Expected Achievement and Benefits of Heriot

Free Essays on Desertification

Desertification has its greatest impact in Africa. Two thirds of the continent is desert or drylands. There are extensive agricultural drylands, almost three quarters of which are already degraded to some degree. The region is afflicted by frequent and severe droughts. Many African countries are landlocked, have widespread poverty, need external assistance, and depend heavily on natural resources for subsistence. They have difficult socio-economic conditions, insufficient institutional and legal frameworks, incomplete infrastructure, and weak scientific, technical, and educational capacities. These difficult circumstances explain why African countries have put so much effort into convincing the international community of the need for a "Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa". Africa's desertification is strongly linked to poverty, migration, and food security. In many African countries, combating desertification and promoting development are virtually one and the same due to the social and economic importance of natural resources and agriculture. When people live in poverty, they have little choice but to over-exploit the land. When the land eventually becomes uneconomic to farm, these people are often forced into internal and cross-border migrations, which in turn can further strain the environment and cause social and political tensions and conflicts. (The link with migration was important to the international community's recognition of desertification as a truly global problem, like climate change or biodiversity loss.) Food security can ultimately be put at risk when people already living on the edge face severe droughts and other calamities. Desertification is defined as soil degradation in arid regions, often to such an extent that it is impossible to make the soil productive again. It is the result of complex interactions between unp... Free Essays on Desertification Free Essays on Desertification Desertification has its greatest impact in Africa. Two thirds of the continent is desert or drylands. There are extensive agricultural drylands, almost three quarters of which are already degraded to some degree. The region is afflicted by frequent and severe droughts. Many African countries are landlocked, have widespread poverty, need external assistance, and depend heavily on natural resources for subsistence. They have difficult socio-economic conditions, insufficient institutional and legal frameworks, incomplete infrastructure, and weak scientific, technical, and educational capacities. These difficult circumstances explain why African countries have put so much effort into convincing the international community of the need for a "Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa". Africa's desertification is strongly linked to poverty, migration, and food security. In many African countries, combating desertification and promoting development are virtually one and the same due to the social and economic importance of natural resources and agriculture. When people live in poverty, they have little choice but to over-exploit the land. When the land eventually becomes uneconomic to farm, these people are often forced into internal and cross-border migrations, which in turn can further strain the environment and cause social and political tensions and conflicts. (The link with migration was important to the international community's recognition of desertification as a truly global problem, like climate change or biodiversity loss.) Food security can ultimately be put at risk when people already living on the edge face severe droughts and other calamities. Desertification is defined as soil degradation in arid regions, often to such an extent that it is impossible to make the soil productive again. It is the result of complex interactions between unp...

Whether HSE is genuine or not in the evidence of difference in the Assignment

Whether HSE is genuine or not in the evidence of difference in the potential health hazard between workers at the two operations - Assignment Example Exposure to respiratory particles of crystalline silica is associated with several human diseases such as cancer and lung diseases. The disease risk is related to both the total dose and duration of silica exposure. Silicosis, a nodular pulmonary fibrosis, is the disease most associated with exposure to respirable crystalline silicavi. Studies have shown that exposure to crystalline silica can lead to physiological changes, disease and death. There is a reliable link between cumulative silica dust exposure and increased mortality from lung cancer. Calvert et al. found a relationship between crystalline silica exposure and rheumatoid arthritis. Meijer et al. showed significant association between exposure to concrete dust and a small lung infection. xii. There are a number of factors that influence the development of silicosis and these include size of particles, and concentration of silica particles in the air duration of exposurexiiixiv. RSAxv noted that chronic silicosis is mainly the result of long term exposure and that accelerated silicosis can develop after five to ten years of exposure. Morfeldxvi concluded that no other non-malignant health effect due to RCS is as specific and so clearly linked to RCS as silicosis. Research Questions 1. Is there any difference in the health of the workers in the two operations? 2. What associations exist, if any, between length of service and recorded health effect? These research questions will be answered through a hypothesis testing. As Dythamxvii noted, hypothesis testing is the cornerstone of scientific analysis. Tests are carried out to determine whether a stated hypothesis is correct. The hypothesis is rejected or accepted based on the P-values observed. Usually, the null hypothesis (the hypothesis that nothing is going on) is the one that is accepted or rejected based on the calculated probabilities. Most research will accept or reject a hypothesis at 95% level of confidence. Thus if the calculated p-values from a hypothesis test is less than 5% (or 0.05), we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis. For this study, the alternative hypotheses for which the null hypotheses were tested were: H1: There is a difference in the health of workers in brick and tile operations. H2: There is a statistically significant association between length of service and recorded health effect. Study Methodology Primary data was collected from a sample of 65 workers randomly selected for blood testing, 38 from brick operations and 27 from tile operations. The study collected data on their identity, the sectors in which they worked, the length of service of each employee, their ages, and health. Following Dythamxviii, the first hypothesis was tested using independent samples t-test since the data was unpaired and the dependent variable was a continuous variable. Minitab 16 was used to perform a two-sample t-test to assess whether there were any differences in the health of workers in the two operations. The existence of association between length of service and recorded health effect was assessed using the Pearson’s product-moment correlation. Descriptive Results Descriptive results are presented and show the number of observations (N), mean, standard deviation, minimum values, first quartile (Q1), median, third quartile (Q3), maximum values, skewness and kurtosis. The normality tests are also shown together with the descriptive results. These are graphically presented for the three main variables of the study namely age (years), length of service (years), and % of damaged cells. Figure 1: Descriptive

