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#9215.

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#9781. Name the American newspaper publisher (June 16, 1917 – July 17, 2001). She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, from 1963 to 1991. She presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. She was the first 20th century female publisher of a major American newspaper and the first woman elected to the board of the Associated Press.

#9782. Name the American heiress to the fortune of Walmart as daughter (born October 7, 1949).  In September 2016, she owned over $11 billion in Walmart shares. As of November 2023, Walton has a net worth of $71 billion, making her the 17th richest person and the second-richest woman in the world according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after Françoise Bettencourt Meyers.

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2260.

2130) Hairdresser

Gist

A hairdresser is a person who cuts people's hair and puts it into a style, usually working in a special shop, called a hairdresser's.

Summary

A hairdresser's job is to organise hair into a particular style or "look". They can cut hair, add colour to it or texture it. A hairdresser may be female or male. Qualified staff are usually called "stylists", who are supported by assistants. Most hairdressing businesses are unisex, that is, they serve both sexes, and have both sexes on their staff.

Male hairdressers who simply cut men's hair (and do not serve females) are often called barbers.

Qualifications for hairdressing usually mean a college course, or an apprenticeship under a senior stylist. Some aspects of the job are quite technical (such as hair dying) and require careful teaching.

Details

A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A hairdresser may also be referred to as a 'barber' or 'hairstylist'.

History:

Ancient hairdressing

Hairdressing as an occupation dates back thousands of years. Both Aristophanes and Homer, Greek writers, mention hairdressing in their writings. Many Africans believed that hair is a method to communicate with the Divine Being. It is the highest part of the body and therefore the closest to the divine. Because of this Hairdressers held a prominent role in African communities. The status of hairdressing encouraged many to develop their skills, and close relationships were built between hairdressers and their clients. Hours would be spent washing, combing, oiling, styling and ornamenting their hair. Men would work specifically on men, and women on other women. Before a master hairdresser died, they would give their combs and tools to a chosen successor during a special ceremony.

In ancient Egypt, hairdressers had specially decorated cases to hold their tools, including lotions, scissors and styling materials. Barbers also worked as hairdressers, and wealthy men often had personal barbers within their home. With the standard of wig wearing within the culture, wigmakers were also trained as hairdressers. In ancient Rome and Greece household slaves and servants took on the role of hairdressers, including dyeing and shaving. Men who did not have their own private hair or shaving services would visit the local barbershop. Women had their hair maintained and groomed at their homes. Historical documentation is lacking regarding hairstylists from the 5th century until the 14th century. Hair care service grew in demand after a papal decree in 1092 demanded that all Roman Catholic clergymen remove their facial hair.

Europe

The first appearance of the word "hairdresser" is in 17th century Europe, and hairdressing was considered a profession. Hair fashion of the period suggested that wealthy women wear large, complex and heavily adorned hairstyles, which would be maintained by their personal maids and other people, who would spend hours dressing the woman's hair. A wealthy man's hair would often be maintained by a valet. It was in France where men began styling women's hair for the first time, and many of the notable hairdressers of the time were men, a trend that would continue into contemporary times. The first famous male hairdresser was Champagne, who was born in Southern France. Upon moving to Paris, he opened his own hair salon and dressed the hair of wealthy Parisian women until his death in 1658.

Women's hair grew taller in style during the 17th century, popularized by the hairdresser Madame Martin. The hairstyle, "the tower," was the trend with wealthy English and American women, who relied on hairdressers to style their hair as tall as possible. Tall piles of curls were pomaded, powdered and decorated with ribbons, flowers, lace, feathers and jewelry. The profession of hairdressing was launched as a genuine profession when Legros de Rumigny was declared the first official hairdresser of the French court. In 1765 de Rumigny published his book Art de la Coiffure des Dames, which discussed hairdressing and included pictures of hairstyles designed by him. The book was a best seller amongst Frenchwomen, and four years later de Rumigny opened a school for hairdressers: Academie de Coiffure. At the school he taught men and women to cut hair and create his special hair designs.

