Monday, January 27, 2020

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Prevention

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Prevention Administrative structure Bangladesh has 7 divisions, 64 districts and 489 upazilas or sub-districts [Bangladesh National Portal. Source: http://bangladesh.gov.bd] and share borders with India (about 4,246 km) and Myanmar (193 km). Each upazila or sub-district consisting of multiple unions, each unions consisting of nine villages (in rural areas)/ wards (in metropolitan areas) and each ward consisting of multiple mauzas (in rural areas)/ mahallas (in metropolitan areas). In metropolitan or sub urban area, unions are replaced with pourashava i.e municipality and city corporation. There are 4550 unions [Bangladesh National Portal. Source: http://bangladesh.gov.bd/site/view/union-list], 56348 mouzas, 11 city corporations and 317 municipalities in Bangladesh [Bangladesh bureau of statistics (BBS). 2014. Statistical pocketbook of Bangladesh-2013: www.bbs.gov.bd]. Source: Cabinet Division- Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh: http://www.cabinet.gov.bd/site/page/fe6c7332-5568-4dd7-bd37-d08120931ccd Control scenario Following are the scenario to control the HPAI in Bangladesh- Stumping out- Bangladesh government approved traditional â€Å"stamping out† control strategy to fight against HPAI since its first detection in 2007. A basic â€Å"stamping out† consist of (a) infection detection (b) affected bird quarantine and (c) culling of affected and in-contact poultry (d) decontamination and (e) surveillance after outbreak. At beginning, the government implemented stamping out in the affected farm and all farms located in 5 KM radius of affected farm. Then government revised this decision due to poultry industry protest and enacted new â€Å"stamping out† rule: stamping out in affected farm and all farms located in 1 KM radius of affected farm. Currently stamping out was only limited to the affected poultry farms (1, 2). Early detection and early response were stressed to control the HPAI in Bangladesh, but late reporting and late response usually hampered the early detection and early response process in Bangladesh. To facilitate the early detection, a HPAI active surveillance program through SMS based reporting system was introduced in Bangladesh which was closed because of fund crisis. In addition, avian influenza compensation strategy was adapted for the owner of the culled poultry farmer in June 2008 which was also closed due to fund availability. Under those circumstances the number of informing gradually reduced (1). Restriction in the movement of poultry Limit in the poultry movement was also enforced but this process was not successful to limit the entry of sick poultry into the live bird market (1). Vaccination (trial basis) in parent stock and commercial layer farm Islam (2015) stated that though Bangladesh introduced vaccination at certain areas in 2013 and 2015, the effect of vaccination is still need to be assessed (1). According to vaccination policy, vaccination on poultry flock is depend on farmer determination, however permission from livestock authority is necessary as livestock authority is responsible for post-vaccination investigation. In addition, poultry farmer is responsible to pay the immunisation and vaccine expenses. In the trial site, vaccination was carried on parent stock (100%) and commercial layer flock (50%), however vaccination was not done in broiler flock. According to number of farm in the trial site, a lower percentage of commercial layer poultry farms were came under vaccination in Gazipur (33%) and Bajitpur (55%). Trial documented uneven antibody response in between the farm and within the poultry farm. In addition, an unprotective antibody level (2 5 (or32)) has been documented in few poultry bird. On the other ha nd, many poultry birds documented protective antibody level (from Log2 5 to Log2 6). Antibody level ranged Log2 5 to Log2 6 is assumed to provide protection against clinical HPAI while this level is unable to reduce the shedding of HPAI. The trial also documented diverse antibody response with different type of vaccine. Post-vaccination outbreaks has been documented in many countries mainly due to scarce vaccination coverage in the main host species (1). Outreach and health education: 10 recommendation messages (Table 1) has been published by Bangladesh government to prevent HPAI H5N1 in human and disseminate those through TV, radio, print media and Department of Livestock Service led public meeting. Government adopted those recommendation from a UNICEF-WHO-FAO-Japan Government joint publication (3). Shanta et al. (2012) documented the percentage of backyard poultry raiser who trailed Bangladesh Government 10 messages after four yours of first detection of HPAI H5N1 in Bangladesh and stated that government should revised 10 messages to lower the risk of HPAI H5N1 in human population (Figure 1). In addition the author stressed on communication pathway and appropriateness of proposed human behaviour in HPAI H5N1 control program (3, 4). Sultana et al. (2012) has the similar findings and also stated that backyard poultry farmers unable to follow the government message because bringing change in low earned backyard poultry farmer existing behaviour require more time an d more financial capacity (5). Table 1: Bangladesh Government 10 recommendation or message to prevent HPAI H5N1 transmission in human (3) Figure 1: Percentage of backyard poultry raiser who trailed Bangladesh Government 10 messages to prevent HPAI H5N1 transmission in Human (2009-2011) (3, 4) Bangladesh adopted different control measure from basic stamping out technique to vaccination (mentioned in above section) since first detection of HPAI H5N1 in poultry in 2007. There is a very limited alternative control method left except strengthening the current control measure to control the HPAI in Bangladesh. After reviewing the control methods in my opinion stamping out a combination of stamping out (only on the affected farm) and vaccination on 1 km radius around the affected farm can be a best practice to control HPAI in Bangladesh. For example, one study proposed a combination of stamping out (1 km radius around the affected farm) and vaccination (3 km radius around the affected farm) to control AI in Belgium (6). Second best control option, stamping out only in the affected farm, which is currently practicing in Bangladesh, is the best method for controlling AI in Bangladesh as the number of bird culling is limited when we compare it with stamping out in 1 km radius and 5 km radius around the affected farm. Third best control option, vaccination in layer, broiler and backyard poultry is an alternative control method for Bangladesh. However, regular monitoring on post-vaccination flock with veterinary authority is necessary to prevent the outbreak of avian influenza with vaccine strai n. For example, one study identified AI in a vaccinated poultry without presentation ill signs even though many birds demonstrate high antibody level (Log 27 to Log 28) (7). The worst control method, â€Å"stamping out† in 1 km radius and 5 km radius around the affected farm as Bangladesh has high poultry density (1460 poultry/km2) (8) and culling of large number of birds lead to financial loss of poultry farmer. The following are the items that will need to estimate the prevention and control costs per method 1.Islam MR. Global and local challenges in the control of avian influenza. 9th International Poultry Show Seminar; Dhaka, Bangladesh: World Poultry Science Association-Bangladesh Branch; 2015. p. 5-14. 2.Haider M, Applebaum B. Disease Management of Avian Influenza H5N1 in Bangladesh-A Focus on Maintaining Healthy Live Birds: INTECH Open Access Publisher; 2011. 3.icddrb. Backyard poultry raising practices in Bangladesh: implications for risk of avian inflenza infection in humans. Health and Science Bulletin 2012;10:1-8. 4.Shanta IS, Hasnat MA, Mikolon A, Khan MSU, Haider N, Bhuyan AA, et al. Backyard Poultry Rearing Practices in Bangladesh: Implications for Risk of Avian Inflenza. 2012 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases; March 11-14, 2012; Atlanta, Georgia Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2012. 5.Sultana R, Rimi NA, Azad S, Islam MS, Khan MSU, Gurley ES, et al. Bangladeshi backyard poultry raisers’ perceptions and practices related to zoonotic transmission of avian influenza. The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries. 2011 2011;6(02):156-65. 6.Vandendriessche Y, Gellynck X, Saatkamp H, Dewulf J, Van Steenwinkel S, Vermeire B, et al. Economic evaluation of strategies to control high pathogenic avian influenza in Belgium. Lucrari stiintifice Seria Zootehnie-Universitatea de Stiinte Agricole si Medicina Veterinara Ion Ionescu de la Brad (Romania). 2010. 7.Giasuddin M, Rahman MH, Hasan M, Karim MR. Isolation of Avian Influenza Viruses from Vaccinated Chicken Flocks of Bangladesh. In: Husain M, editor. 8th One Health Bangladesh Conference; Dhaka, Banfgladesh: Scientific Sub-Committee, 8th One Health Bangladesh Conference; 2015. p. 7. 8.Biswas PK, Christensen JP, Ahmed SSU, Barua H, Das A, Rahman MH, et al. Avian influenza outbreaks in chickens, Bangladesh. Emerging infectious diseases. 2008 2008;14(12).

