Personal Health Records Essay

Abstract A personal health record (PHR) is a universal tool that consists of a comprehensive database of an individuals health documents. Personal health records are available in a variety of platforms, such as paper, the internet, personal computers, and portable devices. This paper describes the contents included in a personal health record as well as the steps to putting together a personal heath record. The advantages of having a personal health record can be a life saver. Patients can control their own health records and play a proactive role in better managing their personal health care information. Several concerns remain an issue with personal health records, issues such as security and privacy, costs, and lack of standardization. Have you ever wondered what to do with all your immunization records or old medical records you collected over the years and have stuffed away in a multiple places throughout your home? That is because until recently, individuals didn’t have a place to properly store their personal medical records. Everyone has a different system of how they maintain their personal health records, from an old shoe box, to â€Å"the special drawer† or the over stuffed file folder. There are several problems associated with these kind of record keeping practices. First of all, they are not safe or secure in the event of theft or fire. Secondly, it is difficult to manage your health from a file folder. Papers documents collected over a persons lifetime can be enormous, especially in the event of a long term illness. It is a daunting task to gather up all your paper documents saved over the past several years and present them in one big disorganized pile to a health care worker and expect them to sort it out. Because of the demands in healthcare and on healthcare workers, there has been an recent surge in the area of personal health records development. Several companies and researchers have developed simple and creative ways for individuals to maintain their personal health records, in addition to easily integrating their records into clinical healthcare systems. A personal health record is a way that individuals can gather all there medical information and place it into one safe and secure place. Personal health records are a gathering of an individuals medical data from several different sources and making them readily accessible in one or another format when needed. Sources where one might collect medical information are: clinics, multiple doctors offices, laboratories, pharmacies, radiology departments, hospitals, insurance companies, and the military, etc. Not to confuse anyone, but a personal health record or a electronic personal health record is not the same as a electronic health record. A personal health record is used by an individual and they control who can see or use the information in it. Other people, such as their doctor, may be able to add information to it. An electronic health record is used and controlled by health care providers. Electronic health records may be stored at a doctor’s office, a hospital, an insurance company, or an employer. (â€Å"NIH Medicine Plus,† pgs. 16-17) Electronic health records are legally mandated notes on the care provided by clinicians to patients. There is no legal mandate on personal health records.(Wikipedia, n.d) Creating an comprehensive personal health record can be life saving for several reasons. One reason being, in the case of an emergency, medical personal need accurate up to date data in order to provide an individual with the most proficient care available. For example, for the first time in history at any mass gathering, many of the people’s personal electronic health records were instantly, securely available to medical personnel at the world-famous Indy 500 motor race. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Clarian Emergency Medical Center ha d access to those records, thanks to the Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC). The data include admission and discharge notes, lab test results, and other critical information. A personal electronic health record is medical information about an individual that is stored in secure digital form on a computer or a network of computers. The goal of many in the health-care field is to have that information available instantly to health professionals wherever you are—even at The 500. (â€Å"NIH Medicine Plus,† pgs. 16-17) Putting together a personal health record is a great way to take control of your health. A Personal health record is initiated and maintained by an individual. From using something as simple as a notebook, a file folder, or buying a program or using a password protected website, creating a personal health record is becoming more readily available than ever before. Web sites such a Google Health or Microsoft Health Vault are just a few of the many web based companies cashing in on the personal health record market. Most of these web sites provide secure password protected access to some health insurers, pharmacies, and providers so you can request and upload your records, saving yourself some work. Some of the tools found on these web sites can help track and record your progress towards your health goals, such as weight loss and nutrition. Keeps track of doctor visits and information to share with your doctor, such as blood sugars, cholesterol, and blood pressure since your last appo intment. Electronic personal heath record websites help to diminish the hassle of scheduling appointments, submitting insurance claims, ordering prescriptions or refills by automatically doing it for you. Additional tools include monitoring devices such as a pacemaker check or blood sugar/insulin calculator to ordering prescriptions. Flags recent medication or discharge instructions from your last visit. Costs may vary depending on the type of personal health record being used. Using a computer based personal health record can be as easy as checking your e-mail. Personal health records are offered by a variety of sources—employers, insurers, healthcare organizations, and companies that aren’t in the healthcare arena. Kaiser Permanente said in April that more than 3 million of its 8.6 million members use its My Health Manager system to access their records, make appointments, look at lab results, and order prescriptions.(Hobson, 2009) PHRs can contain a diverse range of data and may include information such as: 1.Name, birth date, blood type 2.Emergency contact(s) 3.Primary caregiver(s)/phone number 4.Medicines, dosages, and how long taken, including over the counter and herbal remedies 5.Allergies/adverse drug reactions 6.Date of last physical 7.Dates/results of tests and screenings 8.Major illnesses/surgeries/procedures and their dates/hospitalizations 9.Chronic diseases 10.Family illness history 11.vaccinations/immunization records 12.laboratory test results 13.imaging reports 14.Activities of daily living 15.Health insurance information 16.Spiritual or Religious Preferences 17.Advance Directives What not to include in your personal health record: 1. your social security number 2. home address 3. telephone number Use caution when placing your personal information on the internet. Using information that identifies you too closely can lead to identity theft, even medical identity theft. Medical identity theft is when someone steals your insurance information and makes medical appointments in your name and orders prescription medications. Reports cite 200,000 cases of medical identity theft each year. (Torrey, 2010) One advantage to using a web-site