12.8.6: Procedure- Positioning the Patient
Patients who are bedbound or who are unable to turn themselves must be turned and repositioned every two hours. This helps to prevent pressure ulcers development. There are a variety of positions Home Health Aides/Personal Care Aides can choose to rotate the patient to.
On Back ( Supine P osition )
- Explain the procedure to the patient.
- Wash your hands and apply gloves as needed.
- Assemble equipment (pillows, clean pillow cases, towels)
- Center the patient in the middle of the bed.
- Turn the patient onto their back.
- Ensure the patient’s body is in proper alignment.
- Replace soiled or damp pillow cases with clean ones.
- Place a pillow underneath the back of the patient’s head.
- Place a pillow underneath the small of the patient’s back if they prefer.
- Place a pillow underneath each bony prominence of the patient’s hips. To do this, slightly turn the patient to one side and slide a pillow lengthwise along their hips. The pillow will be partly under their back and partly sticking out from their sides. The top of the pillow should be near their lower back, with the bottom of the pillow underneath their buttocks. This will ensure that the bony prominences of their hips are not pressing against the bed, creating a possible pressure ulcer. Repeat on the other side of the patient’s hips.
- Place one pillow underneath each leg of the patient. One pillow should be used per leg. Pillows should be placed lengthwise. Make sure that the patient’s heels are not pressing against the pillow or mattress. You may slightly tuck the end of the pillow closest to the patient’s feet by slightly rolling it under. This ensures that the patient’s heels are floated (free from pressing against surfaces).
- Ensure that the patient is comfortable and appropriately covered for warmth and privacy.
- Remove your gloves. Wash your hands.
- Record time of procedure and any observations or changes in behavior or condition. Also record and inform a supervisor of any changes in skin condition or observations of skin breakdown or pressure ulcers.
- Remember to turn and position the patient every two hours to prevent pressure sore formation.
Lateral Position (A lso C alled a S ide -L ying P osition )
- Explain the procedure to the patient.
- Wash your hands and apply gloves as needed.
- Assemble equipment (pillows, clean pillow cases, towels).
- Center the patient in the middle of the bed.
- Safely turn the patient to one side using one fluid motion to move their entire body. This helps to keep their body in alignment.
- Once turned to their side, ensure that the patient’s body is in proper alignment.
- Place a pillow under the patient’s head and neck.
- Place a pillow between the patient’s legs so that the knees are not pressing against each other, causing a possible pressure ulcer.
- Place a pillow underneath the arm that is on top of the patient’s hip.
- Place a pillow underneath the patient’s feet to float the heels.
- Place a pillow at the small of the patient’s back to provide support so they do not roll over. To do this, place the pillow lengthwise and then slightly roll it to tuck the ends under.
- Ensure that the patient is comfortable and appropriately covered for warmth and privacy.
- Remove your gloves. Wash your hands.
- Record the time of procedure and any observations or changes in behavior or condition. Also record and inform a supervisor of any changes in skin condition or observations of skin breakdown or pressure ulcers.
- Remember to turn and position the patient every two hours to prevent pressure sore formation.
Prone P osition ( on Abdomen )
- Explain the procedure to the patient.
- Wash your hands and apply gloves as needed.
- Assemble equipment (pillows, clean pillow cases, towels).
- Move the patient to the side of the bed.
- Gently turn/assist the patient onto their abdomen (stomach).
- Ensure the patient’s body is in proper alignment.
- Turn the patient’s head to the side and ensure it is in proper alignment. Place a pillow under the patient’s head.
- Position the patient’s arms for comfort by gently bending them upward on either side of the patient so that their palms are facing down on the bed. Ensure that arms are not tucked under their body. Place pillows under the patient’s arms for comfort.
- Place a pillow underneath the patient’s lower legs to elevate their heels.
- Ensure that the patient is comfortable and appropriately covered for warmth and privacy.
- Remove your gloves. Wash your hands.
- Record the time of procedure and any observations or changes in behavior or condition. Record and inform a supervisor of any changes in skin condition or observations of skin breakdown or pressure ulcers.
- Remember to turn and position the patient every two hours to prevent pressure sore formation.
Assisting Patients to Transfer to and from Different Positions
Patients may require assistance moving among positions. They may need assistance moving from a lying down to a sitting position and from a sitting upright position to moving to the edge of the bed. If the patient would like to get out of bed, the Home Health Aide/Personal Care Aide should assist them to a sitting position and allow them to sit at the edge of the bed for a few minutes prior to standing. This helps their bodies adjust to changes in blood pressure and helps prevent falls.
This section provides instruction for how to assist patients move from a lying down to a sitting position, from a sitting upright position to the edge of the bed, and finally to a standing position. Assisting with walking (ambulation) is also discussed. This is an important skill for the Home Health Aide/Personal Care Aide. Patients benefit from exercise in order to maintain and improve muscle and bone strength. Instruction is also provided for assisting patients transfer to a wheelchair, chair, toilet, commode, and shower.
Proper positioning of a patient while in a wheelchair is also discussed. Patients who spend a great deal of time in wheelchairs are at risk for pressure ulcers. They should be encouraged or assisted to turn and position every two hours. Pillows may be used to relieve pressure points.


11.10: Respiratory System
Most humans cannot survive without breathing for more than three minutes. If you experiment by trying to hold your breath longer, your autonomic nervous system will take over and resume a normal breathing pattern. This is because cells need to maintain a delicate balance of using oxygen for functioning and releasing carbon dioxide as a waste product. [1]
Although oxygen is critically needed for cell functioning, it is the accumulation of carbon dioxide that primarily drives the need to breathe. The major organs of the respiratory system function to provide oxygen to body tissues for cellular respiration, remove the waste product carbon dioxide, and help maintain an acid-base balance. Portions of the respiratory system are also used for nonvital functions, such as sensing odors, producing speech, and for straining, such as during childbirth or coughing. The respiratory system includes muscles that move air into and out of the lungs, the passageways through which air moves, and alveoli. Alveoli are microscopic gas exchange surfaces covered by capillaries. See Figure 11.14 [2] for an image of the anatomy of the respiratory system. [3]
Capillaries carry deoxygenated blood to the alveoli, where carbon dioxide is released and oxygen is picked up by hemoglobin. The cardiovascular system transports oxygenated blood from the lungs to the tissues throughout the body where it picks up carbon dioxide and carries it back to the alveoli. [4]
A variety of diseases can affect the respiratory system, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), pneumonia, and lung cancer. These conditions affect the gas exchange process and can result in decreased oxygen saturation levels, increased respiratory rates, labored breathing, and other respiratory difficulties. [5]
Anatomy of the Lungs
The lungs are pyramid-shaped, paired organs that are connected to the trachea by the right and left bronchi. Below the lungs is the diaphragm, a flat, dome-shaped muscle located at the base of the lungs. Each lung is composed of smaller units called lobes. The right lung consists of three lobes and the left lung consists of two lobes to accommodate the positioning of the heart. As discussed previously, the respiratory system works in conjunction with the cardiovascular system to transport oxygen and nutrients to cells and remove waste from cells and out of the body during exhalation. See Figure 11.15 [6] for an image of the anatomy of the lungs. [7]
As the body ages, chest muscles lose their strength, and the smaller airways of the respiratory system, called the bronchioles, lose their elasticity and can collapse. These age-related changes decrease the ability of an older adult to inhale oxygen, resulting in fatigue and increased difficulty completing activities of daily living. Although some respiratory function can be maintained or restored through exercise, the aging respiratory system leaves older adults more susceptible to acute respiratory illnesses such as influenza, pneumonia, and COVID-19. [8]
Because the respiratory system is necessary for life, if a nursing assistant notices any issues with breathing or a blocked airway, these concerns should be reported immediately to the nurse. See the section “ Choking and Airway Clearance ” in Chapter 3 for a review of interventions for a blocked airway.
Because the cardiovascular system transports oxygenated blood, some symptoms of respiratory distress are similar to cardiovascular complications such as cyanosis, fatigue, dizziness, and shortness of breath. Exercising and avoiding smoking are vital for maintaining or improving respiratory function. Table 11.10 outlines common respiratory diagnoses in the aging population, symptoms to report, and associated interventions provided by nursing assistants.
Table 11.10 Common Respiratory Conditions and Related Nursing Assistant Interventions [9]
| Condition | Definition | Symptoms to Report | Nursing Assistant Interventions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronchitis | Acute or chronic inflammation of the bronchioles (i.e., small airways) | Cough that produces mucus, fatigue, shortness of breath, and chest discomfort | Encourage fluids to thin the mucous, segment ADLs, and position the patient for breathing comfort. |
| Asthma | A chronic condition in which irritants cause inflammation and narrowing of the respiratory tract | Coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, difficulty breathing, and shortness of breath | Avoid exposure to known triggers (such as smoke, pet dander, pollen, mold, etc.). During an asthma attack, try to keep the patient calm and immediately report breathing difficulties. |
| Emphysema | A chronic condition in which alveoli hyperinflate, causing reduced air exchange and resulting in a lower amount of oxygenated blood in circulation | Shortness of breath that becomes increasingly more difficult as the disease progresses | Encourage healthy weight and activity as tolerated, segment ADLs, and encourage the use of supplemental oxygen if it is prescribed. |
| Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) | Chronic inflammation of the lungs, often caused by smoking, chronic bronchitis, asthma, or emphysema | Shortness of breath, labored breathing, dizziness, disorientation, and cyanosis | Encourage healthy weight, activity as tolerated, and smoking cessation. |
| Lung Cancer | Cancer in the lungs | Chronic cough, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, and chest pain | Encourage smoking cessation, healthy weight and activity as tolerated; segment ADLs; and position the patient for breathing comfort. |
| Bacterial Pneumonia | Bacterial infection of the lungs | Fever; chills; shortness of breath; productive cough with green, yellow, or bloody mucous; sharp chest pain; fatigue; and confusion or disorientation | Encourage healthy diet, activity as tolerated, rest, and taking antibiotics as prescribed. |
View the following YouTube video [10] to learn more about the respiratory system: Respiratory System, Part 1: Crash Course Anatomy & Physiology #31 .
