Twilight vs Trueblood

The point of this essay is to show the many similarities and differences of Twilight and True Blood. Vampires, how many different stories have you heard about these creatures. Do movies and Television shows differentiate on these creatures? In this essay I will be discuss only two of these vampires, Edward Cullen and Bill Compton. While they are both vampires and share some similarities, most of the story line of these two stories is completely different. From a human drinking vampire who has bottles of True Blood, to a vegan vampire who only consumes animal blood.Then I will discuss the way that both of the characters, as vampires, die. Finally I will bring up some common myths that these two charters have proven incorrect. This will prove that no two stories about vampires are exactly the same. Are you aware of the many similarities and differences of Twilight and True Blood? What sets them apart? Are they alike? If so what do these two have in common? In this essay we will look at the differences of these two vampire movies and what the two have in common and discover what it is that makes these two things different.And what do these two have in common Note: This essay will explore the movie film and television versions of these two stories that are based on books by Stephanie Meyer and Charmaine Harris. There could be differences between the written material and their screen adaptations. Twilight is based on a vampire named Edward Cullen that tries to keep from killing or drinking from humans and ends up falling in love with a girl called Bella Swan at the high school where he is trying to pass himself off as a teenager.There are three main things that set Edward and his family apart from other vampires. These make the vampires of these stories different. The three things are that he has a coven that stays awake during the day, he is fine with sunlight exposure, and did I mention that he is a vegan. Edward Cullen is in a coven also called the tribunal. This is what governs the decisions for Edward and his family of vampires. The coven can control the rules over all the vampire including Edward and his family.Some of those rules are; that’s enforced are no problems with the exposure to direct sunlight, no biting or drinking of any kind of humans and only kill the animals you eat once a month. Edward and his family differ also because of the different powers that they all possess. Edward has the power to read people’s minds, his sister Alice can see the future and jasper can control emotions. These are only three of the family members; there are nine in his family. When Edward or any of his family members are exposed to the sun, they do not react the same way as other stories portray.Most of the time a vampire will burst in to gigantic flames killing themselves in a slow painful death. These vampires however do something else instead. When Edward or a family member goes out in the sunlight, they do not immediately burst in to flames, their skin is different. The skin of Edward or his family members instead looks like it is made out of thousands of diamonds. Edward and his family do not drink from humans, making them vegans. Instead they drink from the blood of animals such as cougars, bears, and deer’s.Edward and his family do not want to kill; this is what sets them apart from other vampires in this story. In the story vegans are considered traitors to the other vampires. The reason for why Edward and his family are vegan’s, is because he and his family have made a peace treaty with the werewolves who live on the same land. True Blood is based on vampires who have â€Å"came out of the closet† and gone public with society and now live amongst us known. Because of the public knowledge of their existence, they were able to manufacture True Blood, a diet supplement of blood in bottles.This could be purchased at any store or bars across the US. While true blood is acceptable, vampir es truly like human blood still. This essay is about one of the vampires in general, Bill Compton. He is one of the main characters in the first and second season. He too had a government, but it was much more royal than that of Edwards. A king and queen of the vampires had a chain of command with sheriff that had borders of land to maintain. He also differed from Edward in the risks of death, as they are more common to most vampire stories.He unlike Edward and his family drank or at the very least tried to drink the True Blood. He does not like the notion of killing so instead drinks true blood. This is a synthetic blood, which is a form of blood that’s porous was to be a replacement for the blood of humans. Bill is on this diet of this fake blood. The True Blood universe unlike that of twilight is much more diverse as there are vampires, witches, shape shifters, werewolves, were panthers and even fairies, and other magical beings that live in this world. In Twilight, there' s only werewolves and vampires.Like most of the stories you hear about vampires there is risk in his death if bill goes out into the sun he will burn. Another thing that is different from the vampires in twilight is that they can be hurt by silver this is something new as this is normally found in the stories that tell of werewolf lore and not that of vampire. So in conclusion to this these are the similarities and differences of Twilight and True Blood. True Blood is the in a way the adult version of Twilight there is a lot more things in true blood that are meant for a more mature audience then twilight.There's a lot of violence and sex in True Blood. Twilight is pretty chaste and tame with the sensuality, but there is plenty of violence, though not as gory as that one might find in True Blood. True Blood tends to go more to the horror side; Twilight goes more to the fantasy side. The True Blood universe is much more diverse. There's vampires, witches, shape shifters, werewolves, were panthers and even fairies. As far as charters go one of True Blood‘s best characters is Lafayette. He is a classic, sassy gay male that died in the book. ow that you can tell them apart you can now go and compare these to other different vampire horror movies and see what sets these apart from others of our time. There are two main vampires Edward Cullen and Bill Compton. These two vampires have many differences a as they do have some similarities. They both drink blood but have different lifestyle choses. They both can die, however in different ways. As always there will be myths and urban legends about vampires. From feeding habits and sleeping habits theses are only some of the many myths that are out there that I have chosen to write about.