for posting your PHR is having the ability to access your medical records from almost anywhere, anytime, as well as helping keep your records updated and current. Using a PHR helps to eliminate duplicate tests, which saves both time and money. In addition, instead of waiting for the usual 7-10 days for lab results to be mailed to you, systems can automatically upload the information to the PHR once they become available. Not only does this help with patient satisfaction, but is an enormous savings on mailing and handling costs. One of the obstacles and concerns of creating a personal health record is security and privacy of individuals records. Many consumers wonder whether their health information is kept private and secure in an electronic health record system. There are several PHR web providers that would love nothing better than to sell your information to advertisers. Although there are several good programs, consumers need to use caution when selecting an online program. Most companies use encrypted programs to protect unwanted and unauthorized access to an individuals personal health records. Many individuals continue to use paper records for their personal health records. However, with the invention of modern computer record keeping programs, paper records may not be as effective for the care of individuals with chronic illnesses. Some individuals have a long history of medical problems and have accumulated volumes of paper medical records. Paper records are not readily available at multiple locations at once and often present with an inconsistently of information. An individual with a chronic illness may benefit from transferring their paper records into an electronic personal health records program, which will aid in improving their continuity of care and efficiency. Many personal health care programs offer services that will help guide individuals on the how to of scanning and uploading their paper records into the program. Another benefit to using an electronic program is having your personal information formatted into a standard reporting structures for charting and sharing information and making it easier and faster for healthcare workers to review medical history and treat an individual. For example, a doctor can order a test for a patient and have the results transmitted to a their PDA and in turn can review the patients medical information and order further tests, medications and treatments at their convenience. This not only saves time for the patient, but frees the doctor from making frequent trips to the various locations to see patients or review results of tests. The results are then immediately uploaded into the patients personal health records. (Mohammod, 2009) For example, a newly diagnosed insulin dependent diabetic may have concerns with the dosages of their insulin and sliding scales plus managing their diet. Tools included in some of the personal health record programs will smooth the progress of mapping out a diabetics progress as well as offering a plethora of educational sites and suggestions and feedback, including alerts being sent to the physician or nurse if their blood sugar enters into a dangerous zone.(SentinelNewsService, 2009) Nursing related issues and Personal health records are becoming more challenging then ever before. As progress towards digitizing healthcare evolves, nurses are caught in between the paper documentation to electronic documentation chaos. Nurses must play an proactive role in educating themselves to the variety of personal health record information that is readily available for their patients. Many patients are unaware of the services available to them and a healthcare provider must often help inspire their patients along their personal journey of creating a personal health record. Moreover, a nurse that is proactive with helping patients with their personal health records, will also encourage a patient to healthy behaviors, by teaching patients how to use tools to keep track of their health progress, such as weight loss and diet control. Encouraging a patient to keep better track of their healthcare records will be invaluable for patients with chronic illnesses. Providing up to date information in one document to a health care provider not only saves time and money, but assists the health care provider in providing safer and improved quality of care as well as a better way of communicating with their providers. As a nurse, it can be very frustrating taking a health history on a patient with a chronic illness with a long list of medications. Often, patients are poor historians or don’t remember the name of a drug or dosage. Nurses can spend well over an hour just gathering information about the patients history before they can begin to treat the patients problem. It is always a welcoming sign of relief when a patient produces an itemized list of all their medications and dosages as well as their past medical history. The time spent gathering all the patients information could be better spent on giving more personal care to the patient as well as the other patients in the nurses care.(Sensmeier, 2010, p. 47-50) Physicians have their own issues and concerns related to personal health records. First of all, most physicians are mostly interested in providing safe, resourceful and revenue producing care. Physicians are slow to adapt to change and it is difficult to convince a physician to use a service for something that may not produce results for many years. Personal health records are in their infancy stages and are only a hand full of individuals are utilizing the services. Physicians as well other medical personal may not be educated on personal health records and are not obligated to review or edit or manage these type of records. However, once a document from a patients personal health record is imported into an Electronic medical record, the physician is then responsible for reviewing such data. Physicians are then responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the data exported to the patients personal health record. Another concern is the issue of compensation. How are physicians going t o be compensated for their time spent on training, implementation, updating and creating documents for PHR? Also, covering the costs associated with the hiring of new staff that will be needed to head such a plan, as well as purchasing the required equipment and software that will be used to interface with larger networks?(â€Å"American College for Physicians,† 2006, p. 1-2) Personal health records have a direct impact on the role of the nursing informatics specialist. One of the roles of a nursing informatics specialist is reviewing, analyzing and coordinating new applications across departments and determine how the new applications will best fit into a healthcare system effectively. One of the biggest concerns of any healthcare system is cost, the cost of a new program or application must be carefully scrutinized by the nursing informatics specialist as well as other personal within the healthcare system before being accepted into the system. Several questions that arise from the nursing informatics specialist may include: 1.Revenue enhancement 2.Cost containment 3.Broad-spectrum cohesiveness throughout the system 4.Better workflow processes 5.Government regulations 6.Patient safety/satisfaction 7.Implementation and Development 8.Data interfaces 9.Troubleshooting and training 10.Software/equipment issues 11.Standardization development A key concern to most healthcare systems is the inevitability of employing such systems. Healthcare systems will