Politics and the English Language Essay Example for Free

Politics and the English Language Essay Politics and the English Language is an essay by George Orwell published in 1946 where he criticizes the way written English language has evolved. Orwell uses five texts from various contemporary authors to identify in them the perversions in the evolution of the language. He then classifies these into four main fallacies: dying metaphors or cliches, operators or verbal false limbs or the elimination of simple verbs and the use of passive voice rather than active, pretentious diction or terms used to impress rather than to convey meaning, and meaningless words or paragraphs that usually do not give much meaning. Moreover, the author emphasizes and criticizes the use of foreign languages amongst the English for useless sophistication. The writers main purpose is to reflect this decadence of the English language to the general decline in contemporary society and to relate it to Politics. In fact, according to Orwell, language is used for political purposes to transform it into a vague and meaningless set of prose phrases in order to conceal truths rather than express thoughts. This is exemplified with the case of political speeches, articles, and propagandas. Finally, he suggests a set of simple rules that could contribute to the reversability of the decay of English. Orwell seems to be quite objective since –for instance- he involves the reader in his text and even invites him to find some of the faults criticized, in it. Also, the six rules that the auhtor suggests to simplify English, could be very beneficial even for contemporary students in their writings. However, it seems that Orwell has used a prescriptive and quite subjective approach in his essay by which he finds what he is looking for based on the ideology he already believes in, that tends to be emerging from deep-rooted conspiracy theories.

Academic Skills Plus Essay Example for Free

Academic Skills Plus Essay Atwood writes: â€Å"What I mean by ‘science fiction’ is those books that descend from H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, which treats of an invasion by tentacled, blood-sucking Martians shot to Earth in metal canisters – things that could not possibly happen – whereas, for me, â€Å"speculative fiction† means plots that descend from Jules Verne’s books about submarines and balloon travel and such – things that really could happen but just hadn’t completely happened when the authors wrote the books. I would place my own books in this second category: no Martians.† (From In other worlds, p.6) With these remarks in mind, is it useful to distinguish between science fiction and speculative fiction? In answering this question you might consider Le Guin’s suggestion that people who refer to their works as ‘speculative fiction’ rather than ‘science fiction’ are simply trying to protect themselves from some of the negative connotations associated with science fiction (see In other worlds)? Discuss in relation to at least two works. ‘Science fiction’ is often defined as a wide literary genre related to fictional stories. It contains many subgenres, such as space opera, cyberpunk, utopia, dystopia, alternative histories and speculative fiction. Although there are an extensive number of subgenres, some writers, as Margaret Atwood, have been trying to differentiate ‘speculative fiction’ from ‘science fiction’. Maybe this wideness of subgenres existing under the genre ‘science fiction’ is exactly the reason why Atwood found interesting to present this differentiation. When we consider science fiction stories, many different things can came up to our mind, such as aliens, intergalactic travel, artificial intelligence and utopian (or dystopian) societies. Considering that, as we can notice in these examples, these topics can differ a lot from each other and it might be understandable that Atwood  wanted to differentiate (more than just defining different subgenres) the kind of fiction related to more ‘plausible’ things (things that could really happen, as she says). Definitely, ‘speculative fiction’ books have a completely different scenario from cyberpunk, aliens or space opera works and this could awake a desire to disconnect them in a more significantly manner. However, it is possible to affirm that this distinction between ‘science’ and ‘speculative fiction’ is not useful and that there is no reason for making it, especially considering that speculative fiction is just one more subgenre of science fiction. This thesis will be supported by a number of points presented throughout this essay. Firstly, it will be argued that the subgenre ‘speculative fiction’ fits perfectly into the definitions and requisites related to ‘science fiction’. Secondly, it will be discussed that Atwood’s definition of ‘speculative fiction’ is vague and can change according to interpretation, and also that it can be used to define as speculative fiction other books that she clearly had classified as belonging to ‘science fiction’. Thereby, her definition can be seen as not clear, which makes it not useful at all. Finally, it will be presented that Atwood seems to reinforce this division specially because distinguishing ‘speculative fiction’ from ‘science fiction’ is convenient for her. There are some evidences for that, for example, Le Guin once said Atwood was trying to protect herself from negative connotations associated with ‘science fiction’. This is even noticeable considering that many of her attempts to define the genre contained irony and clichà ©s. Firstly, it will be discussed that ‘speculative fiction’ fits perfectly into the definitions and requisites related to the ‘science fiction’ subgenres, which makes unnecessary and not useful the distinction between them. It was stated before that ‘science fiction’ has a big number of subgenres and it is clear that they differ considerably from each other. However, despite their singularities, all of them have one kind of cohesive element in common, which brings each subgenre to be defined as part of the genre ‘science fiction’. To define this common element noticed in all the science fiction subgenres, it is useful to consider two Suvin’s definitions about science fiction: SF is, then, a literary genre whose necessary and sufficient conditions are the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition,  and whose main formal device is an imaginative framework alternative to the authors empirical environment (Suvin 1979, p. 7) and â€Å"Science Fiction is distinguished by the narrative dominance or hegemony of a fictional novum (novelty, innovation) validated by cognitive logic† (Suvin 1979, p. 63). Considering these two definitions, it is possible to affirm then that the necessary and sufficient conditions to identify one science fiction work are: the presence of a ‘novum’ and the presence of a ‘cognitive logic’, the logical consistency which makes the ‘novum’ become part of our knowledge about real things. With this in mind, we can analyse the book The Handmaid’s Tale from Atwood. She clearly have classified this book as not being ‘science fiction’, however, it is easy to identify the ‘novum’ and also the ‘cognitive logic’ in her book. The ‘novum’ is represented by the whole system of political organization in the Republic of Gilead described on the book and the ‘cognitive logic’ is given by some similarities that can be noticed between our society and the society described on the book. In the same way, for the book of H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, we can also identify the ‘novum’, which is given by the Martians and their technology; and the ‘cognitive logic’, given by the similarities existing between both societies. Thus, it can be affirmed that both books The Handmaid’s Tale and The War of the World belongs to the genre ‘science fiction’, contradicting Atwood’s previous proposition. This proves that although Atwood’s book can be classified as ‘speculative fiction’, it truly belongs to ‘science fiction’, leading us to verify again that ‘speculative fiction’ is just one more subgenre of ‘science fiction’. It makes clear then that the division between ‘science’ and ‘speculative’ fiction is not useful and not justifiable. Secondly, it will be presented that Atwood’s definition of ‘speculative fiction’ is imprecise and also can be used to define as speculative fiction other books that were categorized as ‘science fiction’ by her. In order to illustrate these points, we will analyse Atwood (2011) definition about ‘speculative fiction’ as â€Å"things that really could happen but just hadn’t completely happened when the authors wrote the books.