Haemato-oncology practice Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Haemato-oncology practice - Assignment Example Describe the pathology of severe sepsis and providing a clear rationale, discuss the immediate management of severe sepsis Sepsis and septic shock occur as a result of complex interaction between the pathogenic agent and the immune system of the host. During any localized infection, the normal physiologic response includes host defense activation resulting in influx of the monocytes and activated neutrophils, local vasodilation, release of inflammatory mediators, increased permeability of the endothelium and activation of coagulation pathways. In septic shock, these mechanisms further proceed to diffuse endothelial disruption, increased vascular permeability, thrombosis of end-organ capillaries and vasodilation. Damage to the endothelium further leads to activation of coagulation and inflammatory cascades leading to positive feedback loop which further causes end-organ and endothelial damage (Pinsky, 2011). The pathogenic agents induce exaggerated systemic inflammatory response. Due to systemic inflammatory response, imbalance of homeostasis occurs leading to disseminated intravascular coagulation, microthrombosis, organ dysfunction and even death(Pinsky, 2011). The first step in the management of shock is to evaluate and stabilize airway, breathing and circulation. This includes intubation and mechanical ventilation if necessary. 100% oxygen must be given at a high flow rate in all cases. The saturations and other vital signs must be monitored continuously using cardio-respiratory monitor. To improve circulation, a good intravenous access must be secured. If it is difficult to access peripheral lines, central venous veins or intra-osseous lines must be accessed. Intravenous fluids and if necessary, vasopressors and cardiac ionotropic agents must be given. The intravenous fluids used for resuscitation are crystalloids like normal saline and Ringer's lactate. The initial dose given is 20ml per kg as bolus over 5 minutes. This dose may be repeated if required. Th ereafter, the fluids are given based on the maintenance requirements and losses. Appropriate intravenous antibiotics must be started. Initial laboratory work-up includes complete blood counts, serum electrolytes, renal parameters, liver function tests, chest radiography and arterial blood gas analysis. Calcium, sodium bicarbonate and steroids are given as required. The management of shock is tailored to the cause and the stage of shock. In the irreversible stage, the cellular and tissue injuries cannot be reversed despite hemodynamic correction. There is widespread cellular injury as a result of lysosomal leakage. The damage is evident in organs like brain, heart, kidneys, adrenals and gastrointestinal tract. In the heart, nitric oxide synthesis occurs and myocardial contractile function worsens. There may be wide-spread coagulation necrosis, subendocardial haemorrhage or contraction band necrosis (Claessens and Dhainaut, 2007). Structured Reflection Reflective practice is essential to clinical practice and provides a retrospective look at current practice and questions the reason for doing so. It is a good way of learning and it enables the practitioner to assess, understand and learn through their experiences (Burns and Grove 1997). In the following assignment, I shall discuss about a patient with cancer related septic shock based on Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle. This is because, Gibbs Reflective Cycle is a straight

Film Franchises Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Film Franchises - Essay Example The Harry Potter (#5,7,11,14) film franchise, meanwhile, is a pentalogy while the Star Wars series (8,17,20) is an octology (IMDb. All-Time Worldwide Box Office). It is worthwhile to mention that the James Bond film franchise, which consists of a series of 23 films ranks first The hereinabove data is a potent proof of the reality that in the movies, moviegoers would rather prefer to patronize movies which they are familiar with in terms of the characters and the story lines and which they know beforehand that there is a high possibility of them enjoying the movies to the hilt. They would rather not risk their money and time with films which they are not so sure whether the quality, the acting and the direction and the story would be to their liking. Like in books, comic strips, TV serials, one good thing must lead to another. are a ready, hard-core audience, a marketing hook and a possibility of generating new fanatics by simply improving the visual quality of the succeeding serials through the taking advantage of advances in cinematic technology especially the special effects phase of film making. Sadly though, many movie producers fail to sustain the movie going public's interest in their purported movie franchises, inevitably run out of steam and end up only in the sequel stage. Others run short of ideas and need the most opportune time to stage another reboot or even a prequel to continue the movie franchise undertaking. An example of this is The Chronicles of Narnia which had already netted more than $1.168 billion but is at the moment stymied in its production of a third serial, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, due to a finalisation of a more convincing and appealing screenplay (Sammons 2004, p.48). The most crucial challenge to all though, would be how to vigorously maintain the franchise's commerc ial appeal and potential and yet make it firmly self-contained as a narrative so that it will not end up churning a "series that outstays its welcome" (Thompson 2008, p.7). History of Film Franchises The movie world took a while to discover the magic and the marketing power of film franchises. Since the birth of cinema on December 28, 1895 when French