eventually be forced into implementing such programs. The future of healthcare is rapidly becoming more digitalized and will be dictated by the consumers demands and systems that can better accommodate such demands. The next generation of computer savvy consumers and evolving healthcare technologies is on the forefront of nursing informatics specialists agendas. Nursing informatics specialists are scrambling to keep up with technology and developing savvy ways of keeping up with current trends in healthcare. Currently, there is very little data related to the purchasing costs of commercial PHR applications which presents a problem to the NIS. Not only is PHR a cost concern problem, but anytime a new product as enormous as PHR applications are lingering over a health care systems head, it becomes a system wide concern because the future is so unpredictable and health care systems can’t afford to spend millions of dollars on the implementation of such systems and then the system becomes obsolete within a year after implementation. A nursing information specialist’s input is critical in healthcare systems decision making process. Every day you hear of a new process or a new policy related to healthcare. Nursing information specialists are fairly new to the healthcare scene and are instantaneously being propelled into unfamiliar and never heard of areas of healthcare. A NIS must hold on tight to their game hat and be prepared to handle the roller coaster ride of the unpredicted future of healthcare technology. (Shah, Kaelber, Adam, Pan, Middleton & Johnston, 2008) The standardization of personal health records is an ongoing concern among consumers and the healthcare industry. There are many standards, open specifications, and efforts toward standardization of PHR information, and services. Many organizations are actively working to improve and support the exchange of medical record information.(â€Å"Records for Living,† 2010) Because there is not set standard among PHR vendors and health care organizations, the present recommendation is to adopt data content and exchange standards that are based upon standards accepted for EHRs, as a way of improving the interoperability of the systems. In addition, it is important for consumers to understand the privacy policies and practices of PHR vendors and health care organizations and who may have secondary access to their personal information. Also, these agencies should address any language barrier issues preventing the consumer from fully understanding the agencies practices related to security and privacy. Since HIPPA does not cover all PHR systems, consumers should be provided a complete outline of the uses of their PHR data and not covered entities should voluntarily adopt to strict privacy policies and practices. No health information provided to a PHR agency should be used without the expressed consent or authorization of the consumer. (US dept. of Health a nd Human Services, 2010) President Bush and Secretary Leavitt have put forward a vision that, in the Secretary’s words, â€Å"would create a personal health record that patients, doctors and other health care providers could securely access through the Internet no matter where a patient is seeking medical care.† (US dept. of Health and Human Services, 2010) Before those famous words can be put into effect, there first, must be a global standardization and recognized language. Currently, there is no uniform definition of â€Å"personal health records†, therefore making collaboration and policy-making difficult. The following aspects of PHRs can vary: 1.what information is allowed on a PHR 2.secure and reliable sources of the information 3.features and functions offered 4.custodian of the record 5.storage location of the contents 6.authorized access to records and security standards Additionally, organizations will continue to discover gaps during the development phases of PHR, by collecting data and information, agencies can make recommendations and respond with appropriate action. Providing readily accessible, safe and reliable data through secure systems of communication will help to better serve consumers, patients, healthcare workers and federal and public agencies, and others far more effectively. However, there is a general concern for the underserved populations. There are several areas of the country that do not have access to such systems or have the resources or funds to purchase such systems. Also, there are educational barriers to consider in relation to health literacy issues which could limit the use of PHR systems in these underserved populations. With so many people out of work and living on welfare, there are far greater concerns than having a PHR. Many people are only concerned with their basic survival and having enough resources to provide a meal or heat to their families. The government would need to provide assistance to the underserved if this was required of them. In conclusion, as a nurse and a potential consumer, I am in favor of a electronic personal heath record and do think the pros of such systems outweigh the cons, especially in the case of the chronically ill. I do, however have many concerns with PHRs. As a nurse, it would be difficult to rely on data presented in a electronic personal health record unless I was able to verify the information with a physician treating the individual or a family member. I can see how easily an individual may inadvertently enter the wrong medication into their personal health record. A simple slip of the key may change a medication entered as a diabetes drug Amaryl instead of an Alzheimer’s medication called Reminyl. Pharmaceutical companies are working hard to prevent medications from being named something similar to other drugs currently on the market, but there have been several reported deaths due to medication errors. It should be required that a government monitoring agency be in charge of overseeing the content being entered into PHRs as well as protecting consumers from becoming the victim of targeted marketing scams or identity theft. Too often we hear of these things happening to unknowing victims and unfortunately most of these victims are the elderly, which will more than likely be one of the biggest consumers of this kind of service. The government will also need to set standards for protecting consumers, otherwise, if consumers are being victimized on these kind of systems, PHR could potentially suffer harm and loose the trust of consumers. The widespread adoption of PHRs will not happen until consumers are confident with their personal records being adequately protected. I think it is important to get consumers and patients more involved in their own healthcare. And one of the first steps is learning how to create their own personal health record. Not only can they learn to create their own PHR, but they could get there family and friends involved as well. Using an Internet-based PHR system allows for multiple individuals, such as family members and caregivers to contribute patient information from multiple locations. For example, a sibling that lives out of town may have the access to update their parents health information and also share the information with another sibling who lives out of town and both collaborate on the information provided. This allows for continuity of care in the event of an illness and the sibling is not directly available to be at their parents bedside. The personal health record will play a key role in motivating the consumer or patient to a safer, more efficient form of healthcare. Because personal health records