† This is a vague and inaccurate idea. It could encompass different definitions because the range of things that could really happen is highly dependent of each person’s  beliefs and ideas, what makes this definition extremely subjective. Also, with just a few exceptions, it is not possible to say for sure what is and what is not going to happen. Besides, Atwood even gives us another definition: Oryx and Crake is not science fiction. Science fiction is when you have chemicals and rockets. (Watts 2003, p. 3). Considering both definitions given by her, it could be understood that she considers rockets and chemicals as things that really could not happen, as they belong to science fiction. However, it is known that rockets and chemicals are not things impossible to happen, especially because nowadays we can see some examples of them. Both definitions become contradictory then. Considering her first definition, books about this theme would be classified as speculative fiction; however, she decided to use these two themes to exemplify ‘science fiction’. Atwood’s definitions about ‘speculative fiction’ are imprecise, therefore, what is the purpose in using an imprecise and cloudy definition? It is simply not useful to distinguish ‘science’ from ‘speculative fiction’ then. Thirdly, it will be presented that Atwood seems to reinforce this division specially because distinguishing ‘speculative fiction’ from ‘science fiction’ is convenient for her. Le Guin (2009) states that Atwood was trying to protect herself from negative connotations associated with science fiction and also â€Å"from being relegated to a genre still shunned by hidebound readers, reviewers and prize-awarders†. Considering Le Guin’s remarks, it is possible to observe that ‘science fiction’ was not a literary genre with considerable prestige in the intellectual audience. This could reduce her reputation on the high literary society. One possible reason for ‘science fiction’ being underestimated is that science fiction could be related to some works produced for mass audience like Star Trek and Dr Who and intellectuals would associate her books to these works. Then it would be interesting for her to dissociate the connecti on between her books and the genre ‘science fiction’ once it was not so appreciated by the intellectual audience. And this is also noticed by considering that some of her remarks about ‘science fiction’ contains irony, as she frequently uses clichà ©s to refer about it, such as ‘rockets’, ‘chemicals’, ‘blood-sucking Martians’, ‘talking squids in outer space’, and ‘skin-tight clothing’. Thus, it is possible to verify why Atwood reinforces the division between ‘speculative’ and ‘science’ fiction. And  considering her reasons we can see that they are not justifiable and strong enough to make the distinction between ‘speculative’ and ‘science fiction’ useful. Finally, this essay discussed a number of points in order to support the thesis that the distinction between ‘speculative’ and ‘science’ fiction is not useful. Firstly, it was stated that although it may be hard to define some literary genres it is noticeable that ‘speculative ficti on’ fits perfectly in most of definitions of science fiction, making it a subgenre only. Secondly, it was presented that Atwood’s definition about ‘speculative fiction’ is vague and could classify as ‘speculative fiction’ some books that she clearly classified as ‘science fiction’. Thirdly, it was discussed that is convenient for her to separate ‘speculative fiction’ from ‘science fiction’ since the genre of ‘science fiction’ was not so appreciated by reviewers and prize awarders and was associated to some mass audience works. She does not want to be linked to this image so she tries to put her works under a different literary classification. This point shows us clearly that there is no consistent and general reason for her to do the distinction. In conclusion, this essay illustrated that is not useful to distinguish between ‘science fiction’ and ‘speculative fiction’ and the reason for this was explained by all of the arguments stated previously. References Atwood, M 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale, Anchor Books, New York. Atwood, M 2011, In Other Worlds SF and the Human Imagination, Doubleday. Le Guin, U 2009, ‘The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood’, The Guardian, 29 August. Available at http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/29/margaret-atwood-year-of-flood Suvin, D 1979, Metamorphoses Of Science Fiction, Yale University Press, New Haven Watts, P 2003, ‘Margaret Atwood and the Hierarchy of Contempt’, On Spec, vol. 15, no. 2, summer, pp. 3-5. Wells, H 1898, The War of the World, New York Review Books, New York.

Data warehouse and data mining

Data warehouse and data mining Abstract Data mining and data warehouse is one of an important issue in a corporate world today. The biggest challenge in a world that is full of information is searching through it to find connections and data that were not previously known. Dramatic advance in data development make the role of data mining and data warehouse become important in order to improve business operation in organization. The scenarios of important data mining and data warehouse in organization are seen in the process of accumulating and integrating of vast and growing amounts of data in various format and various databases. This paper is discuss about data warehouse and data mining, the concept of data mining and data warehouse, the tools and techniques of data mining and also the benefits of data mining and data warehouse to the organizations. Keywords: Data, Data Warehouse, Data Mining, Data Mart Introduction Organizations tend to grow and prosper as they gain a better understanding of their environment. Typically, business managers must be able to track daily transactions to evaluate how the business is performing. By tapping into the operational database, management can develop strategies to meet organizational goals. The process that identified the trends and patterns in data are the factors to accomplish that. By the way, the way to handle the operational data in organization is important because the reason for generating, storing and managing data is to create information that becomes the basis for rational decision making. To facilitate the decision-making process, decision support systems (DSSs) were developed whereas it is an arrangement of computerized tools used to assist managerial decision making within a business. Decision support is a methodology that designed to extract information from data and to use such information as a basis for decision making. However, information re quirements have become so complex that is difficult for a DSS to extract all necessary information from the data structures typically found in an operational database. Therefore, a data mining and data warehouse was developed and become a proactive methodology in order to support managerial decision making in organization. Concept of Data Warehouse A data warehouse is a firms repositories that running the process of updating and storing historical business data of organization whereas the process then transform the data into multidimensional data model for efficient querying and analysis. All the data stored are extracts or obtains its data from multiple operational systems in organization with containing the information of relevant activity that occurred in the past in order to support organizational decision making. A data mart, on the other hand, is a subset of a data warehouse. It holds some special information that has been grouped to help business in making better decisions. Data used here are usually derived from data warehouse. The first organized used of such large database started with OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) whereas the focused is analytical processing of organization. The diffrences between a data mart and a data warehouse is only the size and scope of the problem being solved. According to William H.Inmon (2005), a data warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated, time-varying, and non-volatile collection of data in support of the managements decision-making process. To understand that definition, the components will be explained more detailed; Integrated Provide a unified view of all data elements with a common definition and representation for all business units. Subject-oriented Data are stored with a subject orientation that facilitates multiple views of the data and facilitates decision making. For example, sales may be recorded by product, by division, by manager, or by region. Time-variant Dates are recorded with a historical perspective in mind. Therefore, a time dimension is added to facilitate data analysis and various time comparisons. Nonvolatile Data cannot be changed. Data are added only periodically from historical systems. Once the data are properly stored, no changes are allowed. Therefore, the data environment is relatively static. In summary, the data warehouse is usually a read-only database optimized for data analysis and query processing. Typically, data are extracted from various sources and are then transformed and integrated, in other words, passed through a data filter, before being loaded into the data warehouse. Users access the data warehouse via front-end tools and end-user application software to extract the data in usable form. The Issues That Arise in Data Warehouse Although