What is insomnia? According to a knol by Rachel Manber, insomnia is a common sleep disorder that cause sufferers to have difficulty in sleeping although they are being sleep deprived.

There are two ways to treat insomnia: with and without medications.

With medication

The FDA has approved certain medications for the treatment of insomnia. These are called hypnotic medications or sleep medications.

Without medication

Psychologists have developed and tested a specific therapy for insomnia called cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a specific psychotherapeutic approach with variants for treating different mental conditions, such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

With vs. without medication

According to Rachel’s knol, both medications are effective, although difference in characteristic.

Medication for insomnia starts working right away, whereas therapies and other non-medication treatment results emerge slowly. However, non-medication treatments are longer lasting than using medication for insomnia treatment.

If you would like to learn more about insomnia, I suggest you to visit Rachel’s knol.

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Euthanasia issues always evolving around a fine line of “mercy killing” - usually motivated due to a person suffering from incurable illness and disease.

What is euthanasia? According to a knol written by Sam Vaknin on euthanasia:

Euthanasia is the intentional premature termination of another person’s life either by direct intervention (active euthanasia) or by withholding life-prolonging measures and resources (passive euthanasia), either at the express or implied request of that person (voluntary euthanasia), or in the absence of such approval (non-voluntary euthanasia). Involuntary euthanasia - where the individual wishes to go on living - is an euphemism for murder.

In my opinion, passive euthanasia is immoral - I agree with Sam on this. The withholding of medical treatments will result in a slow and potentially torturous death.

The issues on euthanasia has always been related to the right to live and the right to life. Questions, such as, “killing or letting die?” “morally acceptable or rightfully acceptable?” are always the debate topic among society members. The more issues raised, the more unanswered questions uncovered and the more moral dilemma issues raised.

To explore Sam Vaknin’s arguments on euthanasia, please visit his thoughtful knol.

Any thoughts to share on euthanasia?

Image by dumplife (Mihai Romanciuc).

The game is fast paced and played with more tactical than technical strategies. The key in foosball is not only precision, but also the ability to deceive your opponent.

To master foosball, the following are the skills you must have to master the game of foosball, excerpted from a knol written by Rishi Mittal that I found from Google Knol:

1. Recovery
Recovering a loose ball that would otherwise be placed in the opponent’s possession.

2. Grip
Gripping the ball can cause deception because he who is in control moves the ball.

3. Passing
Skillfully accurate passes are difficult but necessary to deceive the opponent away from the passing direction.

4. Penalty Kicks
Developing the skill for this shot will also make a quick shot in-game much easier with practice.

5. Dribbling
A combination of gripping and passing to confuse the opponent and eventually set up for a shot is dribbling.

6. Shooting
Perhaps the most important and deceptive aspect of the game, shooting must be done with strategy and skillful accuracy.

7. Blocking
Blocking is considered the opposite reaction, or defensive response, to passing and shooting.

8. Defense
The back two bars are considered defense, and must be in position at all times - manned or not.

To read the full explanation, please visit the knol.

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While having entertainers in your events or meetings are essential to enhance guests’ experience, the cost of hiring for such entertainers (that some of them are celebrities) will, more often than not, only allow financially strong event planners and individuals to hire them.

But fear not, I found a knol written by Joshua Gair about the ways to save money on booking for top quality entertainment.

In short, here are the 10 money-saving tips for securing top quality entertaninment:

1. Ask for a reasonable discount.
2. See if you are able to book the talent for multiple dates or engagements for your event or meeting and ask if there is discount for multiple bookings.
3. Ask the entertainment company if they offer any type of package deal for the type of performer you are looking for.
4. Book the entertainment as far out as possible, especially on high demand events such as Christmas or New Years Eve parties.
5. Offer to use the entertainment company for next year’s event if they are able to meet you on the price of an act.
6. Book unique and undiscovered talent.
7. Offer a great incentive for the talent in exchange for a small discount.
8. Get a sponsor to cover the cost of entertainment.
9. Be flexible with the dates you book.
10. Provide all or lots of the AV equipment needed for the act.

A very, very interesting tips, indeed. If you are interested to learn more, just visit Joshua’s knol.

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Choosing the wrong legal structure will tarnish your business potential. How to decide which business legal structure that is the right one for you and your business? You might want to consider this knol on business legal structure written by Standard Legal.

Here’s the recap of the business legal structure:

Corporation

A corporation is recognized as being separate and apart from its owners (that are called “shareholders”) As a separate entity, it has its own rights, privileges, and liabilities apart from the individuals who form it.

The advantages:

• The shareholders of a corporation are generally not personally liable or responsible for the debts or obligations of the corporation.
• Many view the corporate structure as being permanent, thus adding credibility and stature to a business.
• A corporation can be the most enduring legal business structure.
• Capital can be more easily raised with a corporation.
• Corporations can offer anonymity to its owners.
• Tax Advantages - Deductible Employee Benefits.

Limited Liability Company

A limited liability company (called an “LLC”) is a legal entity that, in the eyes of the law, exists separate and apart from its owners. The owners of the LLC are called “members” (as compared to a corporation, where the owners are referred to as “shareholders”).

The advantages:

• The LLC, like a partnership, is given a pass through tax treatment.
• Many view the corporate structure as being permanent, thus adding credibility and stature to a business.
• The LLC provides liability protection for the members.
• The LLC provides flexibility in management, compared to the relatively rigid corporate structure.

Sole Proprietor

A sole proprietorship is generally owned by a single individual or by several family members. A sole proprietor maintains and retains complete control of and responsibility for the business, receives all profits, is responsible for all loss, as well as all taxes and liabilities of the business.