Results and discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Results and discussion - Essay Example A biofilm structure hinders antibiotic entry to cells, and at the same time, increases oxidative damage, which increases the mutation rate. To show that mutation frequency in response to the antibiotics mupirocin and rifampicin is due to oxidative stress in planktonic and biofilm cultures, Staphylococcal aureus strains SH 1000 and UAMS-1 were grown in media supplemented with hydrogen peroxide and antioxidants. Planktonic cultures that were supplemented with antioxidants did not differ in their mutation frequency. However, the addition of hydrogen peroxide to the growth media significantly increased mutation frequencies under antibiotic selection. The mutation frequencies declined significantly with the addition of antioxidants, together with hydrogen peroxide, to the culture media significantly. Biofilm cultures, that were not treated with oxidising agent, showed high levels of mutation frequencies, equal to that obtained for planktonic culture in hydrogen peroxide alone. In cultures growing in rifampicin selection plates, the bacterial have mutation frequency of 10-5, which was indicative of a mutator phenotype. The increase in mutation frequency indicates defects in the methyl-mismatch repair system during biofilm formation. Similar to planktonic cultures, the addition of antioxidants to the culture media reduced the mutation frequency to levels between 10-7 and 10-8. A bacterial biofilm is a structured community of bacterial cells enclosed within a self-produced extracellular polymeric matrix attached to surface (Costerton, Stewart & Greenberg 1999). Bacterial biofilms are present mostly on wet surfaces and are mostly visible to the naked eye. The biofilms consist of microcolonies on a surface and develop into organized communities with functional heterogeneity. Different bacterial species specifically attach to different surfaces and could aggregate with other species or a combination of species. The organization and structure of

What is lost when indigenous Australian use standard English Essay

What is lost when indigenous Australian use standard English - Essay Example â€Å"Standard† Australian English is the term used to refer to a derivative of a dialect, spoken in the southeast of the United Kingdom, which became the standard or basic English spoken in Australia. â€Å"The fact this dialect derivative became the language of formal education in Australia, a continent with once over 600 languages from 250 language groups, is not a matter of linguistics but a legacy of politics and power.† (Whitehouse, 2011, pg.59). This role of politics and power is visible in the diminishment of various indigenous languages throughout the world, including in Australia. When this diminishment of languages occurs, many related as well as the encompassing aspects of those languages including culture of the people, words and the context in which they are used, etc., are also lost. â€Å"Every language encapsulates its cultural knowledge with its own unique structures of grammar and vocabulary. To lose the beauty of the linguistic system is to inevitab ly lose some of the culture.† (Crace, 2002, pg.2). Among the various aspects, which were lost due to the indigenous Australians’ use of Standard English, one is regarding how they used certain environment related words, particularly their meaning or sub-contexts. For the Aborigines, environment or nature is an integral part of their lives, with every aspect of environment intertwined with their day-to-day living. However, for the European colonists Nature is just a â€Å"uniform backdrop to the diversity of ‘our’ cultures [and] as an exploitable resource which cannot answer back† (Whitehouse, 2011, pg.58). Due to this differing perspective, Aborigines’ languages had words for the environmental things, which brought out the emotional attachment they had for those things. For example, in Djabugay language, â€Å"balmba† means habitable country– or wet woodlands in European terms -

How employees react when facing organization change and what HR Dissertation