the centralized and integrated data warehouse can be a very attractive proposition that yields many benefits, managers may be reluctant to embrace this strategy. Creating a data warehouse requires time, money, and considerable managerial effort. Therefore, it is not surprising that many companies begin their foray into warehousing by focusing on more manageable data sets that are targeted to meet the special needs of small groups within the organization. These smaller data warehouse are called data marts. A data mart is a small, single-subject data warehouse subset that provides decision support to a small group of people. Some organizations choose to implement data marts not only because of the lower cost and shorter implementation time, but also because of the current technological advances and inevitable people issues that make data marts attractive. Powerful computers can provide a customized DSS to small groups in ways that might not be possible with a centralized syste m. Also, a companys culture may predispose its employees to resist major changes, but they might quickly embrace relatively minor changes that lead to demonstrably improved decision support. In addition, people at different organizational levels are likely to require data with different summarization, aggregation, and presentation formats. Data marts can serve as a test vehicle for companies exploring the potential benefits of data warehouses. By migrating gradually from data marts to data warehouses, a specific departments decision support needs can be addressed within a reasonable time frame (six month to one year), as compared to the longer time frame usually required to implement a data warehouse (one to three years). Information Technology (IT) departments also benefit from this approach because their personnel have the opportunity to learn the issues and develop the skills required to create a data warehouse. Concept of Data Mining Data mining is the forecasting techniques and analytical tools that extensively used in industries and corporates to ensure the effectiveness in decision making. Data mining is a tools to analyze the data, uncover problems or opportunities hidden in the data relationships, form computer models based on their findings, and then use the models to predict business behavior by requiring minimal end-user intervention. The way it works is through search of valuable information from a huge amount of data that is collected over time and defined the patterns or relationships of information that present by data. In business field, the organization use data mining to predict the customer behaviour in the business environment. The process of data mining started from analyzed the data from different perspectives and summarized it into useful information, which from the information then created knowledge to address any number of business problems. For the example, banks and credit card companies u se knowledge-based analysis to detect fraud, thereby decreasing fraudulent transactions. In fact, data mining has proved to be very helpful in finding practical relationships among data that help define customer buying patterns, improve product development and acceptance, reduce healthcare fraud, analyze stock markets and so on. Data Mining in Historical Perspective Over the last 25 years or so, there has been a gradual evolution from data processing to data mining. In the 1960s business routinely collected data and processed it using database management techniques that allowed an orderly listing and tabulation of the data as well as some query activity. The OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) became routine, data retrieval from stored data bacame faster and more efficient because of the availability of new and better storage devices, and data processing became quicker and more efficient because of advancement in computer technology. Database management advanced rapidly to include highly sophisticated query systems, and became popular not only in business applications but also in scientific inquiries. Approaches of Data Mining in Various Industries With data mining, a retail store may find that certain products are sold more in one channel of distribution than in the others, certain products are sold more in one geographical location than in others, and certain products are sold when a certain event occurs. With data mining, a financial analyst would like to know the characteristics of a successful prospective employee; credit card departments would like to know which potential customers are more likely to pay back the debt and when a credit card is swiped, which transaction is fraudulent and which one is legitimate; direct marketers would like to know which customers purchase which types of products; booksellers like Amazon would like to know which customers purchase which types of books (fiction, detective stories or any other kind) and so on. With this type of information available, decision makers will make better choices. Human resource people will hire the right individuals. Credit departments will target those prospectiv e customers that are less prone to become delinquent or less likely to involve in fraudulent activities. Direct marketers will target those customers that are likely to purchase their products. With the insight gained from data mining, businesses may wish to re-configure their product offering and emphasize specific features of a product. These are not the only uses of data mining. Police use this tool to determine when and where a crime is likely to occur, and what would be the nature of that crime. Organized stock changes detect fraudulent activities with data mining. Pharmaceutical companies mine data to predict the efficacy of compounds as well as to uncover new chemical entities that may be useful for a particular disease. The airline industry uses it to predict which flights are likely to be delayed (well before the flight is scheduled to depart). Weather analyst determine weather patterns with data mining to predict when there will be rain, sunshine, a hurricane, or snow. Bes ide that, nonprofit companies use data mining to predict the likelihood of individuals making a donation for a certain cause. The uses of data mining are far reaching and its benefits may be quite significant. Data Mining Tools and Techniques Data mining is the set of tools that learn the data obtained and then using the useful information for business forecasting. Data mining tools use and analyze the data that exist in databases, data marts, and data warehouse. A data mining tools can be categorized into four categories of tools which are prediction tools, classification tools, clustering analysis tools and association rules discovery. Below are the elobaration of data mining tools: Prediction Tools A prediction tool is a method that derived from traditional statistical forecasting for predicting a value of the variable. Classification Tools The classification tools are attempt to distinguish the differences between classes of objects or actions. Given the example is an advertiser may want to know which aspect of its promotion is most appealing to consumers. Is it a price, quality or reliability of a product? Or maybe it is a special feature that is missing on competitive products. This tools help give such information on all the products, making possible to use the advertising budget in a most effective manner. Clustering Analysis Tools This is very powerful tools for clustering products into groups that naturally fall together which are the groups are identified by the program. Most of the clusters discovered may not be useful in business decision. However, they may find one or two that are extremely important which the ones the company can take advantage of. The most common use is market segmentation which in this process, a company divides the customer base into segments dependent upon characteristics like income, wealth and so on. Each segment is then treated with different marketing approach. Association Rules Discovery This tool discover associations which are like what kinds of books certain groups of people read, what products certain groups of people purchase and so on. Businesses use such information in targeting their markets. For instance, recommends movies based on movies people have watched and rated in the past. There are four general phases in data mining which are data preparation, data analysis and classification, knowledge acquisition and prognosis. Data Preparation In the data preparation phase, the main data sets to be used by the data mining operation are identified and cleaned of any data impurities. Because the data in the data warehouse are already integrated and filtered, the data warehouse usually is the target set for data mining operations. Data Analysis The data anlysis and classification phase studies the data to identify common data characteristics or patterns. During this phase, the data mining tool applies specific algorithm to find: Data groupings, classifications, clusters, or sequences. Data dependencies, links, or relationships. Data patterns, trends, and deviations. Knowledge Acquisition The knowledge-acquisition phase uses the results of the data analysis and classification phase. During the knowledge-acquisition phase, the data mining tool (with possible intervention by the end user) selects the appropriate modeling or knowledge-acquisition algorithms. The most common algorithms used in data mining are based on neural networks, decision trees, rules induction, genetic algorithms, classification and regression trees, memory-based reasoning, and nearest neighbor and data visualization. A data mining tool may use many of these algorithms in any combination to generate a computer model that reflects the behavior of the target data set. Prognosis Although many data mining tools stop at the knowledge-acquisition phase, others continue to the prognosis phase. In that phase, the data mining findings are used to predict future behavior and forecast business outcomes. Examples of data mining findings can be: 65% of customers who did not use a particular credit card in the last six months are 88% likely to cancel that account. 