Adult and embryonic stem cells-2 Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Adult and embryonic stem cells-2 - Thesis Example In fact, the uproar from Christian groups in the US was largely responsible for President Bush’s decision regarding research on human embryonic stem cells that put a ban on further production and use of hESCs, and limiting the research to existing sixty lines of hESCs. Though this consoled the priests and other religious figures in the US, this decision also received much opposition from other religious groups within US and other parts of the world. For instance, Protestants believed in the apostle that stated, ‘We may not do evil so that good may come.’ The Orthodox Christian Church argued that ‘the very act of killing those embryos is evil, and we may not profit from evil even to achieve a good and noble end’ (Waters and Cole-Turner, 2003; p.173). Islamic scripture indicating that life begins in the embryo after 40 days post fertilization has given rise to many other perspectives on embryonic stem cell research (Peterson, 2003). However, the Hindu and Buddhist beliefs are not centered around the life of embryo but on doctrines of karma (action or duty) and ahimsa (nonviolence). In connection with this, Jafari et al (2008, p. 90) point out that the intentions of donors, needs, scientists’ beliefs, and the potential recipients are important factors that determine the fate of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research and its clinical applications. This article concludes that Muslims, Jews and the majority of Protestants favor ESC research from a religion perspective (see Appendix 1.1), but do have moral and ethical considerations attached to destruction of embryos. The varied religious beliefs have resulted in great debate over ESC research in multiple dimensions that have emerged from theological, ethical, and/or moral convicti ons in various parts of the world. Gotweis, Slater and Waldby (2009) argue that little evidence exists to prove

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN GENDER AND SEXUALITY Essay

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN GENDER AND SEXUALITY OVER THE PAST TWENTY YEARS USE EXAMPLES TO ILLUSTRATE YOU ANSWER - Essay Example Wireless Networking, Broadband and WIKIs are all new terms brought about by the changes, and they add to peoples ability to communicate with each other on a global basis. Internet connections connect us with any type of research we can imagine within seconds. We also have the ability to freely conduct business, get an education or network with others, via these connections. "†¦is the defining trend of the world. Its driven by clearly identifiable, political, economic and technological changes that have removed barriers of contact across national borders†¦" (2004, p. 35). In the last twenty years, people have gained many things through the use of technology. They have been exposed to advertisements touting beautiful women and men with expensive cars and lifestyles. Life was once simple. Women didnt try as hard to look like models and "gender bending" meant something different than it does now. Because of this, people are obsessed with body image. They can change every aspect of the body through a variety of methods. Plastic surgery is now routine, fat goes away with liposuction, silicone implants increase breast size. These treatments were once hidden by those who were doing it, but now its become common place. Before technology, and up until the last few years, everyone wanted to look younger. This was emphasized through the media and created new diseases like anorexia and bulimia. However, as Baby Boomers age, they are more into looking good and showing their real selves. Although there is still a strong market for anti-aging products like wrinkle creams, the Dove Pro-age campaign created products, advertising and billboards geared towards real women and helped older women accept that though they were growing older, they werent ugly. Sex has changed since the late 1980s when HIV/AIDS came into global importance. People all over the world had to talk about sex more openly and had to redefine how they did sex. Altman states, "AIDS is both a

To What Extent is the PM Free From Political Constraints?

To What Extent is the PM Free From Political Constraints? There are numbers of constraints on the Prime Minister. The main constraints are constitutional, political, administrative and personal. The decision making body in Britain is collective; the Prime Ministers role is to provide leadership within a Cabinet context in which collective responsibility remains the rule. Ministerial appointments require some recognition of the need for political balance and administrative efficiency, there is also pressure from colleagues or the media to promote certain people- The popularity of a Prime Minister depends, to some extent, on the media coverage they receive. Which party the Prime Minister represents can also affect media coverage. The press in Britain is biased in its coverage and editorials- some papers are committed to certain parties. This means in practice that Cabinets contain individuals whom the Prime minister would rather be without. All Prime Ministers at least listen to advice from senior colleagues before making appointments. The power of patronage enables a Prime Minister to hire and fire whoever he/she pleases. However, they must consider all types of party opinion when making their selection when allocating ministerial office, as it would not be wise for the prime minister offer cabinet positions to their loyal supporters. Ministers should represent a balanced team in terms of age, experience and forms of thinking within the party if they are not to become alienated from the backbenchers. Backbenchers may also be a constraint, though they risk loss of promotion prospects. Parliament as a whole should be a key constraint; and the Lords have been more active in opposing government bills since the 1980s, but their power is limited. The need to keep the cabinet balanced and to adjust its composition in the light of changing circumstances is illustrated by the cabinet reshuffle forced upon Margaret Thatcher in 1989. Nigel Lawson, the Chancellor of the Exchequer had resigned following conflicts with the Prim e Minister over economic policy and the role of her economics special advisor Alan Walters. There are also constraints on the dismissal of ministers. If the PM sacks too many ministers too frequently it implies poor judgement and the PMs authority will be undermined an example of this would be Macmillans night of the long knives in 1962 when he sacked seven Cabinet ministers overnight. This damaged his own standing and caused resentment in the party. A further constraint would be political e.g. John Majors government was constrained by ideological splits in his party, making it difficult to manage, especially as it had a small majority. The larger the government majority in the House of Commons, the stronger the governments position and with it the power of the Prime Minister. A minority government may be in the weakest position of all would need to compromise with parties on the floor of the house. This makes it much more difficult for the Prime Minister to take a strong line on any policy. Equally constraining, are economic factors e.g. in the early 1990s Britain suffered a bad economic recession, this led to falling popularity, which, in turn created stronger political constraints. The Conservative party illustrates the strength a prime minister can gain from the backing of a united party, it also shows the weakness that can overtake the leader of the same party when it is divided. The thing that divides a political party most, is unpopularity and fear of electoral losses e.g. this is true for the Major government which was seen as weak and divided. A leaders popularity is likely to depend on the state of the economy, the international importance of the country or the general mood of the country, all of which are, to a greater or lesser extent, outside the control of the prime minister. The party may remove a sitting Prime Minister but this is quite rare, this was however the case with Thatcher in 1990. Thatcher resigned after losing the support of senior colleagues (Lawson and Howe) and a huge section of the majority parliamentary party. Cabinet revolts limit a PMs policy-making power. Apart from drawing up the party manifesto, most Prime Ministers do not initiate policy- they have a small staff and most expertise and information and detailed information is located in individual departments. It is therefore difficult for PMs to interfere constantly in the work of a department. Consensus between PM and Cabinet over policies is normal. When revolt do occurs do occur they may suggest misjudgment or mismanagement by a Prime Minister e.g. policy toward Europe caused Major problems of party management. Major resigned the party leadership in 1995 in an attempt to put to rest persistent cabinet and party disagreement over Europe. The Prime Minister can attempt to keep certain issues off the cabinet agenda in order to avoid difficult discussions. The period of time in which an issue may be left off a cabinet agenda depends partly on the personalities of the cabinet ministers. On occasions the Prime Minister will be defeated in cabinet. As Primus inter pares (first amongst equals), the Prime Minister, unlike the American president, is not able to overrule the cabinet. Prime ministers cannot make policy without the support of cabinet colleagues because they do not have the time to control every issue. Moreover, the Prime minister cannot implement policy without the backing of ministerial departments. A final constraint on the Prime Minister is personal constraints; the PM is limited in terms of energy, resources and time. The PMs special concerns (foreign affairs, the economy and security services) are vulnerable to setbacks e.g. Security service disasters undermined Macmillan and problems over Europe destroyed the authority of Thatcher and Major. Overall, the constraints on the Prime Minister are very effective because they prevent the PM from being too dominant a figure. Collective responsibility makes sure there is a balance of power. It can be argued however, that even a strong Prime Minister such as Margaret Thatcher is subject to constraints both inside and outside the cabinet. The constraints that arise depend upon the state of the Economy, the size of the government majority, the character and length of tenure of the PM him/her self. The most effective constraint are those that act upon the cabinet from outside Whitehall, such as the state of the economy, as the Prime Minister has no way of controlling theses. It should certainly have a great effect on the relationship between the Prime minister and the cabinet.

Compare Carol Ann Duffys Valentine to Andrew Marvells To His Coy Essa

Compare Carol Ann Duffy's Valentine to Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress In this assignment I will be comparing two love poems Carol Ann Duffy's 'Valentine' to Andrew Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress'. The poem 'Valentine' was written is the twentieth century and in it the speaker uses onion as a metaphor to show her love. The poem 'To His Coy Mistress' was written in the seventeenth century and is about the poet trying to persuade his Mistress to sleep with him. 'Valentine' by Carol Ann Duffy is very different to any other love poem as you would expect to read something romantic, instead she writes about an onion. The poem is divided into four main stanzas and each stanza tells us something new about the relationship and in between there is one or two words in sentence which helps you think about want she is trying to say. The poem starts off with a positive statement 'Not a red rose, or a satin heart'. She states that she will not give her lover a normal valentine present. The poet has chosen to give her lover an onion. She uses the onion as a metaphor for her love. The poet says 'I give you an onion, it is moon wrapped in brown paper,' with this she creates mystery and makes her lover think the reason for this weird present. 'It promises light, like the careful undressing of love.' Here she is telling her lover that their relationship can still survive and she refers to sex as she talks about the undressing of love. The second stanza starts with the use of the word 'Here' makes the reader feel that the poet is in control and that she is actually giving something. She continues with the extended metaphor 'it will blind you with tears',' like a lover, not only will the onion make your eyes w... ...ere are many points we can see this from, but the main one is what the poem does not rhyme which means that it was not thought about when being written, 'To His Coy Mistress' is written to persuade so it is only about one topic 'sex' and there are many religious comparisons to make this look right. This is also done by the poem being divided into three main parts 'if', 'but' and 'so'. The first part of the poem is 'if', the speaker talks about if only he had all the time in the world. This helps him to define his reason to why he is trying to sleep with her quickly as possible. The second part of the poem is about 'but', the speaker talks about the reasons he wants to sleep with her and about how time is running out. In the third part of the poem the speaker goes on to 'so', and dedicates the last part of the poem to tell her that they should have sex.