What explains today's high degree of global financial integration Essay

What explains today's high degree of global financial integration - Essay Example lobal integration in the financial market has given the opportunities to the investors to diversify the risks and to access the financial products in a more easy way. (Agarwal, n.d.) The functionalities of the process of globalization has been motivated by heterogeneous factors, such as gradual increase of trade in goods and services, increase of free movement of capital across international borders, increase of international mobility of labor and increase of global technological transfers. The impact of international movement of capital and global financial integration on the developing countries experienced a dramatic change in the early 1990s with the enhancement of financial deregulation in many countries. (Wolf 2005) This is the period when the free capital movement from the developed and industrial nations to the developing nations had started to rise vividly which was seen through the increase in growth of the developing nations. However, during this era the globe has also seen a sequence of financial crises across many countries. In one hand many developed countries faced the financial crises, such as the 1992 and 1993 financial crises of the developed c ountries in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). On the other hand the developing nations also faced such crises, like the Mexican Tequila crisis in 1995, 1997 and 1998 Asian crises, the Latin American and the Russian crises from 1998 to 2000 etc. All these crises that were seen throughout different part of the globe gradually proved that there lies an inherent risk of the international financial integration behind its benefit. The international financial integration through the opening of the cross border financial markets is a multifarious phenomenon that involves in unrestricting the movement of foreign direct investment (FDI) from the developed countries to the developing countries and pulling up the regulations from both the short term and long term financial instruments which are responsible

