Labor Turnover in Hotels

The rate at which organizations’ employees are lost whereas others are employed is referred to as labor turnover. The hospitality industry is among the leading commercial services in the business sector. In this industry, this has led to the need of a large workforce that has created many employment opportunities to the people in the nations.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Labor Turnover in Hotels specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The waiters, waitresses, suppliers, departmental managers, and chief executive officers of the restaurants and hotels are some of the employees who get jobs in the hospitality industry. This is an indication of how hospitality industry is an important sector in the economy. First, it creates a lot of employment opportunities, which help in making majority of the population productive. Secondly, hotels are huge producers in the economy as illustrated by the volume of resources req uired by hotels to provide their services. This gives the economy a boost through incentives such as taxation. The advantages that come along with this industry being wide are not only seen in the economy, but the benefits also reach the entrepreneurs who invest in this sector. In business, the bigger industries pose more challenges to the firms operating them. Essentially, the labor turnover is one of the most pertinent problems facing this industry. The big workforce attached to this sector of the economy makes the hotel industry one of the sectors affected by high labor turnover rates. The employees in hotels and other firms in the hospitality industry are able to move from one organization to the other more quickly due to the many operating hotels. This has led to the high ratio of labor turnover in hotels. Some problems have been experienced due to this condition, which has tried to solve some tough situations in the hotels as discussed in this paper. Classification of Labor Tu rnover It is important to highlight the major types of labor turnover experienced in the national economy in order to discuss the many problems that have come along with labor turnover in hotels. Labor turnover can be put into various groups depending on the area which the employees in question relocate, or according to the employees’ own wish to terminate their employment.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More According to the area in which an employee changes his or her area of employment, labor turnover can be classified as either internal or external employee turnover. The internal labor turnover is the one in which the employees change the positions that they held initially within the same organization. In the case of hotels, one can move from being a manager at the finance department to the catering department. On the other hand, there is also external labor turnover which entails employees moving from one organization to another. This type of employee turnover affects the operations of firms in terms of productivity and efficiency because it reduces the labor force of the company. External labor turnover also takes away some of the best-qualified employees of the company. A waiter or waitress can move to another hotel where he/she believes there are better working policies. In terms of employees’ wishes to terminate their employment, labor turnover can be categorized as voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary labor turnover is a case where the employees move out of the organization without being asked by the management of the company to leave the organization. In this case, the labor turnover is caused by issues such as dissatisfaction in payments or terms of work. On the contrary, involuntary labor turnover is pushed by the organization itself. In this case, the employer asks the employee to leave the firm due to some faults in order to fi nd someone else who can replace the labor force that has left. This shows the difference between labor layout and labor turnout. The former does not require replacement of the employees relieved of their duties. Problems of Labor Turnover in Hotels There are series of problems attached to the high rates of labor turnover experienced in the hotel companies. Some of these challenges are not too serious, especially those caused by internal employee layout. These are problems such as delays in projects started in the organization and consistent restructuring of the management. However, there are greater problems brought by labor turnover in hotels, particularly the external and involuntary labor turnovers.