The Functional to Matrix Transition

The Functional to Matrix Transition Karen R. J. White, PMP RECENTLY PARTICIPATED IN A CONSULTING ASSIGNMENT WHICH INVOLVED MOVING A LARGE ITS ORGANIZATION from an old-style functional-department organization structure towards one more friendly to proj- Common Pitfalls ects. The project faced the sorts of challenges that are common when trying to realign organizational structure with the new realities of managing by projects. In addition, there were added cultural barriers because the company was in the financial services sector-a very traditional industry, known for conservatism in management approaches. Project management consultants were called in because, for the first time, the organization was undertaking a multi-year enterprise-wide development program that cut across multiple functional departments, instead of following their old pattern of doing projects within departments. Within the program, several major related projects were being carried out. Clearly, business as usual would not suffice. BASELINE: A FUNCTIONAL/WEAK MATRIX STRUCTURE A Functional/ (Weak) Matrix organizational structure, such as our client company had in place, works well when the focus is on quality and technical expertise. Under this structure, functional managers are responsible for products created within their areas of expertise. The downside: In the company on which this case study was based, it just wasn't working. And their experience was not uncommon. The functional-based organization structure tends to undermine the authority and decision-making capability of project managers, making project success more difficult. The functional or weak matrix form of organization does have some advantages. In this case, first of all, it was the currently existing state in the client organization. Change is always traumatic in organizations and, to the extent that we could preserve existing processes and systems, the upheaval-and resistance to it-would be minimized. Functional â€Å"stovepipe† organizations take a beating in discussions of optimal organizational structure, but the fact is that they are familiar to people, and thus comfortable for them. In addition, within this structure, IT and IS departments are fully empowered to complete isolated projects within their own â€Å"stovepipes. The client organization already possessed well-established communications processes and authorities within the functional areas. From a purely logistical point of view, the staff work locations were already centralized around functional department assignments, making information sharing among team members more straightforward. There are also serious drawbacks to this organizational structure, however. For instance, communications and decision-making processes existed outside the p rogram structure, contributing to schedule and budget issues. For the same reason, true accountability rested outside the programs, somewhere in the traditional hierarchy of the corporation. For example, executive functional management, who were in fact somewhat removed from the actual conditions of the programs, made all the important decisions. Budget and contracting authority was reserved for the CIO level. Under this very traditional structure, only formal authority-something the project managers did not have-was recognized as a source of power. The client organization had made some strides in moving past a purely functional hierarchy, towards a matrix organization. A Project Management Office (PMO) had been implemented the year before my involvement began-a year after the program was launched. Unfortunately, this meant that proper attention had not been paid to project management issues during the initial planning stages of the program. Phone: 610. 853. 3679 n www. pmsolutions. com n Fax: 610. 853. 0527 EXPERT SERIES The Functional to Matrix Transition Page 2 of 4 Instead of creating a PMO to manage the program, the existing program was inserted into a PMO. However, since the PMO lacked authority for decisions and communications, accountability was problematic. As an example, program budgets and staffing decisions were made within functional organizations, not within the programs themselves and resources were not accountable to programs for deliverables. Programs were initiated by functional departments, making any kind of strategic alignment or project prioritization (portfolio management) problematic. And because project teams ithin programs were organized by functional department, not by deliverable, the physical and organizational barriers between project teams impeded communications. THE OTHER EXTREME The Project (Strong) Matrix organization, at the other end of the organization-structure spectrum, works well for crash efforts, where the focus is on cost and, especially, schedule. These types of project-based organizations are sometimes n icknamed â€Å"Skunkworks† after the Lockheed-Martin aerospace project that made this approach famous. The Strong Matrix is an organizational form beloved of project managers and organizational design theorists. To be sure, this model offers many advantages from the project management standpoint:  · It concentrates complete authority for decisions affecting a project or program within the project or program itself, which simplifies decision-making.  · Program budgets and staffing decisions are made within the programs.  · Staff members have a single manager to please and answer to.  · Resources are accountable to program for deliverables and performance.  · Clear communications paths exist. However, in the real world of our client organization, the Project/Strong Matrix model carried several disadvantages. Limited resources in certain key technical and business areas meant that there simply were not enough people to create dedicated program or project teams, and it was deemed too time-consuming to recruit and/or train additional staff. The existing staff was in dispersed geographical locations with staff not able to relocate. All in all, moving to this form was just too drastic a change for the organization. THE MIDDLE GROUND Thus, our choice in establishing a more project-friendly environment was the â€Å"Balanced Matrix† structure . This structure strives to hit all the bases. Cost, schedule and quality are considered of equal importance. The balance between these considerations is achieved through continuous negotiations and tradeoffs. Given the resource limitations existing within the client organization, we deemed it the best model as well as the most practicable, despite certain inherent disadvantages, such as the need for increased communications and resource negotiations between project managers and functional managers, the added complexity in status reporting and staff management activities, and the need for modified roles and responsibilities in IT and business functional departments. The most significant impact of the new model was the extent to which we revised Roles and Responsibilities. IT functional management now shared joint staff management with program management and had to coordinate with program management in the areas of standards and process implementation. Business functional management also shared joint staff management with program management. Phone: 610. 853. 3679 n www. pmsolutions. com n Fax: 610. 853. 0527 EXPERT SERIES The Functional to Matrix Transition Page 3 of 4 Program management staff had far more â€Å"hands-on† involvement in program activities, as well as increased accountability for staff performance and coordination of related issues with functional man agement. Program Team Members now had multiple managers with whom to coordinate absences. TRANSITION STEPS 1. Assign Project Managers. We introduced project managers from the PMO to replace functional man agers with project management responsibilities, except in those cases where we retained functional leads as part of matrix. We did this when the department managers or supervisors were the ideal choice for supervision project activities because they were the strongest technical person in that area. Once the project leaders were assigned we identified deliverables and associated accountabilities for each project team. 2. Re-define Roles and Responsibilities. We established a policy statement and matrix document that clearly identified the project manager and functional manager roles and responsibilities. 3. Revise Resource Staffing Processes. By involving functional management in project initiation activities-recognizing that functional managers often have the best insight into the skills and limitations of staff members-we made the process of assigning resources to roles more collaborative. We also instituted a formal requisition process for internal resources. 4. Revise Performance Management Processes. We implemented revised performance management processes. Project managers were added to the performance development process training classes and required to provide periodic performance-related information to functional managers. At the same time, functional managers now shared individual goals and objectives with project managers, seeking to align project assignments with objectives. Functional managers continued to administer performance development processes. 5. Establish a Communications Plan. We developed a comprehensive program communications plan identifying who reports what to whom, and when. We acknowledged the information needs of the functional management team by including them in the communications plan. Project websites were established to facilitate communications. 6. Obtain Senior Executive Support. Senior executive support for changes was secured. We instituted an active steering committee. In addition, we established clear support at the CIO level for the Program and Project Manager roles and their authorities. These steps ensured alignment of functional and program goals: functional managers support the programs, which in turn implement the business goals. LESSONS LEARNED The matrix organization will meet resistance; plan for it. Lesson #1 – Program Organization. Make deliberate decisions about program and project organization when chartering the program. Determine the important constraints for the program, know the different organizational structures available and deliberately select the one that best fits your situation. Consider geographical locations when forming teams; try to maintain team integrity within a single location. Lesson #2 – Roles & Responsibilities. Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of all vested parties, including functional managers providing resources to projects. Obtain agreement and sign-off on individual roles and responsibilities as part of each project chartering activity. Phone: 610. 853. 679 n www. pmsolutions. com n Fax: 610. 853. 0527 EXPERT SERIES The Functional to Matrix Transition Page 4 of 4 Lesson #3 – Communications Plan. Develop a comprehensive plan that considers communication needs both inside and outside the program. Consider horizontal communication flows in addition to vertical communication flows. Do not ignore the information needs of the organization as a whole. Le sson #4 – Continuous assessment. Reinforce the transition by continually monitoring the processes and climate of the organization. This is an ongoing challenge, not a one-time event. When a crisis arises, the organization will tend to lapse back into functional management accountability, as opposed to staying within program structure. Pay close attention to the communications and collaboration aspects of the program; reinforce use of the agreed upon communications plan. Remain sensitive to the communication needs of multiple geographic sites, if any. You will need to provide continuous learning and reinforcement, since functional managers are still learning to include project managers in staffing decisions, while project managers are still learning to include functional managers in problem resolution activities. Don't be afraid to change! Question how you are organized; make sure the status quo fits with the work that needs to be done. Maybe you won't change everything, but little regular tweak at organizational structure will keep it vital. Every six months or so, ask â€Å"Does it make sense today? † Prepared for presentation at ProjectWorld, October 2001 Phone: 610. 853. 3679 n www. pmsolutions. com n Fax: 610. 853. 0527