Marie Curie’s Biography

Maria Sklodowska was Marie Curie’s birth name. She was born in a family of middle class. Both of her parents have been instructors at Warsaw during the Russian occupation. After being a participant of a certain revolutionary act when she was in her teenage years, Marie decided to pursue her studies at Cracow which is a part of Poland under the Austrian government. She finished her degrees in Sorbonne University Paris. Here is where she gained her mathematical sciences and physics license. It is during these years that she met Pierre Curie and married him. They had two daughters, Irene and Eva.During also her stay in Paris, she changed her name from Maria to Marie. . Work and Early Research Marie Curie has been the Head of Physics Laboratory at the University in Sorbonne. She successfully completed her Doctorate in Science on 1903. On Pierre’s Death, she also succeeded his place as the Professor of General Physics. Her early research with her husband, Pierre focused on t he chemical properties of radiation. Her curiosity and interest on radiation grew upon its discovery by Henri Becquerel. Marie Curie believes that radiation is something that could be efficiently used in able to cure and improve health.Marie and Pierre’s research on radiation results to the discovery of two new elemental components which are polonium and radium. Marie Curie focuses her research on the separation of radium from other radioactive materials to be able to know its attribute and its possible benefits. Pierre Curie and their Discovery It is the hard work that Marie corroborated with her husband Pierre that the chemical element radium and polonium was known. Nonetheless, Marie was the one who have given the element a more expound research and attention. Pierre died as a result of studying the element polonium and radium.The whole thing started from a hypothesis that revolves on the assumption of radiation as something that is emitted by an element or a substance whi ch corresponds to a possibility of lesser weight due to the activity that took some energy. The process, Marie and Pierre Curie believes, was a product of the transformation or changes that atoms undergo. The couple decided then to look for some proof that could serve as evidence of their theory. Luckily, they succeeded. It through the observation of an radioactive matter that they have been able to locate radium and polonium.During their observation, the couple found out that the matter losses weight as radiation occurs. Importance of Radium Henri Becquerel had discovered radiation as a property possessed or emitted by the element uranium. Nonetheless through a closer study and deeper research, both Marie and Pierre Currie found out that uranium was not the only substance known to emit radiation. They have actually realized that there are other materials in which radiation could be found. Such activity of matter was named by Marie Currie as something that possesses radioactivity.Up on the discovery that other substances also emit radiation, Marie Curie have set fort into taking a closer look in the new found element radium. The importance of this element lies on its being a simple element. Having been able to separate radium provides a support to Marie Currie’s earlier hypothesis concerning the fact that radioactivity is something that could be use as a property of matter, as an atomic property. As this hypothesis was proven by the defining character of radium, it also opened the door into understanding that other elements might as well contain the property.If this is the case, then it would be easier for the scientist or discoverers of Marie Curie’s time to locate other basic elements and prove their existence. With the growing acceptance of Marie Curie’s hypothesis and with the acknowledgement of the role of radiation, there were about 30 elements that were predicted to exist. The burden of proof lies on the process that such elements co uld be analyzed as an isolated chemical element since these elements are incapable of being distinguish with the use of chemical methods.Through the experiments and the data that Marie Curie extracted and discovered in Radium, she has been able to positively assume the possibility of atomic transformation in elements since in able to create radium; there have been a formation of helium. Radium also up until today is viewed as the most efficient source of laboratory radiation. It makes the study of radiation much easier. Aside from that, the uses of radiation have also been explored more conveniently than before. Polonium? Marie continued her study to be able to prove that radium is in fact a new element.She concentrated on creating pure radium and to determine its atomic weight. Now, many might be wondering why polonium did not obtained the same status and was not extensively studied as radium. The answer lies on the fact that while there are only minute amount of radium that were g athered in laboratories, it is said that only a fraction of this amount is what Marie and Pierre could create. With such very miniscule amount, it is quite impossible to determine much of its qualities, much more its possible uses. Later Life Marie Curie after the death of her husband, have continued their study.She has been very well recognized and throughout her lifetime has received two Nobel Prizes. The first Nobel Prize was for the work she shared with Peter and Henri Becquerel which is concerned with the proof of the existence and importance of radiation. The second Nobel Prize was for the discovery of Radium and its property. Along with this was proving that radium is an atomic quality and that atoms undergo atomic transformations. Marie Curie devoted most of her adult life to her discovery. In line with this, Marie Curie tried to use her discovery with technology.This could be reflected upon the innovations of X-ray mobiles that help locate and cure broken bones and other di seases during World War I. She promoted the use of radiation and also helped in the establishment of a Laboratory for radiation in Warsaw. She managed to do this from a gift granted by President Hoover in 1929 from the United States. Marie Curie was admired by the scientific world during her days up until today. She has been a member of Conseil du Physique Solvay and Committee of Intellectual Co-operation of the League of Nations.Madame Marie Curie died on 1934 in Savoy France. She died due to old age since because of her exposure to radiation during her early life; her immune system somehow suffers that weaken her during old age. Importance of Marie Curie in Scientific Arena The importance of Marie Curie’s work lies on its utility in medicine and its application to the scientific community. To someone who is not much accustomed to the western innovations and studies, the discussion regarding the impacts of Marie curie’s work may struck as something weird and somehow n onsensical.In able to avoid this kind of thinking, it would be better to look at how Marie Curie have been able to promote the advancement of medication and have influenced the role of radiation to a simple human life. As we all know, x-rays was now an ancient method to conduct examination regarding bone structures and other diseases inside the body. However during Marie Curie’s lifetime and the time before ultrasounds and ct scans have been invented, X-rays play a dominant role in medicine. X-rays help doctors distinguish what kind of operation is possible. It also tells the doctor which part of the bone was fractured and what the needed medication is.X-rays are still used nowadays in airports and train stations to see what is inside the luggage. This is important to promote security and safety of the passengers and the country or society. The discovery of the property of radioactivity gives us warning about its possible dangers. For one, there are certain places with high a mount of radiation that are considered as off-limits to ordinary people. There are protective gears that were being required to be used in factories which somehow produce amounts of radioactive materials. Even natural sources of radiation such as that which came from the sun also require protection.Too much exposure to radiation has adverse effect to the body and with the fact that radiation is naturally occurring and could be found instantly almost everywhere. Precautions concerning radiation shall be implemented. However, it is of common knowledge that without the characterization and study made by Marie Curie during her time, information regarding radiation may not be as how we know it to do. There could be several delays in scientific progress, since there are about 30 elements that are discovered only upon the discovery of radioactivity. Works CitedNobelprize. org. Radium and the New Concepts in Chemistry. Nobel Web AB. 2007. Retrieved on December 14, 2007. Retrieved from the W orld Wide Web: http://nobelprize. org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1911/marie-curie-lecture. html Curie, Marie. Encyclop? dia Britannica. 2007. Encyclop? dia Britannica Online. Retrieved on December 14, 2007. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-9028252/Marie-Curie Ogilvie, M. B. Marie Curie: A Biography. Greenwood Press. 2004. Quinn, S. Marie Curie: A Life. Perseus Book Group. 1996.

Confucianism in Korea Essay

Korea is located on the eastern tip of the Asian continent, in the small peninsula that faces the Pacific Ocean. This small country has lasted over four thousand years, withstanding its powerful neighbors and developed a unique culture of its own. One of its main unique features comes from the fact that it pursued Confucianism as its core ideology. Therefore, even though Confucianism started in China, the application of it can be traced also distinctly in Korea. The Dynasty of Joseon brought the principals of Confucianism, and indigenized it to fit its existing values. However, today Confucianism is not taught anymore, and the values of Confucianism are considered old and out of style. It has become of an old ideology that does not fit in with the values that the modern Koreans have today. Moreover, the development of Confucianism was the major constraint that limited Korea to grow and prosper in the Early Modern and Modern period. and gender equality. The ancient Chinese Warring States Era was one of the most chaotic periods in the history of China. It was the time when people of all classes were desperate for stability and peace. Because of this instability, they established something called the Hundred Schools, which were philosophers who came up with many ideas to unite the people from the time of confusion to a desirable human lifestyle and peaceful, stable state. These Sages, who were given â€Å"Zi† at the end of their names, went around the kingdoms, explaining to the ruler what they thought the best solution was for uniting China. The most prominent ideas were usually any of the three sects, Daoist, Confucianist or Legalist. Daoism was based on the ideas of Laozi and Zhuangzi, Confucianism on those of Confucius (Kongzi) and Mencius (Mengzi), and Legalism on those of Han Feizi. Confucianism was not adopted in Confucius’ life time. It developed later, during the Song Dynasty and was further advanced to Neo-Confucianism by Zhu Xi. Unlike the Chinese dynasties that fully committed their state ideology to Confucianism, the Koreans in the corresponding period, from 60BCE to 900CE, used Confucianism as part of their source of moral training and their social mandate for their officials. This period was called the Three Kingdom Period (GoGooRyeo, Shilla, and BaekJae). The educational form of Confucianism for princes and ruling class continued through the Goryeo Dynasty (900 CE-1300CE) for about four hundred years and finally became the national religion of Joseon Dynasty (1392CE-1910CE). The reason why Joseon chose Confucianism instead of Buddhism was that the elites that founded Joseon thought that Buddhism was the reason for the corruption and lack of morals between the nobles and the ruling class. The Joseon leaders sought Confucianism as a solution to their problems, and were attracted to Confucianism-oriented concepts that could complement the politics of the ideal state. The situation much resembled the period in 5th century BCE when Confucius and Mencius came up with their idea of ideal and peaceful world under the tyrant king and constant wars.