By 1777, approximately 1,200 hairdressers were working in Paris. During this time, barbers formed unions, and demanded that hairdressers do the same. Wigmakers also demanded that hairdressers cease taking away from their trade, and hairdressers responded that their roles were not the same, hairdressing was a service, and wigmakers made and sold a product. de Rumigny died in 1770 and other hairdressers gained in popularity, specifically three Frenchmen: Frederic, Larseueur, and Léonard. Leonard and Larseueur were the stylists for Marie Antoinette. Leonard was her favorite, and developed many hairstyles that became fashion trends within wealthy Parisian circles, including the loge d'opera, which towered five feet over the wearer's head. During the French Revolution he escaped the country hours before he was to be arrested, alongside the king, queen, and other clients. Léonard emigrated to Russia, where he worked as the premier hairdresser for Russian nobility.

19th century

Parisian hairdressers continued to develop influential styles during the early 19th century. Wealthy French women would have their favorite hairdressers style their hair from within their own homes, a trend seen in wealthy international communities. Hairdressing was primarily a service affordable only to those wealthy enough to hire professionals or to pay for servants to care for their hair. In the United States, Marie Laveau was one of the most famous hairdressers of the period. Laveau, located in New Orleans, began working as a hairdresser in the early 1820s, maintaining the hair of wealthy women of the city. She was a voodoo practitioner, called the "Voodoo Queen of New Orleans," and she used her connections to wealthy women to support her religious practice. She provided "help" to women who needed it for money, gifts and other favors.

French hairdresser Marcel Grateau developed the "Marcel wave" in the late part of the century. His wave required the use of a special hot hair iron and needed to be done by an experienced hairdresser. Fashionable women asked to have their hair "marceled." During this period, hairdressers began opening salons in cities and towns, led by Martha Matilda Harper, who developed one of the first retail chains of hair salons, the Harper Method.

20th century

Beauty salons became popularized during the 20th century, alongside men's barbershops. These spaces served as social spaces, allowing women to socialize while having their hair done and other services such as facials. Wealthy women still had hairdressers visit their home, but, the majority of women visited salons for services, including high-end salons such as Elizabeth Arden's Red Door Salon.

Major advancements in hairdressing tools took place during this period. Electricity led to the development of permanent wave machines and hair dryers. These tools allowed hairdressers to promote visits to their salons, over limited service in-home visits. New coloring processes were developed, including those by Eugène Schueller in Paris, which allowed hairdressers to perform complicated styling techniques. After World War I, the bob cut and the shingle bob became popular, alongside other short haircuts. In the 1930s complicated styles came back into fashion, alongside the return of the Marcel wave. Hairdressing was one of the few acceptable professions during this time for women, alongside teaching, nursing and clerical work.

Modern hairdressing:

Specialties

Some hairstylists specialize in particular services, such as colorists, who specialize in coloring hair.

By country:

United States

Occupationally, hairdressing is expected to grow faster than the average for all other occupations, at 20%. A state license is required for hairdressers to practice, with qualifications varying from state to state. Generally a person interested in hairdressing must have a high school diploma or GED, be at least 16 years of age, and have graduated from a state-licensed barber or cosmetology school. Full-time programs often last 9 months or more, leading to an associate degree. After students graduate from a program, they take a state licensing exam, which often consists of a written test, and a practical test of styling or an oral exam. Hairdressers must pay for licenses, and occasionally licenses must be renewed. Some states allow hairdressers to work without obtaining a new license, while others require a new license. About 44% of hairdressers are self-employed, often putting in 40-hour work weeks, and even longer among the self-employed. In 2008, 29% of hairstylists worked part-time, and 14% had variable schedules. As of 2008, people working as hairdressers totaled about 630,700, with a projected increase to 757,700 by 2018.

