pointed to three basic factors which were a departure from typical research findings. These analysts determined that independent predictors of riding without a helmet included alcohol intoxication, lack of health insurance and riding as a passenger (Brown, 2011). Some of these conclusions make sense and might seem to be obvious. One can easily understand how alcohol consumption would be a risk factor in collisions on motorcycles, as it decreases reaction time and lends itself to disinhibition on many levels. The subject of health insurance led to questions by the author of this paper. How does not having health insurance influence my decision regarding wearing a helmet? Final notations of the writing declare that education and prevention strategies should be targeted at these high-risk populations. It would be intriguing to determine how to locate this particular group to target for education and prevention. What ultimate goal did these researchers have in conducting this study? This student ponders that question and questions the validity of their closing statements. Taken together, the results indicate that mandatory helmet use laws do increase the number of motorcyclists who wear helmets while riding, thus showing a decrease in serious injury and/or fatality. The threat of being ticketed along with the probability of receiving a fine appear to be the determining Motorcycle Helmet Laws 8 factors as to whether or not a rider wears a helmet. The great majority of studies conducted were quantitative in nature and focused primarily on reviewing summaries of statistics from state reports written by various law enforcement officials. The writer of this text deemed that there may have been limitations in these particular summaries. There were several studies that appeared to employ a more qualitative methodology, however, some findings appeared to indicate the possibility of the researcher having some type of stake in the results of the evaluation, such as the project being funded by an entity that drafts insurance rates for motor vehicles. The overall impression of the qualitative results was that those that chose to delve into this issue came to the realization that many factors contribute to the incidence of injury and death caused by motorcycle collisions. It is important to understand that the ultimate decision as to wearing a helmet while riding vs. not wearing one is the burden of the rider and not of the government. Each rider must take into account those mitigating factors that might influence the success or failure of each ride on his or her motorcycle. Motorcycle Helmet Laws 9 References Auman, Kimberly M; Kufera, Joseph A; Ballesteros, Michael F; Smialek, John E; Dischinger, Patricia (2002). Autopsy study of motorcyclist fatalities: The Effect of the 1992 Maryland Helmet Use Law. American Journal of Public Health 92. 8, August 2002: 1352-5. Brown, Carlos V. R. , MD, FACS; Hijl, Kelli, MSC; Bui, Eric, MD; Tips, Gaylen, RN, MSN; Coopwood, Ben, MD, FACS (2010). Risk Factors for Riding and Crashing a Motorcycle Unhelmeted. Department of Surgery, Trauma Services, University Medical Center at Brackenridge, Austin, Texas. Cotton, Paul (1992). Highway Fund Threat Is No Easy Ride For Motorcycle Law Opponents. The Journal of the American Medical Association 268. 3, July 15, 1992, p. 311. Derrick, Allison J; Faucher, Lee D.(2009). Motorcycle Helmets and Rider Safety: A Legislative Crisis. Journal of Public Health Policy30. 2: 226-42. Eustace, Deogratias, P. E. , M. ASCE; Krishna Indupuru, Vamsi, Hovey, Peter (2011). Identification of Risk Facors Associated with Motorcycle-Related Fatalities in Ohio. Journal of Transportation Engineering/July 2011, 120-125. Goldstein, Jonathan P, PhD (2011). The Effect of Motorcycle Helmet Use on the Probability of Fatality and the Severity of Head and Neck Injuries: Highlights of Helmet Effectiveness Study. The Journal of Emergency Medicine, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 441-446. Copyright  © 2011 Elsevier Inc. Motorcycle Helmet Laws 9 Houston, David J. , PhD; Richardson, Lilliard E, Jr. , PhD (November 2007). Motorcycle Safety and the Repeal of Universal Helmet Laws, American Journal of Public Health, 97. 11, 2063-9. Kraus, Jeff F. , MPH, PhD; Peek, Corinne, MPH; McArthur, David L. , PhD, MPH; Williams, Allan, PhD (1995). The Effect of the 1992 California Motorcycle Helmet Use Law on Motorcycle Crash Fatalities and Injuries. American Journal of Public Health, January 1995, Vol. 85, No. 1, pp. 96 – 100. McCartt, Ann T. ; Blanar, Laura; Teoh, Eric R. ; Strouse, Laura M. (1994). Overview of Motorcycling in the United States: A National Telephone Survey, Journal of Safety Research, Vol. 42, pp. 177-184. O’Neill, James MD; Scott, Charry, RRT; Kissoon, Niranjan, MD; Wludyka, Peter, PHD; Wears, Robert, MD; Luten, Robert, MD (2007). Characteristics of Motorcycle-Related Hospitalizations: Comparing States with Different Helmet Laws. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 39, Issue 1, 190-196.