six month to live essays

six month to live essays Mark Antony is probably the easiest of the characters to classify. He is quite clearly an antagonist. Before the assassination Antony makes only four brief appearances and speaks as many lines. Three times, twice at the games and once at Caesar's house, Antony affirms his allegiance to Caesar as a ruler and as a friend. After the assassination; however, Antony hastens to fill the void made by Caesar's absence and he becomes a prominent player in the struggle for power. Beginning with Antony's use of his servant to flatter Brutus prior to Antony's arrival at the Capitol, Antony attempts to appeal to Brutus's self-perceived senses of honor and nobility. He successfully convinces Brutus that he would be able to agree with the conspirators if their cause was explained to him. He shakes hands with all of them to prove the integrity of his claim. He gains the right to speak at Caesar's funeral by playing on Brutus's sense of righteousness. At the funeral Antony effects his plan by turning the mob of fickle plebeians against the conspirators, forcing them to flee Rome. Antony gains the support of Octavius, and together they pursue Brutus and Cassius to Philippi where Antony skillfully directs his army against them. The defeat resulted in the suicides of Brutus and Cassius. Mark Antony is probably the easiest of the characters to classify. He is quite clearly an antagonist. Before the assassination Antony makes only four brief appearances and speaks as many lines. Three times, twice at the games and once at Caesar's house, Antony affirms his allegiance to Caesar as a ruler and as a friend. After the assassination; however, Antony hastens to fill the void made by Caesar's absence and he becomes a prominent player in the struggle for power. Beginning with Antony's use of his servant to flatter Brutus prior to Antony's arrival at the Capitol, Antony attempts to appeal to Brutus's self-perceived senses of honor and nobility. He successfully conv...

The Jury Trial Stage of a Criminal Case

The Jury Trial Stage of a Criminal Case A criminal trial is scheduled if a defendant continues to plead not guilty after the preliminary hearing and plea bargain negotiations have ended. If pre-trial motions have failed to get evidence thrown out or the charges dismissed, and all efforts at plea bargaining have failed, the case proceeds to trial. At the trial, a panel of jurors determines if the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt or not guilty. The vast majority of criminal cases never get to the trial stage. Most are resolved prior to trial in the pre-trial motion stage or the plea bargain stage. There are several distinct phases of a criminal trial proceeding: Jury Selection In order to choose a jury, typically 12 jurors and at least two alternates, a panel of dozens of potential jurors are summoned to the court. Usually, they will fill out a questionnaire prepared in advance that contains questions submitted by both the prosecution and the defense. Jurors are asked if serving on the jury would present a hardship on them and they are usually asked about their attitudes and experiences that might lead them to be biased in the case before them. Some jurors are typically excused after filling out the written questionnaire. Questioning Potential Jurors Both the prosecution and the defense are then allowed to question the potential jurors in open court about their potential biases and their background. Each side can excuse any juror for cause, and each side is given a number of peremptory challenges which can be used to excuse a juror without giving a reason. Obviously, both the prosecution and the defense want to choose jurors who they think are more likely to agree with their side of the argument. Many a trial has been won during the jury selection process. Opening Statements After a jury is selected, its members get their first view of the case during the opening statements by the prosecution and the defense attorneys. Defendants in the United States are presumed innocent until proven guilty, so the burden is on the prosecution to prove its case to the jury. Consequently, the prosecutions opening statement is first and goes into great detail outlining the evidence against the defendant. The prosecution gives the jury a preview of how it plans to prove what the defendant did, how he did it and sometimes what his motive was. Alternate Explanation The defense does not have to make an opening statement at all   or even call witnesses to testify because the burden of proof is on the prosecutors. Sometimes the defense will wait until after the entire prosecutions case is presented before making an opening statement. If the defense does make an opening statement, it is usually designed to poke holes in the prosecutions theory of the case and offer the jury an alternate explanation for the facts or evidence presented by the prosecution. Testimony and Evidence The main phase of any criminal trial is the case-in-chef in which both sides can present witness testimony and evidence to the jury for its consideration. Witnesses are used in order to lay  a foundation for the admitting of evidence. For example, the prosecution cannot just offer a handgun into evidence until it establishes through witness testimony why the gun is relevant to the case and how it is linked to the defendant. If a police officer first testifies that the gun was found on the defendant when he was arrested, then the gun can be admitted into evidence. Cross-Examination of Witnesses After a witness testifies under direct examination, the opposing side has the opportunity to cross-examine the same witness in an effort to discredit their testimony or challenge their credibility or otherwise shake their story. In most jurisdictions, after the cross-examination, the side who originally called the witness can ask a question on re-direct examination in an effort to rehabilitate any damage that might have been done on cross-examination. Closing Arguments Many times, after the prosecution rests its case, the defense will make a motion to dismiss the case because the evidence presented did not prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Rarely does the judge grant this motion, but it does happen. It is often the case that the defense does not present witnesses or testimony of its own  because they feel they were successful in attacking the prosecutions witnesses and evidence during cross-examination. After both sides rest their case, each side is allowed to make a closing argument to the jury. The prosecution attempts to strengthen the evidence they presented to the jury, while the defense attempts to convince the jury that the evidence falls short and leaves room for reasonable doubt. Jury Instructions An important part of any criminal trial is the instructions that the judge gives to the jury before they begin deliberations. In those instructions, in which the prosecution and the defense have offered their input to the judge, the judge outlines the ground rules the jury must utilize during its deliberations. The judge will explain what legal principles are involved with the case, describe important concepts of law such as reasonable doubt, and outline to the jury what findings they must make in order to come to their conclusions. The jury is supposed to abide by the judges instructions throughout their deliberation process. Jury Deliberations Once the jury retires to the jury room, the first order of business is usually to elect a foreman from its members to facilitate the deliberations. Sometimes, the foreman will take a quick poll of the jury to find out how close they are to agreement, and get an idea of what issues need to be discussed. If the initial vote of the jury is unanimous or very one-sided for or against guilt, jury deliberations can be very brief, and the foreman reports to the judge that a verdict has been reached. A Unanimous Decision If the jury is not initially unanimous, discussions between jurors continue in an effort to reach a unanimous vote. These deliberations can take days or even weeks to complete if the jury is widely split or has one holdout juror voting against the other 11. If the jury cannot come to a unanimous decision and is hopeless split, the jury foreman reports to the judge that the jury is deadlocked, also known as a hung jury. The judge declares a mistrial and the prosecution has to decide whether to retry the defendant at another time, offer the defendant a better plea deal or drop the charges altogether. Additional Stages: Stages of a Criminal Case

Ruthenium or Ru Element Facts

Ruthenium or Ru Element Facts Ruthenium or Ru is a hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal that also belongs to the noble metals and platinum metals group in the periodic table. While it does not readily tarnish, the pure element can form a reactive oxide that can explode. Here are physical and chemical properties and other ruthenium facts: Element Name: Ruthenium Symbol: Ru Atomic Number: 44 Atomic Weight: 101.07 Uses of Ruthenium Ruthenium is one of the best hardeners for addition to palladium or platinum. It is alloyed with these metals to make electrical contacts with extreme wear resistance.Ruthenium is used to plate other metals. Thermal decomposition or electrodeposition are the most common metals used to make ruthenium coatings.One ruthenium-molybdenum alloy is superconductive at 10.6 K.Adding 0.1% ruthenium to titanium improves its corrosion resistance by a factor of a hundred.Ruthenium oxides are versatile catalysts.Ruthenium is used in some pen nibs. (Dont chew on your pen!) Interesting Ruthenium Facts Ruthenium was the last of the platinum group metals to be discovered.The element name comes from the Latin word  Ã¢â‚¬ËœRuthenia’. Ruthenia means Russia, which refers to the Ural Mountains of Russia, the original source of the platinum metal group ores.Ruthenium compounds are similar to those formed by the element cadmium. Like cadmium, ruthenium is toxic to humans. It is believed to be a carcinogen. Ruthenium tetroxide (RuO4)  is considered particularly dangerous.Ruthenium compounds stain or discolor skin.Ruthenium is the only group 8 element that does not have 2 electrons in its outer shell.The pure element is susceptible to attack by halogens and hydroxides. It is not affected by acids, water, or air.Karl K. Klaus was the first to isolate ruthenium as a pure element. This was an involved process in which he first prepared the salt,  ammonium chlororuthenate, (NH4)2RuCl6, and then isolated the metal from it in order to characterize it.Ruthenium displays a wide range of oxidation states (7 or 8), although it is most commonly found in the II, III, and IV states. Pure ruthenium costs around $1400 per 100 grams of the metal.The element abundance in the Earths crust is estimated to be 1 part per billion by weight. The abundance in the solar system is believed to be about 5 parts per billion by weight. Sources of Ruthenium Ruthenium occurs with other members of the platinum group of metals in the Ural mountains and in North and South America. It is also found in the Sudbury, Ontario nickel-mining region and in the pyroxenite deposits of South Africa. Ruthenium may also be extracted from radioactive waste. A complex process is used to isolate ruthenium. The final step is hydrogen reduction of ammonium ruthenium chloride to yields a powder that is consolidated by powder metallurgy or argon-arc welding. Element Classification: Transition Metal Discovery: Karl Klaus 1844 (Russia),  however, Jà ¶ns Berzelius and Gottfried Osann  discovered impure ruthenium in 1827 or 1828 Density (g/cc): 12.41 Melting Point (K): 2583 Boiling Point (K): 4173 Appearance: silvery-gray, extremely brittle metal Atomic Radius (pm): 134 Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 8.3 Covalent Radius (pm): 125 Ionic Radius: 67 (4e) Specific Heat (20 °C J/g mol): 0.238 Fusion Heat (kJ/mol): (25.5) Pauling Negativity Number: 2.2 First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 710.3 Oxidation States: 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 0, -2 Electron Configuration: [Kr] 4d7 5s1 Lattice Structure: Hexagonal Lattice Constant (Ã…): 2.700 Lattice C/A Ratio: 1.584 References: Los Alamos National Laboratory (2001)Crescent Chemical Company (2001)Langes Handbook of Chemistry (1952)CRC Handbook of Chemistry Physics (18th Ed.)

