Causes of Air Pollution

Economic growth is important to move countries away from poverty. However, lack of mechanisms to ensure sustainable development may put an enormous strain on environmental protection.  Meanwhile, unsustainable developments can lead to air pollution which brings about serious effects on the world’s ecology. This essay aims to elucidate three significant causes of air pollution.

 First, factory emissions result in air pollution. Experts claim that the world’s environment has been vastly affected by factory pollutant which comes from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gases. When such fossil fuel is burned, they produce the huge amount of CO₂ and CFC, which are called greenhouse gases, and are released into the atmosphere and so pollute the air.

The second reason leading to air pollution is car emissions. As countries have become more developed, people can afford individual transportation. In other words, people can buy cars regardless of expenditure. As a result of more driving, the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere has been gradually increased.

Another cause of air pollution is deforestation. As a consequence of rapid population growth, hectares of forest areas have been cut down because of expanding agricultural land to address the basic needs of people. This loss shrinks the capacity of forests to absorb CO₂ from atmosphere, therefore the air remains impure.

In conclusion, dealing with the issue of air pollution is necessary. Therefore, the government should enhance law enforcement and raise public awareness in order to limit the amount of factory smoke, reduce car emissions and stop the deforestation for contributing to environmental conservation.

Statistics can be used to mislead. Do you agree or disagree?

Statistics are used to emphasize or provide an interpretation of data in order to draw people’s attention to believe on a piece of information. They could be presented in several places such as reports, journal or public advertisement. The statements which contain statistics seem to be powerful since they reflect strong support the arguments. However, not all statistics that are presented are reliable. In other words, some statistics are used to mislead and make people to conclude things wrongly. This essay aims to elucidate three main problems that statistics are utilized to mislead people, including generalization from small sample size, conclusion from a single factor, and variation of definition of terms.

To begin, statistics are possibly not reliable when generalizations are made from small sample size.  This means that small sample size that does not represent the populations well, the reliability of generalization is very weak. For instance, if Cocacola Company wants to study the number of people who drink coke every day in Phnom Penh city in 2010, the number of people should be selected as sample. If, only 100 people are chosen to interviewed, and the result proves that 80 of 100 people respond positively, the conclusion is drawn that 80% of people in Phnom Penh city drink Cocacola every day. This is a kind of misleading statistics since the result was devised from overgeneralization from small sample size. Meanwhile, many studies support the same thing that the reliability of generalization mainly depends on how well the sample size represents the populations. In other words, if the sample does not mirror the population, the statistics will not be accurate, (Rowntree, 1982).

Second, conclusions from one single factor may result in misleading statistics. This means that statements could possibly be unreliable when all relevant variables are missed including in the study because the change in one thing is basically manipulated by several factors. Rowntree D (1982) bears that the generalization made through one variable can be inaccurate because it is considered as an overgeneralization. The study of potatoes size is the clear example about this. The conclusions, which is made that bigger size of potatoes rely on fertilizer, could be untrue because other factors such as weather, soil, or diseases may also influence the potatoes’ size. Therefore to avoid misleading statistic, overgeneralization form a single factor should not be made. In other words, we need to include all relevant factors to make a certain conclusion and ensure the reliability of statistics.

Last, another problem which also brings about misleading statistics is when definition of terms is different. But, giving definition of term likely varies from one to another because different people may have different ideas. However, ensuring accurate data in scientific research is beyond the different points of view of people on the term. In other words, statistics can be false when definition of term is determined in a different way. Similarly, Alden (2002) indicates that the difference in definition of terms possibly lead statistic to be confusing. To prove this, the example of child abuse rate in two cities of USA, Alaska and Pennsylvania, is emphasized. In Alaska, child is abused when his or her health or welfare is injured or endangered. Base on this definition, among 1000 population, there are 37.1 cases of children abuse. On the other hand, in Pennsylvania, there are only 1.9 cases in the same amount of population because the term child abused is defined when recent act or failure to act. Therefore, because of the ambiguous statistics, people may think that Alaskans are terrible parents. (Alden, 2005)

In conclusion, statistics which are presented in studies, reports or any advertising are very useful to make people more interested. However, those statistics can be used to mislead when errors occur in research methodology such as inappropriate sample size, statement from one aspect, and variation the meaning of terms because these kinds of major problem could make statistics unreliable. Therefore, readers should be more careful and be skeptical when statistics are presenting in order to avoid misunderstanding and making wrong conclusion which may possibly affect any crucial decisions in life.      

Bibliography

Alden, L. (2005). econo class.com. Retrieved March 17, 2011, from Misleading statistics: www.econoclass.com/misleadingstats.html

Rowntree, D. (1982). Statistics without tears: a primer for non-mathematicians. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Telemedicine will offer more beneficial application in preventing disease than curing disease. Discuss.