How employees react when facing organization change and what HR manager should do - Dissertation Example Thus business organisations to effectively exist in such a changing environment are required to incorporate newer changes or modifications and also to innovate in terms of processes and systems followed. However organisations in the course of rendering or incorporating such changes are found to gain relevant resistance from employee bodies. The paper in the above light tends to conduct a research relating to business sectors like automobile manufacturing, retail and information technology wherein through secondary and primary research activity it focuses on the different employee reactions to changes and needed management interventions thereof. Introduction Globalization along with worldwide competition has exerted great pressure on organizational leaders and managers for constantly adapting themselves and workforces to the changing business conditions and circumstances. Organizations are constantly exposed to the dynamic nature of the business world and frequent economic fluctuations. The organisations pertaining to the changes in the external social and economic environment require aptly changing or adjusting their internal structures and policies to rightly suit the external environmental changes. Organisations having failed to rightly adapt them to the external social and economic changes have thereby failed to withstand the demands emanating from its external structure and thereby faded away. Changes that tend to take place inside the organisation occur along different categories. Categories of inside organisational changes occur pertaining to changes in leadership or management style, to the introduction of new organisational perf ormance and technology policies and methodologies and also belong to the changes rendered in the existing organisational structure. It may also pertain to the changes in systems and policies brought about in terms of mobilising existing organisational resources for better performance. These types of organisational changes are required to be brought about in the light of changing social, political, legislative, economic and technological scenario in the external landscape of the concern. Internal changes within the concern also bear relation to the changes in the managerial structures inside the concern. New managers, policies or technological and infrastructural developments sought within the concern tend to have variegated impacts on the work-life relationships of organisational people at different levels. Changes within the existing organisational structure and policies are embraced by the managers employed both at middle and top level owing to future promises and expectations of better organisational performance in the related business sector. Thus with the help of changes

Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender Essay Example for Free

Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender Essay The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender is crime novel about contemporary Australian life, written with all the ambiguity and moral sophistication of most â€Å"who dun-nits . It looks like crime, and sounds like crime, and sells like crime, but it’s Literature! Its Opening is a subversion of the genre a reversal of expectation as we are duped into believing this is your typical male private eye (P. I. ). The role reversal a female in a traditional male dominated field; women can do everything men can do challenges the stereotypes of traditional crime fiction. Purpose: (themes, concerns, issues main ideas.) 1. To create a sense of place — Sydney. Marele Day had spent four years travelling the world and when she came back to Sydney recognised its special charm and atmosphere. She became determined to write a book about it and its special appeal. a) Find references to Sydney, favourable and unfavourable. * what aspects are emphasized? * In totality how does Day present Sydney? * what are the links with the past? * what is meant by the â€Å"facade of Sydney’? 2. Corruption and suspicion vs probity and trust. 3. Effect of technology — have we become dehumanised? Will technology take over from humans? * What is the relationship between humanity and technology? 4. Isolation — Most of the characters are isolated in one way or another. * Find as many examples of isolation as possible. * What overall comment is made about isolation? * Is there a connection between it and technology? II. TECHNIQUE 1. Day uses a lot of the technique of modern day films especially the â€Å"black and white† scenes on Harry Lavender. How is he portrayed? He is very detached and aloof. We the audience get to see and hear what Claudia is not privy to. Are these extracts from the book Mark Bannister was writing? 2. Comment on Claudia Valentine’s PhrasingÃ'Ž Claudia speaks in the manner of a hard-boiled worldly wise Private Investigator (P. I. ). slick, glib, swaggering, at times sassy (cheeky) and sometimes tongue in cheek. â€Å"Live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse† (22) â€Å"I was changing cars more often than I changed my underwear† (101) â€Å"But it’s one â€Å"It’ll be dead end if you don’t. Now move† (162) Word Play Double entendre (meaning) â€Å"It must have been a plant. † â€Å"A lavender plant. † (126) â€Å"Terminal illness† (6, 17, 20, â€Å"Alter, (141 â€Å"curse, cursor (143 heart ( 55, â€Å"waiting for the developers to give them a new lease of life, or maybe just a new lease. † (69) Humour â€Å"wit† â€Å"I wait for bald men to pass by and ash on their heads (23) one of the former and two of the latter, and the former is former† her reply to Steve regarding her marital status. ( 27) â€Å"You put it away, Otto, you don’t know where it’s been. † â€Å"That’s the trouble,† he moaned, it hasn’t been anywhere lately. (53) social commentary â€Å"Divorced? † â€Å"Isn’t everyone? † (27) â€Å"I had made a mistake getting into a car with a law-abiding policeman† â€Å"You young folk are always in a hurry,† she said managing a smile. (45) â€Å"pollution and syringes (54), women (54), fast food (68)Ã'Ž

English: The Official Language?