Society during the teenage years Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Society during the teenage years - Essay Example Documentary Sources: This research was conducted by me by interviewing two of my close relatives including my grandfather and one of my mother’s cousin’s mothers-in-law. The purpose of selecting these two sources included, to acquire first-hand information, my easy access to interview them and their experience and knowledge about the difficulties they had to face at their teenage. Summary: According to two of my relatives who were born in the year 1960s, young generation today is much more developed as compared to the ones born in grandparent’s generation. The major difference between the two generations is the expression of speech. Today, youngsters have comparatively more freedom to express their ideas as more information and knowledge is available to them. This is because in today’s society we are competing on the international level which why being informative and knowledgeable is essential. They further stated that, during their teenage years it was t he period where they did not have the right or courage to openly put up their thoughts because of the fear of getting unemployed, getting into the prison and at times even of the fear of being murdered. Therefore, in order to remain protected and safe they preferred choosing the politically acceptable path. However, today youngsters are much more open to express their ideas through articles, internet and editorials internationally. It is due to the easy exchange of ideas that we are experiencing positive transformation and change in our current society. Youth today has the opportunity to attain the best possible education as the quality of education has improved drastically. There are unlimited amount of universities functioning throughout the world providing you the option to select the best for yourself. In addition to the advantages, they believe that there are also several shortcomings that are currently prevailing in the society including the existence of corruption in every ty pe of field and profession, less confidence in achieving their goals successfully in future, fading traditions, lacking patriotism and national values. It has been seen that corruption exists in almost every profession whether it be teaching or police force. All respected professions too are involved in corruption and bribery. However, in our grandparent’s era corruption was very rare because people believed in the saying, â€Å"honesty is the best policy.† Therefore, every individual who was deserving and intelligent had the chance to be successful. Furthermore, they also believe that youth today do not have the confidence of being successful in future as competition has increased and people are unaware and confused about what they actually want to achieve. On the other hand, people in olden days were well-aware of their goals and studied accordingly to achieve them. The added advantage our grandparents had in their teenage was less amount of competition. Past traditi ons are gradually diminishing due to which majority older population today are jobless and are treated as an unwanted burden

Economic news analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Economic news analysis - Essay Example It has been reported that employers in America increased the number of jobs positions. However, despite the above increase in job positions, most of the applicants could not meet the required level of competencies to do the jobs (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, para1-10). This trend has made the rate of unemployment to remain significantly high at a rate of 7.9% (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, para-9). Additionally, majority of the older employees within an age bracket of 45 to 54 years were unwilling to shift to the new job positions (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, para1-10). Therefore, it was not a wonder to see some few people coming out to compete for the new jobs as employment positions increases (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, para3).The article has further provided a description of what could have attributed a decline in number of unemployed people in the United state. Analysis According to Bloomberg report most the employers find it challenging to find a qualified employee who can feel a job need (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, Para 7). Therefore, most employers opted to approach staffing agency firm for recruitment assistance (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, Para 7). It was reported that about one hundred and sixty jobs were created on February this year, however despite this increase the rate of unemployment remained at 7.6 % (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, Para 9). ... Additionally, frictional unemployment may be experienced among people who have left their jobs and are looking for other better jobs (Mankiw, Nicholas, p 606). The rate of unemployment may be determined using the formula below; Unemployment Rate = Number of unemployed people ?100 Total labor force/civilian labor force Source: (Tucker, p-261) Whereby; Labor forces also commonly referred to civilian labor force involves to those people within employment age and below the retirement age that are either working or are actively looking for a job (Tucker, p-261). Frictional unemployment may be presented graphically as shown below; Wages W0 R2 R1 w2 w1 w3 T0 T2 T1 Duration of labor Source: Author Based on the above graph it can be scrutinized how frictional employment occurs given the level of wages. The wages increases from W1 to W2 while duration of labor decreases from T1 to T2 as more people are willing to work with the available wage rates. In above connection, the professor of economi cs at Northwestern University Illinois (Mortensen) asserted that American labor market has remained flexible due to application of monetary measures. However, inflation rates were projected to increase (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, para3-4). This indicates that as unemployment problems were being addressed inflation rates tend to increases as explained in the Philips curve (Mankiw & Nicholas p-606). Additionally, Fed chief asserted that a long period of unemployment may cause workers to lose some working skills and this can lead to a decline in firms’ productivity (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, Para 10). Fed further asserted that the number of people who remained unemployed for a period of more than 27 weeks reduced in the year 2010 from 6.7 millions to 4.7 million

Degrauwe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Degrauwe - Essay Example The EMF must, therefore, employ a more intelligent approach than that previously employed by its predecessor. During the period the EFSF was in existence, the interest rates charged were extremely high. For instance, in the case of Ireland, the interest rate charged by the EFSF on the Irish rescue program was up to six percent. The effect of this was very unfortunate: first of all, it made the Irish government experience hardship when trying to reduce its budget deficits that would consequently reduce the debt accumulated. Secondly, the EFSF charged Ireland an interest rate that was three percent above what had been charged on Germans, Dutch, and the Austrian government, which is a risk free rate. Simply put, what the EFSF did sent the signal that with such rates there was a risk of default. Meaning, the government of Ireland was not in a position to recover and put its budgetary situation in order. This should explain why the financial market developed mistrust that led to them also charging high risk premiums that consequently led to a high risk of default (Degrauwe p12). It is not easy for governments to borrow money from the Eurozone in their own currencies. This is because there are quite a number of challenges that countries face by going this direction. One major challenge is that the European debt crisis is treated as a series of a country’s individual problem and not as a collective responsibility that has occurred as an outcome of systematic problems in the Eurozone. This makes the economic sovereignty of a member state become vulnerable whenever they are in debt. This is because unfavourable market sentiments can force them to default. This may lead a country to a situation of being in unstable as a consequence of high interest rate. The high interest rate on a country means that domestic lenders will also have to demand high interests on borrowers and this is what leads to economic crisis (Degrauwe p12). Another

Portfolio management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Portfolio management - Essay Example Categorisation involves grouping potential components in to categories in order to facilitate further decision making. Usually, categories link their components with a common set of strategic goals. In this first step of implementing, it is important to establish what is going to be managed and as such, it is necessary to have an overview   of the extent and variety of potential and available work   and how it maps in to the organisations overall strategy. It is important at this stage to have to be aware of the extent and size of your mandate. This is the stage where one decides the terms, scope and defines the portfolio as well as gaining agreement on the basic portfolio model (Reilly & Brown, 2012). This is where on defines information such as: departments that are going to be covered, the category of work included for example whether the portfolio includes operations or projects, the categorization scheme which aids in balancing the portfolio in areas of importance to allow o ptimization of the overall allocation of resources.   For example, categories may include work that supports the business or grows the business. Work can also be categorised as high, medium or low risk. It is important that for every categorisation defined, some guidelines are set for how work should be balanced. Make sure that projects that are chosen are aligned to the goals and strategies of the organisation and also have the highest value. As such, understand the models that the organisation or department wants to employ.