Occupational health hazards

Like many occupations, hairdressing is associated with potential health hazards stemming from the products workers use on the job as well as the environment they work in. Exposure risks are highly variable throughout the profession due to differences in the physical workspace, such as use of proper ventilation, as well as individual exposures to various chemicals throughout one's career. Hairdressers encounter a variety of chemicals on the job due to handling products such as shampoos, conditioners, sprays, chemical straighteners, permanent curling agents, bleaching agents, and dyes. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does hold certain guidelines over cosmetic products, such as proper labeling and provisions against adulteration, the FDA does not require approval of products prior to being sold to the public. This leaves opportunity for variations in product formulation, which can make occupational exposure evaluation challenging. However, there are certain chemicals that are commonly found in products used in hair salons and have been the subject of various occupational hazard studies.

Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is a chemical used in various industries and has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer or IARC as “carcinogenic to humans”. The presence of formaldehyde and methylene glycol, a formaldehyde derivative, have been found in hair smoothing products, such as the Brazilian Blowout. The liquid product is applied to the hair, which is then dried using a blow dryer. Simulation studies as well as observational studies of working salons have shown formaldehyde levels in the air that meet and exceed occupational exposure limits. Variations in observed levels are a function of ventilation used in the workplace as well as the levels of formaldehyde, and its derivatives, in the product itself.

Aromatic amines

Aromatic amines are a broad class of compounds containing an amine group attached to an aromatic ring. IARC has categorized most aromatic amines as known carcinogens. Their use spans several industries including use in pesticides, medications, and industrial dyes. Aromatic amines have also been found in oxidative (permanent) hair dyes; however due to their potential for carcinogenicity, they were removed from most hair dye formulations and their use was completely banned in the European Union.

Phthalates

Phthalates are a class of compounds that are esters of phthalic acid. Their main use has been as plasticizers, additives to plastic products to change certain physical characteristics. They have also been widely used in cosmetic products as preservatives, including shampoos and hair sprays. Phthalates have been implicated as endocrine disrupting chemicals, compounds that mimic the body's own hormones and can lead to dysregulation of the reproductive and neurologic systems as well as changes in metabolism and cell proliferation.

Health considerations:

Reproductive

Most hairdressers are women of childbearing age, which lends to additional considerations for potential workplace exposures and the risks they may pose. There have been studies linking mothers who are hairdressers with adverse birthing outcomes such as low birth weight, preterm delivery, perinatal death, and neonates who are small for gestational age. However, these studies failed to show a well-defined association between individual risk factors and adverse birthing outcomes. Other studies have also indicated a correlation between professional hairdressing and menstrual dysfunction as well as subfertility. However, subsequent studies did not show similar correlations. Due to such inconsistencies, further research is required.

Oncologic

The International Agency for Research on Cancer or IARC, has categorized occupational exposures of hairdressers and barbers to chemical agents found in the workplace as “probably carcinogenic to humans” or category 2A in their classification system. This is due in part to the presence of chemical compounds historically found in hair products that have exhibited mutagenic and carcinogenic effects in animal and in vitro studies. However, the same consistent effects have yet to be fully determined in humans. There have been studies showing a link between occupational exposure to hair dyes and increased risk of bladder in male hairdressers but not females. Other malignancies such as ovarian, breast and lung cancers have also been studied in hairdressers, but the outcomes of these studies were either inconclusive due to potential confounding or did not exhibit an increase in risk.

Respiratory

Volatile organic compounds have been shown to be the largest inhalation exposure in hair salons, with the greatest concentrations occurring while mixing hair dyes and with use of hair sprays. Other notable respiratory exposures included ethanol, ammonia, and formaldehyde. The concentration of exposure was generally found to be a function of the presence or absence of ventilation in the area in which they were working. Studies have exhibited an increased rate of respiratory symptoms experienced such as cough, wheezing, rhinitis, and shortness of breath among hairdressers when compared to other groups. Decreased lung function levels on spirometry have also been demonstrated in hairdressers when compared to unexposed reference groups.