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Labor Turnover in Hotels specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Disruption of Projects The hotels are like any other business firm, and they are bound to have set projects that they work on to help the growth of the organization. When a lot of employees in the hotels leave the firm or they are shifted internally, the progress of projects is disrupted. This disruption appears because the labor force that was employed initially had a specific role to play in the development of the projects. The going away of employees from the firm can imply that the project will be dragged behind or even paused for a while. For the hotel to keep working towards implementing the projects and initiatives it possesses, it is forced to get new employees or tries to make the existing workers adapt to more working activities and keep the project moving. Deterioration of Performance over Sometime With the high rate of labor turnovers in hotels, the performance of these firms has been interfered with for a period of time. This is mostly at that time when the company has most of its employees leaving their organization because the hotel will have a shortage of workforce, which would impact on the productivity of the firm. In short, the production levels and performance of the hotels keep fluctuating because of the high employee turnover rates. High Replacement Costs The hotels are faced with the challenge of replacing the employees, which leaves their firms trying to avoid being understaffed. This puts the hotels in a tricky situation where they are forced to employ new workers quickly and at high costs in a bid to maintain the company’s level of productivity. The price of getting new employees is quite expensive, especially when it involves a huge number of employees who are also expected to be professionals as in the case of hospitality industry. Therefore, the hotels must use a lot of capital to do the recruitment, selection and training of the new employees in order to ensure that the quality of services remains good. Company’s Time Wasted Labor turnover in hotels makes the hospitality industry to be held behind with repeated activities of getting the best labor in the market. First, a lot of time dedicated on training and equipping of the employees with necessary skills required in offering services in the hotels is believed to have been wasted when the employees leave the company.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Most of these hotels organize the training programs for their employees costing them a lot of time that would rather be used in other activities. What makes the problem worse is the fact that labor turnover would force these hotels to put their new employees in training programs that cost the organizations more time. Workplace Efficiency Affected Every workplace has some working code of conduct in which the employees must comply with to maintain efficiency in the organization. The issue of a higher ratio on labor turnover affects the efficiency of the workplace by interfering with how employees abide by the code of conduct present in their job areas. The moment a hotel has new workers employed after a short period, it becomes hard to keep all the workers operating fully according to the norms of the firm. This impacts the efficiency of the workers altogether as some employees might end up failing to reach the standards they are set by the hotel management. A lot of Resources Require d Labor turnover pushes the hotels to start most of their employee acquisition processes which require a lot of resources. The firms put many resources and utilize a lot of money in this process starting with advertisements that inform on job opportunities to the final stage of training the new employees. Once a hotel has new workers at the management level and the subordinate staffs, more resources must be spent on them. For instance, the waiters and waitresses would need uniforms while the new managers would require stationery. During the training process of these new workers, a lot of resources are also required to enhance the learning process and equip them with skills. This again becomes a problem to the hotels when the employees leave their firms as all the resources used in training would be considered as waste. In one way, this discourages the hotel managements from investing in equipping their workers with skills through training. With all these challenges, one would consid er labor turnover in hotels to be unproductive and risky to the hospitality industry. If it is indeed dangerous to the sector, it is good to know what causes the employee turnover. Cause of Labor Turnover in Hotels Low Pay and Poor Compensation One of the main reasons why employees move from one hotel to another is dissatisfaction on the payment they receive in the organization they are working. The workers might find out that the quality of service they offer to the firm has more value compared to the payment they get. This pushes the workers to seek somewhere else where they think their services would be appreciated more by higher payments. The employees also seek work places where they are given better compensation offers. This has been a force behind the high labor turnover rates in hotels. Poor Working Terms The inconsistency experienced in the labor force is also caused by poor working terms in some of the hotels. Some hotels put their employees in working conditions that are not favorable like working without breaks or not providing reliable security when they work late at night. Nowadays, the employees move from these uncaring hotels to those related to their working conditions. Lack of Employee Training and Development Hospitality industry is one sector where the firms usually engage in the development of their employees. The employees’ skills are improved and given further training related to the hotel industry in fields. Unfortunately, it is not all hotels that engage in these activities. Due to these, the employees who land in companies that do not have employee