How Does Co2 Emissions Affect the Ecosystem?

How does CO2 Emissions Affect the Ecosystem? Kenyetta Sloan Bryant & Stratton College Ecology Dr. M. McLellan-Zabielski October 24, 2012 What would happen if we didn’t cut trees, use transportation, even turn on our lights or any electrical item we own? Then global warming wouldn’t exist. The things that we do on the daily basis is what produces carbon emissions, when we burn oil, coal, and gas, it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The result of this is climate change, temperature, and moisture, which affects our ecosystem, consisting of plant life and human life.One type of ecosystem is plant life, temperature and moisture influence birth, growth and death rates of plants (Effects on Ecosystems chapter 10). These factors also influence photosynthesis and respiration, which responds differently to temperature, in low temperatures, photosynthesis, is slow, at higher temperatures it accelerates. It is argued that global warming may result in a reduction in net carbon uptake by plants (Woodwell, 1987). Though plants have the ability to adjust to climate change, plants stay in the limited range where they are able to breathe and reproduce.If plants don’t receive enough moisture, it reduces plant growth, if too much moisture then it can cause cellular damage and a rapid increase in respiration (Hanson and Hitz, 1982). Plants absorb carbon, but when it’s burned or when they decay; carbon is released back into our atmosphere, the result being greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It is a process that carbon goes through or better yet a cycle it goes through, it is cycled from land, to ocean, to air.The ocean contains 50 times more carbon then our atmosphere because it serves as a repository system. Earths current levels of carbon in the atmosphere is something that we should be worried about, the Earth was warmer and sea levels were higher in the past, we’re below the normal averages of where Earth’s levels are suppos ed to be. The blame to this change is us as humans; we are forcing the atmosphere to change, we responsible for the increase of carbon dioxide emissions.Fossil fuels when combusted, contain carbon which bond with oxygen and forms carbon dioxide that enter our atmosphere. The leading fossil fuel is coal, which is used most to form electricity, releases more carbon into the atmosphere than any other fossil fuel we use, even gas doesn’t release as much carbon as coal does. About 40% of fossil fuel combustion is used up by electricity, to power up our homes, businesses and industries, using coal as the primary source of energy (Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2010). Transportation is the second largest source of CO2 emissions, about 31% of fossil fuel combustion is used to transport ourselves and goods. Vehicles, air travel, marine transportation and trains are the sources that we use to transport from place to place, using gasoline or diesel. Carbon Di oxide emissions are projected to grow 1. 5% from now to 2020, there are ways to reduce the emissions, and it’s by cutting our use of fossil fuels.The vehicles we drive can be more fuel-efficient, meaning going green and cutting the gas use, changing our appliances and our electrical usage. References NRC (2010). Advancing the Science of Climate Change. National Research Council. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, USA. U. S. Department of State (2007). Fourth Climate Action Report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change: Projected Greenhouse Gas Emissions. U. S. Department of State, Washington, DC, USA (2010). What Is Carbon Dioxide (CO2)?Understanding the Carbon Cycle & How Current CO2 Emissions are Disrupting It. www. coolerclimate. com Global Biofuels Industry. (2010). M2PressWIRE. www. Thecarbonaccount. com (August 2009). Nature’s role in climate change. European Commission. Effects on Ecosystem. Kaplanovic, S. , & Mijailovtc, R. (2012). THE INTE RNALISATION OF EXTERNAL COSTS OF CO2 AND POLLUTANT EMISSIONS FROM PASSENGER CARS. Technological & Economic Development Of Economy, 18(3), 470-486. doi:10. 3846/20294913. 2012. 702694 .