- Human Nutrition by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Food Science and Human Nutrition Program is licensed under CC BY 4.0 ↵
- "image1-2-1024x861.jpg" by unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 . Access for free at https://pressbooks.oer.hawaii.edu/humannutrition/chapter/the-respiratory-system/ . ↵
- Human Nutrition by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Food Science and Human Nutrition Program is licensed under CC BY 4.0 ↵
- Human Nutrition by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Food Science and Human Nutrition Program is licensed under CC BY 4.0 ↵
- Human Nutrition by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Food Science and Human Nutrition Program is licensed under CC BY 4.0 ↵
- "image22-1024x704.jpg" by unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 . Access for free at https://pressbooks.oer.hawaii.edu/humannutrition/chapter/the-respiratory-system/ . ↵
- Human Nutrition by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Food Science and Human Nutrition Program is licensed under CC BY 4.0 ↵
- Human Nutrition by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Food Science and Human Nutrition Program is licensed under CC BY 4.0 ↵
- Human Nutrition by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Food Science and Human Nutrition Program is licensed under CC BY 4.0 ↵
- CrashCourse. (2015, August 24). Respiratory System, Part 1: Crash Course Anatomy & Physiology #31 . [Video]. YouTube. All rights reserved. https://youtu.be/bHZsvBdUC2I ↵


4.2.3C: Mead
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For Mead, the self arises out of the social act of communication, which is the basis for socialization.
Learning Objectives
- Discuss Mead’s theory of social psychology in terms of two concepts – pragmatism and social behaviorism
Key Points
- George Herbert Mead was an American philosopher, sociologist, and psychologist and one of several distinguished pragmatists.
- The two most important roots of Mead’s work are the philosophy of pragmatism and social behaviorism.
- Pragmatism is a wide-ranging philosophical position that states that people define the social and physical “objects” they encounter in the world according to their use for them.
- One of his most influential ideas was the emergence of mind and self from the communication process between organisms, discussed in the book, Mind, Self and Society , also known as social behaviorism.
Key Terms
- symbolic interactionism : Symbolic interactionism is the study of the patterns of communication, interpretation, and adjustment between individuals.
- social behaviorism : Discussed in the book, Mind, Self and Society, social behaviorism refers to the emergence of mind and self from the communication process between organisms.
- pragmatism : The theory that problems should be met with practical solutions rather than ideological ones; a concentration on facts rather than emotions or ideals.
George Herbert Mead was an American philosopher, sociologist, and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists. He is regarded as one of the founders of social psychology and the American sociological tradition in general.
The two most important roots of Mead’s work, and of symbolic interactionism in general, are the philosophy of pragmatism and social behaviorism. Pragmatism is a wide ranging philosophical position from which several aspects of Mead’s influences can be identified. There are four main tenets of pragmatism: First, to pragmatists true reality does not exist “out there” in the real world, it “is actively created as we act in and toward the world. Second, people remember and base their knowledge of the world on what has been useful to them and are likely to alter what no longer “works. ” Third, people define the social and physical “objects” they encounter in the world according to their use for them. Lastly, if we want to understand actors, we must base that understanding on what people actually do. In Pragmatism nothing practical or useful is held to be necessarily true, nor is anything which helps to survive merely in the short term. For example, to believe my cheating spouse is faithful may help me feel better now, but it is certainly not useful from a more long-term perspective because it doesn’t align with the facts (and is therefore not true).
Mead was a very important figure in twentieth century social philosophy. One of his most influential ideas was the emergence of mind and self from the communication process between organisms, discussed in the book, Mind, Self and Society , also known as social behaviorism. For Mead, mind arises out of the social act of communication. Mead’s concept of the social act is relevant, not only to his theory of mind, but also to all facets of his social philosophy. His theory of “mind, self, and society” is, in effect, a philosophy of the act from the standpoint of a social process involving the interaction of many individuals, just as his theory of knowledge and value is a philosophy of the act from the standpoint of the experiencing individual in interaction with an environment.
Mead is a major American philosopher by virtue of being, along with John Dewey, Charles Peirce, and William James, one of the founders of pragmatism. He also made significant contributions to the philosophies of nature, science, and history, to philosophical anthropology, and to process philosophy. Dewey and Alfred North Whitehead considered Mead a thinker of the first rank. He is a classic example of a social theorist whose work does not fit easily within conventional disciplinary boundaries.


25.2: President Hoover’s Response
President Hoover was unprepared for the scope of the depression crisis, and his limited response did not begin to help the millions of Americans in need. The steps he took were very much in keeping with his philosophy of limited government, a philosophy that many had shared with him until the upheavals of the Great Depression made it clear that a more direct government response was required. But Hoover was stubborn in his refusal to give “handouts,” as he saw direct government aid. He called for a spirit of volunteerism among America’s businesses, asking them to keep workers employed, and he exhorted the American people to tighten their belts and make do in the spirit of “rugged individualism.” While Hoover’s philosophy and his appeal to the country were very much in keeping with his character, it was not enough to keep the economy from plummeting further into economic chaos.
The steps Hoover did ultimately take were too little, too late. He created programs for putting people back to work and helping beleaguered local and state charities with aid. But the programs were small in scale and highly specific as to who could benefit, and they only touched a small percentage of those in need. As the situation worsened, the public grew increasingly unhappy with Hoover. He left office with one of the lowest approval ratings of any president in history.
THE INITIAL REACTION
In the immediate aftermath of Black Tuesday, Hoover sought to reassure Americans that all was well. Reading his words after the fact, it is easy to find fault. In 1929 he said, “Any lack of confidence in the economic future or the strength of business in the United States is foolish.” In 1930, he stated, “The worst is behind us.” In 1931, he pledged federal aid should he ever witness starvation in the country; but as of that date, he had yet to see such need in America, despite the very real evidence that children and the elderly were starving to death. Yet Hoover was neither intentionally blind nor unsympathetic. He simply held fast to a belief system that did not change as the realities of the Great Depression set in.
Hoover believed strongly in the ethos of American individualism: that hard work brought its own rewards. His life story testified to that belief. Hoover was born into poverty, made his way through college at Stanford University, and eventually made his fortune as an engineer. This experience, as well as his extensive travels in China and throughout Europe, shaped his fundamental conviction that the very existence of American civilization depended upon the moral fiber of its citizens, as evidenced by their ability to overcome all hardships through individual effort and resolve. The idea of government handouts to Americans was repellant to him. Whereas Europeans might need assistance, such as his hunger relief work in Belgium during and after World War I, he believed the American character to be different. In a 1931 radio address, he said, “The spread of government destroys initiative and thus destroys character.”
Likewise, Hoover was not completely unaware of the potential harm that wild stock speculation might create if left unchecked. As secretary of commerce, Hoover often warned President Coolidge of the dangers that such speculation engendered. In the weeks before his inauguration, he offered many interviews to newspapers and magazines, urging Americans to curtail their rampant stock investments, and even encouraged the Federal Reserve to raise the discount rate to make it more costly for local banks to lend money to potential speculators. However, fearful of creating a panic, Hoover never issued a stern warning to discourage Americans from such investments. Neither Hoover, nor any other politician of that day, ever gave serious thought to outright government regulation of the stock market. This was even true in his personal choices, as Hoover often lamented poor stock advice he had once offered to a friend. When the stock nose-dived, Hoover bought the shares from his friend to assuage his guilt, vowing never again to advise anyone on matters of investment.
In keeping with these principles, Hoover’s response to the crash focused on two very common American traditions: He asked individuals to tighten their belts and work harder, and he asked the business community to voluntarily help sustain the economy by retaining workers and continuing production. He immediately summoned a conference of leading industrialists to meet in Washington, DC, urging them to maintain their current wages while America rode out this brief economic panic. The crash, he assured business leaders, was not part of a greater downturn; they had nothing to worry about. Similar meetings with utility companies and railroad executives elicited promises for billions of dollars in new construction projects, while labor leaders agreed to withhold demands for wage increases and workers continued to labor. Hoover also persuaded Congress to pass a $160 million tax cut to bolster American incomes, leading many to conclude that the president was doing all he could to stem the tide of the panic. In April 1930, the New York Times editorial board concluded that “No one in his place could have done more.”
However, these modest steps were not enough. By late 1931, when it became clear that the economy would not improve on its own, Hoover recognized the need for some government intervention. He created the President’s Emergency Committee for Employment (PECE), later renamed the President’s Organization of Unemployment Relief (POUR). In keeping with Hoover’s distaste of what he viewed as handouts, this organization did not provide direct federal relief to people in need. Instead, it assisted state and private relief agencies, such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, YMCA, and Community Chest. Hoover also strongly urged people of means to donate funds to help the poor, and he himself gave significant private donations to worthy causes. But these private efforts could not alleviate the widespread effects of poverty.
Congress pushed for a more direct government response to the hardship. In 1930–1931, it attempted to pass a $60 million bill to provide relief to drought victims by allowing them access to food, fertilizer, and animal feed. Hoover stood fast in his refusal to provide food, resisting any element of direct relief. The final bill of $47 million provided for everything except food but did not come close to adequately addressing the crisis. Again in 1931, Congress proposed the Federal Emergency Relief Bill, which would have provided $375 million to states to help provide food, clothing, and shelter to the homeless. But Hoover opposed the bill, stating that it ruined the balance of power between states and the federal government, and in February 1932, it was defeated by fourteen votes.