development programs are usually on the unstable while seeking other hotels offering these trainings. Lack of Satisfaction with the Job-scope In the hotel industry, the majority of employees are mostly people who do not have specific careers like waiters and waitresses. This makes them fit in many different forms of work as long as it is to be paid. Recently, there have been a big nu mber of employees moving out of the hotel industry due to dissatisfaction with the jobs they are given in the hotels. This has contributed to the high rate of labor turnover in the hotels. Pressure at Work Everyone is not able to work under high pressure and therefore some employees can prefer to lose their job because of the strains in the workplace. This is also the reason why labor turnover in hotels is a common issue. In most cases, the hotels put their workers under great pressure to offer the customers whatever they need at any time without considering the capabilities of these employees and the time they have. Some of these hotel employees are forced to leave their job since they cannot withstand the pressure they have to deliver. Better Career Opportunities in Other Places In the world, many people want to work in organizations that help them improve their careers. This need is attributed to the fact that the labor market has become so competitive, and employers are looking for workers who are going to bring a big positive impact in their organization. As a result, the employees look for companies that can boost their careers to the best position. Many employees also seek an opportunity to advance their careers in hotels. This has been a force behind the many cases of labor turnover recorded in hotels as workers move to companies that can improve their careers. Labor Turnover as a Solution to Problems Despite the fact that many problems have come into the hospitality industry due to labor turnover in hotels, this condition has also helped to solve some challenges faced in it. The following subtitles have some of the ways in which labor turnover has proved to provide solutions to the difficulties in the hospitality industry. Acquisition of Skills among Workers The process of equipping employees with improved skills to enhance quality services has been so expensive for many hotels. This process involves setting up of training programs which the employees experience. In fact, it also entails trips to be attended by the trainees. When all these are put together, they requires a lot of finances and resources which some hotels may find unnecessary to spend in such activities while others might not be able to afford the expenses. Therefore, a few employees working in the privileged hotels get the opportunity to enjoy the programs for acquisition of skills. However, the workers move to different hotels in regard to labor turnover where they acquire better skills and improve their careers. Introduction of New Ideas and Better Qualities Coming up with new and unique ways of doing things in the hotels has always been a challenge to the hotel managements. Therefore, operating in a new strategy is one of the ways that smart entrepreneurs use to remain at the top despite the stiff competition. This is also a technique of taking over the market which many companies use to gain monopoly power. The introduction of these new ideas after a short pe riod is almost impossible as it requires a lot of investments and innovations which is so expensive. However, the labor turnover has managed to help different hotels to get ideas that they had never tried before. As new employees come on board, they bring new strategies from the companies or hotels they used to work in. This shows how labor turnover gives managers a solution to what they might think is too expensive. Increased Morale among Employees Employers who want the best out of their workers try all means of getting the employees deliver quality goods and services for the business. One way of attaining this is through increasing the morale of the employees to work towards achieving the organization’s objectives and goals. The morale of the employees can be boosted in many ways, which are preceded by appreciating the workers who do their best through things such as promotions and appraisals. The promotions can be made on salaries and working categories where the payments are either increased or an individual is given other roles in the hotel. In other cases, awards can be given to motivate the competitive workers. Internal labor turnover helps the management to boost the workers’ morale as the employees can be moved from one department in an organization to another department at higher positions. This gives the workers morale to do their best while working as there is an appreciation of quality work done. Therefore, labor turnover in hotels can make the employees work towards giving quality services as their morale may have been boosted. It also pushes the workers into working towards getting better work positions. Conclusion Generally, there are a lot of challenges brought by labor turnover in hotels, which is a solution to some problems at times. Initiating strategies to retain and identify the experienced workforce is paramount to the hospitality industry. This might lead to high achievements in terms of quality of services from these emp loyees. However, some