are still in their infancy stages, there remains a great deal of concern for the safety and security for the users personal information. Once these concerns are addressed and â€Å"idiot- proofed†, consumers and health care facilities may buy into it. Personal health care records are designed to help individuals better organize their health care records by placing all their documents into one easily accessible format. This kind of application can be a life saver. Having all of a patients up to date information available for healthcare personal to review in one easy to read format may make the difference between life and death in some cases. Quickly identifying drug allergies, medications, health history is all a part of the vital information needed in the case of any emergency. There is a myth among most consumers, most consumers believe that emergency rooms should have access to their medical records in the event of a crisis and the truth is, they don’t. Many patients see several doctors from a variety of locations and emergency rooms don’t have immediate access to all of a patients medical information. A personal health record not only allows you to share information with health care providers at multiple locations , it also empowers the consumer or patient to better manage their own health goals. Building a health record takes a considerable amount of time and effort. You have to collect all your past medical documents and manually enter them into a PHR platform of your choice. After that, it is as simple as scanning or faxing in a document or entering the information manually into a system after each visit to the doctor, or test, which keeps your medical records current and updated. Term Paper References EHR/PHR Basics. (pgs. 16-17). Retrieved March 12th, 2011, from www.nlm.nih.gov Hobson, K. (2009). Time to switch to an online personal health record? Retrieved March 11th, 2011, from www.usanews.com Mohammod (2009). Encyclopedia of Personal Health Records – Paper Records. Retrieved March 12th, 2011, from wiki.patientsknowbest.com Personal Health Records Policy Statements Adopted by the American College of Physicians. (2006). Retrieved March 10th, 2011, from www.acponline.org Personal Health Records Standards. (2010). Retrieved March 13th, 2011, from www.recordsforliving.com Sensmeier, J. E. (2010). Tech update:the journey toward a personal health record. Retrieved March 11th, 2011, from www.nursingcenter.com SentinelNewsService. (2009). Nurses Engineer lead efforts to radically change personal health records. Retrieved March 11th, 2011, from www.lasentinel.net Shah, S., Kaelber, D., Adam, V., Pan, E., & Johnston, D. (2008). A Cost Model for Personal Health Records. Retrieved March 13th, 2011, from www.ncbi.nlm.hin.gov Torrey, T. (2010). Avoiding the consequences of medical identity theft. Retrieved March 11th, 2011, from www.patients.about.com US dept. of Health and Human Services. (2010). Personal Health Records and Personal Health Records Systems. Retrieved March 13th, 2011, from www.nchs.hhs.gov Wikipedia. (n.d). Personal Health Records. Retrieved March 12th, 2011, from www.wikipedia.org

Free Essays on Racisim In Friday Night Lights

On July 2, 1964 Lynden B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act prohibited discrimination in most public places, deemed discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin illegal, and allowed the Justice Department to institute suits to desegregate public schools and other facilities. In Odessa, Texas, it was seen as a pain to enforce, and was just another attempt of the federal government to meddle in places where they should not meddle. In 1988, although there were no hate crimes against blacks, whites and blacks were certainly not very friendly. In everyday speech, the residents frequently use the term nigger to describe various things such as the appearance of a person. In addition, blacks and other minorities were forced to live below the tracks and attend their children were made to attend a separate school from the rest of the city’s children. Racism is the ideology that maintains one race is inherently superior to another (Beach 2003:444). In Odessa, Texas no one believed they were doing anything wrong by suppressing the rights of minorities. It was thought that it was the way things were supposed to be. Whites were allowed to attend the school of their choice, swim where they pleased, and shop wherever. However, minorities had to attend Ector High School, and if they even attempted to stick a toe into the white pool, it was shut down. Racism is an integral part of the society of Odessa. A person skin color determined which side of the tracks he or she lived on, what school they went to, what job they had, and where they shopped. The separation caused some people living in the white section of town to rarely ever see a person of another race. In conclusion, in Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger, the residents of Odessa, Texas built their society deeply rooted in the belief that white and other groups should not mix. This belief is displayed in their refusal to integrat... Free Essays on Racisim In Friday Night Lights Free Essays on Racisim In Friday Night Lights On July 2, 1964 Lynden B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act prohibited discrimination in most public places, deemed discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin illegal, and allowed the Justice Department to institute suits to desegregate public schools and other facilities. In Odessa, Texas, it was seen as a pain to enforce, and was just another attempt of the federal government to meddle in places where they should not meddle. In 1988, although there were no hate crimes against blacks, whites and blacks were certainly not very friendly. In everyday speech, the residents frequently use the term nigger to describe various things such as the appearance of a person. In addition, blacks and other minorities were forced to live below the tracks and attend their children were made to attend a separate school from the rest of the city’s children. Racism is the ideology that maintains one race is inherently superior to another (Beach 2003:444). In Odessa, Texas no one believed they were doing anything wrong by suppressing the rights of minorities. It was thought that it was the way things were supposed to be. Whites were allowed to attend the school of their choice, swim where they pleased, and shop wherever. However, minorities had to attend Ector High School, and if they even attempted to stick a toe into the white pool, it was shut down. Racism is an integral part of the society of Odessa. A person skin color determined which side of the tracks he or she lived on, what school they went to, what job they had, and where they shopped. The separation caused some people living in the white section of town to rarely ever see a person of another race. In conclusion, in Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger, the residents of Odessa, Texas built their society deeply rooted in the belief that white and other groups should not mix. This belief is displayed in their refusal to integrat...

USS Valley Forge (CV-45) in the Korean War