However, the president’s adamant opposition to direct-relief federal government programs should not be viewed as one of indifference or uncaring toward the suffering American people. His personal sympathy for those in need was boundless. Hoover was one of only two presidents to reject his salary for the office he held. Throughout the Great Depression, he donated an average of $25,000 annually to various relief organizations to assist in their efforts. Furthermore, he helped to raise $500,000 in private funds to support the White House Conference on Child Health and Welfare in 1930. Rather than indifference or heartlessness, Hoover’s steadfast adherence to a philosophy of individualism as the path toward long-term American recovery explained many of his policy decisions. “A voluntary deed,” he repeatedly commented, “is infinitely more precious to our national ideal and spirit than a thousand-fold poured from the Treasury.”
As conditions worsened, however, Hoover eventually relaxed his opposition to federal relief and formed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) in 1932, in part because it was an election year and Hoover hoped to keep his office. Although not a form of direct relief to the American people in greatest need, the RFC was much larger in scope than any preceding effort, setting aside $2 billion in taxpayer money to rescue banks, credit unions, and insurance companies. The goal was to boost confidence in the nation’s financial institutions by ensuring that they were on solid footing. This model was flawed on a number of levels. First, the program only lent money to banks with sufficient collateral, which meant that most of the aid went to large banks. In fact, of the first $61 million loaned, $41 million went to just three banks. Small town and rural banks got almost nothing. Furthermore, at this time, confidence in financial institutions was not the primary concern of most Americans. They needed food and jobs. Many had no money to put into the banks, no matter how confident they were that the banks were safe.
Hoover’s other attempt at federal assistance also occurred in 1932, when he endorsed a bill by Senator Robert Wagner of New York. This was the Emergency Relief and Construction Act. This act authorized the RFC to expand beyond loans to financial institutions and allotted $1.5 billion to states to fund local public works projects. This program failed to deliver the kind of help needed, however, as Hoover severely limited the types of projects it could fund to those that were ultimately self-paying (such as toll bridges and public housing) and those that required skilled workers. While well intended, these programs maintained the status quo, and there was still no direct federal relief to the individuals who so desperately needed it.
PUBLIC REACTION TO HOOVER
Hoover’s steadfast resistance to government aid cost him the reelection and has placed him squarely at the forefront of the most unpopular presidents, according to public opinion, in modern American history. His name became synonymous with the poverty of the era: “Hoovervilles” became the common name for homeless shantytowns (Figure 25.2.1) and “Hoover blankets” for the newspapers that the homeless used to keep warm. A “Hoover flag” was a pants pocket—empty of all money—turned inside out.  Americans did not necessarily believe that Hoover caused the Great Depression. Their anger stemmed instead from what appeared to be a willful refusal to help regular citizens with direct aid that might allow them to recover from the crisis.
FRUSTRATION AND PROTEST: A BAD SITUATION GROWS WORSE FOR HOOVER
Desperation and frustration often create emotional responses, and the Great Depression was no exception. Throughout 1931–1932, companies trying to stay afloat sharply cut worker wages, and, in response, workers protested in increasingly bitter strikes. As the Depression unfolded, over 80 percent of automotive workers lost their jobs. Even the typically prosperous Ford Motor Company laid off two-thirds of its workforce.
In 1932, a major strike at the Ford Motor Company factory near Detroit resulted in over sixty injuries and four deaths. Often referred to as the Ford Hunger March, the event unfolded as a planned demonstration among unemployed Ford workers who, to protest their desperate situation, marched nine miles from Detroit to the company’s River Rouge plant in Dearborn. At the Dearborn city limits, local police launched tear gas at the roughly three thousand protestors, who responded by throwing stones and clods of dirt. When they finally reached the gates of the plant, protestors faced more police and firemen, as well as private security guards. As the firemen turned hoses onto the protestors, the police and security guards opened fire. In addition to those killed and injured, police arrested fifty protestors. One week later, sixty thousand mourners attended the public funerals of the four victims of what many protesters labeled police brutality. The event set the tone for worsening labor relations in the U.S.
Farmers also organized and protested, often violently. The most notable example was the Farm Holiday Association. Led by Milo Reno, this organization held significant sway among farmers in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. Although they never comprised a majority of farmers in any of these states, their public actions drew press attention nationwide. Among their demands, the association sought a federal government plan to set agricultural prices artificially high enough to cover the farmers’ costs, as well as a government commitment to sell any farm surpluses on the world market. To achieve their goals, the group called for farm holidays, during which farmers would neither sell their produce nor purchase any other goods until the government met their demands. However, the greatest strength of the association came from the unexpected and seldom-planned actions of its members, which included barricading roads into markets, attacking nonmember farmers, and destroying their produce. Some members even raided small town stores, destroying produce on the shelves. Members also engaged in “penny auctions,” bidding pennies on foreclosed farm land and threatening any potential buyers with bodily harm if they competed in the sale. Once they won the auction, the association returned the land to the original owner. In Iowa, farmers threatened to hang a local judge if he signed any more farm foreclosures. At least one death occurred as a direct result of these protests before they waned following the election of Franklin Roosevelt.
One of the most notable protest movements occurred toward the end of Hoover’s presidency and centered on the Bonus Expeditionary Force, or Bonus Army, in the spring of 1932. In this protest, approximately fifteen thousand World War I veterans marched on Washington to demand early payment of their veteran bonuses, which were not due to be paid until 1945. The group camped out in vacant federal buildings and set up camps in Anacostia Flats near the Capitol building (Figure 25.2.2).
Many veterans remained in the city in protest for nearly two months, although the U.S. Senate officially rejected their request in July. By the middle of that month, Hoover wanted them gone. He ordered the police to empty the buildings and clear out the camps, and in the exchange that followed, police fired into the crowd, killing two veterans. Fearing an armed uprising, Hoover then ordered General Douglas MacArthur, along with his aides, Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton, to forcibly remove the veterans from Anacostia Flats. The ensuing raid proved catastrophic, as the military burned down the shantytown and injured dozens of people, including a twelve-week-old infant who was killed when accidentally struck by a tear gas canister (Figure 25.2.3).
As Americans bore witness to photographs and newsreels of the U.S. Army forcibly removing veterans, Hoover’s popularity plummeted even further. By the summer of 1932, he was largely a defeated man. His pessimism and failure mirrored that of the nation’s citizens. America was a country in desperate need: in need of a charismatic leader to restore public confidence as well as provide concrete solutions to pull the economy out of the Great Depression.
Whether he truly believed it or simply thought the American people wanted to hear it, Hoover continued to state publicly that the country was getting back on track. Listen as he speaks about the “Success of Recovery” at a campaign stop in Detroit, Michigan on October 22, 1932.
Section Summary
President Hoover’s deeply held philosophy of American individualism, which he maintained despite extraordinary economic circumstances, made him particularly unsuited to deal with the crisis of the Great Depression. He greatly resisted government intervention, considering it a path to the downfall of American greatness. His initial response of asking Americans to find their own paths to recovery and seeking voluntary business measures to stimulate the economy could not stem the tide of the Depression. Ultimately, Hoover did create some federal relief programs, such as the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), which sought to boost public confidence in financial institutions by ensuring that they were on solid footing. When this measure did little to help impoverished individuals, he signed the Emergency Relief Act, which allowed the RFC to invest in local public works projects. But even this was too little, too late. The severe limits on the types of projects funded and type of workers used meant that most Americans saw no benefit.
The American public ultimately responded with anger and protest to Hoover’s apparent inability to create solutions. Protests ranged from factory strikes to farm riots, culminating in the notorious Bonus Army protest in the spring of 1932. Veterans from World War I lobbied to receive their bonuses immediately, rather than waiting until 1945. The government denied them, and in the ensuing chaos, Hoover called in the military to disrupt the protest. The violence of this act was the final blow for Hoover, whose popularity was already at an all-time low.
Review Questions
Which of the following protests was directly related to federal policies, and thus had the greatest impact in creating a negative public perception of the Hoover presidency?
the Farm Holiday Association
the Ford Motor Company labor strikes
the Bonus Expeditionary Force
the widespread appearance of “Hooverville” shantytowns
C
Which of the following groups or bodies did not offer direct relief to needy people?
the federal government
local police and schoolteachers
churches and synagogues
wealthy individuals
A
What attempts did Hoover make to offer federal relief? How would you evaluate the success or failure of these programs?
Hoover formed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) in 1932. This represented a significant effort, although it did not provide any direct aid to needy Americans. The RFC set aside $2 billion in taxpayer money to rescue banks, credit unions, and insurance companies, hoping to promote Americans’ confidence in financial institutions. However, by lending money only to banks with sufficient collateral, he ensured that most of the recipients of the aid were large banks. Additionally, most Americans at this time did not have assets to place into banks, however confident they may have felt. In 1932, Hoover also endorsed the Emergency Relief and Construction Act, which allotted $1.5 billion to states to fund local public works projects. Hoover’s limitations upon the types of projects that could receive funding and the types of workers who could participate, however, limited the program’s utility.
Glossary
- American individualism
- the belief, strongly held by Herbert Hoover and others, that hard work and individual effort, absent government interference, comprised the formula for success in the U.S.
- Bonus Army
- a group of World War I veterans and affiliated groups who marched to Washington in 1932 to demand their war bonuses early, only to be refused and forcibly removed by the U.S. Army


3.1.6: Halting States
Although we have defined our machines to halt only when there is no instruction to carry out, common representations of Turing machines have a dedicated halting state , \(h\) , such that \(h \in Q\) .
The idea behind a halting state is simple: when the machine has finished operation (it is ready to accept input, or has finished writing the output), it goes into a state \(h\) where it halts. Some machines have two halting states, one that accepts input and one that rejects input.