Targets of Anti-metastatic Drug Development Essay

Targets of Anti-metastatic Drug Development - Essay Example Therefore, in this literature review, the paper describes some of the candidate targets for the anti-metastatic drugs development and the progress that has been made, so far, in developing effective drugs. It is clear that driving oncogenic mutations are necessary for metastasis. A number of the oncogenic mutations so far identified affect cell fate regulation, genomic maintenance and cell survival (Glinsky and Raz, 2010, p. 1788). . These initiating and resultant progression events may also turn out indispensable for metastases establishment at a secondary site. Patient analysis has shown that agents targeting oncogenic mutations or amplifications, such as mutant BRAF in melanoma, amplified HER2 in breast-cancer, have demonstrated substantial effects controlling metastatic disease (Platt and Raz, 1992, P. 438),. Nonetheless, metastasis disease treatment might be sophisticated by the differential demonstration, activity or a combination of oncogenes in metastases during metastatic recurrence (McGarty and Block, 2006, p. 151). For instance, HER2 expression is high in estrogen receptor (ER)+HER2- of luminal breast cancer cells via tumour necrosis factor fantasticfamily member 11-RABKL signalling in the microenvironment of bones. The effectiveness of targeted therapies concerning metastatic environments is presently limited through the drug resistance that often happens in metastatic relapse. Resistance of this nature is always because of the coming up of de novo mutations. Furthermore, the adaptive ability of oncogenic signalling networks for overcoming monotherapy attract new drug targets as well as strategies for inhibiting feedback-regulated pathways. Therefore, constant efforts to maximize target therapies for such oncogenic drivers and to defeat drug resistance will be essential for treat ing metastatic disease. It has been found that tumour cells augment their intrinsic mobility through adopting cellular programs that

Setting up a business in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Setting up a business in China - Essay Example This research will begin with the Chinese business culture. Chinese people perform a different form of business and culture as compared to the rest of the world especially the West. However, with the uniqueness of the Chinese history and background, China always has a special culture of business and etiquette. A simple business culture can mess a working relationship that was doing well. Conflict of culture between Chinese and another culture may cut short a working business relationship. Chinese businesses are usually based on being referred by another business associate; could be in the same business or in another business field. However, a strong recommendation from such an associate is required to win favour of clients and get good deals.Chinese business starts on a social plate and continues along the same line unless something happens that may break relationship between parties involved leading to business termination. Unlike Western culture where business is profession based, Chinese business is more of a social affair than a professional one. This is essential to help attract more clients and win hearts of many people in business. It helps maintain one’s clients in business socially rather than professionally and this increases business returns. The more one goes social in business in China, the higher the returns. Getting personal in business and sharing one’s personal life acts as an incentive to business partners. Business partners usually take this as getting close to them and this may be their interest even before they do their business with the party involved. It is therefore imperative to get personal and avoid too much of being professional as this will guarantee high returns within a short period of business. Spending time in sharing personal life in business attracts business associates from China. Personal life may include political views, hobbies, and family life among others. Protocol and priority are vital in business in Chin a. Protocol and priority comes in when dealing with people of different ranks. Recognition is of essence to show these individuals that one recognizes their rank. Address people with their correct designation, for example, Director, Doctor, Professor, and Chairman. This will make the parties see that their rank in whatever field they are in is highly recognized even in business. Giving business cards during business meetings indicates that one is serious in doing business. A business card should face the recipient. Such a card should have one side translated to make it easy for the Chinese party to understand what one is selling to them or buying from them. It is important to mention one’s company and the rank one holds before business gets underway. Business in China pays much attention to respect. Parties are supposed to display respect to each other according to rank. It may not be easy to excel in business in China without understanding that respect is tantamount to busin ess success. It is necessary to establish contact with a client one is dealing with so as to get as much referrals as possible from that client as business progresses. One should act as an interpreter to himself to make it easy to identify with Chinese as they like business where they understand what they are dealing in. It is vital to explain legal aspects of the business one is handling to be sure of the legal implications when doing any kind of

Targets of Anti-metastatic Drug Development Essay

Targets of Anti-metastatic Drug Development - Essay Example Therefore, in this literature review, the paper describes some of the candidate targets for the anti-metastatic drugs development and the progress that has been made, so far, in developing effective drugs. It is clear that driving oncogenic mutations are necessary for metastasis. A number of the oncogenic mutations so far identified affect cell fate regulation, genomic maintenance and cell survival (Glinsky and Raz, 2010, p. 1788). . These initiating and resultant progression events may also turn out indispensable for metastases establishment at a secondary site. Patient analysis has shown that agents targeting oncogenic mutations or amplifications, such as mutant BRAF in melanoma, amplified HER2 in breast-cancer, have demonstrated substantial effects controlling metastatic disease (Platt and Raz, 1992, P. 438),. Nonetheless, metastasis disease treatment might be sophisticated by the differential demonstration, activity or a combination of oncogenes in metastases during metastatic recurrence (McGarty and Block, 2006, p. 151). For instance, HER2 expression is high in estrogen receptor (ER)+HER2- of luminal breast cancer cells via tumour necrosis factor fantasticfamily member 11-RABKL signalling in the microenvironment of bones. The effectiveness of targeted therapies concerning metastatic environments is presently limited through the drug resistance that often happens in metastatic relapse. Resistance of this nature is always because of the coming up of de novo mutations. Furthermore, the adaptive ability of oncogenic signalling networks for overcoming monotherapy attract new drug targets as well as strategies for inhibiting feedback-regulated pathways. Therefore, constant efforts to maximize target therapies for such oncogenic drivers and to defeat drug resistance will be essential for treat ing metastatic disease. It has been found that tumour cells augment their intrinsic mobility through adopting cellular programs that

Human Development Essay Example for Free

Human Development Essay Taking a look at the Human Development Index map of Africa, which can be seen on (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index) on the web; it shows that many of Africas countries are very underdeveloped.7 One of the obvious reasons for why countries is Africa are underachieving is because of how poor is the strength of their economy compared to others. As it is well known, Africa is very rich in mineral resources as many other states rely upon their, possessing most of the known minerals types of the world. Africas economy is more reliant on agriculture than that of any other continent, with around 60% of Africans working in the agricultural sector. Secondly, the economic development of virtually all African nations has been hindered by inadequate transportation systems. Most countries rely on road networks that are composed largely of dirt roads, which become impassable during the rainy seasons. Road networks tend to link the interior of a country to the coast; few road systems link adjacent countries.9 To show how poor and how bad economy crisis is in Africa, one ought to take a look at their food crisis and the growing volume of food imports. Whereas Africa imported an average volume of 1.96 million metric tons of agricultural products in the years 1961-63, by 1980-82 this figure had risen to 11.2 million metric tons at an annual value of over $6.8 billion (over one-seventh of the total value of Africas imports in 1982).Owing to foreign exchange constraints, most African countries have had to rely increasingly on food aid to meet their imported food requirements.10 The commercial sectors of most African states rely heavily on one or a few export commodities. The bulk of trade occurs with industrialized nations, which require raw materials and sell industrial and consumer goods. Trade between African states is limited by the competitive, rather than complementary, nature of their products and by trade barriers, such as tariffs, and the diversity of currencies. Looking at the economy of Europe, a sharp contrast in strength and influence can visibly be seen. Europe has long been a world leader in economic activities. As the birthplace of modern science and of the Industrial Revolution, Europe acquired technological superiority over the rest of the world, which gave it unquestioned dominance in the 19th Century. An important impetus for growth since the mid-20th Century has been the formation of supranational organisations such as the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Unlike Africa, Europe has highly developed transport systems, which are densest in the central part of the continent. Many countries in Europe use well maintained transportation systems to transport important goods such as water transport which plays a major role in the European economy. Almost all European countries maintain national airlines, and several, such as Air France, British Airways, Swissair, Germany, and Netherlands are major worldwide carriers.13 Looking at both economies and trade, it is unquestionably obvious that Europe conducts substantial international trade compared to Africa. For Europe, much of its trade is intra-continental, especially among members of the European Union, but also engages in large-scale trade with countries of other continents. Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and the Netherlands are among the worlds greatest trading nations. A large portion of European inter-continental trade involves the exporting of manufactured goods and the importing o f raw materials. Europes agricultural sector is generally highly developed, especially in Western Europe. The agricultural sector in Europe is helped by the Common Agricultural Policy, which provides farmers with a minimal price for their products and subsidized their exports, which increases competitiveness for their products. This policy is highly controversial as it hampers free trade worldwide (protectionism sparks protectionism from other countries and trade blocs: the concept of trade wars) and is violating the concept of fair trade.15 Africas economy is more reliant on primary products (i.e, agricultural and mineral) than that of any other continent, with around 60% of Africans working in the agricultural sector. About three fifths of African farmers are subsistence farmers tilling small pots of land to feed their families, with only a minimal surplus that can be sold for other goods.16 However, there are significant number of large farms that grow cash crop such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, and rubber; these farms, normally operated by large corporations, cover tens of square kilometres and employ large number of labourers. Africas geography is unsuited to trade and thus hampers its economy. The centre of the continent, at least on the western side, is an almost impenetrable rainforest that greatly impedes the transit of people of goods. Some of the wealthiest parts of South Africa are blocked from the rest of Africa by the Kalahari Desert, while the Sahara creates an obvious barrier to trade. While Africa has a number of great river systems such as those of the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi, it is not nearly as well-linked rivers as are other areas such as Europe. Moreover, many of the rivers are blocked by rapids and cataracts that require vast development projects if they are to be bypassed. The wetness of the roads and tracks makes transport difficult and hazardous. In addition Africa is cut off from the sea to a greater extent than any other continent. To enforce even more problems to Africa; there is an increasing amount of desertification occurring in Africa where the deserts, especially the Sahara are becoming larger, enveloping area around them, leaving less space for land. This process is partly due to the deforestation of areas of forest; with no roots to hold soil in place, it blows away leaving an infertile desert. Europe has a well developed financial sector. Many European cities are financial centres with the City of London being the largest.19 The European financial sector is helped by the introduction of the euro as common currency. This has made it easier for European households and firms to invest in companies and deposit on banks in other European countries as exchange rate fluctuations are now non-existent in Europe. As mentioned above, Europes economy is superior to that of Africa, so what can Africa do to improve its economy or perhaps what can it take from the Europe economy as a model. Professor J A. van Ginkel held a conference on the Knowledge and Development in Africa; here he talked about ways to improve Africas economy however not only by getting the economic policies right.20 Prof van Ginkel mentions that there is now substantial evidence that institutional weakness in many African countries is a critical obstacle to economic performance.21 From the surveys he conducted on the obstacles to business in Africa it highlights the damage caused by: the unpredictability of changes in laws and policies, the unreliability of law enforcement, and the impact of corrupt bureaucracies.22 Unless governments eliminate these kinds of obstacles then it is unlikely that the economy whether it is just locally in certain parts of Africa or on a national front will flourish. An aspect of the Europe model that Africa can learn from is the aspect of knowledge. No commodity is more expensive than knowledge. An Africa without a sustainable, strong knowledge sector of its own will always remain in a dangerously dependent position. Research and training institutions on the continent can make a critical contribution in at least three ways: by making the most of existing indigenous knowledge; by accessing the vast reservoir of existing global knowledge, as well as the ongoing advances in understanding, and adapting them to suit specific local conditions; and by helping to find innovative solutions to seemingly intractable problems.23 In terms of human resources, it was highlighted in the Seminars of Anticipation that African developments suffers from a tragic paradox: on the one hand, elites trained in Western world are too many (and most of them stay in the US or in the EU because they cannot find well-paid qualified positions in Africa, or because their skills do not correspond to African needs); while on the other hand the well-trained intermediate executives required to manage a modern economy are cruelly missing in Africa (higher technical experts, management executives, civil administrators). To conclude, this essay has looked the economies of both Europe and Africa and compared and contrast both of them. It has also provided information about both economies in terms of trade and finance. A brief history was provided which looked at the relationship between Europe and Africa and to the days of colonisation. Reasons as to why both regions are on different levels economically were provided to show how dominant and rich Europe was and how poor and underdeveloped Africa was. The Africa food crisis was mentioned to give an account of how poor Africa was against other regions. In addition ways that Africa can improve their economy thus bringing it more power and strength so that it can compete with other regions was provided, for example making sure Africa had the aqeduate education so that it learn. Many Africans move to the west so that they can have higher education which is not available in Africa and tend to stay there once they have completed their studies. This is detrimental to Africas development and thus a solution to the problem would be to support the creation of a complete curriculum. This would lead to a massive contribution to the development of vocational and technical education in Africa thus improving Africas economy. So as it can seen, the economies for both Europe and Africa are at this present time in contrast to each other but there is hope for Africa to become more dominant and influential in world affairs if the correct adjustments and policies are introduced to improve them. References Fawcett, L., Hurrell, A., Regionalism in World Politics, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995, pg 43Â  Ravenhill. J, Africa in economic crisis, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1986, pg 9Â  www.ciaonet.org/isa/rajo