hotels make their projects disrupted, and record poor performance due to this. Moreover, the employee turnover also gives the hotel managers a hard financial time due to the high costs of replacing the employees. A lot of resources are again used in the process, which proves how expensive and problematic labor turnover can turn out. However, there are also some few challenges that get their solutions from labor turnover in the hotel industry. For instance, employees are able to acquire better and important skills from different hotel companies due to their ability in moving from one employer to another within the industry. Labor turnover has also helped managers get new ideas from the workers they employ. Therefore, it is true and precise to state that labor turnover in hotels is both a problem and a solution. References Davis, G. (2010, August 3). Staff Turnover in Hospitality. Inside Business360. Web. Goff, L. M. (2013, December 22). How is Labor Turnover a P roblem in the Hospitality Industry? A case study on international hotels into the aspects of labor turnover. HospitalityEducators.com. Web. Mehta, A. (2005, March 7). Knowledge Flight: The Challenge of Hotel Employee Turnover. Hospitality Net. Web. This essay on Labor Turnover in Hotels was written and submitted by user Frankl1nSt0rm to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Donatello essays

Donatello essays Donatello (1386-1466) was a master of sculpture in bronze and marble and was considered one of the greatest Italian Renaissance artists of his time. There is much more to know about him, though then the name alone. He has created some of the greatest works of art, not only in the Italian renaissance, but human history as well. A lot is known about his life and career but little is known about his character and personality. Donatello never married and seems to be a man of simple tastes. Patrons often found him hard to deal with and he demanded a lot of artistic freedom. Donatello, born Donato di Niccol di Betto Bardi, was the son of Niccolo di Betto Bardi, a Florentine wool carder. It is not known how he started his career but probably learned stone carving from one of the sculptors working for the cathedral of Florence about 1400. Some time between 1404 and 1407 he became a member of the workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti who was a sculptor in bronze. Donatello's earliest work was a marble statue of David. The "David" was originally made for the cathedral but was moved in 1416 to the Palazzo Vecchio, a city hall where it long stood as a civic-patriotic symbol. From the sixteenth century on, the gigantic David of Michelangelo, which served the same purpose, eclipsed it. More of Donatello's early works which were still partly Gothic are the impressive seated marble figure of St. John the Evangelist for the cathedral and a wooden crucifix in the church of Sta. Croce. The full power of Donatello first appeared in two marble statues, "St. Mark" and "St. George" which were completed in 1415. "St. George" has been replaced and is now in the Bargello. For the first time, the human body is rendered as a functional organism. The same qualities came in the series of five prophet statues that Donatello did beginning in 1416. The statues were of beardless and bearded prophets as well...

Norways Economy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

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Eating in restaurant or home Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Ethical Code of Conduct Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ethical Code of Conduct - Thesis Example Ways to Implement the Ethical Code of Conduct 10 Consequences of Violation of Code of Ethics 11 Conclusion 12 References 14 Introduction With the technological innovations and advancements in the other sectors of the world, health has become one of the primary and significant sources of concern for an individual in the twenty first century. This is due to the reason that health enormities are escalating with the globalization that the world is experiencing in the contemporary world. However, with the emergence and development of the health care organizations, much awareness has come under creation for an individual. These health care organizations are key responsible for diagnosing, and treating the diseases, illness, injury or other physical and psychological harm that a person may encounter during his life. The health care serves as a promoter and upholds the healthiness, fitness, and wellbeing of the entire populace around the world as its fundamental purpose. Moreover, the key highlighting point of health care profession is to sustain, improve, and enhance the quality of life on whole of the general population. However, several code of ethical conduct needs to come under implementation for those in governance, management, and professional staff of the health care organizations. ... the ethical code of conduct also provides with the principles or the guidelines that can be set as a foundation for resolving the ethical dilemmas that can come under occurrence. In other words, ethical codes are the core values that grants the related people with the necessary actions that needs to come under performance in normal circumstances as well as when a conflict occurs. Value for