Halting States . To elucidate this concept, let us begin with an alteration of the even machine. Instead of having the machine halt in state \(q_0\) if the input is even, we can add an instruction to send the machine into a halt state.
Let us further expand the example. When the machine determines that the input is odd, it never halts. We can alter the machine to include a reject state by replacing the looping instruction with an instruction to go to a reject state \(r\) .
Adding a dedicated halting state can be advantageous in cases like this, where it makes explicit when the machine accepts/rejects certain inputs. However, it is important to note that no computing power is gained by adding a dedicated halting state. Similarly, a less formal notion of halting has its own advantages. The definition of halting used so far in this chapter makes the proof of the Halting Problem intuitive and easy to demonstrate. For this reason, we continue with our original definition.


13.4: Ellipses
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Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Graph an ellipse with center at the origin
- Find the equation of an ellipse with center at the origin
- Graph an ellipse with center not at the origin
- Solve application with ellipses
Before you get started, take this readiness quiz.
-
Graph \(y=(x-1)^{2}-2\) using transformations.
If you missed this problem, review Example 9.57. -
Complete the square: \(x^{2}-8 x=8\).
If you missed this problem, review Example 9.12. -
Write in standard form. \(y=2 x^{2}-12 x+14\)
If you missed this problem, review Example 9.59.
Graph an Ellipse with Center at the Origin
The next conic section we will look at is an ellipse . We define an ellipse as all points in a plane where the sum of the distances from two fixed points is constant. Each of the given points is called a focus of the ellipse.
Definition \(\PageIndex{1}\)
An ellipse is all points in a plane where the sum of the distances from two fixed points is constant. Each of the fixed points is called a focus of the ellipse.
We can draw an ellipse by taking some fixed length of flexible string and attaching the ends to two thumbtacks. We use a pen to pull the string taut and rotate it around the two thumbtacks. The figure that results is an ellipse.
A line drawn through the foci intersect the ellipse in two points. Each point is called a vertex of the ellipse. The segment connecting the vertices is called the major axis . The midpoint of the segment is called the center of the ellipse. A segment perpendicular to the major axis that passes through the center and intersects the ellipse in two points is called the minor axis .
We mentioned earlier that our goal is to connect the geometry of a conic with algebra. Placing the ellipse on a rectangular coordinate system gives us that opportunity. In the figure, we placed the ellipse so the foci \(((−c,0),(c,0))\) are on the \(x\)-axis and the center is the origin.
The definition states the sum of the distance from the foci to a point \((x,y)\) is constant. So \(d_{1}+d_{2}\) is a constant that we will call \(2a\) so, \(d_{1}+d_{2}=2 a\). We will use the distance formula to lead us to an algebraic formula for an ellipse.
\(d_{1} \quad+\quad \quad d_{2} \quad=\quad 2 a\)
Use the distance formula to find \(d_{1},d_{2}\).
\(\sqrt{(x-(-c))^{2}+(y-0)^{2}}+\sqrt{(x-c)^{2}+(y-0)^{2}}=2 a\)
After eliminating radicals and simplifying,we get:
\(\frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{y^{2}}{a^{2}-c^{2}}=1\)
To simplify the equation of the ellipse, we let \(a^{2}−c^{2}=b^{2}\).So, the equation of an ellipse centered at the origin in standard form is:
\(\frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\)
To graph the ellipse, it will be helpful to know the intercepts. We will find the \(x\)-intercepts and \(y\)-intercepts using the formula.
\(y\)-intercepts
Let \(x=0\).
\(\begin{aligned} \frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}} &=1 \\ \frac{0^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{y^{2}}{a^{2}} &=1 \\ \frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}} &=1 \\ y^{2} &=b^{2} \\ y &=\pm b \end{aligned}\)
The \(y\)-intercepts are \((0,b)\) and \((0, -b)\).
\(x\)-intercepts
Let \(y=0\).
\(\begin{aligned} \frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}} &=1 \\ \frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{0^{2}}{b^{2}} &=1 \\ \frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}} &=1 \\ x^{2} &=a^{2} \\ x &=\pm a \end{aligned}\)
The \(x\)-intercepts are \((a,0)\) and \((-a,0)\).
Definition \(\PageIndex{2}\)
Standard Form of the Equation an Ellipse with Center \((0,0)\)
The standard form of the equation of an ellipse with center \((0,0)\), is
\(\frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\)
The \(x\)-intercepts are \((a,0)\) and \((−a,0)\).
The \(y\)-intercepts are \((0,b)\) and \((0,−b)\).
Notice that when the major axis is horizontal, the value of \(a\) will be greater than the value of \(b\) and when the major axis is vertical, the value of \(b\) will be greater than the value of \(a\). We will use this information to graph an ellipse that is centered at the origin.
Ellipse with Center \((0,0)\)
| \(\frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\) | \(a>b\) | \(b>a\) |
|---|---|---|
| Major axis | on the \(x\)-axis. | on the \(y\)-axis |
| \(x\)-intercepts | \((-a, 0),(a, 0)\) | |
| \(y\)-intercepts | \((0,-b),(0, b)\) |
Example \(\PageIndex{1}\)
Graph: \(\frac{x^{2}}{4}+\frac{y^{2}}{9}=1\).
Solution :
| Step 1 . Write the equation in standard form. | It is in standard form. | \(\frac{x^{2}}{4}+\frac{y^{2}}{9}=1\) |
| Step 2 . Determine whether the major axis is horizontal or vertical. | Since \(9>4\) and \(9\) is in the \(y^{2}\) term, the major axis is vertical. | Major axis is vertical. |
| Step 3 . Find the endpoints of the major axis. |
The endpoints will be the \(y\)-intercepts. Since \(b^{2}=9\), then \(b=\pm 3\). The endpoints of the major axis are \((0,3),(0,-3)\). |
The endpoints of the major axis are \((0,3),(0,-3)\). |
| Step 4 . Find the endpoints of the minor axis. |
The endpoints will be the \(x\)-intercepts.
Since \(a^{2}=4\), then \(a=\pm 2\). The endpoints of the major axis are \((2,0),(-2,0)\). |
The endpoints of the major axis are \((2,0),(-2,0)\). |
| Step 5 . Sketch the ellipse. |
Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)
Graph: \(\frac{x^{2}}{4}+\frac{y^{2}}{16}=1\).
- Answer
Exercise \(\PageIndex{2}\)
Graph: \(\frac{x^{2}}{9}+\frac{y^{2}}{16}=1\).
- Answer
We summarize the steps for reference.
HOW TO GRAPH AN ELLIPSE WITH CENTER \((0,0)\).
- Write the equation in standard form.
- Determine whether the major axis is horizontal or vertical.
- Find the endpoints of the major axis.
- Find the endpoints of the minor axis
- Sketch the ellipse.
Sometimes our equation will first need to be put in standard form.
Example \(\PageIndex{2}\)
Graph \(x^{2}+4 y^{2}=16\).
Solution :
|
We recognize this as the equation of an
ellipse since both the \(x\) and \(y\) terms are squared and have different coefficients. |
\(x^{2}+4 y^{2}=16\) |
|
To get the equation in standard form, divide
both sides by \(16\) so that the equation is equal to \(1\). |
\(\frac{x^{2}}{16}+\frac{4 y^{2}}{16}=\frac{16}{16}\) |
| Simplify. | \(\frac{x^{2}}{16}+\frac{y^{2}}{4}=1\) |
|
The equation is in standard form.
The ellipse is centered at the origin. |
The center is \((0,0)\). |
|
Since \(16>4\) and \(16\) is in the \(x^{2}\) term,
the major axis is horizontal. |
|
|
\(a^{2}=16, a=\pm 4\)
\(b^{2}=4, \quad b=\pm 2\) |
The vertices are \((4,0),(−4,0)\). The endpoints of the minor axis are \((0,2),(0,−2)\). |
| Sketch the parabola. |
Exercise \(\PageIndex{3}\)
Graph \(9 x^{2}+16 y^{2}=144\).
- Answer
Exercise \(\PageIndex{4}\)
Graph \(16 x^{2}+25 y^{2}=400\).
- Answer
Find the Equation of an Ellipse with Center at the Origin
If we are given the graph of an ellipse , we can find the equation of the ellipse.
Example \(\PageIndex{3}\)
Find the equation of the ellipse shown.
Solution :
We recognize this as an ellipse that is centered at the origin.
\(\frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\)
Since the major axis is horizontal and the distance from the center to the vertex is \(4\), we know \(a=4\) and so \(a^{2}=16\).
\(\frac{x^{2}}{16}+\frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\)
The minor axis is vertical and the distance from the center to the ellipse is \(3\), we know \(b=3\) and so \(b^{2}=9\).
\(\frac{x^{2}}{16}+\frac{y^{2}}{9}=1\)
Exercise \(\PageIndex{5}\)
Find the equation of the ellipse shown.
- Answer
-
\(\frac{x^{2}}{4}+\frac{y^{2}}{25}=1\)
Exercise \(\PageIndex{6}\)
Find the equation of the ellipse shown.
- Answer
-
\(\frac{x^{2}}{9}+\frac{y^{2}}{4}=1\)
Graph an Ellipse with Center Not at the Origin
The ellipses we have looked at so far have all been centered at the origin. We will now look at ellipses whose center is \((h,k)\).
The equation is \(\frac{(x-h)^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{(y-k)^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\) and when \(a>b\), the major axis is horizontal so the distance from the center to the vertex is \(a\). When \(b>a\), the major axis is vertical so the distance from the center to the vertex is \(b\).
Definition \(\PageIndex{3}\)
Standard Form of the Equation an Ellipse with Center \((h,k)\)
The standard form of the equation of an ellipse with center \((h,k)\), is
\(\frac{(x-h)^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{(y-k)^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\)
When \(a>b\), the major axis is horizontal so the distance from the center to the vertex is \(a\).