General Partnership

A partnership operates by an agreement (either orally or in writing) by and between two or more people acting as co-owners of a for-profit business. The partners share personal liability for all claims against the partnership and share all profits and losses.

Limited Partnership

In a limited partnership there must be at least one general partner who manages the business and who is fully and personally responsible for all claims against the partnership business. In addition, there are investors (i.e. the limited partners - known in the past as “silent” partners) who do not engage in the management of the business and whose liability for the business is limited to the extent of their investment into the business.

Like a partnership, the liabilities and distribution of profits are based upon the agreement reached by all of the partners. Limited Liability Partnership.

For a more thorough explanation on business legal structures, please visit the knol.

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To cut the chase of the bad and the ugly of Software Engineering books, here’s a very, very useful knol written by Jurgen Appelo, that list 100 best Software Engineering books.

To highlight from the 100-Software-Engineering-books list, here’s the Top 10 from the list:

1. Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction (2nd edition), by Steve McConnell.
2. Head First Design Patterns, by Elisabeth Freeman, etc.
3. Rapid Development, by Steve McConnell.
4. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series), by Erich Gamma.
5. Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C (2nd Edition), by Bruce Schneier.
6. Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns, and Practices (Alan Apt Series), by Robert C. Martin.
7. Joel on Software: And on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest to Software Developers, Designers, and Managers, and to Those Who, Whether by Good Fortune or Ill Luck, Work with Them in Some Capacity, by Joel Spolsky.
8. Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (Second Edition), by Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister.
9. The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition), by Frederick P. Brooks.
10. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series), by Martin Fowler.

To read the full list of Top 100 Software Engineering books, including how Juergen determine the books’ position in the Top 100 List, please visit Jurgen’s knol.

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Not only patients, health care organisations all over the world also involve physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals collaborating multinationally with one another to improve health care.

A knol by Mr. Emerson Smith report some cases which very well described what’s going on in International health care today.

One thing he mention that I feel important is that hospitals and health care providers today are not competing with their local or regional competitors in winning patients - they have to compete health care providers from all over the world.

Mr. Emerson stated in his knol that in 2010, according to Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, there will be approximately $68 billion of health care departing the US for foreign health care providers.

The competition is stiff - hospitals today offer top-notch health care services at a very affordable cost, with focus on global markets. And it’s not something large hospitals and health care providers can ‘monopoly’ anymore - As an example, a small hospital - Galichia Heart Hospital in Wichita, Kansas, is targeting Canadian and British markets, offering coronary by-pass for patients without complications for a flat fee of $10,000. That is very affordable for such big operation.

The health care is so global today, in such a way that in recognising the increase of patients leaving the US, The American Medical Association approved its Guidelines on Medical Tourism in June 2008. Singapore has done this even before the US did - putting health care right in the middle of its tourism campaign.

Mr. Emerson explained about medical tourism as follow.

Medical tourism is, in essence, tourism that main purpose is not for vacationing, but to get the best health care a ‘tourist’ can - all in all, in a facility that threat them like royalty and for a reasonable cost.

He also noted that we should call it global medicine.

For more case studies and explanation on global health care issues, I suggest you to visit the knol.

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According to a knol written by Don Moyer, patent, on certain cases, can bring science ‘to life’ and offer benefits to promote the general welfare.

From the eyes of a patent agent, he explained that there are two weights to balance:

In one hand, patent can help research organisations, such as research universities, to get royalty income to support the university and push inventions further, faster.

In the other hand, the patented research tools and materials can increase cost and limit research.

How to balance?

The basic rule of thumbs, according to Don Moyer, is this:

Patents help businesses bring inventions that can improve and enhance health, education and research to the market - This good economic and moral sense is encouraged and Don Moyer, as a patent agent, even give discount fees for such inventions.

However, patent rights used by big corporations to drive revenue and profit beyond what is needed to bring the product to the market are not favored, as they will only drive costs up, hence retarding education, health and research, and the overall progress of science.

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• We have simplified the links on the top of the page, and added the “My profile” drop-down.
• You can now star knols as your personal “Favorites”, adding them to a private list on your profile page.
• You can create knols using templates. Authors, write good templates and we will feature them!
• From an author’s profile you can subscribe to an Atom Feed of authors revisions, comments and replies.
• We added a Review Scorecard, one step toward addressing spam, plagiarism and low-quality content.

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If you were intrigued enough, this knol about bikinis might interest you.

What is bikinis?

The obvious, explained: A bikini or two-piece is women’s swimsuit that consists of two parts - the bikini top and bottom.

History of the bikini

Two-piece garments worn by women for athletic purposes have been observed on Greek urns and paintings, dated as early as 1400 BC. As another evidence, Ancient artwork from over 1700 years ago in Villa Romana del Casale have depicted women in garments resembling modern-day bikinis.

Variations of the bikini

Bikini comes in many variations:

• Brazilian cut bikini: A bikini swimsuit bottom that is cut with a generally narrower and lower brief.
• String bikini: A bikini swimsuit that is scantier and more revealing than traditional bikinis.
• Monokini: Sometimes referred to as a unikini, is a woman’s one piece beach garment equivalent to the lower half of a bikini.
• Microkini: An extremely skimpy bikini.The designs for both women and men typically use only enough fabric to cover the genitalia.
• Tankini: A swimsuit combining a tank top and a bikini bottom.
• Sling bikini: Also known as a “suspender bikini”, “suspender thong”, “slingshot bikini” or just “slingshot”. The slingshot is a one-piece suit which provides as little, or even less, coverage (or as much exposure) as a bikini.

There are wealth of information from the knol - just make sure you visit it for more details on bikinis.

Image by Kamoteus.