people, reliability, commitment, devotion, and excellence should be the foundation stones while setting up an ethical code of conduct (Pera &  Tonder, 2005). One of the health care organizations that will come under discussion is Acute Care hospital, which is a subdivision of secondary health care. Here, the professional staff provides the patients with short-term care or support. However, the patients come under treatment for their serious illness, severe injury or during the recovery from surgery (Green, 2009). Facility Background Acute care facility comes under the division of secondary health care where immediate care comes under provision for the patients suffering from trauma, serious injuries or illness, or recovery from surgery. It is a care provided on a short-term basis, where the hospital facilities send the patients to their home or other medical treatment centers such as rehabilitation center, nursing home and few others when they see stableness in the health conditions of the patients. In addition, the patients come under treatment by the team of health care professionals ranging from medical to surgical areas of expertise. â€Å"Hospitals, emergency departments, dialysis centers, clinical laboratories, urgent care centers and few long-term-care hospitals and facilities are all types of acute care facilities that come under offering† (Green, 2009). Emergency or urgent

Implications of the TRAPPIST-1 Discovery

Implications of the TRAPPIST-1 Discovery The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life in the Universe and the Implications of the TRAPPIST-1 Discovery Abstract Despite the absence of any discovery of life beyond the Earth in the Solar System, or communication in the form of radio signals from beyond the Solar System, humankinds quest to answer the question whether there is life elsewhere in the Universe continues apace. The answer to the question could be tantalizingly close now with some ambitious missions being planned in the Solar System to try and find life itself, and surveys of unprecedented scale being conducted with space and terrestrial telescopes to identify potentially habitable exoplanets showing evidence for the existence of life. One such survey (the TRAPPIST survey) led to the discovery of a nearby solar system with a dwarf star at its centre, and in February this year the existence of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the star was confirmed, with at least three lying in the habitable zone. Studies are continuing to see if there is evidence for the existence of life on any of these planets, with profound astronomical implica tions. This dissertation considers the question of what is life, before reviewing the history and future of the search for extra-terrestrial life in the Universe. The techniques employed and the results from the TRAPPIST survey are reviewed and the implications of the follow-on studies that are now planned are discussed. It concludes by considering the question whether humankind will ever encounter intelligent life in the Universe.      Ã‚   Thomas Zurbuchen Associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA speaking at the press briefing about the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets in February 2017 The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life in the Universe Contents 1.Introduction 2.What is Life? 3.Pre-requisites for Life 5.History of the Search for Life Beyond Earth Works Cited References The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life in the Universe Introduction Despite the absence of any discovery of life beyond the Earth in the Solar System, or communication in the form of radio signals from beyond the Solar System, humankinds quest to answer the question whether there is life elsewhere in the Universe continues apace. Exobiology the search for life or for evidence of it has been stimulated by the extraordinary success of missions to planets and other bodies in the Solar System and the rapid advances that have been made in telescope technology in recent decades. The answer to the question could be tantalizingly close now with some ambitious missions being planned in the Solar System to try and find life itself, and surveys of unprecedented scale being conducted with space and terrestrial telescopes to identify potentially habitable exoplanets showing evidence for the existence of life. One such survey (the TRAPPIST survey) led to the discovery of a nearby solar system with a dwarf star at its centre, and in February this year the existence of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the star was confirmed, with at least three lying in the habitable zone. Studies are continuing to see if there is evidence for the existence of life on any of these planets, with profound astronomical implications. This dissertation considers the question of what is life, before reviewing the history and future of the search for extra-terrestrial life in the Universe. The techniques employed and the results from the TRAPPIST survey are reviewed and the implications of the follow-on studies that are now planned are discussed. It concludes by considering the question whether humankind will ever encounter intelligent life in the Universe. What is Life? Is there life elsewhere in the universe? Before setting out to answer that question we