Improving health sector is one of the key priorities for almost every nation around the world because this is responsible for providing health care services for country population. As a consequence of development of modern technology, telemedicine which refers to the provision of health care services, clinical information, and education over a distance using telecommunication technology has been established to help people who live in the remote areas. According to American Telemedicine Association claims that telemedicine involves a growing the variety of applications and services using two‐ways video, email, wireless phones and other forms of telecommunications technology. Since the telemedicine has been applied, some people believe that it is useful for application in preventing disease rather than curing the disease. This essay aims to discuss the main aspects of how telemedicine manipulates both prevention and illness treatment.

To begin with, many people claim that telemedicine provides application in preventing diseases or illnesses of people. Application refers to a way in which telemedicine can be used for particular purpose especially in preventing health problem. Telemedicine possibly helps people to avoid getting serious illness because doctors can provide education or medical assistance from far distance and also people can access to information which is beneficial for them to prevent from diseases.  Experts prove that telemedicine has been established to conquer distance in order to get quick access to medical knowledge and appropriate health care. In recent times, work in telemedicine has intended to develop solutions to support the management of chronic diseases such as diabetes, and lung and heart diseases, as well as to give more assistance for home care services. Telemedicine is also incoming the area of health promotion or prevention disease, life style management, and well-being, (Andreas & Silas, 2004).

Furthermore, telemedicine can also assist doctor to monitor people health through wireless sensor for preventing illness. Wireless sensor, a kind of tool which is put in human body in order to monitor any sign of disease, will help to check any irregular situation of human health, (Economist, 2008). Experts indicate that the development of telemedicine through modern technology would stop patients from making an appointment with doctor because the sensor and implant would let the doctor know the early sign of diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, blood pressure or other chronic diseases. So the doctor may well call the patient. In addition, Andreas & Silas (2004) support that e-health, telehealth and telecare are the remarkable evolution and broadening of telemedicine using information processing and communication technologies which make efficiency and non-invasive smart monitoring of psychological and physical availability for data collection. They add that “ Ongoing cutting-edge multidisciplinary research in textile fibers, biomedical sensors, and wireless and mobile telecommunications integrated with telemedicine, aims at developing intelligent biomedical clothing (IBC) that could pave the way to support personalized management of health and diseases at the point of need and at any time” (Andreas & Silas, 2004). What is more, another common idea states that through telemedicine, a smart toilet can be used to monitor human waste for the telltale signs of intestinal disease or cancer, so that the doctors can serve patients before the disease develop to serious condition, (Economist, 2008).

On the other hand, while telemedicine contributes to prevent human’s diseases, people believe that telemedicine is beneficial for disease treatment. Studies prove that telemedicine has been established to provide support and cure patients living in the isolated areas where health care services are limited. Also telemedicine is designed to improve better access of health services as it saves cost and time. In other words, patients do not need to travel to see doctor because diagnoses and communication between doctor and patients can be done from the distance, then the patients receive treatment from the doctor immediately, (Economist, 2008). For instance, in some developed countries such as USA, Australia or UK, telemedicine can cure patients’ illnesses even surgery from a long distance. Through videoconferencing or robot, the operations reach success and the patients get better from their diseases, (Movie).

Remote consultation is another area where some people argue that telemedicine is used to cure illness. Modern technology is the chief offender of telemedicine functions which enable doctor to provide an effective consultation as well as prescription to patients from long distance. According to Serene L. (2010) cited from Dr. Smith proves that more than 10,000 telehealth consultations have been set up for 97 regional and remote areas in Queensland, Australia. This amount of activity makes it becomes the largest telepadiatric service ever reported all over the world. In addition, the successful result has been proved that 37 pediatrics sub-specialties are offered through the service, including burns care, cardiology, dermatology, diabetes, ENT (ear, nose and throat), general pediatrics, neurology, orthopedics, psychiatry and surgery, (Leow, 2010).Therefore, telemedicine is a useful method to provide an agent treatment for people in the remote areas.

To sum up, telemedicine is the great revolution which is crucial to improve the accessibility to health care services. Both points of view which elucidate the significance of telemedicine are balanced out because through modern technology telemedicine possibly provides both applications for preventing and curing diseases. Value which is given to telemedicine depends on how it works toward people. In some areas where health care service is inadequate telemedicine is used to treat people, while telemedicine can be set up to prevent people from disease in other places where people can better access to health services.  Therefore, shifting from telemedicine to telehealth is a good news for people because it reflects the change from diagnoses and treatment to wellness, (Economist, 2008). So, it is expected that everyone may benefit from the progress of telemedicine.

Bibliography

American Telemedicine Association. What Is Telemedicine & Telehealth? Washington, DC 20036.

Andreas, L., & Silas, O. (2004, July 09). Telemedicine Journal and e-Health. Retrieved April 06, 2011, from http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/153056203772744716

Economist. (2008). Telemedicine comes home. In P. H. Jonh Slaght, Reading and writing (pp. 22-24). Garnet Publishing Ltd.

Leow, S. (2010, August 24). Telemedicine and the future of healthcare. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from http://www.Telemedicine\Telemedicine and the future of healthcare _ Articles _ FutureGov - Transforming Government _ Education _ Healthcare.htm

Marcin P. James, Telemedicine: An Evolving Tool for Improving Health Care Access and Delivery