English: The Official Language? For better or for worse, like it or not, English is in effect the official language of the planet. It is the most commonly used language of international commerce, politics, science, diplomacy, and the most commonly used language on the Internet. It is a lingua franca, or vehicular language, i.e. a language spoken and utilized outside of the country or countries of its origin, as opposed to a vernacular language, i.e. a language spoken within and amongst native speakers in the country of origin. English, like other lingua franca of the past, is often used as a second language to effect common communication for a specific purpose (such as diplomacy) between people for whom the lingua franca is not their first language. For example, French was once the lingua franca of diplomacy up until around World War I, only to be supplanted by English; scientists themselves declared English to be their lingua franca in a 1989 article in The Scientist magazine bluntly entitled The English Language: The Lingua Franca Of International Science. One may view the domination and global use of English as linguistic and cultural imperialism, and indeed we shall explore this notion further, but the simple fact is that the situation is unlikely to change any time soon. It is everywhere. Some 380 million people speak it as their first language and perhaps two-thirds as many again as their second. A billion are learning it, about a third of the worlds population are in some sense exposed to it and by 2050, it is predicted, half the world will be more or less proficient in it. (The Economist, 2001). It is thus in the best interest of citizens and governments of any nations that wish to participate on the global stage economically, politically, scientifically, etc., to embark upon official programs to ensure that people have the opportunity to learn English; in fact, it may be argued that the teaching of English should be mandatory in such nations. While there are cultural drawbacks to the institutionalized teaching of English in non-ENL countries, the benefits seem to outweigh the drawbacks, and we shall explore both as well. To understand the merits of education in English, as well as its drawbacks and the practical requirements therein, we must first understand something of the merits of the English language itself, the historical circumstances and cultures that spawned it, and why it continues to be durable and vital as a universal language. The global influence and power of the British Empire, and then subsequently the United States as the British Empires scope gradually eroded, is primarily responsible for the primacy of English as a de facto official international language. Latin, once the lingua franca for most of Europe, was gradually supplanted in the 17th and 18th century as global exploration and colonization; for a time, scholars and clerics who regularly traveled across the boundaries of national languages continued to use Latin and their lingua franca. But as knowledge of Latin declined and the rise of merchant and professional classes produced travelers unschooled in Latin,people sought alternative means of international communications. (Graddol,2000, p. 6) The victory of the Allies in World War II cannot be underestimated in terms of representing a huge step in cementing the destiny of English as the language eventually destined to be the universal language of the globe. The only two potential rivals at the time were French, mostly due to historical inertia, and German, mostly due to the astonishing rise to military and economic power of Nazi Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. Had the U.S. not lent its economic and military might to defeat the Germans and the Japanese, English might be a quaint relic of the planets short-lived experiment in democracy. Had Hitler won World War II and had the USA been reduced to a confederation banana republics, we would probably today use German as a universal vehicular language, and Japanese electronic firms would advertise their products in Hong Kong airport duty-free shops in German. (Eco, 1995, p. 331) Unlike almost every other major nation that fought in World War II, the United States emerged with its economy not only intact, but also thriving. It was therefore no surprise that the United States took the lead in forming and administering institutions to aid the reconstruction and reintegration of Europe, Japan, and many other regions of the world. In short order, English-speaking nations were also exporting their culture, not simply their goods and goodwill. The ongoing hegemony that the United States and Britain enjoy in terms of cultural communications film, television, books, music, etc., helps perpetuate the influence and staying power of English as an official language. Even such cultural communications that are translated into the native languages of individual countries are not immune to the Englishness of the communications, i.e., the distinctly