82% of customers who bought a 27-inch or larger TV are 90% likely to buy an entertainment center within the next four weeks. If age < 30 and income < = 25,000 and credit rating 25,000, then the minimum loan term is ten years. The complete set of findings can be represented in a decision tree, a neural net, a forecasting model, or a visual presentation interface that is used to project future events or results. For example, the prognosis phase might project the likely outcome of a new product rollout or a new marketing promotion. The Benefit and Weaknesess of Data Warehouse to Organization Data warehouse is the one of powerful techniques that applies in organization in order to assist managerial decision making within a business. This methodology becomes a crucial asset in modern business enterprise. It is designed to extract information from data and to use such information as a basis for decision making. The organization will get more benefit with application of data warehouse because the features of data warehouse itself is its a central repositories that stores historical information, meaning say that eventhough the data come from differ location and various points in time but all the relevant data are assembled in one location and was organized in efficient manner. Indirectly, it makes a profit to company because it greatly reduces the computing cost. One of the advantage of using data warehouse is it allows the accessible of large volume information whereas the information will be used in problem solving that arise in business organization. All the data that are from multiple sources that located in central repository will be analyze in order to allow them come out with a choice of solutions. However there are also having weaknesses that need to concern as well. The processes of data warehouse actually take a long period of time bacause before all the data can be stored into warehouse, they need to cleaned, extracted and loaded. The process of maintaining the data is one of the problems in data warehouse because it is not easy to handle. The compatibility may be the isssued in order to implement the data warehouse in organization because the new transaction system that tried to implement may not work with the system that already used. Beside that, the user that works with the system must be trained to use the system because without having a proper training may cause a problem. Furthermore, if the data warehouse can be accessed via the internet, the security problem might be the issue. The biggest problem that related with the data warehouse is the costs that must taken into consideration especially for their maintenance. Any organization that is considering using a data w arehouse must decide if the benefits outweigh the costs. Conclusion Successfully supporting managerial decision-making is significantly dependent upon the availability of integrated, high quality information organized and presented in a timely and in simply way to understand. Data mining and data warehouse have emerged to meet this need. The application of data mining and data warehouse will be apart of crucial element in organization in order to assist the managerial running the operation smoothly and at the same time will help them to accomplish the business goal. It is because both of these techniques are the foundation of decision support system. Today data mining and data warehouse are an important tools and more companies will begin using them in the future. REFERENCES Bonifati, A., Cattaneo, F., Ceri, F., Fuggetta, A., and Paraboschi, S., (2001). Designing data marts for data warehouse. ACM Transactions On Software Engineering And Methodology, 10, 452-483. Retrieved February 15, 2010 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldAbstractOnlyArticle/Pdf/2810110103.pdf Chaplot, P., (2007). An introduction to data warehousing. Retrieved February 14, 2010 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0291000304.pdf Roiger, R.,J., (2005). Teaching an introductory course in data mining. Retrieved February 13, 2010 from: http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1070000/1067620/p415-roiger.pdf?key1=1067620key2=7107846621coll=ACMdl=ACMCFID=76668031CFTOKEN=26856088 Santos, R., J., and Bernandino, J. Real-time data warehouse loading methodology. Retrieved February 13, 2010 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0291010105.pdf Chowdhury, S., Chan, J.,O., (2007). Data warehousing and data mining: a course in mba and msis program from uses perspective. Data Warehousing And Data Mining. 7. Retrieved February 15, 2010 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/1640150202.pdf Ranjan, J., Malik, K., (2007). Effective educational process: a data mining approach. The Journal Of Information And Knowledge Management Systems. 37, 502-515. Retrieved February 16, 2010 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullText Mora, S., L., Trujillo, J., Song, I, Y., (2006). A uml profile for multidimensional modeling in data warehouses. Data Knowledge Engineering. 59, 725-769. Retrieved February 20, 2010 from: http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/science?_ob=MImg_imagekey March, S., T., Hevner, A., R., (2005). Integrated decision support systems: a data warehousing perspective. Retrieved February 21, 2010 from: http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1460000/1451949/p49santos.pdf?key1=1451949key2=1956846621coll=ACMdl=ACMCFID

Accounting Essay -- essays research papers

Accounting   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The nature of work of accountants and auditors is to prepare, analyze, and verify financial reports and taxes, and monitor information systems that furnish this information to managers in business, industry, and government. The major fields of accounting are Public accountants who have their own business or work for public accounting firms. They perform a large range of responsibilities such as doing taxes, numerous accounting and auditing, consulting activities for their clients, who may be corporations, governments, nonprofit organizations, or individuals. Management accountants also called industrial, corporate, or private accountants record and analyze the financial information of the companies for which they work with. Other responsibilities include budgeting, cost management, and asset management. These accountants analyze and interpret the financial information corporate executives use to make sound business decisions. Internal auditors are very important t o our system. When companies make information more timely, top management base their decisions on actual data, rather than their personal opinion. So these auditors verify the accuracy of their organization’s records and check for mismanagement, waste or fraud. Government accountants maintain and examine the records of government agencies, and audit private business and individuals whose activities are subject to government regulations or taxation. All ranks of government accounting sees that revenues are received and expenditures are made in accordance to laws and regulations. Many who have a background in accounting work for the federal government as Internal Revenue Service Agents. Within each field, accountants often concentrate on one aspect of accounting. Jonda Dunn who I interviewed works for B. Lee Hubbard and Company in Jackson, Ohio. She has worked there for six years and enjoys her job. She has received a bachelor’s degree in accounting and minored in Comput er Science. She chose this career because she loves math and numbers. Mrs. Dunn deals with payrolls, bank reconciliation’s, and financial statements.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In accountants working conditions they are usually placed in an office setting. Self employed accountants are able to do part of their work at home instead of the office. Those who may be employed by public firms and... .... With more than 90,000 people in over 130 countries, the members of Deloitte Touchà © Tohmatsu are dedicated to delivering world-class service to their world-class clients. They are located 10 Westport Road, Wilton, CT 06897, (203) 761-3000 but they also have numerous offices throughout the United States. Their worldwide revenue: $4.2 billion. CPA employees: 8,600. My last choice to be employed is at BDO Seidman, which is a national organization, focused on serving clients through business lines: Tax; Assurance; Financial Advisory Services and Wave Bend Solutions. Through leadership in Tax consulting, clients benefit from an unparalleled approach to tax planning, consulting and compliance and experience in transaction structuring to help reduce tax consequences. The practice employs a service philosophy of extensive partner involvement to provide insightful and constructive suggestions for improving clients' business strategies, management information, operating and accounting procedures and controls. They are located 15 Columbus Circle 1, New York, NY 10023, and (212) 765-7500. With worldwide revenue: $181 million. CPA employees: 840.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Classical Greek Philosophical Paideia in Light of the Postmodern Occidentalism of Jacques Derrida :: Philosophy