Dermal

Contact dermatitis is a common dermatological diagnosis affecting hairdressers. Allergen sensitization has been considered the main cause for most cases of contact dermatitis in hairdressers, as products such as hair dyes and bleaches, as well as permanent curling agents contain chemicals that are known sensitizers. Hairdressers also spend a significant amount of time engaging in wet work with their hands being directly immersed in water or by handling of wet hair and tools. Overtime, this type of work has also been implicated in increased rate of irritant dermatitis among hairdressers due to damage of the skins natural protective barrier

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#2559. What does the medical term 'Erythrocyte aggregation' mean?

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#5734.

2129) Technocracy

Gist

a) a proponent, adherent, or supporter of technocracy.
b) a technological expert, especially one concerned with management or administration.

Summary

Technocracy, government by technicians who are guided solely by the imperatives of their technology. The concept developed in the United States early in the 20th century as an expression of the Progressive movement and became a subject of considerable public interest in the 1930s during the Great Depression. The origins of the technocracy movement may be traced to Frederick W. Taylor’s introduction of the concept of scientific management. Writers such as Henry L. Gannt, Thorstein Veblen, and Howard Scott suggested that businessmen were incapable of reforming their industries in the public interest and that control of industry should thus be given to engineers.

The much-publicized Committee on Technocracy, headed by Walter Rautenstrauch and dominated by Scott, was organized in 1932 in New York City. Scott proclaimed the invalidation, by technologically produced abundance, of all prior economic concepts based on scarcity; he predicted the imminent collapse of the price system and its replacement by a bountiful technocracy. Scott’s academic qualifications, however, were discredited in the press, some of the group’s data were questioned, and there were disagreements among members regarding social policy. The committee broke up within a year and was succeeded by the Continental Committee on Technocracy, which faded by 1936, and Technocracy, Inc., headed by Scott. Technocratic organizations sprang up across the United States and western Canada, but the technocracy movement was weakened by its failure to develop politically viable programs for change, and support was lost to the New Deal and third-party movements. There were also fears of authoritarian social engineering. Scott’s organization declined after 1940 but still survived in the late 20th century.

Details

What Is Technocracy?

A technocracy is a model of governance wherein decision-makers are chosen for office based on their technical expertise and background. A technocracy differs from a traditional democracy in that individuals selected to a leadership role are chosen through a process that emphasizes their relevant skills and proven performance, as opposed to whether or not they fit the majority interests of a popular vote.

The individuals that occupy such positions in a technocracy are known as "technocrats." An example of a technocrat could be a central banker who is a trained economist and follows a set of rules that apply to empirical data.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

* A technocracy is a form of governance whereby government officials or policymakers, known as technocrats, are chosen by some higher authority due to their technical skills or expertise in a specific domain.
* Decisions made by technocrats are supposed to be based on information derived from data and objective methodology, rather than opinion or self-interest.
* Critics complain that technocracy is undemocratic and disregards the will of the people.

How Technocracy Works

A technocracy is a political entity ruled by experts (technocrats) that are selected or appointed by some higher authority. Technocrats are, supposedly, selected specifically for their expertise in the area over which they are delegated authority to govern. In practice, because technocrats must always be appointed by some higher authority, the political structure and incentives that influence that higher authority will always also play some role in the selection of technocrats.

An official who is labeled as a technocrat may not possess the political savvy or charisma that is typically expected of an elected politician. Instead, a technocrat may demonstrate more pragmatic and data-oriented problem-solving skills in the policy arena.

Technocracy became a popular movement in the United States during the Great Depression when it was believed that technical professionals, such as engineers and scientists, would have a better understanding than politicians regarding the economy's inherent complexity.

Although democratically officials may hold seats of authority, most come to rely on the technical expertise of select professionals in order to execute their plans.