need to understand what we mean by life. In popular culture extra-terrestrial life is usually characterised by intelligent humanoid creatures with whom mankind can interact and communicate, but one only has to look at the diversity of life on Earth to appreciate that there are countless life forms, each unique and a product of the environment it inhabits. Nor can all life forms on Earth necessarily be described as intelligent, perhaps as defined by the Oxford Concise Dictionary: The ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. It is reasonable to assume that an ability to communicate is essential if a species is to be described as intelligent, but intelligence is not a pre-requisite for the development of life. There are many scientific definitions of life, such as that offered by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary; An organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction. This definition is helpful but it does not explicitly recognise that the ability to evolve, particularly in a changing environment, is vital for the development of sustainable life. Mankind has expended considerable effort over the millennia trying to understand the cosmos. The ancients saw it as a place inhabited by the gods, but as astronomy developed, and with it our understanding of the Solar System and the Universe, we began to ask the question, Are we alone?, or perhaps more precisely, Are there others out there like us? Perhaps the question we have been seeking to answer should really have been in two parts; Is there life elsewhere in the universe, and if so is it intelligent and would we be able to interact with it in some way? Pre-requisites for Life Earth is the only place where it is possible today to study living things and fossils to understand life, its evolution and the habitats where it can thrive. On Earth life is found in many extreme environments including; around volcanic vents on the mid-ocean ridges; in deeply-buried porous sedimentary rocks (Bruckner, 2017); permanently in caves; in glacier ice (Edwards, 2014); in thermal springs; in the stratosphere (Major, 2016) and in naturally toxic environments that would be poisonous to most other life forms. Despite the abundance of life on the surface of the Earth it has been suggested that there may even be more life below the surface than there is above (Cox, 2013). Figure 1: Colony of Deepsea Tube Worms and other fauna at the Galapagos Rift. (Photo: NOAA 2011 Galapagos Rift Expedition) Figure 2: A loach, a permanent cave-dwelling fish that crawls out of the water to feed on bacteria growing on damp rocks. (Photo: Dantà © Fenolio) All terrestrial life exhibits metabolism, which is a chemical process to harvest energy from the environment to maintain the living state of the cells that make up an organism. Metabolism involves moving and breaking down nutrients in order to produce energy to synthesize new proteins, nucleic acids etc. that are essential to sustain life (Dr Ananya Mandal, 2013). All terrestrial life is based on the carbon atom, which can form chemical bonds to create the long and complex organic molecules that are the essential building blocks for life (Freeman, 2011). All terrestrial life is also reliant on liquid water as the medium within which the metabolic process occurs. Without liquid water there can be no metabolism and therefore no life, as demonstrated by the Atacama Desert the driest place on Earth where there is no evidence for the existence of any living organisms (Cox, 2013). It is generally accepted that the pre-requisites for life are; Access to nutrients that contain the chemical elements necessary for life; An energy source that can be harvested directly or indirectly; and Liquid water. Given that all elements occur throughout the Universe, as do stars that emit energy in the form of photons, the most obvious place to look for extra-terrestrial life is on the surface of planets where there is likely to be liquid water. In any solar system there will be a region around the star within which the temperature is such that water will exist as a liquid. This is known as the Habitable Zone. The distance of the habitable zone from the star and its extent will be a function of the spectral type (and therefore mass) of the star and can be estimated using the Inverse Square Law, assuming the existence of an atmosphere with sufficient density to prevent sublimation of the water. The figure below shows the extent of the habitable zone for various star masses, with the Solar System planets and the exoplanets orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581 superimposed. Figure 3: The habitable zone as a function of stellar mass and distance from the star (Chester Harman, Planets: PHL at UPR Arecibo, NASA/JPL/APL/Arizona) Another potential habitat for life is on the moons of large planets with elliptical orbits are subjected to tidal heating caused by tidal friction. Orbital and rotational energy is dissipated as heat in the crust of the moon, in some cases melting the ice and forming an ocean beneath the ice crust. Two known examples of this in the Solar System are Jupiters moon Europa and Saturns moon Enceladus. It is postulated that life could also exist below the surface of Jupiters moon Io where there is plentiful heat to keep any water that was trapped in a liquid