When \(b>a\), the major axis is vertical so the distance from the center to the vertex is \(b\) .
Example \(\PageIndex{4}\)
Graph: \(\frac{(x-3)^{2}}{9}+\frac{(y-1)^{2}}{4}=1\).
Solution :
| The equation is in standard form, \(\frac{(x-h)^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{(y-k)^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\). | \(\frac{(x-3)^{2}}{9}+\frac{(y-1)^{2}}{4}=1\) |
| The ellipse is centered at \((h,k)\). | The center is \((3,1)\). |
| Since \(9>4\) and \(9\) is in the \(x^{2}\) term, the major axis is horizontal. | |
|
\(a^{2}=9, a=\pm 3\)
\(b^{2}=4, b=\pm 2\) |
The distance from the center to the vertices is \(3\).
The distance from the center to the endpoints of the minor axis is \(2\). |
| Sketch the ellipse. |
Exercise \(\PageIndex{7}\)
Graph: \(\frac{(x+3)^{2}}{4}+\frac{(y-5)^{2}}{16}=1\).
- Answer
Exercise \(\PageIndex{8}\)
Graph: \(\frac{(x-1)^{2}}{25}+\frac{(y+3)^{2}}{16}=1\).
- Answer
If we look at the equations of \(\frac{x^{2}}{9}+\frac{y^{2}}{4}=1\) and \(\frac{(x-3)^{2}}{9}+\frac{(y-1)^{2}}{4}=1\), we see that they are both ellipses with \(a=3\) and \(b=2\). So they will have the same size and shape. They are different in that they do not have the same center.
Notice in the graph above that we could have graphed \(\frac{(x-3)^{2}}{9}+\frac{(y-1)^{2}}{4}=1\) by translations. We moved the original ellipse to the right \(3\) units and then up \(1\) unit.
In the next example we will use the translation method to graph the ellipse.
Example \(\PageIndex{5}\)
Graph \(\frac{(x+4)^{2}}{16}+\frac{(y-6)^{2}}{9}=1\) by translation.
Solution :
This ellipse will have the same size and shape as \(\frac{x^{2}}{16}+\frac{y^{2}}{9}=1\) whose center is \((0,0)\). We graph this ellipse first.
| The center is \((0,0)\). | Center \((0,0)\) |
| Since \(16>9\), the major axis is horizontal. | |
|
\(a^{2}=16, a=\pm 4\)
\(b^{2}=9, \quad b=\pm 3\) |
The vertices are \((4,0),(−4,0)\).
The endpoints of the minor axis are \((0,3),(0,−3)\). |
| Sketch the ellipse. | |
| The original equation is in standard form, \(\frac{(x-h)^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{(y-k)^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\). | \(\frac{(x-(-4))^{2}}{16}+\frac{(y-6)^{2}}{9}=1\) |
| The ellipse is centered at \((h,k)\). | The center is \((-4,6)\). |
|
We translate the graph of \(\frac{x^{2}}{16}+\frac{y^{2}}{9}=1\) four
units to the left and then up \(6\) units. Verify that the center is \((−4,6)\). The new ellipse is the ellipse whose equation is \(\frac{(x+4)^{2}}{16}+\frac{(y-6)^{2}}{9}=1\). |
Exercise \(\PageIndex{9}\)
Graph \(\frac{(x-5)^{2}}{9}+\frac{(y+4)^{2}}{4}=1\) by translation.
- Answer
Exercise \(\PageIndex{10}\)
Graph \(\frac{(x+6)^{2}}{16}+\frac{(y+2)^{2}}{25}=1\) by translation.
- Answer
When an equation has both an \(x^{2}\) and a \(y^{2}\) with different coefficients, we verify that it is an ellipsis by putting it in standard form. We will then be able to graph the equation.
Example \(\PageIndex{6}\)
Write the equation \(x^{2}+4 y^{2}-4 x+24 y+24=0\) in standard form and graph.
Solution :
We put the equation in standard form by completing the squares in both \(x\) and \(y\).
| \(x^{2}+4 y^{2}-4 x+24 y+24=0\) | |
| Rewrite grouping the \(x\) terms and \(y\) terms. | |
| Make the coefficients of \(x^{2}\) and \(y^{2}\) equal \(1\). | |
| Complete the squares. | |
| Write as binomial squares. | |
| Divide both sides by \(16\) to get \(1\) on the right. | |
| Simplify. | |
| The equation is in standard form, \(\frac{(x-h)^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{(y-k)^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\) | |
| The ellipse is centered at \((h,k)\). | The center is \((2,-3)\). |
|
Since \(16>4\) and \(16\) is in the \(x^{2}\) term, the major axis is horizontal.
\(a^{2}=16, a=\pm 4\)
|
The distance from the center to the vertices is \(4\). The distance from the center to the endpoints of the minor axis is \(2\). |
| Sketch the ellipse. |
Exercise \(\PageIndex{11}\)
- Write the equation \(6 x^{2}+4 y^{2}+12 x-32 y+34=0\) in standard form and
- Graph.
- Answer
-
- \(\frac{(x+1)^{2}}{6}+\frac{(y-4)^{2}}{9}=1\)
Exercise \(\PageIndex{12}\)
- Write the equation \(4 x^{2}+y^{2}-16 x-6 y+9=0\) in standard form and
- Graph.
- Answer
-
- \(\frac{(x-2)^{2}}{4}+\frac{(y-3)^{2}}{16}=1\)
Solve Application with Ellipses
The orbits of the planets around the sun follow elliptical paths.
Example \(\PageIndex{7}\)
Pluto (a dwarf planet) moves in an elliptical orbit around the Sun. The closest Pluto gets to the Sun is approximately \(30\) astronomical units (AU) and the furthest is approximately \(50\) AU. The Sun is one of the foci of the elliptical orbit. Letting the ellipse center at the origin and labeling the axes in AU, the orbit will look like the figure below. Use the graph to write an equation for the elliptical orbit of Pluto.
Solution :
We recognize this as an ellipse that is centered at the origin.
\(\frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\)
Since the major axis is horizontal and the distance from the center to the vertex is \(40\), we know \(a=40\) and so \(a^{2}=1600\).
\(\frac{x^{2}}{1600}+\frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\)
The minor axis is vertical but the end points aren’t given.To find \(b\) we will use the location of the Sun. Since the Sun is a focus of the ellipse at the point \((10,0)\),we know \(c=10\). Use this to solve for \(b^{2}\).
\(b^{2}=a^{2}-c^{2}\)
\(b^{2}=40^{2}-10^{2}\)
\(b^{2}=1600-100\)
\(b^{2}=1500\)
Substitute \(a^{2}\) and \(b^{2}\) into the standard form of the ellipse.
\(\frac{x^{2}}{1600}+\frac{y^{2}}{1500}=1\)
Exercise \(\PageIndex{13}\)
A planet moves in an elliptical orbit around its sun. The closest the planet gets to the sun is approximately \(20\) AU and the furthest is approximately \(30\) AU. The sun is one of the foci of the elliptical orbit. Letting the ellipse center at the origin and labeling the axes in AU, the orbit will look like the figure below. Use the graph to write an equation for the elliptical orbit of the planet.
- Answer
-
\(\frac{x^{2}}{625}+\frac{y^{2}}{600}=1\)
Exercise \(\PageIndex{14}\)
A planet moves in an elliptical orbit around its sun. The closest the planet gets to the sun is approximately \(20\) AU and the furthest is approximately \(50\) AU. The sun is one of the foci of the elliptical orbit. Letting the ellipse center at the origin and labeling the axes in AU, the orbit will look like the figure below. Use the graph to write an equation for the elliptical orbit of the planet.
- Answer
-
\(\frac{x^{2}}{1225}+\frac{y^{2}}{1000}=1\)
Access these online resources for additional instructions and practice with ellipses.
- Conic Sections: Graphing Ellipses Part 1
- Conic Sections: Graphing Ellipses Part 2
- Equation for Ellipse From Graph
Key Concepts
-
Ellipse:
An
ellipse
is all points in a plane where the sum of the distances from two fixed points is constant. Each of the fixed points is called a
focus
of the ellipse.
Figure 11.3.37
-
If we draw a line through the foci intersects the ellipse in two points—each is called a
vertex
of the ellipse.
The segment connecting the vertices is called the major axis .
The midpoint of the segment is called the center of the ellipse.
A segment perpendicular to the major axis that passes through the center and intersects the ellipse in two points is called the minor axis . -
Standard Form of the Equation an Ellipse with Center
\((0,0)\): The standard form of the equation of an ellipse with center \((0,0)\), is
\(\frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\)
The \(x\)-intercepts are \((a,0)\) and \((−a,0)\).
The \(y\)-intercepts are \((0,b)\) and \((0,−b)\). -
How to an Ellipse with Center
\((0,0)\)
- Write the equation in standard form.
- Determine whether the major axis is horizontal or vertical.
- Find the endpoints of the major axis.
- Find the endpoints of the minor axis
- Sketch the ellipse.
-
Standard Form of the Equation an Ellipse with Center
\((h,k)\): The standard form of the equation of an ellipse with center \((h,k)\), is
\(\frac{(x-h)^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{(y-k)^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\)
When \(a>b\), the major axis is horizontal so the distance from the center to the vertex is \(a\).
When \(b>a\), the major axis is vertical so the distance from the center to the vertex is \(b\).
Glossary
- ellipse
- An ellipse is all points in a plane where the sum of the distances from two fixed points is constant.