Romeo And Juliet Movie Adaptations

Romeo And Juliet Movie Adaptations Visualize guns firing, convertible cars speeding down the freeway and families (that are more like gangs) feuding. These two families loath each others very existence. The very cause of the guns firing is the pure hatred built up inside of the members like a caged tiger eyeing its escape. The scene built in your head is probably that of the Fast and the Furious. In reality what I am describing is a scene from the classic Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeaeres play are represented in many different ways, each producer altering the script to add their own flair. While the play is typically placed in 13th century Italy, Baz Luhrmann took a very unusual, yet correct, approach to his 1996 production of Romeo and Juliet. I say correct because Shakespeares plays never truly have a set script and were written in a way for the reader to interpret them how they feel fit. There never was a final Romeo and Juliet, a single authoritative or authorial version of the play. There were only versions, from the start (Hodgdon 203). Modernizing the classic, Luhrmann set the play in the 1990s. Weaponry such as swords were replaced by guns manufactured by the company Sword as well as transportation changed from horses to convertible cars. While these details of time were altered, the characters lines stayed in their original Elizabethan English form. While this may appear odd for the setting, Shakespeares plays were intended to be performed in typical clothes of the time. Therefore, when his men acted they wore clothes that a typical individual would have worn. Baz Luhrmann used this idea and created his own version that had the character in typical clothes of the 1990s. The vital information was kept intact for the play and even though the props were greatly altered the film is most definitely a correct form of Romeo and Juliet. One may look at the Baz Luhrmann version and think that it is a polar opposite to film that Franco Zeffirelli directed in 1968. Although Zeffirellis film took place in the 1400s there are multiple changes from the play to his production. His changes are far more subtle than Luhrmanns so the typical viewer may not notice them at all. But in reality, there were major cuts made from the play. Actually, Zeffirelli may have altered the script more substantially than Baz Lurhmann. Zeffirellis production has multiple instances where whole scenes are altered with the complete removals of large portions of lines. For example, Lord Paris never dies in his movie. Zeffirelli completely deleted the fight between Romeo and Paris in act 5 scene 3 instead he skipped to Romeo entering the tomb of the Capulets. Also in the play, it is let known that Lady Montague dies of a broken heart which is never acknowledged. In fact, Lady Montague is seen later on in the film during the funerals of Romeo and Jul iet. When looking at the big picture, these scenes do not change the overall outcome of the play which justifies their exclusion. Another scene that was altered resulted in the removal of a character entirely. Apothecary, the infamous character that sells the poison to Romeo against his will because he needs the money is completely cut. Instead Romeo takes off on his horse to Verona with the potion already in his possession. Where he got the potion is not disclosed to the audience. The flow of the film was kept intact by removing this scene. Instead of slowing the rising drama by making Romeo and a new character have a conversation; Zeffirelli opted to rush act 5 scene 2 which kept his audience interested. The editing of this scene did not stop there, and Act 5 scene 2 is actually far different from the original scripts. As seen in the film, Friar John simply takes too long on his journey to Mantua allowing Balthazar to pass him and tell Romeo the false news. There is no mention of a quar antine slowing his progress, which had been the explanation given by Shakespeares play script. Recall Mercutios death. If you simply watched Zeffirellis production you would see nothing peculiar with the scene. Mercutio dies in Romeos arms and questions Romeos intentions when coming between him and Tybalt. This never occurred in the book. Franco Zeffirelli chose to have Mercutio die in the presence of Romeo while the script had Mercutio and Benvolio leaving then Benvolio rushed over to Romeo to inform him of the unfortunate news. Why change the scene? Most likely this adaptation was used to simplify the scene and to add emotion. The presence of Romeo personalizes Mercutios death, adding drama for the audience. The most common change in both films is the deletion or reduction of lines. By reducing the length of the characters lines, viewers sustain their interest and do not have as much trouble deciphering what the characters are actually saying. The point is that the acting text of a play always was different from the written textà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Shakespeare habitually began with more than he needed (Hodgdon 203-4). By cutting down the script, the story becomes more understandable to the audience. This method is quite often in both the Luhrmann and Zeffirelli versions of Romeo and Juliet. In the final scene of the play, Juliet commits suicide to be with Romeo in heaven. Prior to her killing herself, she has a lengthy sequence of lines that Zeffirelli reduced to the simple line, Love give me strength. Juliets Reduction is the most noticeable of the line cuts where others are very minor adjustments for the audiences understanding. One aspect of movies that is very influential in the performance is music and sound effects. The tone of individual scenes is set by the music. Early in Zeffirellis version the music was slow and very calm because the level of action was low. This set a calming atmosphere for Romeo to talk about his problems with love and Rosaline. As fights break out and the drama surrounding Romeo and Juliets forbidden love, the music gradually takes on a frantic pace which emphasizes the growing issues of the story. Gloomy music that could make the whole crowd cry is used as the films credits begin rolling. This allows the viewer to understand the pain that each member of the Capulet and Montague family is feeling as Prince is addressing them. Notice though, that in that final scene while Prince is still talking, there is silence. The sudden absence of music puts a great deal of stress over what Prince is saying which signifies his words importance. Silence was used to grab the attention of the sp ectator because music had been used constantly and the silent background was abnormal. Music was a vital part of the presentation keying important lines and setting the mood. Baz Luhrmann also utilized music in his modern production of Romeo and Juliet in 1996. Used in similar ways,the addition of music illustrated the mood throughout each scene. Music as well as director editing make productions of Romeo and Juliet very diverse. They take on the personality of the director but overall maintain the most important details of the classic. There is no wrong way to interpret Romeo and Juliet because it was written to be interpreted in many different ways.

The Grapes of Wrath: No One Man, But One Common Soul :: Grapes Wrath essays

The Grapes of Wrath: No One Man, But One Common Soul         Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many writers in American literature try to instill the philosophy of their choosing into their reader.   This is often a philosophy derived at from their own personal experiences.   John Steinbeck is no exception to this.   When traveling through his native Californian in the mid-1930s, Steinbeck witnessed people living in appalling conditions of extreme poverty due to the Great Depression and the agricultural disaster known as the Dust Bowl.   He noticed that these people received no aid whatsoever from neither the state of California nor the federal government.   The rage he experienced from seeing such treatment fueled his novel The Grapes of Wrath.   Steinbeck sought to change the suffering plight of these farmers who had migrated from the midwest to California.   Also, and more importantly, he wanted to suggest a philosophy into the reader, and insure that this suffering would never occur again (Critical 1).   Steinbeck shows in The Grapes of Wrath that there is no one man, but one common soul in which we all belong to.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The subject of Steinbeck's fiction is not the most thoughtful, imaginative, and constructive aspects of humanity, but rather the process of life itself (Wilson 785).   Steinbeck has been compared to a twentieth century Charles Dickens of California; a social critic with more sentiment than science or system.   His writing is warm, human, inconsistent, occasionally angry, but more often delighted with the joys associated with human life on its lowest levels (Holman 20).   This biological image of man creates techniques and aspects of form capable of conveying this image of man with esthetic power and conviction; the power to overcome adversity through collectiveness, or in this case, as one combined soul(Curley 224).      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Steinbeck's basic purpose of the novel is essentially religious, but not in any orthodox sense of the word.   He is religious in that he contemplates man's relation to the cosmos and attempts to transcend scientific explanations based on sense experience.   He is also religious in that he explicitly attests the holiness of nature (Curley 220).   A common fear during the nineteenth century was one of this naturalism leading to the end of reverence, worship, and sentiment.   Steinbeck, however, is the first significant author to build his own set of beliefs, which some would refer to as a â€Å"religion,† upon a naturalistic basis.   Because of his â€Å" religious† style on a naturalistic basis, he is able to relate man with a natural soul that they own, and combine them into a grouping of a larger, more important soul (220).      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   America and American literature was founded on the spirit of