state, and where living organisms would be protected from Jupiters radiation (Choi, 2010). The Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth and Elsewhere Through the study of living organisms the pre-requisites for life are reasonably well understood, as is the evolutionary process through inter alia the study of fossils. However, to answer the question of how life came to be established on Earth it is also necessary to look beyond the Earth for clues. The elements that make up organic molecules are very abundant in the Universe and are known to originate from non-biological processes (e.g. volcanic activity on Mars (Carnegie Instution, 2012)) and there is a lot of evidence to suggest organic molecules are widespread in the galaxy, e.g.: Iso-propyl cyanide has been detected by examining microwave emission lines in inter-stellar clouds in the Milky Way (BBC, 2014). Organic molecules have been detected using spectral analysis in the tails of comets. The Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko also detected organic molecules (ESA, 2016). Organic molecules have also been found in certain types of meteorite collected on Earth. Carbonaceous chondrites are rare meteorites that have not melted at any stage of their life so are thought to pre-date the Solar System. They contain substantial amounts of carbon, including complex organic compounds and occasionally amino acids, and up to 20% water (Freeman, 2011). In the early Solar System comets and meteorides were very numerous and according to the Panspermia Hypothesis they seeded the Universe with simple life forms that got trapped in ejecta thrown into space when collisions occurred between planets and moons. This theory was given credence when living bacteria was found in a sealed camera recovered and brought back to Earth by the Apollo 12 astronauts from the Surveyor 3 spacecraft. Surveyor 3 had been on the lunar surface for three years. Another possibility is that organic molecules were formed on Earth, as hypothesised by Oparin and Haldane (Oparin, 1924). In 1952 Miller and Urey conducted their famous laboratory experiment which simulated conditions on early Earth. They mixed water, ammonia, methane and hydrogen in an atmosphere of water vapour, through which electric sparks were fired regularly to simulate lightening. At the end of the experiment they discovered that amino acids had indeed formed, giving credence to this hypothesis (Miller, 1953). Figure 4: The Miller-Uray apparatus Once all the right ingredients were present something kick-started life on Earth, and/or elsewhere in the Universe if the Panspermia Hypothesis is right. It is not possible today to conclude how life originated on Earth, but in any event the fossil record shows that the first simple living organisms appeared on Earth around 3.8 billion years ago, and so began the process of evolution producing the incredible diversity of life on Earth today. Whether life was kick-started on Earth or arrived from elsewhere is arguably one of the most important factors influencing the possible distribution of extra-terrestrial life, and is discussed again in Section xx. History of the Search for Life Beyond Earth NASA was established by an act of the US Congress in 1958, mainly in response to the launch by the Soviet Union of Sputnik 1. Most of its efforts were initially concentrated on the development of manned and unmanned space flight, but in the 1970s exploration of the Solar System using scientific probes began, driven to a large extent by the search for life beyond Earth. NASA began a broad-based effort to learn how to look for the presence both ancient and current of life beyond Earth, giving birth to a new science which became known as Exobiology. The fundamental questions that NASA set out to answer were; What is needed for life to thrive? How does life evolve? Where else in the Universe could it have evolved? How do we find it? In time it was acknowledged that to help answer these questions the detailed study of life on Earth was necessary to understand the origins and evolution of life and the habitats where it is found. The scope of exobiology expanded and it became known as Astrobiology (Freeman, 2011). During the 1960s a number of European countries started to get involved in space exploration, eventually clubbing together to form the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1975, bringing more resources to the exploration effort. The Search for Evidence of Intelligent Life In 1959 Guiseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison observed that if intelligent extra-terrestrial life had been attempting to communicate it would probably have been doing so using radio waves transmitted at the wavelength of neutral hydrogen (21.1 cm), which is in a region of the radio spectrum dubbed the water hole due to its proximity to the hydrogen and hydroxyl radical spectral line. These radio waves do not experience diminution when they travel through the interstellar medium or through the Earths atmosphere and they argued that it should therefore be possible to detect such signals with terrestrial radio telescopes because (Cocconi Morrison, 1959). In 1960 Dr Frank Drake used the radio telescope at the National Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia to search for four months for radio signals with a