20.2B: Building Phylogenetic Trees
- Describe the cladistics as a method used to create phylogenetic trees
After the homologous and analogous traits are sorted, scientists often organize the homologous traits using a system called cladistics. This system sorts organisms into clades: groups of organisms that descended from a single ancestor. For example, all of the organisms in the orange region evolved from a single ancestor that had amniotic eggs. Consequently, all of these organisms also have amniotic eggs and make a single clade, also called a monophyletic group. Clades must include all of the descendants from a branch point.
Clades can vary in size depending on which branch point is being referenced. The important factor is that all of the organisms in the clade or monophyletic group stem from a single point on the tree. This can be remembered because monophyletic breaks down into “mono,” meaning one, and “phyletic,” meaning evolutionary relationship. Notice in the various examples of clades how each clade comes from a single point, whereas the non-clade groups show branches that do not share a single point.
Shared Characteristics
Organisms evolve from common ancestors and then diversify. Scientists use the phrase “descent with modification” because even though related organisms have many of the same characteristics and genetic codes, changes occur. This pattern repeats as one goes through the phylogenetic tree of life:
- A change in the genetic makeup of an organism leads to a new trait which becomes prevalent in the group.
- Many organisms descend from this point and have this trait.
- New variations continue to arise: some are adaptive and persist, leading to new traits.
- With new traits, a new branch point is determined (go back to step 1 and repeat).
If a characteristic is found in the ancestor of a group, it is considered a shared-ancestral character because all of the organisms in the taxon or clade have that trait. Now, consider the amniotic egg characteristic in the same figure. Only some of the organisms have this trait; to those that do, it is called a shared-derived character because this trait derived at some point, but does not include all of the ancestors in the tree. The tricky aspect to shared-ancestral and shared-derived characters is the fact that these terms are relative. The same trait can be considered one or the other depending on the particular diagram being used. These terms help scientists distinguish between clades in the building of phylogenetic trees.
Choosing the Right Relationships
Imagine being the person responsible for organizing all of the items in a department store properly; an overwhelming task. Organizing the evolutionary relationships of all life on earth proves much more difficult: scientists must span enormous blocks of time and work with information from long-extinct organisms. Trying to decipher the proper connections, especially given the presence of homologies and analogies, makes the task of building an accurate tree of life extraordinarily difficult. Add to that the advancement of DNA technology, which now provides large quantities of genetic sequences to be used and analyzed. Taxonomy is a subjective discipline: many organisms have more than one connection to each other, so each taxonomist will decide the order of connections.
To aid in the tremendous task of describing phylogenies accurately, scientists often use a concept called maximum parsimony, which means that events occurred in the simplest, most obvious way. For example, if a group of people entered a forest preserve to go hiking, based on the principle of maximum parsimony, one could predict that most of the people would hike on established trails rather than forge new ones. For scientists deciphering evolutionary pathways, the same idea is used: the pathway of evolution probably includes the fewest major events that coincide with the evidence at hand. Starting with all of the homologous traits in a group of organisms, scientists look for the most obvious and simple order of evolutionary events that led to the occurrence of those traits.
Contributions and Attributions
- OpenStax College, Biology. October 16, 2013. Provided by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : http://cnx.org/content/m44591/latest...ol11448/latest . License : CC BY: Attribution
- analogous. Provided by : Wiktionary. Located at : en.wiktionary.org/wiki/analogous . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- molecular systematics. Provided by : Wikipedia. Located at : en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/molecular%20systematics . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- homologous. Provided by : Wiktionary. Located at : en.wiktionary.org/wiki/homologous . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- phylogeny. Provided by : Wiktionary. Located at : en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phylogeny . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- OpenStax College, Determining Evolutionary Relationships. October 16, 2013. Provided by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : http://cnx.org/content/m44591/latest...e_20_02_01.jpg . License : CC BY: Attribution
- OpenStax College, Determining Evolutionary Relationships. October 16, 2013. Provided by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : http://cnx.org/content/m44591/latest...e_20_02_02.jpg . License : CC BY: Attribution
- OpenStax College, Biology. October 16, 2013. Provided by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : http://cnx.org/content/m44591/latest...ol11448/latest . License : CC BY: Attribution
- derived. Provided by : Wiktionary. Located at : en.wiktionary.org/wiki/derived . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- monophyletic. Provided by : Wiktionary. Located at : en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monophyletic . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- maximum parsimony. Provided by : Wikipedia. Located at : en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/maximum%20parsimony . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- ancestral. Provided by : Wiktionary. Located at : en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ancestral . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Boundless. Provided by : Boundless Learning. Located at : www.boundless.com//biology/definition/clades . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- OpenStax College, Determining Evolutionary Relationships. October 16, 2013. Provided by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : http://cnx.org/content/m44591/latest...e_20_02_01.jpg . License : CC BY: Attribution
- OpenStax College, Determining Evolutionary Relationships. October 16, 2013. Provided by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : http://cnx.org/content/m44591/latest...e_20_02_02.jpg . License : CC BY: Attribution
- OpenStax College, Determining Evolutionary Relationships. October 16, 2013. Provided by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : http://cnx.org/content/m44591/latest...e_20_02_05.png . License : CC BY: Attribution
- OpenStax College, Determining Evolutionary Relationships. October 16, 2013. Provided by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : http://cnx.org/content/m44591/latest...e_20_02_04.png . License : CC BY: Attribution
Key Points
- Phylogenetic trees sort organisms into clades: groups of organisms that descended from a single ancestor.
- Organisms of a single clade are called a monophyletic group.
- Scientists use the phrase “descent with modification” because genetic changes occur even though related organisms have many of the same characteristics and genetic codes.
- A characteristic is considered a shared-ancestral character if it is found in the ancestor of a group and all of the organisms in the taxon or clade have that trait.
- If only some of the organisms have a certain trait, it is called a shared- derived character because this trait derived at some point, but does not include all of the ancestors in the clade.
- Scientists often use a concept called maximum parsimony, which means that events occurred in the simplest, most obvious way, to aid in the tremendous task of describing phylogenies accurately.
Key Terms
- monophyletic : of, pertaining to, or affecting a single phylum (or other taxon) of organisms
- derived : of, or pertaining to, conditions unique to the descendant species of a clade, and not found in earlier ancestral species
- clades : groups of organisms that descended from a single ancestor
- ancestral : of, pertaining to, derived from, or possessed by, an ancestor or ancestors; as, an ancestral estate
- maximum parsimony : the preferred phylogenetic tree is the tree that requires the least evolutionary change to explain some observed data


2.3: Communication and Calendar Applications
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Identify common communication applications for email and messaging
- Apply best practices to crafting an email
- Describe features and uses of calendar applications
Effective communication is a key component of any organization. Today’s technologies enable us to communicate nearly seamlessly across thousands of miles, so that organizations can operate more efficiently and respond quickly to their customers’ changing needs.
Communication technologies fall into three broad categories: email , instant chat/messaging , and videoconferencing programs. Some companies might also conduct communication by placing calls over the internet. Email is electronic mail. It is like writing a letter and delivering it via the internet rather than through the postal service. Instant chat/messaging is designed for brief, typed messages that are delivered in real time as if you were chatting with someone face-to-face. Finally, videoconferencing programs use video to mimic a face-to-face meeting where you can see and hear the other participants, but in a virtual environment (rather than in the same physical location).
There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of communication technology. Email is not ideal for conveying emotion clearly. Instant chat/messaging, though quick, as its name implies, may not preserve the entire conversation for later reference. (This may depend on the messaging service used.) Many email and instant messaging applications include a video chatting/meeting option as well.
With video communication programs, engagement from participants could be limited, especially if participants keep their video cameras turned off or if there are a large number of participants. It may be difficult to interject to speak in such a setting. But video communication software has made it possible to hold departmental meetings where all members do not have to be gathered in the same location. This technology has transformed communication on a large scale as well, especially on the world stage, as Figure 2.9 shows.
Communication in the Digitized Office
Effective communication is essential for enhancing organizational performance. Communication is needed from upper management to effectively convey the strategic goals of the organization. Communication among colleagues is needed to ensure that work tasks are being completed in a timely manner. And, finally, external communication of an organization to key stakeholders such as customers or vendors is necessary to increase the customer base or garner additional funding if needed. External communication is essential when marketing your company. WorldCorp can use external communication via a variety of ways (such as a website and emails to potential customers) to raise awareness about a new product line they are offering. With technology today, business can be conducted without the individuals being in the same physical space. It is likely that you will encounter a digitized office environment in your career.
Challenges of Digitized Collaboration
Some challenges of collaboration via technology include:
- Building trust
- Scheduling
- Addressing communication issues
- Overcoming cultural differences
Regular video calls with teams can be an effective way to build trust in an organization. In a digitized business environment, scheduling will need to account for time zone differences and this can be facilitated with the technologies today. Figure 2.10 shows one map of the world time zones that most video conferencing programs will automatically account for when scheduling meetings in multiple countries and continents.
Communications issues such as language barriers can be addressed using translation capabilities within some applications. This can allow businesses to recognize cultural differences that may exist within their organization or customer base. Organizations that operate remotely should consider offering training to help overcome some of these cultural differences so that they do not become barriers to effective teamwork. The training could include cultural awareness training or even language classes to assist employees working across borders.
Essentials of Business Communication
Communication in the workplace is an essential part of the day-to-day functions for any employee. Keep in mind that communication conducted using company equipment (even if private) can be recorded and is the property of the company that can be accessed at any time. So keep this in mind when you are communicating while at work. This includes chats, instant messages, emails, video calls, and computer files.
Although the exact content of the communication will vary, there are some best practices to follow to make the communication more effective. First, one of the most important aspects of communicating is to know your audience. The way you communicate with your coworker could be completely different than how you would communicate with a senior level manager in the company. The communication style, needs, and method can vary widely based on the audience. Next, you need to understand your communication objectives: Is the intent to inform or persuade? What are you hoping to achieve with the communication? Knowing the answer to these questions can help you format the content of your communication and clearly articulate the message.
