Substance Abuse of Adolescents

According to Adolescent Substance Abuse Knowledge Base 9.5% of students nationwide had used a form of cocaine in their lifetime.  The 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse asked male and female respondents aged 12 or older to report use of any illicit drug during the past month.  66,000 females aged 12-17 reported using cocaine.  Females aged 12 to 17 were more likely than their male peers to use cocaine and reported that  obtaining the drug was fairly or very easy.  The highest number of initiates of cocaine, including crack, occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when there were approximately 1.0 to 1.5 million new users each year. After falling to recent lows in the early 1990s, the total number of new initiates of cocaine rose to 882,000 in 1998. The total increased between 1991 and 1998 both for youths aged 12 to 17 and young adults ages 18 to 25.  In 1991, among youths there were only 92,000 new initiates of cocaine. By 1998, the number of new cocaine initiates among youth had risen to 339,000.  Since 1965, the highest annual rate of first use among youth occurred in, while the rate for young adults in 1998 was only about three-fifths of its highest level attained in 1983.  The average age of cocaine initiates in 1999 was 19.5 years. This is younger than the average age of cocaine initiates for any year since 1973. From 1980 to 1993, the average age of cocaine initiates generally remained above 22 years.  “The percentage of adolescent non-users is remarkably small, with as few as 25 percent of teens as young as eight graders reporting that they never use alcohol at all… There are relatively few adolescents who use marijuana only. Eighty four percent of current cocaine users also use marijuana first.   Marijuana is a gateway drug with, fully 98 percent of persons who have tried cocaine reporting that they tried marijuana first.”

Civil Rights Act

I propose to examine the extent to which demographic changes occurred in police forces throughout the United States after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as subsequent legislation protecting the rights of minorities and women in the workplace.  In this course of study, I will first establish the normal demographic composition of police forces prior to the enactment of said legislation; this will demonstrate the lack of racial diversity and gender parity in the years prior thereto.  Then I will consider data relating to the demographics of police forces in the period thereafter, with a focus on the rates at which police forces in various parts of the country saw increased diversity and gender parity—and what their composition came to look like as these trends began to take effect.  Having established the nature of said trends, I will then consider how these necessitated changes in the management of personnel in precincts across the country, as an institution that was once the exclusive province of white males evolved into one whose demographics more accurately reflected the make-up of American society and adjusted its culture accordingly.  I am particularly interested in whatever conflicts these demographic changes might have produced as they began to manifest themselves.  Finally, I will investigate how local communities reacted to the demographically reconstituted police forces.

Health

The primary thrust of this paper concerns itself with the tremendous impact diagnostic imaging technology has had on the medical community, specifically in the arena of neurological diagnosis and surgery.  Beginning with the advent of the X-ray, the work moves through the 115 years of imaging history, eventually concluding with an in depth discussion of the modern CAT scan and MRI procedures.

The paper’s eventual thesis is that diagnostic imaging technology is an extension of the physical exam and just as important in the modern age.  The integration of technology with physical examination is explored clearly.  Furthermore, it predicts future technology involvement in the health care system as Dr. Filler sees imaging as an irreplaceable tool to overcome neurological ailments and discover novel means of curing patients.  

NBA - National Basketball Association

Two of the three major sports watched and played in the United States are basketball and football.  Both have thrived as spectator sports—the NBA and the NFL are major organizations that dominate sports headlines, talk radio shows, television commercials and internet discussion.  Sports gambling is a multi-billion dollar market, of which the NBA and the NFL are major factors in.  Not only are the two sports extremely successful in regards to their professional organizations, but they are also played on millions of streets and backyards across America by our youth.  Physical activity and sports have become routine in the daily life of youngsters—these sports exist within the hallowed halls of schools, they have significance in after-school programs, and of course, the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of pickup games played across the nation each day.

Basketball is one of the most widely-played sports across the globe.  The effects of the sport and its influence is demonstrable on the streets of Shanghai, the backyards in Europe, and of course, every youth who has played hoops with nothing but a ball and a basket—sometimes a milk basket hung by nails on a street pole—in the United States. One of the primary advantages of basketball as a sport is that it is so readily accessible to anyone who wishes to play.  It requires nothing but some sort of hollow container, a ball, and some empty space.  Due to the fact that basketball is a sport that requires very little equipment, it has blossomed into one of the most popular sports in the world.  One need only to look at an NBA roster to see how wide-ranging the sport’s influences are—from Dirk Nowitzki from Germany, to Yao Ming from China, to Dwayne Wade from the United States, to Luol Deng from Africa, to Anderson Varejao from South America.

Is Purgatory Real?

            In Purgatory, the toilers are given tasks that are similar in their characteristic of justice.  On the second level of Purgatory, those who were envious in their earthly lives are charged with the punishment of having their eyes sewn shut, as to make up for their covetousness during their lives.  On the fourth level of Purgatory, the slothful are required to run constantly, to make up for their idleness.

            Still, while both the residents of Hell and Purgatory are required to suffer in ways that relate and counteract their earthly wrongdoings, the sentiment of the punishments they are required to serve are completely and distinctly different.  While the punishments of the residents of Hell are just that—punishments for their sins and for their transgressions against God, the residents of Purgatory retain a hope that when their “punishments” are duly served, they will rejoin God in Paradise.  The existence of a later happiness is absolutely crucial to understanding the different psychological situations of the residents of Hell compared to the residents of Purgatory.

Con Edison In New York

Risk-taking works congruently with some of the aforementioned behaviors in this thesis, for example, assertive communication. If a company desires to cultivate an environment in which employees communicate freely and openly, management must understand employees’ points of view, as well as work to genuinely involve themselves with the employees. Once this occurs, an atmosphere will arise in which management and employees can discuss corporate culture, work methods, and company goals.

            In his research, Laff (2007) discovered that the companies in which employees were most likely to embrace risk-taking are technology companies. Laff found a high correlation between the levels of change within each technology company and the ability of employees to take risks. Companies that encourage involvement and communicate regularly with employees will accordingly enjoy employees who embrace organizational changes. This derives from the fact that these employees feel that changes are done with their thoughts and opinions in mind.

            Therefore, it can be concluded that there exists a large disconnect between the managers and union workers at Con Edison New York. By and large, this disconnect originates from a lack of communication between both parties. In addition to the lack of communication, union workers tend to resist and avoid organizational changes. Employees must find a way to embrace organizational changes, as they are a necessary part of a functioning corporation.