Classical Greek Philosophical Paideia in Light of the Postmodern Occidentalism of Jacques Derrida ABSTRACT: In his writings during the 60s and 70s, Derrida situates his doctrine of diffà ©rance in the context of a radical critique of the Western philosophical tradition. This critique rests on a scathing criticism of the tradition as logocentric/phallogocentric. Often speaking in a postured, ÃÅ"bermenschean manner, Derrida claimed that his 'new' aporetic philosophy of diffà ©rance would help bring about the clà ´ture of the Western legacy of logocentrism and phallogocentrism. Although in recent writings he appears to have settled into a more pietistic attitude towards the traditionally Judeo-Christian sense of the sacred and a stronger declamatory acknowledgment of his solidarity with the critical project of the Greek thinkers, many of his readers are still left with a sour taste in their mouths due to the denunciatory and self-ingratiating tone of his earlier writings. In this paper, I address these concerns, arguing that the earlier phallogocentric paradigm underlying Derrid a's critique of classical Greek philosophical paideia can be troped as a postmodern, Franco-Euro form of 'Occidentalism'-a 'metanarrative' very similar in intent to the Orientalism critiqued by Said. In Derrida’s earlier writings, it is indeed very difficult to untangle this Occidental metanarrative from the aporetic metaphysics of diffà ©rance. a. From Hellenocentrism to Phallogocentrism: In his highly influential Introduction to Paideia: the Ideals of Greek Culture (1933), Werner Jaeger discusses the ideals of Greek paideia in terms of their seminal influence on European culture, a culture which he forebodingly describes in the early thirties as "tired of civilization." Jaeger employs the term "hellenocentric" to describe the essential nature of the Greek influence on the development of modern European culture; his method of interpreting Greek culture rests on an attempt both to reanimate the waning classicism of nineteenth century philhellenism and to challenge the widespread, Nietzschean-inspired "war against the excessive rationalization of modern life," a war that also leads, claims Jaeger, to a carte blanche historiographical dismissal of Greek paideia as excessively rationalistic. In his attempt to reanimate and challenge nineteenth- and early twentieth-century figurings of Greek paideia, Jaeger argues that the "intellectual and spiritual nature" of Greek intel lectual life cannot be understood, as he felt it had been understood, "in vacuo, cut off from the society which produced it and to which it was addressed." In his Introduction to Paideia, Jaeger reconstructs the dynamic interplay in Greek paideia between the polis and the individual, between social responsibility and individual freedom, --in short, between the zw'/on politikon and the gnw'qi seautovn-- in the hope of restoring to European culture a greater appreciation of its hellenocentric origins.

Many Cultures, One Place #2 :: Essays Papers

Many Cultures, One Place #2 In modern time, numerous people have the idea that all the countries in the world can be united as one. However, they do not comprehend completely that there exists many differences in terms of political and cultural structures that do not allow countries to act as one. In the article: One Europe, Two Citizens by Pavel Kelly-Tychtl, the author tries to make the audience understand that having numerous countries together acting as one, like the European Union EUROPA - The EU at a glance is not the best way possible to solve the problems that our society has because eventually it will generate more because of the huge gap that these countries have in relation to each other. According to the author of this article, the only purpose that the European Union has is to generate discontent between their citizens and also to affect the political and economical structures that have already been created before by those governments. The structure that the European Union has is not the proper system to enforce around countries in the world because it limits the power of each country depending the characteristics that each of them have. The European Union is a group of countries that their main purpose is to act as one nation. With this focus on mind, they want to create between these groups of countries the same qualities and characteristics so that they can have the best governmental system ever (Squeezing 22 ) Among the things that the European Union shares in common are: common currency (Euro), borders (it is easier to pass from one country to another), parliament (same laws or rules) Accessing European Union Information, free trade (safe economy), and so on. In present time, this union is composed of fifteen countries. However, the European Union is looking forward that other countries will join them, and they already invited other ten countries to be with them. Many politicians agree that the European Union is an excellent example of how governments should work because it is very well organized (One Europe 30) However, with the ideas given by the author in this paper the audience can clearly see that the o nly thing that the European Union can produce is differences between people around the world. There exist a similarity between the European Union and the United States; they both are seen as one place, one nation, and one country. Many Cultures, One Place #2 :: Essays Papers Many Cultures, One Place #2 In modern time, numerous people have the idea that all the countries in the world can be united as one. However, they do not comprehend completely that there exists many differences in terms of political and cultural structures that do not allow countries to act as one. In the article: One Europe, Two Citizens by Pavel Kelly-Tychtl, the author tries to make the audience understand that having numerous countries together acting as one, like the European Union EUROPA - The EU at a glance is not the best way possible to solve the problems that our society has because eventually it will generate more because of the huge gap that these countries have in relation to each other. According to the author of this article, the only purpose that the European Union has is to generate discontent between their citizens and also to affect the political and economical structures that have already been created before by those governments. The structure that the European Union has is not the proper system to enforce around countries in the world because it limits the power of each country depending the characteristics that each of them have. The European Union is a group of countries that their main purpose is to act as one nation. With this focus on mind, they want to create between these groups of countries the same qualities and characteristics so that they can have the best governmental system ever (Squeezing 22 ) Among the things that the European Union shares in common are: common currency (Euro), borders (it is easier to pass from one country to another), parliament (same laws or rules) Accessing European Union Information, free trade (safe economy), and so on. In present time, this union is composed of fifteen countries. However, the European Union is looking forward that other countries will join them, and they already invited other ten countries to be with them. Many politicians agree that the European Union is an excellent example of how governments should work because it is very well organized (One Europe 30) However, with the ideas given by the author in this paper the audience can clearly see that the o nly thing that the European Union can produce is differences between people around the world. There exist a similarity between the European Union and the United States; they both are seen as one place, one nation, and one country.