Determining the audience and the purpose of the communication leads to creating the content of the communication. First, consider the level of formality needed in the message. Communicating lunch plans with your coworkers is a different level of formality than communicating quarterly sales results with a manager. You might also consider the timing of communication in your thought process. Sending critical information via email at 5:15 p.m. on a Friday afternoon may not be the best timing for the message to go out. Some applications might give you the ability to schedule delivery of emails at a more appropriate time. Timing is especially important when communicating across time zones. Be sure to spell-check your content and read it out loud for professionalism when appropriate. This is also applicable to all attachments to the communications that you might send.
Communication Applications
WorldCorp uses email, instant messaging, and video applications because it has several employees who work remotely. Technologies of this kind are called communication applications , or software that facilitates communication between individuals or groups.
Email has become its primary means to communicate. Instant messaging also plays a role in the company as a fast way to communicate with coworkers who might not be located in the same office space as you are. Finally, video communication applications work well when not everyone can be in the same place to meet face-to-face. Within each communication type, there are several applications available, and many are integrated into one program. Most of the software for the communication type will have similar functionality. For example, many email applications offer similar tools and capabilities for communicating.
Email is a digital means to send messages, ranging from a short memo to a longer narrative, which can be sent to a single recipient or to thousands (or more). You’ve most likely used or at least heard of popular email programs such as Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail, and Yahoo! mail. Emails can also include attachments, such as Word or Excel documents.
Regardless of which email program you use, all emails have certain common elements. The main components of an email include: To, Cc, Bcc, subject, body of the email, and attachments, as shown in Figure 2.11. The To field is where you enter the address of the primary intended recipient(s). You can include multiple recipients for the email; their email addresses will be separated either by a “,” or a “;” depending on which program you are using. All carbon copy (Cc) recipients will get the identical email and all recipients will know all that have received the email, but they are merely “copied” on the message to be informed of it. There is no action required by Cc’d recipients. A blind carbon copy (Bcc) means that the recipients in the To and Cc fields will not know the Bcc individual has received the email. This function serves to inform someone else confidentially and usually means there is a crucial need for it. It’s not a function to use lightly or liberally.
The subject line of the email is a brief description of the content or purpose of the email. The body of the email is composed in the large space. Composing an email in an email application is similar to using word processing software such as Google Docs.
The final component of most emails is attachments. Not all emails have to include attachments, but you may want to include an attachment such as a document to review or an image you want to share. To attach a file to an email, you will usually find a tool or icon that looks like a paper clip. Attachments are just as they sound—additional information that is saved in a computer file outside of the actual email, such as spreadsheets, pictures, and PDFs. These digital files can then be saved by the recipient on their computer for future use.
When responding to an email you have received, you have several options. You can choose Reply , Reply All , or Forward , as Figure 2.12 shows. Reply will allow you to compose a response, which will go to the sender of the email only. When you choose Reply All, everyone who received the original email from the sender will also get your reply. Use caution when choosing Reply All. Make sure you are comfortable with all on the email distribution list reading your response.
For example, the human resources (HR) director at WorldCorp has just sent a company-wide email about the upcoming holiday schedule. If you had a question about the schedule and chose Reply All, everyone in the company would get your email with the question. You really intended only to ask the question of the HR director, so you should have used Reply.
Finally, Forward allows you to forward the original email to someone else. You might choose this option if you want to get some input on a topic before responding. Sales personnel at WorldCorp might use the Forward option to send accounts payable receipts for products they have purchased.
Generally, email is not the best communication channel for long discussions that require input from multiple people, because you will get multiple replies that clog your email inbox (more on that later). In general, a business email should take a formal tone. Like a business letter, it should be clear and concise. Emails should include a descriptive subject line that conveys the topic of the message. In fact, some email programs have a security feature that will flag any message without a subject line and will ask you to write one before clicking Send.
Professional business emails should start with a greeting or salutation—something like Dear Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones, or simply Jim, depending on the level of formality you desire.
The body of the email should be brief and concise. Anything longer than a few paragraphs should be put into an attachment file instead. Pay attention to spelling and grammar as you are constructing the email. Finally, end with a closing and your signature. The closing may be a sentence such as “Thank you for your time” or “I look forward to hearing your thoughts.” Some email programs have a built-in feature that allows you to include a preformatted signature on all emails, perhaps including your name, company, position, and contact information.
Common Email Applications
There are many email applications on the market. Your company will have chosen one, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have your own email addresses to use at home. Just be sure to keep those email accounts separate. It is not a good idea to use company email for personal matters because you have no privacy and it is the company’s property first and foremost. Because this text covers Microsoft and Google products, you will learn these email applications, Outlook and Gmail, respectively.
Microsoft Outlook
Outlook is part of the Microsoft suite of applications. It contains many of the same features that you might find in Word or Excel. You can format the email text as you are composing the email. Figure 2.13 shows you the email composition screen in the application. You will notice there are common features in Outlook that you will find in most email applications. You have options to reply to the message, include attachments, and add signatures to your emails. Another handy feature in Outlook is setting a priority for your email. This allows you to give an email that needs immediate attention a high priority label. It can alert the recipient that the email is a “High Priority” email and needs to be addressed quickly.
Other features that you will see in Outlook and many other email applications are identifying emails as spam or junk. You can mark an email as junk and emails from that sender will no longer appear in your inbox. They will instead be immediately sent to the spam or junk folders. When you no longer need an email, you can choose to delete it. When you delete an email, it goes to the Trash folder. You can still access it in the Trash folder for some time based on the settings of Outlook to delete the content of the Trash folder. Finally, you have the ability to add folders to help keep your emails organized. Just as you would for folders on your computer, you can use an organization system that works for your needs. For example, a sales agent at WorldCorp might set up an email folder for each of its customers.
Gmail
Gmail (see Figure 2.14) is part of the Google suite of applications. You may have experience already using Gmail as many schools will assign Gmail email addresses to their students for use while they are enrolled. In Gmail, you have some ability to format text, but not to the extent that you have with Outlook. The basic setup of the email composition is similar. The functionality of Gmail is similar to that of most email programs. You can add attachments, organize emails into folders, and identify emails as junk or spam.
Email was invented in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson, a computer engineer who worked for Bolt Beranek and Newman in Massachusetts. Tomlinson developed a system that could send messages between computers using the @ symbol. The first organization to use email was the Department of Defense. Read this article on the history of email to learn more about how email has evolved since 1971.
- How has email changed the way organizations function?
- How has email changed the way individuals stay connected?
Instant Chat/Messaging (IM) Applications
Instant chat/messaging applications offer users a quick way to send messages in real time, meaning the back and forth is directly on the screen rather than in an email you have to open first to read. Often, these applications are more text based and do not offer some of the same formatting features that you might find in email programs. Many do offer the ability to send files through the instant messaging application. However, the size of the file may be limited. Usually, communicating through instant messaging is less formal than communication in email. Also, you would not expect to format a message in instant messaging applications like a business email. You might also find that users will abbreviate words more when using instant messaging applications. This is like texting via your cell phone.
Some companies offer internal programs for instant messaging. Others use commercially available tools to facilitate communication in the workplace. For example, if you had a quick question to your manager about the format needed for a presentation you are preparing, using an instant messaging application might be a good tool. You could send the message to your manager in a short, concise question and the manager would receive the message directly. Think about instant messaging like having a face-to-face conversation with your manager, but just electronically—an online chat. Instant chat/messaging applications give users the ability to send to multiple people or to create a “chat room.” Most programs also have an indication if a user is online. This will allow you to know whether your message will be viewed when you send it.
Using instant chat/messaging in the workplace can facilitate real-time communication between employees who are not in the same physical location. This can foster team building and foster trust among the employees. It can also reduce the number of emails an employee receives on a daily basis. Instant messaging can be a secure form of communication that can be archived by the information technology department. However, overuse of instant messaging can provide a distraction in the workplace. With instant messaging, we often do not place the same attention to proofreading and making sure we are conveying the message we intend. You might inadvertently send a message in error or with incorrect information. Because of the immediate nature of instant messages, take care to make sure the message is correct before sending.
Also, instant chat/messaging is not appropriate for critical discussions such as hiring decisions, strategic company decisions, or contract discussions. Instant messaging should be viewed as a means to facilitate quick conversations, not as a replacement for company meetings and other such discussions. Instant messaging, although similar in ways to a face-to-face conversation, cannot take the place of those human interactions. Emotions and body language are not conveyed through messages. Here are the major instant message programs.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a useful tool in business for instant messaging. It is included in the Microsoft suite of programs. Teams also offers video chat capability as well as file sharing. Many organizations today use Teams to conduct team meetings. Teams provides much more than just a chat function. You can take calls, schedule meetings through the calendar function, and much more in the Teams environment. Figure 2.15 shows what the Teams interface looks like with the chat function selected.
Slack
Another instant messaging platform, Slack , is a free program with some extra features available for a fee. For example, with the free version, users are limited to view and access only the most recent 10,000 instant messages. This will work for many uses but may be limiting if you try to use the free version for workplace communications, where you may need to recall a conversation that goes back further. Slack is similar in many ways to Teams (see Figure 2.16). It was designed specifically for use in the workplace. Slack allows users to add emojis to messages and to create workspaces for team collaboration. Files can be shared via Slack as they are in Teams. Private and public messages can be exchanged through Slack. Slack integrates well with other programs such as the Google suite of products, including Google Calendar.
Calendar Applications
There are several applications that can help you keep organized. One such category of applications is calendars. Suites such as Microsoft and Google include calendar applications . One key feature of calendar applications is the ability to have both your personal and business schedules in one place that can be accessed from virtually anywhere. You can integrate the apps with your phone so that you no longer have to carry a separate day planner or schedule book with you. With the sophistication of the calendar apps today, you can enter appointment information into one place and it can be updated across many different programs and even shared to other people.