USS Valley Forge (CV-45) in the Korean War USS Valley Forge (CV-45) was the final Essex-class aircraft carrier to enter service with the US Navy. Though intended for use during World War II, the carrier was not completed until late 1946, long after hostilities had ended. Valley Forge was serving in the Far East in 1950 and was the first American fleet carrier to take part in the  Korean War. The vessel saw extensive service during the conflict before being converted to an antisubmarine carrier later in the 1950s. Further change came in 1961 when Valley Forge was modified into an amphibious assault ship. In this role it conducted multiple deployments to Southeast Asia during the early years of the Vietnam War. Decommissioned in 1970, the ship was sold for scrap the following year. A New Design Conceived in the 1920s and 1930s, the US Navys  Lexington- and  Yorktown-class aircraft carriers were intended to fit the tonnage limitations put in place by the  Washington Naval Treaty. This enacted restrictions on the sizes of different types of warships as well as placed a cap on each signatory’s total tonnage. This scheme was re-examined and extended by the London Naval Treaty in 1930. As international tensions increased in the 1930s, Japan and Italy elected to leave the treaty system. With the collapse of the treaty structure, the US Navy moved forward its efforts to design a new, larger class of aircraft carrier and one which used lessons learned from the  Yorktown-class. The new type was wider and longer as well as incorporated a deck-edge elevator system. This had been employed earlier on  USS  Wasp  (CV-7). In addition to carrying a larger air group, the new class possessed a stronger anti-aircraft armament. Work commenced on the lead ship,  USS  Essex  (CV-9), on April 28, 1941. Long-Hull Following the Japanese  attack on Pearl Harbor  and US entry into  World War II, the  Essex-class quickly became the US Navys principal design for fleet carriers. The first four ships after  Essex  used the class initial design. In early 1943, the US Navy elected to make several changes with goal of improving future vessels. The most noticeable of these changes was lengthening the bow to a clipper design which allowed for the inclusion of two quadruple 40 mm mounts. Other alterations saw the addition of improved ventilation and aviation fuel systems, the combat information center moved under the armored deck, a second catapult installed on the flight deck, and the mounting  of an additional fire control director. Referred to as the long-hull  Essex-class or  Ticonderoga-class by some, the US Navy made no distinction between these and the earlier  Essex-class ships. Construction The first vessel to begin construction with the enhanced  Essex-class design was USS  Hancock  (CV-14) which was later re-named  Ticonderoga. This was followed by several additional carriers including USS  Valley Forge  (CV-45).  Named for the location of  General George Washingtons  famed encampment, construction commenced on September 14, 1943, at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.   Funding for the carrier was provided by the sale of over $76,000,000 in E Bonds throughout the greater Philadelphia region. The ship entered the water on July 8, 1945, with Mildred Vandergrift, wife of  Battle of Guadalcanal  commander General Archer Vandergrift, serving as sponsor. Work progressed into 1946 and  Valley Forge  entered commission on November 3, 1946, with Captain John W. Harris in command. The ship was the last  Essex-class carrier to join to the fleet. USS Valley Forge (CV-45) - Overview: Nation:  United StatesType:  Aircraft CarrierShipyard:  Philadelphia Naval ShipyardLaid Down:  September 14,1943Launched:  July 8, 1945Commissioned:  November 3, 1946Fate:  Sold for scrap, 1971 Specifications: Displacement:  27,100 tonsLength:  888 ft.Beam:  93 ft. (waterline)Draft:  28 ft., 7 in.Propulsion:  8 Ãâ€" boilers, 4 Ãâ€" Westinghouse geared steam turbines, 4 Ãâ€" shaftsSpeed:  33 knotsComplement:  3,448 men Armament: 4 Ãâ€" twin 5 inch 38 caliber guns4 Ãâ€" single 5 inch 38 caliber guns8 Ãâ€" quadruple 40 mm 56 caliber guns46 Ãâ€" single 20 mm 78 caliber guns Aircraft: 90-100 aircraft Early Service Completing fitting out, Valley Forge landed Air Group 5 in January 1947 with a F4U Corsair flown by Commander H. H. Hirshey making the first landing on the ship.  Departing port, the carrier conducted its shakedown cruise in the Caribbean with stops at Guantanamo Bay and the Panama Canal. Returning to Philadelphia, Valley Forge underwent a brief overhaul before sailing for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal, the carrier arrived at San Diego on August 14 and formally joined the US Pacific Fleet. Sailing west that fall, Valley Forge took part in exercises near Pearl Harbor, before steaming to Australia and Hong Kong. Moving north to Tsingtao, China, the carrier received orders to return home via the Atlantic which would permit it to make an around the world voyage. Following stops in Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, and Trincomalee, Valley Forge entered the Persian Gulf for a goodwill stop at Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia. Rounding the Arabian Peninsula, the carrier became the longest ship to transit the Suez Canal. Moving through the Mediterranean, Valley Forge called at Bergen, Norway and Portsmouth, UK before returning home to New York. In July 1948, the carrier replaced its complement of aircraft and received the new Douglas A-1 Skyraider and the Grumman F9F Panther jet fighter. Ordered to the Far East in early 1950, Valley Forge was in port at Hong Kong on June 25 when the Korean War commenced. Korean War Three days after the start of the war, Valley Forge became flagship of the US Seventh Fleet and served as the core of Task Force 77.  Having provisioned at Subic Bay in the Philippines, the carrier rendezvoused with ships from the Royal Navy, including the carrier HMS Triumph, and commenced strikes against North Korean forces on July 3. These initial operations saw Valley Forges F9F Panthers down two enemy Yak-9s. As the conflict progressed, the carrier provided support for General Douglas MacArthurs landings at Inchon in September.  Valley Forges aircraft continued to pound North Korean positions until November 19, when, after over 5,000 sorties had been flown, the carrier was withdrawn and ordered to the West Coast.    Reaching the United States, Valley Forges stay proved brief as the Chinese entry into the war in December required the carrier to immediately return to the war zone.  Rejoining TF 77 on December 22, planes from the carrier entered the fray the next day. Continuing operations for the next three months, Valley Forge aided United Nations forces in halting the Chinese offensive. On March 29, 1951, the carrier again departed for San Diego. Reaching home, it was then directed north to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for a much needed overhaul. This was completed that summer and after embarking Air Group 1, Valley Forge sailed for Korea. The first US carrier to make three deployments to the war zone, Valley Forge resumed launching combat sorties on December 11.  These were largely focused on  railway interdiction and saw the carriers planes repeatedly strike at Communist supply lines. Briefly returning to San Diego that summer, Valley Forge commenced its fourth combat tour in October 1952. Continuing to attack Communist supply depots and infrastructure, the carrier remained off the Korean coast until the final weeks of the war. Steaming for San Diego, Valley Forge underwent an overhaul and was transferred to the US Atlantic Fleet. New Roles With this shift, Valley Forge was re-designated as an anti-submarine warfare carrier (CVS-45).  Refitted for this duty at Norfolk, the carrier commenced service in its new role in January 1954.  