Case 17 ? Johnson & Johnson :: essays research papers

Case 17 – Johnson & Johnson 1. Diversity should provide greater alternatives and inputs into the decision process, but if diversity is blocked due to organizational infrastructures that do not allow the free flow of information, than the diversity goes unutilized. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) structured its company to insure the positive impact of diversity in regards to decision making through its creation of FrameworkS. Through Frameworks, the executive committee is partnered with a variety of managers from around the organization that concentrate on specific, unprogrammed organizational decisions. FrameworkS matches the problem with appropriate decision making method. In this approach, managers share the problem with others and engage the group in consensus to arrive at a final decision. By incorporating managers from around the organization, FrameworkS provides a process that successfully incorporates knowledge from a wide variety of sources. Managers are able to bring a variety of perspectives and experiences to deal with the problem at hand. The knowledge brought into focus is greater with these additional individuals involved. In addition, difficulties including decision biases (confirmation traps and hindsight traps) and escalation of commitment can be countered in a constructive manner. J&J provides an environment that supports information search and open discussion among members of the group. By challenging long-held assumptions, a better decision develops from the interaction of group members. 2. J&J wished to increase both the number and quality of strategic choices for creating its future. Groups are often more successful than individuals in developing creative solutions due to the increased diversity of ideas available to the members. J&J managers attempted to benchmark high performance activities by investigating processes at its three internal and three external organizations. With a focus of identifying and implementing the new processes into J&J, the program "What's New" was the focus of the collection of J&J’s executive and senior management team. By mixing managers from different organizations within J&J, the executive board hoped to manage knowledge in a manner that supports new ideas. A manager from one area may be able to shed considerable insight into the problems of a manager from another section of the company and as a result, organizational learning is increased through a free exchange of ideas. 3. J&J has shown through its Credo and actions that the company is very committed to ethical behavior on the part of its employees and managers. Its reaction to the Tylenol poisoning, with its emphasis on socially responsible behavior above immediate profits, was entirely consistent with its ethical code of placing the customer first and shareholder interests second.

High-school the best years of your life Essay

Being in high-school should definitely be the best four years of your life. Most people forget that these years is what usually makes up for the rest of your life. For example some people choose to study hard, pass their classes, and then have fun with the time they got left over. Others choose to use up all their time for fun and never pass classes or dedicate any type of time towards their education and usually get held back a couple of years like I did. If you really want to make high-school the best years of your life then I would suggest choosing option A so that you enjoy all the festivities and parties with friends without having to make-up for lost time. For some odd reason many kids believe that when you get into trouble, it makes you look like a cool guy or girl to all of your peers. In reality your only labeling yourself as being the troublemaker slacker that doesn’t make it anywhere in life to your teachers. Not to mention you make yourself look like an idiot to the smarter kids at your school. What most kids don’t know is that if your one of those kids that does good and gets his work done on time and passes all his classes then the counselors will give you a little less attention than to the kids who never do work and are always in trouble and never passes their classes. So if you’re a bad kid and you wonder why you get into so much trouble it’s because you’re causing too much attention to yourself and you never do anything that can justify your badness as being good or being minor. Read more: Essay examples for high school   So don’t get into trouble if you know that it can risk you getting kicked out and losing those years that should be the best of your life. Another thing that holds a lot of kids back is being in a romantic relationship with somebody. I’m not saying it’s not good to be in love or care for another person, but if that is what’s holding you back from achieving your goals then there has to be a problem with that relationship. This means that you should think about your education before anything else on your agenda for the year instead of focusing on keeping your loved one by your side. If that is too selfish for you to think about then do it for your loved one. If you really cared about another person you would care about their education as well. You wouldn’t want your other half to be dimwitted or uneducated. If you cared for that person you’d want them to be smart and knowledgeable and to be successful in life or maybe you should be the successful one to help your other half be something in life. If they cared about you they’d want the same for you too. Anything else would be selfish of them or you and that wouldn’t be fair to the person you thought you loved or to you at all. The most common thing that hold kids back in school is wanting to party all the time and drink and do drugs and look cool for everyone to see. This is the biggest problem because as a kid all you want to do is party and have fun but when you get older you realize that there is a time and place for everything and during the week is not the time and in school is not the place. School for most kids is their only job and you should treat your school like a job which means to never be late, be respectful to everybody at school, and don’t show up all tired and sick from partying the night before. I remember seeing kids at school on Monday morning throwing up their organs because they drank too much the night before and only slept for like two hours. That is totally irresponsible and should never happen at your job, so why do we let that happen to us in our schools. High-school could’ve been the best years of my life but unfortunately I was one of the kids who decided to waste all my time having fun and am now left to play catch-up with school credits and classes that should’ve been passed years ago. I should’ve graduated in the year 2010. It is now the year 2012 and I am still trying to catch-up on credits that I should’ve already completed two years ago. Luckily for me I found OFY and have been able to complete classes faster than ever and hope to soon reach my goal and graduate high-school. So don’t be like me, be one of the kids that was able to graduate with the rest of their peers and be one of those kids who will remember high-school as being the best years of your life instead of being like me and turning them into the longest years of your life.

Transformative Leadership

Transformative Leadership in a Nonprofit Organization Yulanda Harris EDD8100 – Foundations of Educational Leadership and Management 1 April 21, 2013 Capella University Abstract A transformative leader is a leader who can bring about influential change in others. These leaders not only transform essential change, they change the way we think and act. Transformative leaders create practices and processes in organizations proactively. In addition, transformative leaders can be found at different levels in an organization.They can hold the title ranging from supervisor to executive director. This essay primarily focuses on the challenges faced by the Training & Development (T&D) Specialist, who is capable of helping to make essential changes and encourage transformational leadership at Presbyterian Villages of Michigan (PVM). Introduction The purpose of nonprofit organizations is to offer programs and services to assist the public. Presbyterian Villages of Michigan (PVM) is a fait h-based, nonprofit organization.PVM offers quality senior living housing and services, offering a wide range of residential service options including apartments, condominiums, assisted living, and skilled nursing care (Presbyterian Villages of Michigan, 2013). The ideal leadership style is that of a Servant Leader. According to Robert Greenleaf, servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world (Greenleaf, 1991).In contrast or a more similarity practice, transformative leadership can transform organizational culture and influence job satisfaction of the employees. However, the supervisors and managers appear to be disengaged or a gap presents itself within the organization. Therefore, it was necessary to begin the journey of conducting research within the organization. As in the case of action research according to Joe Donaldson, the T&D specialist must have a particular perspective about what is going on within the organization (Donaldson & Francis, 2013). Developing Transformative Managers and SupervisorsTransforming the managers and supervisors is an ongoing process primarily because he or she have not had any formal training on leadership. Typically as adult learners, we bring knowledge, skills, and abilities from previous experiences to the learning environment (Wainright, York & Woodward, 2012). However, concerning the managers and supervisors at PVM they have very little experience of leadership to bring into the learning environment. They are very familiar with process and procedures therefore; this is what was predicated on their promotional opportunities with the organization.In other words they were promoted into their role base on their performance. However, they lack knowledge in the area focusing on behavioral matters and how to coach or develop the line staff. To begin the process of developing transformative leaders, the T&D specialist uses the ADDIE methodology to complete a valuation of the training needs of the organization to determine if training is the best result to address the issues of the lack of leadership among the managers and supervisors.It is critical to begin the process by asking questions that will develop their ability to initiate and manage change in their department along with developing creative approaches to support strong team leadership and growth. This will allow the managers and supervisors build cohesion among each other and improve upon organizational efficiency. The following are questions that are asked during the analysis phase utilizing the ADDIE methodology. 1. What motivations you to lead a team? 2. What are some challenges you have faced as a manager or supervisor? 3. How would you describe your leadership style? . What leadership characteristics do you value about yourself? 5. What challenges do you face in your day-to-day operations with your employees? 6. How would you describe your decision-making process. For example, when your staff comes to you with a problem, how do you come to a solution? The above questions cited the importance of empowering others, inspiring others, delegation, collaboration, mentoring others. If managers and supervisors are to become transformative leaders they must answer those questions (Lansford, Clements, Falzon, Aish & Rogers, 2010).The goal is to have managers and supervisors feeling capable of reaching the right decisions independently with the goal of possessing their team to feel good about their contributions. Furthermore, the T&D specialist is ensuring the mission and values of the organization will affect the managers and supervisors thinking and management style. As a result they will transform organizational culture and inspire job satisfaction of the employees. The managers and supervisors will need to form a good example, self-confidence and understand needs of the staff.This means they can motiv ate the staff by their actions and words, in addition to ensuring their loyalty to PVM. As a result new training programs are created to develop strategies where new competencies are being taught. This will allow managers and supervisors gain valuable insights and find new opportunities to align their job or career satisfaction and performance with the organization’s outcomes and success (Wainright, York & Woodward, 2012). References: Presbyterian Villages of Michigan. (2013). Welcome to Presbyterian Villages of Michigan! Retrieved from www. pvm. org Greenleaf, R. K. (1991). The servant as leader.Indianapolis, IN: The Robert K. Greenleaf Center. [Originally published in 1970, by Robert K. Greenleaf]. Retrieved from http://www. greenleaf. org/ Donaldson, J. , & Francis, B. (2013). Converstion about research. Retrieved from www. capella. edu Wainright, C. , York, G. , & Woodward, B. (n. d. ). A transformative framework for. (2012). The Journal of Health Administration Education , 40-70. Lansford, M. , Clements, V. , Falzon, T. , Aish, D. , & Rogers, R. (n. d. ). Essential leadership traits of female executives in the non-profit sector. (2010). The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, 6(1), 51-62.