Calendar Features and Functions
With the availability of various technologies today, many people have moved their calendar to an online format, rather than a more traditional paper planner. Many prefer the convenience of storing their work and personal appointments in a single place. These calendar apps allow users to bring together multiple calendars as well as scheduling meetings and blocking out time when you might be unavailable. Many calendar applications will permit users to determine which items are visible to others or to share your calendar with coworkers and family. You can also use calendar software to allow your customers to set up meetings with you during your available time. If you want to keep your personal appointments hidden from your coworkers, you can easily set this up in the program. The settings in the application also allow users to permit others to add appointments to their calendars.
Calendar applications can also be useful for managing work tasks for project management and setting reminders for key activities. Calendar items can be color coded and/or flagged based on their importance of due date. Calendars are used frequently in organizations to make scheduling easier when including multiple people for a meeting. Using a calendar application can also increase productivity because you can manage your time more efficiently. Many of the calendar apps also integrate well with cell phones so that you can receive notifications of upcoming appointments if you are not at your computer. You may also find when scheduling family or personal appointments such as dentist appointments, those appointments can be directly added to your calendar by the doctor’s office. While some may still prefer the traditional paper planner for keeping their schedule, the convenience of calendar applications has prompted many businesses to adopt them for use in their organization.
Adjusting Privacy Settings in Your Electronic Calendar
While electronic calendars are incredibly useful and convenient, we must also recognize that these calendars may be viewed by others, especially if we are using our employer’s software. Google Calendar and Outlook/Calendar can be viewed by others easily, requiring us to use privacy options such as adjusting viewing permissions for different individuals. You may want to prevent some people from viewing your calendar entirely, provide only limited information (such as availability) to others, and allow full access to your calendar to some. You can also control what information you can make available on a calendar appointment. For instance, you can make an appointment private and not viewable by anyone; this slot will show up as private with no further details. This is helpful for keeping private appointments or sensitive appointments.
Calendar Integration and Syncing
Syncing calendars stored in other applications is an essential component of getting the best use of a calendar application. You could have a calendar on your phone for personal appointments and reminders, a calendar for your work tasks on your work computer, and then perhaps another calendar to keep track of your extended family birthdays. Through calendar integration , these calendars can be synced into one place. This often involves simple changes to the settings in the software to link all the calendars together. In fact, when you first install a calendar application on your device, you might be prompted to integrate existing calendars during the setup process.
Common Calendar Applications
Figure 2.17 shows the calendar feature in Microsoft Outlook. The calendar function and email are integrated in the program. You cannot delete the calendar application, but you can choose not to use it. There are no preset events in the calendar application. You can set the program to give you notifications of meetings and tasks when you are in the email program. The Outlook Calendar also has a meeting scheduler to assist with scheduling meetings and can even be used to determine if specific meeting spaces are available in the organization. Outlook Calendar has a useful feature to set up recurring meetings that happen at some frequency. For example, if your company has a set meeting each week for sales force updates, you can set this up in Outlook once and it will be added to all attendees’ calendars for the time frame you desire.
If you already have a Google account, you have access to Google Calendar. Google Calendar is easy to use and integrates well with a wide variety of platforms. With Google Calendar, you create multiple calendars to manage different events. You can then manage the settings for each of the calendars independently. All the created calendars are integrated into an overall calendar interface. You can use color coding to differentiate the different calendars when viewing in the main calendar view, as Figure 2.18 shows. You access Google Calendar by logging in to your Google account.


17.5: Finding an Alternative World Order
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As the Cold War was ending US president George H. W. Bush and Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev declared there was a new world order emerging that would be based upon cooperation between the two superpowers. But with the collapse of the Soviet Union, only one super power remained to provide order. Filled with both goodwill and vast hubris, the United States has set itself an unsustainable task of maintaining global security. It is unsustainable because such a world order is in neither America’s interest nor in the interests of the world at large. Although it is possible to concoct long causal chains that tie American safety or prosperity to the fate of failing states in Africa or ethnic conflict in the Balkans, most global problems are distant and of marginal importance to the United States. On the contrary, American involvement in these distant problems can be said to threaten American interests. Interventions often produce enemies, with some of those affected assuming it is not altruistic motives that drive the United States but a desire to steal their assets or slander their religion. And there are real costs of blood and resources. Americans (and of course nonAmericans) die in these distant fights and domestic needs such as education and healthcare are neglected as vast sums of money are diverted to military operations.
Those challenged by the United States, including Russia, China and many in the Middle East, deny the legitimacy of its actions and see the United States as a neo-imperial power meddling in the affairs of others. Even America’s allies worry about the wisdom of its interventions, most especially the invasion of Iraq in 2003. People the world over concern themselves with who is going to be the next president of the United States, even though they cannot vote in its elections, because of the potential impact a presidential choice has on US foreign policy and its readiness to intervene in their states. Some Americans hope that the United States will come to its strategic senses and abandon the quest to manage global security (Gholz, Press and Sapolsky 1997; Posen 2014). Others believe that the expansion of the welfare state, especially with the implementation of national health insurance and the aging of the population, will curtail military spending in the United States and the temptation to be the world’s sole superpower (King 2013). The economy too is a potential restraining factor as the American global policing wars of the post-Cold War era have been financed through extensive borrowing that someday will need to be repaid. The United States may be the world’s leading economy, but it has debts of approximately $20 trillion.
If not the United States in the lead, then who? The alternatives are not robust. The United Nations makes itself responsible for significant peacekeeping, particularly in Africa. But it is limited in resources and also by the Security Council’s veto system whereby any of the five permanent members can reject an action. This can lead to gridlock and indecision in even the most pressing of cases. There are also persistent problems related to member participation, troop training, discipline, equipment and sustainment for UN peacekeepers. And although they have been forced to do some serious fighting at times to separate or suppress warring factions, they cannot conduct sustained combat operations without the military weight of a major power. The United Nations is also dependent on financial contributions from member states to keep it afloat – it does not have an independent income. The United States is the largest donor. Regional organisations such as the African Union and the European Union are also active in peacekeeping, both in conjunction with the United Nations and on their own. Supplementing their work are relief organisations such as the International Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and the International Rescue Committee. All of this is vital, but it is not enough when the United States is removed, financially and militarily.
Serious change can only come about if the United States actually does less international intervening and those states (or organisations) closer to trouble spots are forced to act when their security is at risk. Other large rich nations will have to fill the vacuum if the United States pulls back from managing global security. Test cases are interventions in Libya (2011) and Syria (2013–), where American reluctance to act has been particularly evident, even though both are marked by a degree of US engagement. The vast regions of North Africa and the Middle East are beset by security problems that outsiders can seemingly neither settle nor fully escape (Engelhardt 2010). Colonialism left behind non-viable boundaries. Although there are many natural resources, the most exportable is oil, which usually enriches rulers, not the masses. Sectarian divides and a rising tide of extremism afflict Islam, the dominant faith. It is territory governed weakly or exploitatively but rarely democratically. But the rich nations of the world are responsible for at least part of the chaos as they are all consumers of oil, former colonialists and/or occasional interveners. They also get some of the refugees and see all of the images of the suffering. The United States will likely find its interventionist urges in the Middle East and North Africa tamed by memories of past failed efforts, high casualty rates, wasted assistance and lack of effective international and local partners (Bacevich 2016). Certain former colonial powers may feel a continuing obligation to help, but they too have memories of past failures. Some states in both Africa and the Middle East can defend themselves, but most cannot. The rise of a regional hegemon is possible, but the area is full of competitors marked out by the long rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran – which are also the leading states, each representing one of Islam’s two major branches. What is left is continuing turmoil and perhaps disaster. And given that scenario, the question should be asked: who will assist if not the United States?
For other regions of the world a post-US framework of security is more readily available or more easily constructed than it is in the Middle East and North Africa. The European Union (or a NATO minus the United States) can easily control security in Europe or even deal with a resentful Russia should it find the political will. The European Union has more people than and is approximately as rich as the United States. It should have no need for or any claim on American troops for the security of Europe. There are more serious challenges relating to security arrangements for South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. For South America the problem some might see is keeping the United States out. But US interest in South America after the Second World War was largely prompted by fear of the spread of communism and the influence of the Soviet Union, both of which are fading from memory. The South American nations themselves have several boundary problems but little inclination to settle them through the use of force, at least in recent years. Most South American nations focus their attention on economic growth, which is sporadic but not non-existent. Fortunately for all concerned, self-restraint has tempered the competition for regional dominance and arms racing. In Asia the prime security issue is how to accommodate the rise of a richer, more assertive China. But many other nations in Asia also have large populations and growing economies. Most advantageous for regional security would be the development of regional institutions that can temper territorial disputes without interrupting the pathway to continued prosperity. Some nations seem to want to keep the United States engaged in Asia to balance an ever more powerful China. No doubt the United States needs to think of ways to adjust to China, but getting involved in regional disputes is not likely to be one of them.


7.8: Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases
There are other diseases and conditions that cannot be spread from one person (or animal) to another individual. These are called non-communicable diseases and include some of the leading causes of death for Americans: heart disease, cancers, diabetes, and chronic pulmonary diseases. Because these diseases often progress over long periods of time, they are also commonly referred to as chronic diseases. In fact, the beginning stages of many chronic diseases start as early as childhood, and are often highly influenced by lifestyle behaviors and environmental exposures. This also means that there is a lot of potential to reduce morbidity and mortality from these chronic diseases through effective public health programs. In this section we will discuss those four common chronic diseases and the risk factors associated with them, as well as public health responses.