Assessment Of Equipment Diagnostic Radiology Health And Social Care Essay

Handiness and the usage of X-ray equipment in both private and authorities infirmaries is on the addition today in developed and developing states. Quality control of such equipment is of peculiar importance to forestall evitable high doses, radiation escapes and to guarantee dose optimisation. The consequences of quality control in this survey indicate that the end product measured in GHL ( M2 ) ranged between 0.0318 and 0.1192 mGy ( ma ) -1, while comparatively higher values which ranged from 0.0762 to 0.2156 mGy ( ma ) -1 was found in four other infirmaries. The tubing electromotive force truth measured indicates fluctuation among the infirmaries investigated. The divergence in electromotive force truth ranged between 0.9 and 10.9 % in the two units of GHL ( M1 and M2 ) . In the three other infirmaries the scope of divergences are 0.2 to 0.5 % ( PSH ) , 45.5 to 72.7 % ( NOH, the highest ) 22.9 to 23.3 % ( NARH ) . Both GHL ( M1 ) and PSH complied with the demand of  ± 5 % . As r egard timer truth, one-dimensionality of the tubing current and beam alliance ; NOH and NARH exceeded the acceptable bounds of  ±5 % ,  ±10 % and  ±3 % severally. The effect of non-compliance in most portion include: repetition exposures, more disbursals and more significantly, extra dosage to the patient.Keywords: Quality confidence, quality control, environmental monitoring, radiation, X-ray end productIntroductionIn Nigeria, X-rays is the most often used ionizing radiation in medical specialty despite progresss in magnetic resonance imagination and ultrasound techniques. It has maintained a cardinal function in diagnosing of diseases, hurt and in X-ray therapy. In consequence it is the largest manmade beginning of ionising radiation to the universe population ( ICRP, 1991 ; UNSCEAR, 1993 ; Muhogora and Nyanda, 2001 ) . X ray is the major subscriber to the effectual dosage of both the patient and the forces. Because of the radiological hazards involved, it is normally recomm ended that dosage to patient from X-ray be kept every bit low as moderately accomplishable ( ALARA ) with equal image quality ( IAEA, 1996 ) . In add-on, programmes for diagnostic imagination sections, irrespective of the size, should at least contain the undermentioned constituents: equipment quality control, administrative duties, hazard direction and radiation safety programme. Equipment quality control unit carries out rating of equipment public presentation to guarantee proper image quality, every bit good as patient and operator safety ( Papp, 2002 ) . Furthermore, radiation safety unit is to guarantee that patient exposure is kept every bit low as moderately accomplishable and that departmental forces, medical staff and members of the general populace are protected from overexposure to ionising radiation. Presently, there are far above 4000 X-ray machines in Nigeria ( Elegba, 2006 ) out of which less than 5 % are under regulative control. These thereby pose a great jeopardy to the patient, forces and challenges to the regulative organic structure in Nigeria. As a consequence of handiness of X-ray installations, some new while others are 2nd manus ( known locally as Tokunbo ) , there has been a changeless addition in the figure and frequence of X-ray scrutinies in recent times. In Northwestern part of Nigeria for illustration, a study of 124 establishments with beginnings of ionising radiation indicates that 203 X-ray installings were found with merely 90 sealed radiation beginnings ( Mallam et al. , 2004 ) . In the same study, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital ( ABUTH ) complex on norm carries out over 250 diagnostic X-ray scrutinies per twenty-four hours in the three infirmary installations located in Zaria, Kaduna and Malunfasi. The population of the open persons and the fre quence of exposure is an indicant that one-year collective dosage to patient can be rather important. The quality control ( QC ) programme comprises the regular testing that must be carried out on each major constituent of the system to guarantee optimal public presentation within the system ( West,1993 ) . In diagnostic radiology QC trial is carried out to guarantee that a high quality diagnostic image is produced for a minimal radiation dosage to the patient ( NRPB, 1988 ) . The major equipment in diagnostic radiology to which quality control can be applied include X-ray production, sensing, image processing and image viewing equipment among others. The equipment testing is coupled with everyday environmental monitoring and appraisal of image quality ( Oluwafisoye et al. , 2009 ) .( 1.1 ) Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority ( NNRA )Due to the hurtful effects of ionising radiation, the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority ( NNRA ) was established by the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act of 1995. This national regulative organic structure is charged with primary duty of atomic safety and radiation protection. The Act empowered the NNRA to categorise and licence activities affecting exposure to ionising radiation in peculiar, the ownership, production, processing, industry, purchase, sale, import, export, managing, usage, transmutation, transportation, trading, assignment, conveyance, storage, and disposal of any radioactive stuffs, atomic stuffs, radioactive waste, and any equipment breathing ionising radiation. In this respect, the NNRA in her papers made proviso for minimal demand for the equipment care in line with international regulative policies. As portion of the attempt at heightening safety in the usage of ionising radiation in Nigeria, the National Institute of Radiation Protection and Research ( NIRPR ) was established under the counsel of NNRA. The Institute trains forces in the radiation protection. The present measurings were conducted to look into the suitableness of the quality control trials and the stated tolerance degrees for assorted X-ray equipment at four Nigerian infirmaries. Additionally, environmental radiation supervising around the installations was carried out to determine the safety degree of both the patient and forces.( 2 ) MATERIALS AND METHODSQuality control trial ( kVp truth and duplicability, mAs one-dimensionality ) of four government-owned infirmaries, one general infirmary ( GHL ) , two specializer infirmaries [ Psychiatric infirmary ( PSH ) and National Orthopaedic infirmary ( NOH ) ] and one military infirmary ( NARH ) , all located in Lagos were carried out. The GHL has two functional X-ray units depicted as machine 1 ( M1 ) and machine 2 ( m 2 ) . The probe was carried out with the aid of the staff of the radiology section of each infirmary. Meanwhile, each of the X ray installations was used for both pediatric and big scrutinies. In all the infirmar ies there was no old exposure and QC informations available. The information use was done utilizing Microsoft Excel, 2003.