Biomedical and Biopsychosocial Models of Healthcare

Biomedical and Biopsychosocial Models of Healthcare Critical Evaluation on the Future of Healthcare: The Biomedical or the Biopsychosocial Model The Biomedical Model This model has been in existence since the mid-19th century and was predominant for physicians in the diagnosis of diseases. It comprises of four elements. It argues that, that health constitutes the freedom of pain, disease or defect which implies the normal human is healthy. In this model, the focus on the physical processes such as biochemistry, physiology and pathology of a disease do not take into consideration the role played by individual subjectivity or social factors. Unlike the biopsychosocial model, the biomedical model fails to consider negotiation between a doctor and patient in determining diagnosis. The main focus in this model is purely biological factors. It excludes social influences, environment and the psychological ones. Western countries have adopted it as a leading modern way for which health professionals treat and diagnose conditions. Regardless of the limitations that this model expresses, it has been critical in the development of programs to control infect ious diseases. In addition, it feeds more information to the biopsychosocial approach (White, 2009). The Biopsychosocial Model This is an approach that states that psychological, social and biological factors all play a key role in the human functioning in relation to illness and disease. Health is thus understood by concentrating on biological, social and psychological factors rather than entirely focusing on biological terms. It contrasts to biomedical model. Biomedical model takes the position that every disease process can be explained in accordance to deviations in normal functions such as injury, developmental abnormality in genes or virus (White, 2009). This model is used in the fields of medicine, health sociology and psychology and nursing. The acceptance, novelty and prevalence of the biopsychosocial model demonstrates variation across cultures. The model has been developing over time and will only mature further with health psychology designs and research. The Future of Healthcare The biopsychosocial model is at the heart of the future of healthcare. Specialization in healthcare has advanced to fields of health psychology, psychiatry, chiropractic, clinical psychology, family therapy and clinical social work. Majority of clinicians will engage the elements of biopsychosocial and biomedical models in the practices they engage in. However, it is arguable that all illnesses whether functional or organic can be managed best going by the biopsychosocial framework rather than the biomedical in practice. The two models seem to share the same goal which is improving the improvement of the patient’s well-being. What differs is the scope on which the physician considers impairment including its origin and the possible remedies. The biopsychosocial framework expands the meaning of this goal and applies it in clinical processes. Illness is approached as the subjective sense of suffering by the patient. The goal of managing the disease thus needs to identify the spe cific exposures of the patient which are biological, social and psychological. Potential Disabilities of the Biomedical Model The biomedical model will lose its position in the future of healthcare as it assumes that social and psychological processes are irrelevant to the disease’s process. The potential disabilities it exposes are massive. It mainly has three liabilities. First, the model is reductionist in nature. It reduces illness to lower level processes. These include chemical imbalances and disordered cells. It thus fails to recognize the general role of psychological and social determinants. Secondly, the model is a single-factor model. The explanation for illness is in terms of biological malfunctions rather that recognition of a variety of factors with only a few being biological in the causation of illness. The third liability is that the model assumes a mind-body dualism. It maintains that the body and mind are two separate entities. The final but not least liability is that the model puts more emphasis on illness over health. The focus is aberrations that cause illness instead of the co nditions that would promote health. Advantages and Clinical Implications of the Biopsychosocial Model Medical care, illness and disease are interrelated processes. They involve interaction of changes both within the individual and other levels. Researchers are thus impelled by this framework toward an interdisciplinary collaboration and thinking. The model maintains that the diagnosis process should consider the interacting roles of social, psychosocial and biological factors. This calls for interdisciplinary team approach in making a diagnosis. Health psychology should adopt this model and involve all the three factors. Therapy is thus uniquely targeted to a particular individual considering their health’s totality and ensuring treatment recommendations capable of dealing with more than one problem systematically. Therefore, a team approach is encouraged as the best approach. The relationship between a doctor and a practitioner is emphasized by the biopsychosocial model. The efficacy of treatment, the rapidity of solving an illness and the patient’s service usage can be improved by an effective practitioner-patient relationship. The biopsychosocial model makes the implication that the physician must have a clear understanding of the psychological and social factors that make contributions to an illness in order to come up with ample treatment (Kim,2014). For a healthy individual, the model is of the opinion that their health habits can only be understood in social and psychosocial contexts. When an individual is ill, recovery can be influenced by psychological, biological and social factors. These factors may maintain poor health habits but when there is appropriate modifications, they facilitate healthy ones. Biopsychosocial Perspectives Psychosomatics, Behavior and Health Depression, social isolation, conscientiousness and chronic stress are all understood by medical colleagues and health psychologists alike in the impacting of the vulnerability and the protection of various diseases. There is a consistent correlation of clinical depression with pathogenesis and occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. In a study in 2009, Salomon examined the existing differences in reactivity of cardiovascular to and recovery from two lab stressors between healthy controls with no self-reported history of CVD samples and naturalistic samples of clinically depression (Nezu, 2013). With previous research demonstrating significant behavioral associations and psychosomatic among illness, health and disease, the BPS model should focus on bringing into play analytic complexity fighting individualistic. Review of neuroplasticity, socio-somatic and psychosocial genomics will assist in balancing individualistic bias for health psychology, provision of sophisticated