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Men are violent by nature Essay

In the essay â€Å"Men – It’s In Their Nature,† Hoff Sommers states that although the â€Å"radical masculinity† should be addressed and civilized, it should not be eliminated because it is something natural and without it men would not be able to protect women and society. She argues that trying to make boys behave like girls does a disservice to boys’ natural talent. As Hoff Sommers claims, it is more of †Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"men’s nature†Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬  and what society has to do is to civilize and handle the natural masculinity in men. There are strong influences in society, including media, school, and culture that overwhelmingly define aggressive male behavior. While these are undeniable physical properties, even from birth, gender roles are defined for children. Men must abandon notion they are violent by nature I remember my dad telling me about a woman he met this past summer in a small farming community who told hi m her husband beat her every few weeks. We’re surrounded by violence. Kids will see hundreds of violent deaths on television. Children will see other kids get spanked by their parents and learn that violence and love go hand-to-hand. Children The behavior is influenced by the massagers about gender that kids get from their parents, friends, teachers, and the media. Many parents, teachers, and gender reform have not been successful in rooting out male behavior they regard as harmful. For example, an â€Å"equity facilitator† tried to persuade a group of nine-year-old boys in a Baltimore public school to accept the idea of playing with baby dolls. According to one observer, â€Å"Their reaction was so hostile; the teacher had trouble keeping order (Sommers 366).† Sommers’ present’ research that asserts that the nature of men is a matter of biology, not conditioning, and schools should stop attempting to change natural gender roles in society. Biology is a factor in some aspects of male and female behavior, but the education of gender roles is society is constantly broadcast from parents, television, and teachers. Behavior adapts to the prevailing culture, not necessarily to biological ho rmones. â€Å"A Scientific American reviewed the growing evidence that children’s play preferences are, in large part, hormonally determined (Sommers 367).† Scientific date is no longer relevant; it is the culture of a particular society that is the major influence. Because all individual must exist within different societies, much of the behavior is engineered from laws, religion, and culture. If there was a law the demanded that man stay home and women work, then the behavior would respond that law and not to the biological nature of an individual’s sex. â€Å"We have a set of proven social practices for raising young men. The traditional approach is through character education to develop a young man’s sense of honor and help him become a considerate, conscientious human being (Sommers 367).† Yes, there are social practices in society, home, school, that encourage men to be dominant. In Saudi Arabia, Men are entitled to divorce without explanation simply by registering a statement to the court and repeating it three times. By contrast, most women lack the right to divorce. Sommers also discusses, â€Å"the efforts to feminize them with dolls, quilts, non-competitive games, girl-centered books, and feelings exercises will fail; though they will succeed in making millions of boys quite unhappy(Sommers 368).† There is no original or primary gender a drag imitates, but gender is a kind of such as those that encourage men who rape women to marry their victims. I don’t feel we should be trying to redirect their interests or feminize them to accomplish this, instead teach them how to use what comes natural to them for the greater good. Men have helped to get us this far through their competitive drive, risk taking, and sometimes their aggression. Sommers present scientific data that support the hardwired characteristics of men and women. The scientific data is valid, but in everyday life men and women are expected by society, to conform to tradition roles for men and women. There are many instances where there is a behavior that is hardwired from biology, but behaviors are still learned. A man may open a door for a woman because he was told that’s how you treat a woman. Sommers may have valid points about natural gender role, but she forgot the fact that behavior can never be learned from just science.