American and/or British cultural elements that inform the language of the communications and therefore necessarily survive any competent translation and are inculcated into the minds of the listener/viewer/reader. In ways too intricate, too diverse for socio-linguistics to formulate precisely, English and American-English seem to embody for men and women throughout the world -and particularly for the young the feel of hope, of material advance, of scientific and empirical procedures. The entire world-image of mass consumption, of international exchange, of the popular arts, of generational conflict, of technocracy, is permeated by American-English and English citations and speech habits. (Steiner, 1975, p. 469) Other than the cultural, military, and political hegemony of the British Empire and of the United States, what might account for the staying power of English as a lingua franca? From a linguistic perspective, English is hardly the most sensible choice for a quasi-official global language. English, simply put, is not the most efficient and consistent language. English is an irregular and fractured language comprised of influences from Latin and Celtic, and later Scandinavian and Norman French tongues. Its syntax, construction, verb conjugation,spelling, and other grammatical constructions, etc., are riddled with maddening inconsistencies that at times befuddle even native speakers, to say nothing ofthose who struggle for years to master it as a second language. English lacks the simplicity and consistency of the Romance languages to the extent that it varies from its Latin and French influences, though it is certainly easier to learn and utilize than some Asian tongues. However, these same elements that make English a flawed language are also believed by many linguists to be strengths that assist in the durability and adaptability of English; it has historically adapted to and incorporated language influences with ease that it has encountered from around the globe. English has always been an evolving language and language contact has been an important driver of change Some analysts see this hybridity and permeability of English as defining features, allowing it to expand quickly into new domains and explaining in part its success as a world language. (Graddol, 2000, p. 6) As English owes its existence to the fact that it absorbs, not rejects new linguistic and cultural influences, its inherently hybridized nature makes it all the easier for English to assimilate characteristics of other cultures and languages, instead of reject them or demand they conform to some sort of rigid structure. As the rules of English are a bit fast and loose, English is well-suited to evolve on the fly. There are a variety of challenges facing both those who wish to learn English as a second language and those who wish to teach it. Some of these challenges are cultural, some are practical, but the utilization of English by non-native speakers in non-ENL nations is never as simple a matter as it might seem. Culturally speaking, some aspiring English speakers may feel pressure from the more traditional and/or conservative members of their own cultures to resist what they may label as American cultural imperialism, the decadent influence of consumer capitalist values from the West that are transmitted through theEnglish language. To embrace these values at the expense of ones own language and culture is frowned upon in many conservative cultures, for example, particularlyin fundamentalist Muslim cultures which have suffered from seriously strained relations with the United States in the past six to ten years. Often, proficiency in one or more indigenous or native tongues will co-exist, mingle, and/or exist in hierarchal forms of usage with English. The acquisition of English skills does not necessarily lead to the supplanting or replacement of the native tongue with English; the choice of which language to speak is often context- and audience-dependent. For example, in some cases speakers will employ code-switching, in which two participants in a conversation, who know both English and a local vernacular language, will switch back and forth between the two tongues as a means of negotiating and navigating their relationship, in some cases even alternating back and forth between languages within the same sentence. Graddol (2000) outlines some fascinating examples, including a situation in which a young job seeker enters an office in Nairobi, Kenya, seeking employment. The vernacular language in question is Swahili; the young man commences his job inquiry with the owner of the establishment by speaking in English. The Kenyan manager of the office, however, insists on using Swahili, thus denying the young mans negotiation of the higher status associated with English. (Myers-Scotton, 1989, p. 339) Their conversation goes as follows: Young Man: Mr Muchuki has sent me to you about the job you put in the paper. Manager: Uitumabarua ya application? [Did you send