and adequate understanding of the cultural and social contours underlying illness and health thus fostering a greater integration among domains of bio-psycho-social. Psychosocial Genomics and Neuroplasticity Advances in genetics and molecular biology have given way to the map out of human genome. There have been spectral and technological imaging advances such as allowing of examining complex neurological processes and functional magnetic resonance. These movements in science have resulted to empirical investigations, psychosocial genomics and neuroplasticity which thus offers important evidence in relation to the interdependence nature of socio-cultural, biological and psychological processes. Research on neuroplasticity goes further to justify the biopsychosocial framework. This is because, the study indicates that the brain neurons are more dynamic than had previously been considered. They develop novel synaptic connections in response to learning and experience across age and mainly the entire life (Kim, 2014). Biopsychosocial further elaborates on the impact of social support. Within many studies, more satisfying social relationships or confidants result to an individual recovering more quickly from illnesses and diseases as compared to those with minimal social support. Culture in the Biopsychosocial Model Culture evolves over the years. It carries with it vagueness and contention. Culture is informatory. It influences every founding block of the BPS model. Failure to demonstrate adequate to the key role of culture in health psychology and related medical fields would result to the discrimination in health service delivery. For a more holistic approach therefore in heath psychology, culture should be considered seriously in attempts to integrate the BPS model. Biopsychosocial Model Transformations and the Future: Health Psychology Health psychology’s emergence together with behavioral medicine in primary care settings and general practitioners training on various health paradigms have resulted to an awareness for which patients now understand that the medical providers view them as a person and not merely by the disease. For the past two decades, the research of health psychologists and the behavioral interventions have matured greatly together with high criticism. Patient quality of life and wellness has been observationally been improved by the humanistic view by the psychologists. To fully solidify the role of combinatory treatments and psychologists, it is necessary to conduct long-term empirical studies. Doctors however question the motive of the alteration of medicine for the incorporation of behavioral interventions which tend to increase the workload of the physicians who are already strained. Research, vast knowledge on behavior education skills are applied by psychology practitioners should be used in the promotion of a medical care that is more hospital co-managed. Health care and societal transformations constrain psychology from change. Psychology seeks to deliver expansion on the special skills of health and clinical psychology. Psychopharmacology is the latest intervention in the creation of a psychologist practitioner who is independent. Psychologists must look for and maintain an inter-professional collaboration with physicians in order to ensure prescription authority and psychology. The psychosocial aspects of medical problems are then addressed. Quality of treatment may be affected by poor relationships between physicians and psychologists. Collaborations and partnerships in the management and diagnosis of all health will be observed in the decades to come. Training programs in health psychology will increase in terms of quantity. There will be specialization for students who have interest in the practice of research, clinical and education settings (Kim, 2014). The policy makers and the professionals such as teachers require training and education on the biopsychosocial model. The impact of this on healthcare would be the reduction of health costs, improved occupational control, promotion of self-empowerment, provocation of behavioral change and an increment in adherence to plans of treatment. Integrated healthcare will eventually address the complete spectrum of the mind and the human body as one and the same. A Holistic Approach in the Application of the Biopsychosocial model in the future of Health Psychology The biomedical model of disease and health is dominant in the existing medical practices. The approach is effective mainly in the control of infectious maladies. Chronic non-infectious diseases require the BPS approach. The approach takes into account other health determinants. That thus takes the BPS model a step further into the better approach than the biomedical model. However, a more holistic approach in the biopsychosocial approach is one that integrates culture into the focus of biological, psychological and biological aspects. Taking culture into the picture for the future will result to a more holistic approach. The future health research programs and intervention strategies should endure at considering all the domains and that will be a holistic approach. The BPS model will keep on maturing with time. To this regard therefore, there should be an examination of the effectiveness of cultural, social, biological and physiological claims. It should be conducted in clinical practice exploring the health concepts from perspectives and questioning perspectives could influence the current and future trends in health interventions and health promotion. Conclusion The future of health care lies more on the biopsychosocial approach more than the biomedical one. However, as demonstrated in the research and advancements in the health psychology, there are still aspects of the BPS model that could be involved in the future. One of them could be an increased collaboration and participation amongst psychologists and physicians. They should collaborate to ensure that wellbeing is attained by effective application of the model. The aspect of culture should also be included in the framework to ensure that the health services are acceptable in various communities. Clinical implications are at the heart of the improvement of the biopsychosocial approach. Health psychology and biomedical research will act as key building blocks in the future role of the model. References Kim, P. (2014, March 22). Report Summarizes Health Psychology Study Findings from Northeastern University. Psychology Psychiatry Journal, 456, 33-67. Nezu, A. M. (2013). Health psychology. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Sons. Piotrowski, C. (2012, September 1). Occupational Health Psychology: Neglected Areas of Research. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 675, 44-65. Sheridan, C. L., Radmacher, S. A. (1992). Health psychology: challenging the biomedical model. New York: Wiley. White, P. (2009). Biopsychosocial medicine: an integrated approach to understanding illness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Caring for An Angina Patient Essay -- Nursing Essays