Three years later, Valley Forge executed the US Navys first ship-based aerial envelopment exercise when its landing party was shuttled to and from a landing zone at Guantanamo Bay using only helicopters. A year later, the carrier became flagship of Rear Admiral John S. Thachs Task Group Alpha which focused on perfecting tactics and equipment for dealing with enemy submarines.   In early 1959, Valley Forge sustained damage from heavy seas and steamed to New York Naval Shipyard for repairs.  To expedite the work, a large section of flight deck was transferred from the inactive USS Franklin (CV-13) and transferred to Valley Forge. Returning to service, Valley Forge participated in the Operation Skyhook testing in 1959 which saw it launch balloons to measure cosmic rays. December 1960 saw the carrier recover the Mercury-Redstone 1A capsule for NASA as well as provide assistance to the crew of SS Pine Ridge which split in two off the coast of Cape Hatteras.   Steaming north, Valley Forge arrived at Norfolk on March 6, 1961 to undergo conversion into an amphibious assault ship (LPH-8). Rejoining the fleet that summer,  the ship commenced training in the Caribbean before embarking its complement of helicopters and joining the US Atlantic Fleets ready amphibious force. That October, Valley Forge operated off the Dominican Republic with orders to aid American citizens during a period of unrest on the island. Vietnam Directed to join the US Pacific Fleet in early 1962, Valley Forge airlifted its Marines into Laos in May to aid in thwarting a Communist takeover of the country.  Withdrawing these troops in July, it remained in the Far East until the end of the year when it sailed for the West Coast. Following a modernization overhaul at Long Beach, Valley Forge made another Western Pacific deployment in 1964 during which it won a Battle Effectiveness Award. Following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in August, the ship moved closer to the Vietnamese coast and remained in the area into the fall. As the United States escalated its involvement in the Vietnam War, Valley Forge began ferrying helicopters and troops to Okinawa before making a deployment to the South China Sea. Taking up station in the fall of 1965, Valley Forges Marines participated in Operations Dagger Thrust and Harvest Moon before playing a role in Operation Double Eagle in early 1966.  After brief overhaul following these operations, the ship returned to Vietnam and assumed a position off Da Nang. Sent back to the United States in late 1966, Valley Forge spent part of early 1967 in the yard before commencing training exercises on the West Coast. Steaming west in November, the ship arrived in Southeast Asia and landed its troops as part of Operation Fortress Ridge. This saw them conduct search and destroy missions just south of the Demilitarized Zone. These activities were followed by Operation Badger Tooth near Quang Tri before Valley Forge shifted to a new station off Dong Hoi. From this position, it participated in Operation Badger Catch and supported the Cua Viet Combat Base.   Final Deployments The early months of 1968 continued to see Valley Forges forces take part in operations such as Badger Catch I and III as well as serve as an emergency landing platform for US Marine helicopters whose bases were under attack.  After continued service in June and July, the ship transferred its Marines and helicopters to USS Tripoli (LPH-10) and sailed for home. Receiving an overhaul, Valley Forge commenced five months of training before ferrying a load of helicopters to Vietnam. Arriving in the region, its forces took part in Operation Defiant Measure on March 6, 1969. With the conclusion of that mission, Valley Forge continued to steam off Da Nang as its Marines conducted a variety duties. Following training off Okinawa in June, Valley Forge arrived back off the northern coast of South Vietnam and launched Operation Brave Armada on July 24. With its Marines fighting in Quang Ngai Province, the ship remained on station and provided support. With the conclusion of the operation on August 7, Valley Forge debarked its Marines at Da Nang and departed for port calls at Okinawa and Hong Kong. On August 22, the ship learned that it would be deactivated following its deployment. After a brief stop at Da Nang to load equipment, Valley Forge touched at Yokosuka, Japan before sailing for the United States. Arriving at Long Beach on September 22, Valley Forge was decommissioned on January 15, 1970. Though some efforts were made to preserve the ship as a museum, they failed and Valley Forge was sold for scrap on October 29, 1971.

Why Youth Join the Military Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Why Youth Join the Military - Research Paper Example This paper discusses why the youth join the military. The highest desire among the youths once they finish their high school education is to get away from the home environment. This is because if they stay in this environment for long, they tend to flounder around with lack of real direction in life. Staying at home makes them depend too much on their parents despite the fact that they would want to become independent. As a result, they end up joining the military which can remedy all these in the shortest time possible. While most of the youths are not ready to go off school, they have the need to get more education in future. Unluckily most of the American youth do not belong to the well-to-do families hence their parents’ capacity to help them in their education in the future is close to impossible. Thus, going to school at a particular period in their lives will require them to pay for their fees independently. On the same note, without a great GPA or high score in SAT’s, one is unable to get a scholarship according to Briggs (1). Therefore many find it important to join the military first in order to make money which helps them fund their education in future. Through the Montgomery GI Bill and the different college funds given by each of the military branches of services, one might find a good enlistment hence a better future. Moreover, while in the military, one is free to join college and get a degree if they wish. This is because in college one is free to attend college as they pursue their military career as the military pays for a part of the tuition. Young people are curious about travelling around the world to see it for themselves. However, most of them never get the opportunity due to lack of money, time and resources. Therefore, for them, joining the military gives way to the opportunities for global travel to different locations around the world. These locations range from exotic overseas areas to the exhilarating scenes of more