( 2.1 ) Measurement of X-ray tubing Output and exposure clip merchandiseX-ray tubing end product is the sum of exposure, in millirontgens ( Mister ) delivered to a point in the Centre of the utile X-ray beam at a distance of 1 meter from the focal topographic point for 1 ma of negatron passing through the tubing. The end product expresses the ability of the tubing to change over electronic energy into X-ray exposure. X-ray tubing end product is the individual most of import parametric quantity to quantify radiation output ( Zoetelief et al, 2006 ) . The free-in-air exposure, FAE ( Mister ) was measured utilizing mill calibrated KV metre ( US made Victoreen X-ray trial device, theoretical account 4000 M+ ) obtained from the Department of Physics ( DOP ) University of Ibadan. The consistence of X-ray tubing end product with the tubing current ( ma ) or tube current exposure-time merchandise ( ma ) was measured for the scope of ma or ma values used in pattern. The sensor ( KV metre ) measures the mean, effectual and maximal extremum tubing electromotive force, power stage, exposure and exposure clip. This system determines the tubing electromotive force with truth of  ± 2 % ( Victoreen, 1995 ) . The internal ionisation chamber that measures exposure has volume of 36 cm3. The exposure clip is measured to an truth of  ± 2 % . The FAE ( Mister ) measured is converted into end product in mGy ( ma ) -1 by multiplying by a factor 0.00877/ ma ( Chang Jong and Hui- Yu, 1999 ) where ma in the denominator is the merchandise of the tubing current and exposure clip set at the clip of measuring of the end product.( 2.2 ) Environmental Monitoring and General ObservationsThe guiding rule used in all regulative paperss is that, radiation doses to the populace and to the people who work with radiation must be kept every bit low as moderately accomplishable ( ALARA rule ) . In kernel, radiation workers and the patient should be monitored at all times when working. The ground for this monitoring is to guarantee that the pattern being followed by the workers in their day-to-day modus operandi are safe and do non ensue in high doses being received. In the present survey, the dose rate at different points of involvement ( the console, entryway door behind the wall, patient waiting seats ) was measured with radiation sensor ( radiation proctor 4 minirad 1000+ ) . This device measures radiation dosage rate in ?Sv/ hour.( 2.3 ) Optical and Radiation Field Congruence/ Beam AlignmentThe beam control system is required for modulating the size of X-ray field country. Therefore, it plays an of import function in dose delivered to the patient because it controls the sum of patient surface country exposed to radiation and image contrast ( due to scattered radiation ) . The parametric quantities taken into consideration in beam control system includ e ; beam alliance, optical radiation field congruity, truth of the x Y graduated tables and illuminator bulb brightness. In this survey optical radiation field and beam alliance were examined.( 2.4 ) Ocular reviewsOne of the three parts of a quality control programme for a radiographic installation is ocular review. This portion includes look intoing the chief constituents of the equipment for proper operation, safety and good mechanical status. It is expected that they should include ; protective lead dress, lead shield of the cell wall, overhead tubing Crane, radiographic tabular array, control panel and other installations such as door and automatic visible radiation.( 3 ) RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONFive X-ray units in four infirmaries were investigated in the survey. Both the QC and environmental appraisal of the installations were carried out. Table 1 presents the radiographic equipment information at assorted infirmaries investigated. The old ages of industry of the equipment scope from 9 to 31 old ages, while the twelvemonth of installing is between 5 and 31 old ages. The consequence of age on the end product of an X-ray machine is good documented ( Mallam et al. , 2004, Ogundare et al. 2004 ) .( 3.1 ) X ray tubing OutputThe consequence of X-ray tubing end product at a distance of 1m each from the focal point of five X-ray units are presented in Table 2. The values of end product obtained in GHL ( M2 ) are comparatively low, those measured in GHL ( M1 ) are higher than those found in M2. It ranged from 0.0318 to 0.1192 mGy ( ma ) -1. However, higher end products are found at the same electromotive force in PSH and NOH. As an illustration, at 80kVp the end products are 0.0796, 0.1676, 0.2156 and 0.0762 mGy ( ma ) -1 for GHL ( M1 ) , PSH, NOH and NARH severally. The fluctuation in the end product could be attributed to the wave form, anode stuff, filtration, and tube age and anode surface harm. Knowledge of the end product value for a given X-ray tubing permit s the finding of both patient and movie exposures. It is besides used in the computation of Entrance Surface Dose ( ESD ) delivered to the patient at the point where the X-ray beam enters the patient. This dosimetry parametric quantity ( ESD ) gives the perspective appraisal of absorbed dosage to the patient. Although the entryway surface dosage is a hapless hazard index, it can be used to gauge the effectual dosage ( ED ) which better quantifies patient hazard ( Gkanatsios and Huda,1997 ) . The fluctuation in the end product among the infirmaries could take to fluctuation in doses delivered to the patients during the scrutinies. The consistence of X-ray tubing end product with ma was measured for a scope of ma for the five X-ray units at different electromotive forces. The consequences are presented in figures 1-3. Furthermore, consequences of end product measured at different kVp above 80 kVp ( GHL and NARH ) show strong correlativity with ma, nevertheless, the end products measured at lower electromotive force of 60 and 75 kVp indicate weak correlativity with ma. The X-ray tubing and the anode current are extremely stabilized at this point ( Suliman and Elshiekh, 2008 ) . The consequences of the tubing electromotive force truth for five X-ray units investigated are presented in tabular arraies 3a-3d. The tabular arraies show the tubing electromotive force set, the tubing electromotive force measured and the magnitude of divergence. It should be noted that the magnitude of divergence in kVp vary from infirmary to infirmary. In GHL, the divergence ranged between 0.9 and10.9 % for the two machines ( M1 and M2 ) . The scopes of magnitude of divergence for the three other infirmaries are ; 0.2 to 0.5 % , 45.5 to 72.7 % ( highest in this survey ) and 22.9 to 23.3 % in PSH, NOH and NARH severally. Both m1 ( GHL ) and PSH comply with the demand of  ± 5 % , while M2 ( GHL ) , NOH and NARH exceeded the demand. The grounds for higher divergence in kVp found in NOH and NARH are multifactorial. The European Commission recommended a high technique of 125 kilovolts IAEA ( 1995 ) which likely consequences in low doses, but the radiotherapists prefer the higher contrast thorax radiogram which consequences from low kVp. Earlier study indicated that increasing the tubing potency ( kVp ) from 8-13 kilovolt in lumbar and pectoral spinal column scrutiny resulted in a dose decrease of 26-36 % ( Martin et al, 1993 ) . The higher divergences outside the tolerance bound as obtained in the present survey show disagreements in kVp between the measured and the set values particularly if the tubings are non adequately maintained. Furthermore, the overly high divergence between the set and the measured kVp could cut down the image contrast ( Livingstone et al, 2004 ) . The unexpected elevated value of proficient parametric quantities which consequences from defective machine could impact both patient dosage and image quality. The tendencies found in GHL ( M2 ) , NOH and NARH require regular and repeated QC trials.