Friday, January 10, 2020

The Role of Strategic Leadership

Over time the concept of leadership has changed. In a contemporary learning environment, leadership has demonstrated the need to overcome recurring challenges to allow room for the development of great qualities that make up an effective leader. Not everyone can be in leadership positions; however, as aspiring young leaders develop a new comprehensive and collaborative framework they will improve their leadership practice. This is not to say that they will be effective leaders.I feel that experience is key in many ways because through the leadership simulation it has allowed me to evolve and improve on the whole concept of the responsibility of being and effective leader. Throughout my years in education I saw many schools experiencing the need for improvement in as far as leadership is concerned. The principles of leadership simulation continue to enhance leadership growth and development in the 21st century. We now know what the role of a leader is about.Many times I felt, from pas t experience in dealing with more then one administrator, that we have always lacked this one thing; that is, effective communication. Participating in the simulation period has really allowed me to be more open to suggestion during my quest for more leadership experience. I have weak points that I need to address. However, being in athletics has made me more tolerant and more outspoken. In addition, I still need to learn a few things about leadership because there is always room for improvement.Throughout my experience while taking this leadership course I have learnt that leadership revolves around the central role of providing problem solution in order to achieve set objectives. It gave me a clear understanding of the unique styles of different types of leaders as well as learning the type of leader I am. In my experience through the simulation periods I felt there was a need for each participant to be involved as much as possible. This would allow them to grow as individuals thr ough people they don’t know and never seen.Even though we all had different theories of how things should have been done I felt that we accomplished a lot together. My understanding of the leadership course is that it demonstrates the general concept of the leadership framework. Leadership framework that offers problem-based experience that engages participants in addressing real world problems and situations in a learning environment. I know that principals and school leaders are expected to encourage critical, creative and strategic thinking in an environment that is collaborative.I am aware of strategic pedestal that leaders use to influence the effects on the school success. This will only through creative analysis of strategic base within the limits of school policy as well as solving organizational problems of schools. I felt that the leadership courses builds on the principles of problem solving as well as critical thinking skills in a realistic world that is typical o f collaboration, consultation and interactive simulation.Ultimately, as a school leader over the athletic department it is my responsibility to demonstrate experience and expertise in making decisions that may influence the success of the athletic program. Strategic leadership addresses effective management and planning so as to achieve an organization’s goals or a group’s targets. Scholars define strategic leadership as a person’s ability to expect, envision, maintain flexibility, think strategically and work with others to create a viable future for the organization (Ireland &Hitt, 2005).According to strategic leadership theory organizations are a reflection of their top level managers, and most especially the executive. The experiences, knowledge and values of the top executive shape the organization’s destiny. It is important that top executives collect important data in order too make wise decisions for their organizations. My experience as a high sc hool athletic director has taught me the importance of a leader’s knowledge, values and experiences in helping him or her make better decisions for advancing the organization’s objectives.Through my vast experience I have been able to note events and situations that tend to repeat themselves over the course of time so that I am better able to prepare for their reoccurrence. Also, the knowledge I have gained over the years through studies, work and other sources has directly or indirectly shaped the direction of my decisions. Again most of my decisions have been determined by my values; the primary value being service to others. As the high school athletic director, I deal with coaches and athletes on a daily basis since I run the athletic program.My decisions are therefore key to the progress of the athletic program. My knowledge, values and experiences impact the direction that the program takes because these factors determine my decisions for the program. Through the leadership course I have developed an appreciation for the importance of effective communication as a tool that any good leader should perfect in order to ensure the progress and future of his organization. I have developed an appreciation for the relation between good communication and effective collection of data that is critical to decision making for leaders.When a leader is able to effectively communicate with his team then he is in a position to effect quality operation of the organization. However when the leader is not able to effectively communicate his vision to his team then chances are that the organization’s future may become uncertain citing inability of the team to stir the organization towards what the leader has identified as the direction that the organization ought to take. In other cases conflict and animosity may occur due to bad communication.Conflict within a team breeds disharmony among the team members which effectively reduces cooperation. This ther efore retards the organization’s growth. As a high school athletic director, I have responsibility of stirring the program towards success. Having noted that there is a need to improve communication in school administration, and with my new found knowledge about the importance of effective communication, I will strive to improve communication between me and the coaches, athletes and school administrators.Thanks to the leadership course and the simulations I am better able to deal with these people, in tune with my leadership style. As a leader I can therefore say that I am in a better position, thanks to the leadership course to effectively lead the athletic program to ensure its development and survival. The concept of leadership has changed over time, so that leaders of today have more advanced and unique expectations than those of the past. Different individual have different leadership styles.What is to note however is that, no matter the variation in leadership style, co mmunication is key to effective leadership. Strategy, critical thinking and a problem solving attitude are also prerequisites to effective leadership. References Ireland, R. D. , & Hitt, M. A. (2005). Achieving and Maintaining Strategic Competitiveness in the 21st Century: The Role of Strategic Leadership. Retrieved August 7, 2010 from, http://www. nwcor. com/NWCOR/Content/Readings/Chapter 13-StrategicLdrshp- AME CLassic. pdf