Compensation and Benefits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Compensation and Benefits - Essay Example It wanted to be recognized as one of the finest places to work. To actualize that vision and mission, Nike implemented an incentive program in correlation with the mission. In any organizations including Nike, the workers do their duties for personal motivations like money (salary), but their motivation will get a great boost if they receive additional financial rewards, promotions and recognitions. When the reward component is analyzed from the perspective of organization's mission, it does somewhat supports Nike's mission. That is, Nike's mission is "To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world" (Nike Business, n.d.). Even though, this mission is customer centric, to achieve that mission the employees have to work effectively. To make the employee at Nike work effectively, the incentive program plays an important role. The incentive program implemented inside Nike perfectly fits with its resources. That is why, Nike has introduced an incentive program called Performance Sharing Plan, which correlates with the company's performance. "Performance Sharing Plan (PSP) - Nike has an annual bonus plan that rewards employees based on Nik e's performance (to reward team success) and individual performance (to reward your contributions to that success)." (The New York Job Source, 2008). As the program rewards the workers who perform up to the expected level, it meets the expectations of the employees. Importantly, this incentive program is fully attracting and retaining the employees. That is, Nike by rewarding and giving incentives to the deserving and 'success achieved' employees through this program and other programs is making them stick to the organization. This system is very flexible because it changes according to the performance of Nike. That is, if the employees perform optimally and raise organizational productivity and profits, they will be rewarded optimally. As this program is applicable to all types of employees, it cannot be tailor made for specific workers. On the whole, this incentive program functions as one of the main motivating factors for the employees, making them stick to the organization and thereby helped Nike reach the status of the world's number one maker of athletic shoes, equipment and apparel. When organizations fail to reward the employees appropriately, it could wean way the workers from the group decision making process and the resultant work teams. That is, some times or even frequently, the management overriding tried and trusted individuals could give important posts and responsibilities to individuals with negative attributes. If this practice is followed in the organisation, it will create disenchantment among the workers and will destroy team work. This ritual of awarding plum posts, rewards, incentives, etc, to the inappropriate members by the leader or the management team is not a norm in Nike. Nike rewards the employees in an unbiased manner. As mentioned above even this main incentive program of Performance Sharing Plan is applicable to all performing employees. Because of this strategy, workers in Nike are not banding together in a kind of mutual pr otection society with a culture of its own, but unite as work teams and are working in unison for the organizations. Unison of workers into teams with an urge to usher an organization into a successful endeavor will actualize, if the

Plato, John Dewey, Maria Montessori Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Plato, John Dewey, Maria Montessori - Essay Example To the prisoners the shadows and objects are his reality. (Cottingham, 1996, p. 67-69 512-513) In case the prisoner is allowed to turn around or even stand the sunlight coming into the cave from the entry will be too much for him. And if they are objects passing by their shadow to the prisoner are the reality rather than the object itself. He will see the sun as the source of the shadows that he has seen. Once this prisoner is taken outside and gets enlightened and has he desires to free other prisoners in the cave but they are not willing to set free. When the prisoner is back in the cave he is trying to adjust to the dim light and has to get used again. His identification of the objects on the wall goes down this makes the other prisoners to think that going to the surface has destroyed his eyesight. In the allegory the outside of the cave or the world represent amass knowledge and the cave is a representation of a dark place with limited information leading to a faulty reality. (Cottingham, 1996, p.67-69 512-513) According to Plato to get reality one had to look at the order of the creation to increase understanding of experience. 'Humans had to travel from the visible realm of image-making and objects of sense, to the intelligible, or invisible, realm of reasoning and understanding. "The Allegory of the Cave" symbolizes this trek and how it would look to those still in a lower realm. Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our Cave. The things which we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall. Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: where ideas in our minds can help us understand the form of 'The Good'. (Cottingham, 1996, p. 67-69 512-513) In Plato theory, what we perceive through our senses is not a reality i.e. what the prisoners see as the reality on the wall are just shadows, but on the contrary when one gains knowledge then he/she is able to understand the true reality. (Cottingham, 1996, p. 67-69 512-513) Unlike Plato in the Allegory of the cave the Pragmatisms connote that action and knowledge are two different spheres and also there is a supreme truth exceeding the sort of inquisition (ways by which the organisms can get a hold of their surrounding) that organisms use to get by in life. (Shusterman, 1997, p.11, 23, 90-95) This theory provides an environmental account of knowledge. 'Real' and 'true' are used in the inquiry process and they cannot be comprehended outside of that context. The theory acknowledges an outside world which needs to be tackled or dealt with. John Dewey says 'something is "made true" when it is verified.' According to Pragmatists; 'truth is not ready -made, but jointly we and reality "make" truth.' Truth is characterized by being mutable and it relative to abstract system. (Shusterman, 1997, p.11, 23, 90-95) In the Allegory of the cave approach they are no visible importance of teaching since the students observe and learn from what they see. A teacher or a mentor is not assigned any role since in Plato view of man is as a universal being that does not learn but discover. All human beings have the ability to move being ignorant to being knowledgeable as Plato asserts. (Shusterman, 199

Properties of Plants in the Forest

Properties of Plants in the Forest Spectral properties of plants in the forest: (1st ch) Interaction of radiation with plant leaves is extremely complex. General features of this interaction have been studied but many spectral features are yet unexplained. Gates et al., (1965) are considered pioneers, who have studied spectral characteristics of leaf reflection, transmission and absorption. Optical properties of plants have been further studied to understand the mechanisms involved by Gausman and Allen (1973), Wooley (1971) and Allen et al., (1970). It is the synthesis of the parameters like reflection of plant parts, reflection of plant canopies, nature and state of plant canopies and Structure and texture of plant canopies, which will be required to fully understand the remote sensing data collected from space borne and aerial platforms. They have been attempted for crop canopies through the development of models but not yet fully achieved. It will be initially required to discuss the electromagnetic spectrum and its interaction with vegetation canopies. Subsequent factors affecting the spectral reflectance of plant canopies with its possible applications in remote sensing technology would be discussed. The vegetation reflectance is influenced by the reflectance characteristics of individual plant organs, canopy organization and type, growth stage of plants, structure and texture of the canopies. The synthesis of the above four aspects provides true reflectance characteristic. However, various authors without fully achieving models to determine vegetation reflectance characteristics have studied effect of individual parameters. Nature of the Plant: Numerous measurements have been performed to evaluate the