a letter of application?] Young Man: Yes,I did. But he asked me to come to see you today. Manager: Ikiwaulituma barua, nenda ungojee majibu. Tutakuita ufike kwa interviewsiku itakapofika. [If youve written a letter, then go and wait for a response.We will call you for an interview when the letter arrives.] (pause) Leo sina lasuma kuliko hayo. [Today I havent anything elseto say.] Young man: Asante.Nitangoja majibu. [Thank you. I will wait for the response.] (Graddol, 2000,p. 13) The managerasserts his authority as both manager and adult in a position that commandsrespect, and he utilizes his insistence on the vernacular tongue to indirectlycommunicate this authority and demand for respect from the young man. Theyoung man is shrewd enough a native speaker of Swahili to grasp the subtext ofthe exchange, which is in essence a command to show proper deference and notwalk into a shop trying to exploit the connection with a mutual Kenyan friendby speaking English. It is not that the manager does not speak English; hedoes, but he insists on a certain element of cultural integrity by insisting onSwahili. The young man picks up on this, and therefore switches to Swahili tobid the manager farewell and tacitly submits to the shopkeepers authority byconforming to his wishes. Had the young man entered the office and spokenSwahili, he might have been granted an interview on the spot, though it ispossible the boy meant no disrespect and in fact wished to display hiseducati on by speaking English. In any case, this example shows thefascinating, multi-layered cultural and personal interchanges that go on duringcode-switching. (Note also that the manager chooses to use the English termsfor interview and application, perhaps because there is no directequivalent in Swahili, or perhaps to illustrate his own ability with English asa point of both pride and warning.) As further examplethat the finding of linguistic common ground is not the cure-all forcommunications difficulties, we now turn to the topic of how speakers interactwhen they share only one language in common, i.e., English, instead of sharingin common speaking ability in both English and their own native, vernacularlanguage. Graddol (2000) provides us with another scenario from the studies ofFirth (1996), in which international phone calls between Dutch and Syrian goodstraders were analyzed to see how the respective parties interacted in English.In some cases, where one speaker is less proficient than the other, the formerwill employ a conversational strategy termed let it pass, in which the lessproficient speaker will mask his lack of understanding of what is being said bythe other by delaying a request for clarification, in hopes that what the firstspeaker said will become understood as the conversation continues. Onehumorous exchange went as follows, in which a Dane (D) and Syrian (S) discussan order of cheese that had gone awry. S: So I told himnot to send the cheese after the blowing in the customs. We dont want theorder after the cheese is blowing. D: I see, yes. S: So I dontknow what we can do with the order now. What do you think we should do withall this blowing, Mr Hansen? D: Im not uh(pause) Blowing? What is this, too big, or what? S: No, thecheese is bad Mr Hansen. It is like fermenting in the customs cool rooms. D: Ah, its goneoff! S: Yes, itsgone off. (Graddol, 2000,p. 13) What this exampledemonstrates is that an entire skill set and mode of sub-communication developsbetween non-native speakers who do not have another frame of reference incommon, i.e., the same vernacular language, further complicating theutilization of English in business and/or commerce situations. There are alsonumerous practical considerations that affect the utilization of English,particularly in teaching it to non-ENL speakers. For example, which versionof English should be taught? Despite the extensive global use of English, itis far from a homogenous language spoken and written in the precisely samemanner in each country. English, as befitting its history, is a language ofmany diverse dialects; British English is different from American English,largely in pronunciation, accent, and certain vocabulary words, and American Englishitself is sub-divisible into any number of different sub-dialects, includingBlack/African-American English, which in its purest form is so unique inaccent, grammar, and slang that it is almost completely unintelligible to manynative English speakers, to say nothing of speakers of English as a secondlanguage (ESL). The numerouschallenges presented by English pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary may alsoserve as a roadblock for both students and teachers. The difficulty ofteaching the ambiguities of unstressed vowels, consonant phenomes, and stresstiming is considerable. English grammar and verb conjugation is extremelyirregular, requiring a considerable amount of rote memorization, instead of theapplication of logical and consistent rules, as found in Romance