Thursday, January 2, 2020

How to Write and Structure a Persuasive Speech

The purpose of a persuasive speech is to convince your audience to agree with an idea or opinion that you present. First, youll need to choose a side on a controversial topic, then you will write a speech to explain your position, and convince the audience to agree with you. You can produce an effective persuasive speech if you structure your argument as a solution to a problem. Your first job as a speaker is to convince your audience that a particular problem is important to them, and then you must convince them that you have the solution to make things better. Note: You dont have to address a real problem. Any need can work as the problem. For example, you could consider the lack of a pet, the need to wash ones hands, or the need to pick a particular sport to play as the problem. As an example, lets imagine that you have chosen Getting Up Early as your persuasion topic. Your goal will be to persuade classmates to get themselves out of bed an hour earlier every morning. In this instance, the problem could be summed up as morning chaos. A standard speech format has an introduction with a great hook statement, three main points, and a summary. Your persuasive speech will be a tailored version of this format. Before you write the text of your speech, you should sketch an outline that includes your hook statement and three main points. Writing the Text The introduction of your speech must be compelling because your audience will make up their minds within a few minutes whether or not they are interested in your topic. Before you write the full body you should come up with a greeting. Your greeting can be as simple as Good morning everyone. My name is Frank. After your greeting, you will offer a hook to capture attention. A hook sentence for the morning chaos speech could be a question: How many times have you been late for school?Does your day begin with shouts and arguments?Have you ever missed the bus? Or your hook could be a statistic or surprising statement: More than 50 percent of high school students skip breakfast because they just dont have time to eat.Tardy kids drop out of school more often than punctual kids. Once you have the attention of your audience, follow through to define the topic/problem and introduce your solution. Heres an example of what you might have so far: Good afternoon, class. Some of you know me, but some of you may not. My name is Frank Godfrey, and I have a question for you. Does your day begin with shouts and arguments? Do you go to school in a bad mood because youve been yelled at, or because you argued with your parent? The chaos you experience in the morning can bring you down and affect your performance at school. Add the solution: You can improve your mood and your school performance by adding more time to your morning schedule. You can accomplish this by setting your alarm clock to go off one hour earlier. Your next task will be to write the body, which will contain the three main points youve come up with to argue your position. Each point will be followed by supporting evidence or anecdotes, and each body paragraph will need to end with a transition statement that leads to the next segment. Here is a sample of three main statements: Bad moods caused by morning chaos will affect your workday performance.If you skip breakfast to buy time, youre making a harmful health decision.(Ending on a cheerful note) Youll enjoy a boost to your self-esteem when you reduce the morning chaos. After you write three body paragraphs with strong transition statements that make your speech flow, you are ready to work on your summary. Your summary will re-emphasize your argument and restate your points in slightly different language. This can be a little tricky. You dont want to sound repetitive but will need to repeat what you have said. Find a way to reword the same main points. Finally, you must make sure to write a clear final sentence or passage to keep yourself from stammering at the end or fading off in an awkward moment. A few examples of graceful exits: We all like to sleep. Its hard to get up some mornings, but rest assured that the reward is well worth the effort.If you follow these guidelines and make the effort to get up a little bit earlier every day, youll reap rewards in your home life and on your report card. Tips for Writing Your Speech Dont be confrontational in your argument. You dont need to put down the other side; just convince your audience that your position is correct by using positive assertions.Use simple statistics. Dont overwhelm your audience with confusing numbers.Dont complicate your speech by going outside the standard three points format. While it might seem simplistic, it is a tried and true method for presenting to an audience who is listening as opposed to reading.