Nurses play a very important role in managing a patient from the moment of his admission up to making a discharge plan. Each part of the nursing process is vital to the wellbeing of the person he is taking care of. Clinical reasoning is always essential in each part of the nursing process from assessment, setting up goals and intervention. Effective nursing management is done when a nurse looks for the early and right cues at the right patient and implementing it at the right time. This essay will delve deeper into the case of Rob Geis, a patient who was suffering from angina, given his history and the signs and symptoms he experienced up to the time when his condition worsened to Myocardial Infarction. This essay will also look into how the nurse should provide effective nursing care to the patient with this condition. Etiology and Pathophysiology of Angina Angina is pain felt in the chest area as a result of lack of inadequate supply to the myocardium (Better Health Channel, 2013) Atherosclerosis or the hardening and narrowing of arteries caused by the build-up of plaques, the insufficient supply of oxygen and its increasing demand are some of the factors that can cause ischemia in the myocardium (Lewis et al., 2012). When there is a total blockage of the coronary arteries for a few minutes, the myocardium cannot receive oxygen and glucose for aerobic metabolism thus anaerobic metabolism occurs (Lewis et al., 2012). The lactic acid builds up and stimulates the nerve fibres in the myocardium resulting to chest pain (Lewis et al., 2012). The cells are repaired and the aerobic metabolism and the contractility of the arteries are restored when there is return of blood flow (Lewis et al., 2012) Subjective and Objectiv... ....). New South Wales: Elsevier Australia. MedlinePlus. (2010). Atenolol. Retrieved April 4, 2014, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a684031.html Rull, G. (2011). Cardiogenic Shock. Retrieved April, 2014, from http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Cardiogenic-Shock.htm Smeltzer, S., Bare, B., Farrell, M., & Dempsey, J. (2011). Smeltzer & Bare's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing (2nd Australian and New Zealand edition ed. Vol. 1): Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Pty Ltd. WebMD. (2012). Electrocardiogram. Retrieved April 1, 2014, from http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/electrocardiogram Williams, B. R., Lewis, D. R., Burgio, K. L., & Goode, P. S. (2012). Next-of-Kin's Perceptions of How Hospital Nursing Staff Support Family Presence Before, During, and After the Death of a Loved One. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 14(8), 541-550. Caring for An Angina Patient Essay -- Nursing Essays Nurses play a very important role in managing a patient from the moment of his admission up to making a discharge plan. Each part of the nursing process is vital to the wellbeing of the person he is taking care of. Clinical reasoning is always essential in each part of the nursing process from assessment, setting up goals and intervention. Effective nursing management is done when a nurse looks for the early and right cues at the right patient and implementing it at the right time. This essay will delve deeper into the case of Rob Geis, a patient who was suffering from angina, given his history and the signs and symptoms he experienced up to the time when his condition worsened to Myocardial Infarction. This essay will also look into how the nurse should provide effective nursing care to the patient with this condition. Etiology and Pathophysiology of Angina Angina is pain felt in the chest area as a result of lack of inadequate supply to the myocardium (Better Health Channel, 2013) Atherosclerosis or the hardening and narrowing of arteries caused by the build-up of plaques, the insufficient supply of oxygen and its increasing demand are some of the factors that can cause ischemia in the myocardium (Lewis et al., 2012). When there is a total blockage of the coronary arteries for a few minutes, the myocardium cannot receive oxygen and glucose for aerobic metabolism thus anaerobic metabolism occurs (Lewis et al., 2012). The lactic acid builds up and stimulates the nerve fibres in the myocardium resulting to chest pain (Lewis et al., 2012). The cells are repaired and the aerobic metabolism and the contractility of the arteries are restored when there is return of blood flow (Lewis et al., 2012) Subjective and Objectiv... ....). New South Wales: Elsevier Australia. MedlinePlus. (2010). Atenolol. Retrieved April 4, 2014, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a684031.html Rull, G. (2011). Cardiogenic Shock. Retrieved April, 2014, from http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Cardiogenic-Shock.htm Smeltzer, S., Bare, B., Farrell, M., & Dempsey, J. (2011). Smeltzer & Bare's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing (2nd Australian and New Zealand edition ed. Vol. 1): Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Pty Ltd. WebMD. (2012). Electrocardiogram. Retrieved April 1, 2014, from http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/electrocardiogram Williams, B. R., Lewis, D. R., Burgio, K. L., & Goode, P. S. (2012). Next-of-Kin's Perceptions of How Hospital Nursing Staff Support Family Presence Before, During, and After the Death of a Loved One. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 14(8), 541-550.