Defense measures and policies in government are often developed with considerable consultation with military personnel to provide their firsthand insight. Medical treatment decisions, meanwhile, are based heavily on the input and knowledge of physicians, and city infrastructures could not be planned, designed, or constructed without the input of engineers.

Critiques of Technocracy

Reliance on technocracy can be criticized on several grounds. The acts and decisions of technocrats can come into conflict with the will, rights, and interests of the people whom they rule over. This in turn has often led to populist opposition to both specific technocratic policy decisions and to the degree of power in general granted to technocrats. These problems and conflicts help give rise to the populist concept of the "deep state", which consists of a powerful, entrenched, unaccountable, and oligarchic technocracy which governs in its own interests.

In a democratic society, the most obvious criticism is that there is an inherent tension between technocracy and democracy. Technocrats often may not follow the will of the people because by definition they may have specialized expertise that the general population lacks. Technocrats may or may not be accountable to the will of the people for such decisions.

In a government where citizens are guaranteed certain rights, technocrats may seek to encroach upon these rights if they believe that their specialized knowledge suggests that it is appropriate or in the larger public interest. The focus on science and technical principles might also be seen as separate and disassociated from the humanity and nature of society. For instance, a technocrat might make decisions based on calculations of data rather than the impact on the populace, individuals, or groups within the population.

In any government, regardless of who appoints the technocrats or how, there is always a risk that technocrats will engage in policymaking that favors their own interests or others whom they serve over the public interest. Technocrats are necessarily placed in a position of trust, since the knowledge used to enact their decisions is to some degree inaccessible or not understandable to the general public. This creates a situation where there can be a high risk of self-dealing, collusion, corruption, and cronyism. Economic problems such as rent-seeking, rent-extraction, or regulatory capture are common in technocracy.

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Additional Information

Technocracy is a form of government in which the decision-makers are selected based on their expertise in a given area of responsibility, particularly with regard to scientific or technical knowledge. Technocracy follows largely in the tradition of other meritocracy theories and assumes full state control over political and economic issues.

This system explicitly contrasts with representative democracy, the notion that elected representatives should be the primary decision-makers in government, though it does not necessarily imply eliminating elected representatives. Decision-makers are selected based on specialized knowledge and performance rather than political affiliations, parliamentary skills, or popularity.

The term technocracy was initially used to signify the application of the scientific method to solving social problems. In its most extreme form, technocracy is an entire government running as a technical or engineering problem and is mostly hypothetical. In more practical use, technocracy is any portion of a bureaucracy run by technologists. A government in which elected officials appoint experts and professionals to administer individual government functions, and recommend legislation, can be considered technocratic. Some uses of the word refer to a form of meritocracy, where the ablest are in charge, ostensibly without the influence of special interest groups. Critics have suggested that a "technocratic divide" challenges more participatory models of democracy, describing these divides as "efficacy gaps that persist between governing bodies employing technocratic principles and members of the general public aiming to contribute to government decision making".

History of the term

The term technocracy is derived from the Greek words, tekhne meaning skill and κράτος, kratos meaning power, as in governance, or rule. William Henry Smyth, a California engineer, is usually credited with inventing the word technocracy in 1919 to describe "the rule of the people made effective through the agency of their servants, the scientists and engineers", although the word had been used before on several occasions. Smyth used the term Technocracy in his 1919 article "'Technocracy'—Ways and Means to Gain Industrial Democracy" in the journal Industrial Management. Smyth's usage referred to Industrial democracy: a movement to integrate workers into decision-making through existing firms or revolution.

In the 1930s, through the influence of Howard Scott and the technocracy movement he founded, the term technocracy came to mean 'government by technical decision making', using an energy metric of value. Scott proposed that money be replaced by energy certificates denominated in units such as ergs or joules, equivalent in total amount to an appropriate national net energy budget, and then distributed equally among the North American population, according to resource availability.