wavelength of 21.1 cm emanating from the vicinity of nearby stars Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti (Drake, 1961). He failed to detect any signals but this heralded the beginning of SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). Since the 1980s there has been an international collaborative effort to detect meaningful signals across an increasingly wide range of wavelengths, but although occasional signals have been detected they have not been sustained or repeated, which suggests they were not produced by an intelligent life form seeking to communicate. Notwithstanding this, the search continues. The Search for Suitable Habitats and Evidence for the Existence of Life Aristotle was the first to observe life in snow as a snow algal bloom. These occur as algae produce reddish-pink blooms (watermelon snow) as seen in this sample of Svalbard snow. The reddish-pink pigments are a microbial sunscreen, protecting the algae from UV radiation. Photo credit: Dr Arwyn Edwards (Edwards, 2014) Drake Stars w/ mass > 1.5o unlikely to support life humans took 4bn + yrs Small stars long life but low temp, planets have to be close but then gravity locked v. low POS based on current understanding = sun-like star- low rate of formation; 1:10 w/ habitable zone Implications of Trappist-1 results and historical assumptions The Probability of There Being Extra-Terrestrial Life in the Universe The Drake Equation The Drake equation is: N = Rà ¢Ã‹â€ - à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ fp à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ ne à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ fà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â‚¬Å" à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ fi à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ fc à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ L where: N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible (i.e. which are on our current past light cone); and R* = the average rate of star formation in our galaxy fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets fl = the fraction of planets that could support life that actually develop life at some point fi = the fraction of planets with life that actually go on to develop intelligent life (civilizations) fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space No table of figures entries found. 2. Prof BBC. (2014). Complex organic molecule found in interstellar space. Bruckner, M. (2017). Endoliths-Microbes Living within Rocks. Microbial Life. Carnegie Instution. (2012). Organic carbon from Mars, but not biological. Science Daily. Cox, P. B. (2013). Wonders of the Solar System. Dr Ananya Mandal, M. (2013). What is Metabolism? Edwards, D. A. (2014). Glacier Ecosystems. Antarctic Glaciers. ESA. (2016). Rosettas comet contains ingredients for life. Freeman, R. (2011). Universe Ninth Edition. J. Mayo Greenberg, C. X.-G. (1992). The seeding of life by comets. Advances in Space Research. Major, J. (2016). Hunting for High Life: What Lives in Earths Stratosphere? Universe Today. Oparin, A. I. (1924). The Origin Of Life. The Oxford Concise Dictionary. (n.d.).   Ã‚   http://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/What-is-Metabolism.aspx https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120524143450.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia https://history.nasa.gov/factsheet.htm https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/about/history-of-astrobiology/ http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/ESA_history/History_of_Europe_in_space Ken Rice : The Detection and Characterization of Extrasolar Planets; Published: 19 September 2014

Anxiety Disorders Essays -- OCD Post-Traumatic Stress Panic

This paper is going to be about anxiety disorders. I am going to explain what anxiety is and the different types of anxiety disorders. The types of anxiety I am going to talk about are Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic Stress, Panic Disorder and Social Phobia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress. It helps some one deal with a tense situation in the office, study harder for an exam, keep focused on an important speech. In general, it helps some one cope. But when anxiety becomes an excessive, irrational dread of everyday situations, it has become a disabling disorder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anxiety disorders are serious medical illnesses that affect approximately 19 million American adults. These disorders fill people's lives with overwhelming anxiety and fear. Unlike the relatively mild, brief anxiety caused by a stressful event such as a business presentation or a first date, anxiety disorders are chronic, relentless, and can grow progressively worse if not treated. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: OCD afflicts about 3.3 million adult Americans. It strikes men and women in approximately equal numbers and usually first appears in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood. One-third of adults with OCD report having experienced their first symptoms as children. OCD involves anxious thoughts or rituals you feel you can't control. With OCD you may be obsessed with germs or dirt, so you wash your hands over and over. You may be filled with doubt and feel the need ...