Advertising in Schools: in Public Education System Essay

Throughout the United States, the faltering economy has drastically affected the employment and income of its citizens, consequently resulting in the deterioration of public education system. In our San Diego Unified district alone, it is estimated that the budget deficit will reach $80 million (â€Å"VoiceofSanDiego†). The lack of funding towards public schools could possibly hinder the attendants’ ability to learn and advertising from corporate sponsorships could provide the necessary revenue to close the schools budget gaps. According to the National Education Association it is estimated that 100,000 schoolteachers nationwide lost their jobs preceding the start of the school year, to protect the employment of our districts schoolteachers drastic modifications must be implemented. Plausible solutions are to mirror the example of Minnesota’s St. Francis School District who under economic hardships gained $230,000 from the selling of ad space thus protecting the jobs of their employees. See more: The stages of consumer buying decision process essay However, critics argued the advertisements might impede a child’s learning, this problem can be solved with ease by promoting brand names in our yearbooks or scoreboards that have little affect on the education of the students and would still bring substantial profit to our school. The selling of ad space in school buses can also offset the daunting costs of educational equipment and vital school programs. Our schools transportation system has recently made cut-backs due to lack of funds, however by displaying local sponsors, the profits can be incorporated back to the schools budget. Being that the target audience is passing spectators, the ads have no negative affect on the students and â€Å"School districts say it’s practically free money and advertisers love the captive audience school buses provide,† quoted ABC News. Averaging a rate of $230 per month, one meager school bus advertisement stands to make $2,300 in the school year where a majority of the reven ue goes directly to the school district. Sponsored advertising could benefit the financial shortcomings of our schools on all aspects; yet, criticizers continue to repudiate the progress because the advertisements easily captivate a highly susceptible audience. This detrimental factor can be used to the advantage of faculty and parents with constructive advertising. Endorsements that promote a healthy lifestyle and diet rather than sugary sweets can aid in the development of our minors. Similarly, ads such as publishing associations could pay to endorse books and other didactic apparatuses in libraries or classrooms that would encourage learning for schoolchildren. For these reason corporate advertising can be accepted into our schools without the apprehension of children being negatively influenced. These economic problems pertain especially to our district and plausible solutions should be exercised. Scripps Ranch High School can adopt these techniques to ease the budget deficit; envision our school advocating a sponsor s uch as KPBS in our library or even our sports teams exhibiting sponsored attire of Puma for the sale of ad space. Our school does not have to brave this recession with only cut backs it is time to raise our commission for a change, for the sole benefit of our school. Nationwide, the current economic downturn has forced schools to employ budget cuts and teacher terminations. Advertising in our schools could become an efficient means of alleviating the budget deficit and the extra revenue would go towards preserving the jobs teachers and other school programs. This source of unrestricted revenue is difficult to deny and our school can hardly afford to surrender more extracurricular activities. To protect the sanctity of Scripps Ranch High’s superb educational system additional income must be utilized and with minimal effects, corporate advertising is an unparalleled example of a money generator.