There is in common usage found the derivative term technocrat. The word technocrat can refer to someone exercising governmental authority because of their knowledge, "a member of a powerful technical elite", or "someone who advocates the supremacy of technical experts". McDonnell and Valbruzzi define a prime minister or minister as a technocrat if "at the time of their appointment to government, they: have never held public office under the banner of a political party; are not a formal member of any party; and are said to possess recognized non-party political expertise which is directly relevant to the role occupied in government". In Russia, the President of Russia has often nominated ministers based on technical expertise from outside political circles, and these have been referred to as "technocrats".

Characteristics

Technocrats are individuals with technical training and occupations who perceive many important societal problems as being solvable with the applied use of technology and related applications. The administrative scientist Gunnar K. A. Njalsson theorizes that technocrats are primarily driven by their cognitive "problem-solution mindsets" and only in part by particular occupational group interests. Their activities and the increasing success of their ideas are thought to be a crucial factor behind the modern spread of technology and the largely ideological concept of the "information society". Technocrats may be distinguished from "econocrats" and "bureaucrats" whose problem-solution mindsets differ from those of the technocrats.

Examples

The former government of the Soviet Union has been referred to as a technocracy. Soviet leaders like Leonid Brezhnev often had a technical background. In 1986, 89% of Politburo members were engineers.

Leaders of the Chinese Communist Party used to be mostly professional engineers. According to surveys of municipal governments of cities with a population of 1 million or more in China, it has been found that over 80% of government personnel had a technical education. Under the five-year plans of the People's Republic of China, projects such as the National Trunk Highway System, the China high-speed rail system, and the Three Gorges Dam have been completed. During China's 20th National Congress, a class of technocrats in finance and economics are replaced in favor of high-tech technocrats.

In 2013, a European Union library briefing on its legislative structure referred to the Commission as a "technocratic authority", holding a "legislative monopoly" over the EU lawmaking process. The briefing suggests that this system, which elevates the European Parliament to a vetoing and amending body, was "originally rooted in the mistrust of the political process in post-war Europe". This system is unusual since the Commission's sole right of legislative initiative is a power usually associated with Parliaments.

Several governments in European parliamentary democracies have been labelled 'technocratic' based on the participation of unelected experts ('technocrats') in prominent positions. Since the 1990s, Italy has had several such governments (in Italian, governo tecnico) in times of economic or political crisis, including the formation in which economist Mario Monti presided over a cabinet of unelected professionals. The term 'technocratic' has been applied to governments where a cabinet of elected professional politicians is led by an unelected prime minister, such as in the cases of the 2011-2012 Greek government led by economist Lucas Papademos and the Czech Republic's 2009–2010 caretaker government presided over by the state's chief statistician, Jan Fischer. In December 2013, in the framework of the national dialogue facilitated by the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, political parties in Tunisia agreed to install a technocratic government led by Mehdi Jomaa.

The article "Technocrats: Minds Like Machines" states that Singapore is perhaps the best advertisement for technocracy: the political and expert components of the governing system there seem to have merged completely. This was underlined in a 1993 article in "Wired" by Sandy Sandfort, where he describes the information technology system of the island even at that early date making it effectively intelligent.

Engineering

Following Samuel Haber, Donald Stabile argues that engineers were faced with a conflict between physical efficiency and cost efficiency in the new corporate capitalist enterprises of the late nineteenth-century United States. Because of their perceptions of market demand, the profit-conscious, non-technical managers of firms where the engineers work often impose limits on the projects that engineers desire to undertake.

The prices of all inputs vary with market forces, thereby upsetting the engineer's careful calculations. As a result, the engineer loses control over projects and must continually revise plans. To maintain control over projects, the engineer must attempt to control these outside variables and transform them into constant factors.

Hi,

#5733.

Hi,

#2558. What does the medical term Medical imaging mean?