languages(Spanish and French rely on a consistent set of 13 verb tenses with largelyregular characteristics; English does not.) English vocabulary also requires a large amount of rote memorization, as the innumerable linguistic influences from which English draws its unusually large lexicon make it difficult to extrapolate and create words from basic linguistic structures as a speaker of Spanish can do. For example, the Spanish words pertaining to meat are all rooted in the Latin word carnivorus, whereas in English, they are not: carne = meat; carnicero = butcher; carnicerÃÆ'Â ­a = a store where meat is sold. For Spanish speakers, learning the underlying root word of a concept means the speaker should have little trouble deducing how to say related words; in English, there is no such consistency and therefore the barriers to effective learning and usage are high. On the other hand,there are inherent flaws in other major world languages, for which Englishprovides a natural compensation. One such example is Japanese, an ancient andbeautiful language rich in complexity and the capacity for subtlety and nuanceof expression, but also notorious -for those same reasons for itsinefficiency and lack of clarity when it comes to matters of politics, law,debate, and decision-making. In 1999, one of the most influential Japanesenewspapers, Asahi Shimbun issued a hotly debated call for English to beadopted as the official language of Japan, citing advantages ranging from theobvious greater Japanese ability to participate in science, internationaltrade, politics, etc. to the unusual, i.e., the newspaper asserted that theuse of English would in fact strengthen the usage of Japanese, whose linguisticweaknesses, the paper asserted, played a large part in the inefficiency of thegovernment. Quoting Yoshio Terasawa, a former director of Japans Economic Planning Agency, former member of the House of Councilors, and former president of Nomura Securities U.S. division, the newspaper delivered a stinging indictment of its own native language and recommended the usefulness of English when it came to decision-making in business and government: Japanese is fullof vague expressions, so people rarely talk in terms of black and white and itis very easy to blur responsibility. It is an everyday occurrence forgovernment ministers to spend 10 minutes answering a question in the Diet [theJapanese Parliament] without actually saying anything. But if Diet memberscould put their questions in English, it might be possible to do away with thenon-committal bureaucratic language that is too wishy-washy to translate intoEnglish. People wouldnt be able to fudge the issues any more, and not just inpolitics. (Kinomoto, 1999) The article wenton to remark, with some astonishment, that the expected outcries of culturalimperialism and the imminent demise of the celebrated individuality andindependence of the Japanese culture, were few and far between. The Japanesehave yet to make English their official language, unsurprisingly given theirhistoric national pride, but the open advocacy of the virtues of English usagewas remarkable. In the end, theutilization of English as a lingua franca second language has clear benefits.While the potential obliteration of cultural diversity worldwide, a constantsource of worry and debate, seems valid, one only need look as far as theexample of the Swahili-speaking office manager to see that indigenous speakersare finding ways for English and their own vernacular languages to co-exist,even with a bit of unease. So the challenge becomes not so much about whetheror not English is of neutral or positive benefit; it self-evidently is; butrather how to go about navigating the parallel use of English with otherlanguages across the globe, both augmenting the strengths of and compensatingfor the weaknesses of local cultures and local tongues. BIBLIOGRAPHY/ REFERENCES Fennell, Barbara. A History of English:A Sociolinguistic Approach, Blackwell Publishing, 2006. Garfield, Eugene. The English Language:The Lingua Franca Of International Science, The Scientist Magazine,1989, 3(10):12, 15 May 1989. The Triumph of English: A World Empire byOther Means, The Economist, 20 December 2001. Graddol, David. The Future of English?The British Council, 1997, 2000. Eco, U. The Search for the PerfectLanguage. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1995. Graddol, David, Dick Leith JoanSwann. English : History, Diversity and Change London: Routledge, 1996. FBailer, R. M. Gorlach,(eds.) Englishas a World Language. Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press, 1982. Myers-Scotton, C. Code Switching withEnglish: Types of Switching, Types of Communities, World English, Vol.8, No. 3., pp. 333-46. Kachru, B.. The Alchemy of English.Pergamon Press, 1982. Trudgill, P. J. Hannah. InternationalEnglish: A Guide to Varieties of Standard English, Arnold Publishers, 1982. Kinomoto, Keusuke. Should English Be Madethe Official Language? Asahi Shimbun, 29 August 1999.