spectral response of various categories of plants with a spectrophotometer (Fig. ***). For a plant in its normal state i.e., typical and healthy the spectral reflectance is specific of the group, the species and even of the variety at a given stage in its phenological evolution. The general aspects of spectral reflectance of healthy plant in the range from 0.4 to 2.6 Â µm is shown in figure ****. The very abrupt increase in reflectance near 0.7 Â µm and the fairly abrupt decrease near 1.5 Â µm are present for all mature, healthy green leaves. Very high; further in the far infrared >3.0 Â µm. Thus, the typical spectral curve of plant is divided into three prominent zones correlated with morphological characteristics of the leaves (Gates, 1971). Pigment Absorption Zone: The important pigments, viz. chlorophyll, xanthophylls and carotenoids absorb energy strongly in ultraviolet blue and red regions of the EMR. The reflectance and transmittance are weak. The absorbed energy of this part of this spectrum is utilized for the photosynthetic activity (Allen et al. 1970). Multidioptric Reflectance Zone: In this zone, the reflectance is high, while the absorbptance remains weak. All the unabsorbed energy (30 to 70% according to the type of plant) is transmitted. They reflectance is essentially due to the internal structure of the leaf and the radiation is able to penetrate. The reflectance from internal structure is of physical more than chemical nature. Apart front the contribution of the waxy cuticle, the magnitude of the reflectance depends primarily upon the amount of spongy mesophyll. Hydric Zone: Amount of water inside the leaf affect the pattern of spectral reflectance with water specific absorption bands at 1.45 Â µm, 1.95 Â µm and 2.6 Â µm. Liquid water in a leaf causes strong absorption throughout middle infrared region. Beyond 2.5 Â µm the reflectance becomes less than 5% due to atmospheric absorption and beyond 3 Â µm the vegetation starts acting as quasi blackbody (Gates et al., 1965). There are numerous factors either internal of the plant or external coming from the environmental conditions have an influence on the specific spectral reflectance. The above descriptions are true only for a normal, mature and healthy vegetation. The factors which affect the spectral reflectance of leaves are leaf structure, maturity, pigmentation, sun exposition, phyllotaxis, pubescene, turgidity (water content) nutritional status and, disease etc. Important factors are pigmentation, nutritional status, anatomy of leaves and water content. While, sun exposition and phyllotaxy affects the canopy reflectance, phenological state and disease are linked to the primary factors affecting the spectral reflectance (Wooley, 1971). Spectral vegetation indices: Radiant energy intercepted by a vegetative canopy is primarily scattered by leaves either away from the leaf surface or to the leaf interior. The scattered radiation is reflected, transmitted or absorbed by leaves. The partitioning of radiation a reflected, transmitted or absorbed energy depends on a number of factor including leaf cellular structures (Gates et al. 1965; Kfipling, 1970; Woolley, 1971), leaf pubescence and roughness (Gausman, 1977), leaf morphology and physiology (Gausman et al., 1969 a, b; Gausman and Allen, 1973; Gausman et al., 1971) and leaf surface characteristics (Breece and Hommes, 1971; Grant, 1985). Leaves are not perfectly diffuse reflectors but have diffuse and specular characteristics. Leaf transmittance tends to have a non Lambertian distribution, while leaf reflectance is dependent on illumination and view angles. Knowledge of soils radiation interaction with individual leaves is necessary for several reasons like special to interpret and process remotely sensed data. Typical reflectance and transmittance spectrum of a individual plant leaf indicate three distinct wavelength regions in interaction: visible (0.4-0.7 Â µm), near infrared (NIR) (0.7-1.35 Â µm) and mid infrared (mid IR) (1.35-2.7 Â µm). Thus the typical spectral curve of plant is divided into three prominent zones correlated with morphological/anatomical/physiological characteristics of the leaves and these are Pigment Absorption Zone, Multi-Dioptric Reflectance Zone and Hydric Zone, etc. The analysis of all remotely sensed data involves models of many processes wherein the EM radiation is transformed (the scene, atmosphere and sensor) and whereby inference is made about the scene from the image data. The most common strategy for relating remote sensing data to vegetation canopies has been via the correlation of vegetation indices with vegetation structure and functional variables. This simple empirical approach has yielded substantial understanding of the structure and dynamics of vegetation at all scales. These indices are capable of handling variation introduced in a scene due to atmosphere or sensor and vegetation background influence in low vegetation cover areas. The capacity to assess and monitor the structure of terrestrial vegetation using spectral properties recorded by remote sensing is important because structure can be related to functioning, that is to ecosystem processes that are ultimately aggregated up to the functioning of the local-regional-global level of ecosystem. The categorization of the various spectral indices in to approximately five types. Such as Ratio Indices, Vegetation Indices, Orthogonal based Indices, Perpendicular Vegetation Indices and Tasseled Cap Transformation, etc. Remote sensing of cropland, forest and grassland involves the measurement of reflected energy of component in the presence of each other. The development and usefulness of vegetation indices are dependent upon the degree to which the spectral contribution of non-vegetation component can be isolated from the measured canopy response. Although vegetation indices have been widely recognized a valuable tools in the measurement and interpretation of ‘vegetation condition’ several limitation have also been identified. They are related to soil brightness effect and secondary soil spectral deviations. The use of site specific soil lines reduces soil background influence. In this context SAVI, GRABS and PVI holds greater promise in low vegetated areas. The vegetation indices are simplified method to extract information about vegetation parameter from multispectral data however, their use in spectral modeling needs to be studied in context of spectral dynamics of earth surface components. Resume Forest cover is an important natural resource for the environment and socio-eco on the surface of the earth. It can bridge the gap between nature and human beings conflicts. Changes in the forest land increase the imbalance in the ecosystem, climatic conditions, temperature, land degradation, drought prone zones, soil erosion, depending manmade activities, etc. The living tribes in the mountain hill as well as foot hill area utilized forest material for their domestic usages. Therefore, the objectives of detection and delineation of the forest land by using ordinary classification methods have been outlined in the present study. The methodology has been outlined in this chapter. The Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-7 ETM+ dataset has been suggested as a source of information to achieve the objectives of the study. The basic knowledge regarding spectral properties of the forest and physiographic elements as well as spectral vegetation indices area has been proposed for the second chapter to m ake information base study for image analysis, classification and interpretation in the next chapters.