( 3.2 ) Quality Control ( QC ) TrialTable 4 is the sum-up of the QC trials carried out on the equipment at different infirmaries. The kVp truth trials show conformity with acceptable bound in GHL ( M1 and M2 ) and PSH while NOH and NARH show non-compliance with acceptable bound of 5 % . As respects the kVp consistence, similar tendency is found in the infirmaries as those found in kVp truth. In footings of timer truth, it is postulated that exposure clip straight affect the entire measure of radiation emitted from an X-ray tubing. Therefore, an accurate exposure timer is critical for decently exposed radiogram and sensible patient radiation exposure. Both GHL and PSH met the the acceptable variableness bound. Since the timer truth in NOH and NARH are above the bound of acceptableness, it is expected that the radiation dosage delivered to the patient will be higher than the expected value required to bring forth the movie. Furthermore, the one-dimensionality of tubing current ( ma ) and beam alliance of both NOH and NARH fell abruptly of the acceptable bound of 10 % and 3 % severally. Regulation of X-ray tubing filament temperature ( along with the exposure clip find the quality of X raies in the X-ray beam ) is done with millampere picker in an X-ray generator. The beam limitation system is required for modulating the size of the X-ray field country. The mechanism contro ls the sum of patient anatomy exposed to radiation beam ( Papp, 2002 ) . This plays a cardinal function in patient dose and image contrast. The addition in country increases the production of the scattered radiation, hence higher patient dosage and wellness hazard. The non-compliance of optical radiation field and radiation field congruity may stem from the displacement in mechanism that moves the shutter, doing improper public presentation. This leads to higher patient dosage and repetition images ( consequence in more movies being used and more disbursals ) .( 3.3 ) Forces DistributionThe saloon chart in figure 4 shows the distribution of forces. It indicates that two classs of forces are losing ; Radiation Protection Officer/ Medical Physicist and Record Officer. The tendency is similar to the earlier work reported elsewhere ( Oluwafisoye et al. , 2009 ) . The tendency shows that radiation protection of the patients, visitants and forces is non the preoccupation of the direction of the infirmaries investigated. The absence of the record officers indicate that record maintaining at the infirmaries is far from being equal. A record maintaining system is necessary to document the quality control processs, the figure of culls and other activitie s traveling on at the X-ray units of the infirmary.( 3.4 ) Visual/ General ObservationsThe consequence of ocular observations is presented in table 5. It shows that all the basic constituents inspected were functional except LED index on the control panel found in GHL ( M2 ) . Table 6 shows the general observations carried out at assorted infirmaries investigated. Columns 1 and 2 show that the chief door taking to the X-ray room is non lead-lined. Columns 3 and 4 indicate that merely NOH has efficient 2nd door and lead-lined. The cells of the four infirmaries are efficient. This indicates that the interior decorator of the console put in topographic point equal steps that prevent the technicians from immaterial beams during exposures. The doors to the units lack automatic control, connoting that during the exposure the doors do non shut automatically as a consequence, controlled entree to the country where radiation exposure may be taking topographic point is non ensured. Lead apron was non provided in NARH. Nevertheless, the lead apron provided in GHL was non efficient. Regulation for good pattern stipulates that lead aprons and baseball mitts should be available in the radiographic room and have a lower limit of 0.5 millimeters of lead tantamount thickness ( Papp,2002 ) . It is besides apparent that technique charts were losing in all the units, an indicant that technique parametric quantities are chosen at random by the radiographers responsible for the exposure of the patient. This could take to hapless matching of patient size and technique parametric quantities. Furthermore, warning visible radiation was non provided in any of the units to warn visitants or other forces of the exposure traveling on in the X-ray room. The forces monitoring badge was merely available in NOH, bespeaking that forces dose supervising in GHL, PSH and NARH are non-existent.( 3.5 ) Dose degreeConsequence of environmental dose monitoring at the chosen locations within and in the immediate environment of each of the X-ray units investigated is presented in table 7. The consequences in all the five units indicate that the dose rate measured at the sofa are by and large really high. At the border of the cell the dosage rates recorded are greater than the background dosage rate by a factor of 7, 20, and 10 in GHL ( M1 ) , PSH and NARH, severally. The dose rate measured within the cell is comparable to the background. This status is safe for the radiographer ; nevertheless, the dose rate is high within the entryway door in GHL ( M1 ) and NARH, it is greater than the backg round dosage rate by a factor of 6 and 7.5 each. In add-on, the dose rate measured at the waiting anteroom of the patients is comparable with the background dosage rate in PSH and NARH, but higher than the background dosage rate by a factor of 10 in NOH. The high dosage rate experienced in NOH could be attributed to damaged door of the X-ray units. Another possible account for the high dosage rate at the waiting anteroom is the direct nexus between the anteroom and the X-ray machine. It is interesting to observe that there were no escapes experienced in the five X-ray units investigated as reported in the earlier survey carried out in Nigeria ( Oluwafisoye et al. , 2009 ) . Apparently, this present survey is the first QC trial and environmental monitoring attempts carried out in the five X-ray units in four infirmaries investigated. This is an indicant that the consequences are preliminary against which future measurings could be compared. Besides, the usage of thermoluminescent dosemeters ( TLD ) for the forces monitoring has ne'er been undertaken in the five units. Personnel monitoring is indispensable, since there is a nexus between the ionizing radiation and coevals of reactive O series [ ROS ] ( Cohen, 2002 ) . These ROS have been implicated in the etiology of over 100 diseases. Radiation is one of the major exogenic beginnings of free groups in adult male and it has been proved that ionising radiation produces ROS in biological system capable of destructing biomolecules such as DNA, lipoids, proteins and saccharide ( Olisekodiaka et al. , 2009 ) . Workers runing X-ray equipment are exposed to long term low doses of ionising radiation which may imp act their antioxidant position. Consequences of the QC trials and monitoring were sent to the direction of the four infirmaries investigated. In Addition, recommendations on the necessity of regular QC trial were forwarded to each infirmary for necessary actions.( 4 ) DecisionQuality control trials of five X-ray units are undertaken with intent of safety and dose optimisation in the X-rays Centres investigated. The ages of three out of five machines are good over 10 old ages. In add-on, the divergence of the measured kVp from set value on the control panel varied among the infirmaries. Two out of the five machines complied with the needed criterion of pattern, while three exceeded the demand. The QC trial carried out on kVp truth and consistence show non- conformity in two infirmaries. The distribution of forces show that, the preoccupation of the authorization of the X-ray unit investigated was the quality of the radiogram produced at the disbursal of safety of the patient. The fluctuation in the end product of th e assorted tubing is an indicant that doses among the infirmaries differ. In each of the X-ray units investigated there was no specialised installation to execute pediatric scrutinies and movie screening.