Impact of the French and Indian War Essay

The Native tribes are one of those directly affected by the French and Indian War. Many native populations suffered a great loss when the French power in North America was eliminated. The French proved to be a strong ally of these native tribes and were essential in countering the continued British expansion. The elimination of the French power resulted to the dispossession of many native tribes, forcing them to move out of their lands. When the Spanish-controlled Florida was taken-over by the British, native tribes who did not want to involve themselves with the British, migrated westward. This has resulted to heated confrontations between several tribes who were already established in the area (Ohio History Central, 2005). The British exploited the boundaries between opposing tribes, making the natives fight among themselves. The French and Indian war also affected the American colonists. As Britain continued to expand their control over the colonies of other European powers, they continued to resettle many of its people throughout their North American provinces. As Britain continued to focus on its war for territory, it began neglecting its duties for its people and its colonies. The French and Indian war resulted to the doubling of Britain’s national debt, and with the shortage of funding; the government imposed new taxes on their colonies. This resulted to stiff resistance, and strained relationship between Britain and its colonies. Troops were called in to the colonies in order to make sure the taxes are paid accordingly (Ohio History Central, 2005). This greatly inconvenienced the colonies, until it finally came down to the American Revolutionary War. Reference: Ohio History Central. (2005). French and Indian War. Retrieved July 27, 2009, from http://www. ohiohistorycentral. org/entry. php? rec=498

Substandard Prenatal Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Substandard Prenatal Care - Essay Example Both Latin America and Mexico are developing nations that have a modern economy that is encompassed in a rural peasant population. Mexico and Latin America are influenced by the forces of economics, politics, and cultural traditions that contribute to a rate of pregnancy problems and infant mortality that significantly exceeds their neighbors in North America. The issue of prenatal care is an issue that has several relevant aspects. It is a woman's issue, and as such has suffered from gender bias that has pervaded the hemisphere due to the impact of religion and its view of women. As with other women's issues, such as breast cancer, funding for prenatal care is often diminished by the male dominated power structure. However, prenatal care is not merely a women's issue as it impacts males and female alike and is an integral part of a healthy family. In the 21st century, prenatal care has become an issue of basic human rights. It addresses the most fundamental units of society (the children) that are incapable of deciding or acting for themselves. Adequate prenatal care is a broad based program that not only delivers a healthy child at birth, but also addresses the needs of the pregnant woman, her nutrition, mental health, and delivery safety. It should include "Safe and clean delivery, early detection and management of sexually transmitted diseases, infections and complications during pregnancy and delivery and taking into account the physiological needs of the newborn baby" (World Health Organization 25). When these interventions are accessible, affordable, and offered to pregnant women, they can have a substantial effect on improving the health of the newborn child and mother. There has been some increased international focus on this issue as it has been recognized that "the vast majority of infant and maternal deaths and disabilities are preventable through high quality care, detection and efficient referral for complications, and access to the essential elements of obstetric care when needed" (Glei, Goldman, and Rodrigue z 3). While these initiatives are helpful, they are impeded by competing social, cultural, and economic factors. The forces that influence the delivery of adequate prenatal care have particularly impacted Latin America and Mexico, our neighbors to the South. Economics, culture, and politics have all taken a toll on this region in regards to health care. While the external influences of diet and the environment contribute to infant mortality, "maternal mortality is almost wholly attributable to a lack of-or poor quality- prenatal, delivery, and puerperal care" (Casas, Dachs, and Bambas 27). These services are difficult for many women to attain due to cultural traditions that have subjugated women and an economic system that has placed prenatal care out of the reach of the masses in this region. Inequalities based on wealth are one of the biggest obstacles that women in the lower economic classes face. In Mexico, less than 10 percent of all the babies born to the lower economic classes are born in a hospital, but this number rises to 90 percent for the upper economic municipalities (Casas, Dachs, and Bambas 31). Countries in Latin America have mediated this figure by mandating a goal of 80 percent of all deliveries be attended by a skilled professional,

Environmental Archaeology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Environmental Archaeology - Essay Example Most studies, since the ancient times, have indicated that increased human activities on the environment have led to environmental degradation and transformation. However, this paper presents environmental, archeological view that lack of human activities on the environment leads to land degradation and transformation. Since the ancient periods, it is highly believed that increased human activities on the environment have caused environmental transformation and degradation. Almost all human activities have either positive or negative effect on the environment. For example, all types of pollutions are because of human activity. The pronounced sources of pollution are water pollution, air pollution, and farming (Chambers, 2004). Farming is one of the main causes of environmental degradation and pollution. This is because most farmers are determined to practice only one form of animal husbandry, and produce a single crop. This is believed to fuel the loss of biodiversity since natural f orests are cleared to create space for these human activities. Clearing of land exposes the soil surface to rainfall and surface run-offs, which causes soil erosion (Chambers, 2004). In addition, cleared forests reduce the amount of natural habitat available for wildlife. Unlike the traditional assumptions that increased human activity leads to environmental degradation and transformation, â€Å"culture-centric† perspective on the environmental archeology argues that lack of human activities leads to environmental degradation and transformation (Chris, 2003). Deforestation caused through human activities, such as logging and burning, is at times beneficial to both plants and animals. Animals, plants, and trees naturally recover from burnt forests if the space is not occupied by human settlements. Birds such as woodpeckers survive well in freshly burned areas more than thickets where they feed on insects that occupy the burned area (Hall & Harry, 2006). In addition, seed dispe rsion is enhanced through human activities such as the search for food. Trees like lodgepole produce serrotonous cones. These cones are fused shut, and they only burst when burnt. Wildfires set by human burn these cones, thereby spreading their seeds into burnt areas with little competition (Hall & Harry, 2006). After 20 years of growth, the burned area soon becomes fully occupied by medium-height lodgepole pines. An example of such area is Yellowstone National Park (Chambers, 2004). This, therefore, indicates human activities such as deforestation can enhance dispersion of seeds from one area to another, thus the spread of plant and tree species. Human’s ability to confine wild animals into specific areas has also created order in the environment. Wild animals are an integral part of the natural environment, and their existence creates a balance in the ecosystem. However, due to dynamic environmental degradations and transformations, human realized the need to conserve the w ild animals in parks and zoos to protect them from drought and poaching among other factors (Rashid et al, 2005). Through conservation, animals are protected from the loss of habitat, climatic changes, hunting, natural calamities, pollution, over-exploitation, pesticides, and toxic chemicals (Rashid et al, 2005). This has ensured successful utilization of available natural resources by regulating the rate of competition among the animals, and protecting them from external threats (Rashid et al, 2

Paradox of Violent Video Games Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Paradox of Violent Video Games - Research Paper Example The incident at Colorado phoenix theatre is still a fresh news item in which, a gunman turned the new Batman movie into areal horror. In this particular incident, 12 people died on the spot with 58 other surviving with serious injuries. The three incidents indicate how people are willing and ready to turn fiction into reality. Although such incidents have a political or social motivation, violent video games play a significant role in motivating such killers. For instance, Tristan had been playing Call on duty: Modern warfare 2 before he went on a shooting spree. These are isolated cases of violence resulting or inspired by violent video games. It is a paradox that violent video games inspire people into becoming saviors. This essay will, therefore, analyze the paradox of violent video games in relation to violence and mass murder. There have been intensive studies on the effects of video games in promoting acts of violence among teenagers. Studies in this field have attracted variou s people particularly sociologists and psychologists attempting to find links between the video games and acts of violence, particularly among teenagers. Concentration on teenagers is necessitated by the fact that teenagers are the main consumers of violent video games and researchers are interested in analyzing the correlation between playing violent video games and engaging in real violence. Studies completed in 2002 at the concluded that violent video games did not motivate people to indulge in real acts of violence.  ... It is a contradiction that violent video games addicts do not commit real violence. In fact, all the recent cases of shooting rampage have a political or social motivation Flew (Terry and Humphreys 211). Police are currently investigating the Colorado incident to unearth the motives behind the killings. However, other cases such as the Oslo shootings had a political motivation. For instance, Breivick complained that Norway was increasingly becoming a multicultural and Islamic state. The gunman claimed the authorities were to blame for the acts. These incidents disassociate violence particularly mass murder with violent video games. The paradox of video games in relation to acts of violence depicts rivalry that exists between media and producers of video games. Media and video games are complementary pastime activities and hence they have conflict of interest. According to Shaw, the video game industry has become a soft target to the media and entertainment industry, which consider it as a rival (121). From the author’s argument, association of video games and real violence is a tool applied by media houses to win the entertainment market. This is an expected phenomenon considering that both industries target the same audience. Recent meta-analysis conducted on 130, 000 subjects concluded that violent video games induced short-term aggression and antisocial behaviour. Although the studies have a significant value of truth, they are subject to criticism and misinterpretation. For instance, the tests did not consider the sanity or the mental health of the subjects (Davis 123). In addition, the tests did not consider exposure to other triggers such as physical