Cell Phones The Impact of their Inappropriate Use Essay

Cell Phones The Impact of their Inappropriate Use - Essay Example Recently, in the library trying to write some notes, four cell phones were being used in my vicinity. It was impossible to concentrate, as the noise was too much, but added to this, was the distraction from the different conversations going on. All of these were non-urgent, totally inane, things like what time to meet after class, who said what to whom, and even the best new lip gloss to buy! I felt as if my space was invaded and that there was no respect for other people's needs, or indeed for the place itself. The library after all, is meant to be a 'quiet' public space, designed to help us study and learn. In a way, I felt my rights were being violated. I had to move away; so did two other students. We all looked resigned to this course of action, but what else could we do A few weeks back, at an intersection in town, I witnessed a guy in his car, shouting into a hand-held cell phone, go through a red light. By good luck, nothing was crossing in front of him, or the results of his actions could have been fatal. He was angry, not paying attention to the road, the people, the dangers. I felt a little sick, as I imagined what could have happened, and also angry at such disregard for others. A couple of mothers with babies in strollers just looked at each other, The worst, personal experience, which happen

The difference between Islamic and conventional Banks Research Paper

The difference between Islamic and conventional Banks - Research Paper Example Financial scholars have surpassed lasting ambiguous loan contracts practiced by drawing attention of the financial world to the benefits presented by bank products that meet the requirements of Sharia. Most of these products conform to religious backgrounds of the local people; and hence turn out to be attractive to wide fragments of the population in need of financial services they can identify with their cultural beliefs and way of life. Despite these existing trends, little academic evidence and research on the functioning of Islamic banks is recorded. Since its establishment in 1970, Islamic banking has witnessed a significant growth. With the establishment of its operational foundations a few decades ago, the banking model acted as a major vehicle that offer products similar to convenient banks. Numerous academic research and literature have gone further to establish the viability of these types of banks in dealing with finances. It is also evident that the last few decades the banking model has been characterized by an increase in its financial institutions that are spread in all continents. Most importantly financial institutions, in Europe and Asia, operate on Islamic windows and thus provide a convenient banking framework to their clients. Therefore, this paper describes some of the common differences between Islamic and conventional banks (Ali, 2005). Despite the fact that there is growing interest on Islamic banking and Islamic finance literature, a few academic papers about the subjects exist. A policy research working paper by Beck, Demirgà ¼Ãƒ §-Kunt & Merrouche (2010), confirms that there is a deficiency of academic work highlighting Islam finance trends. This trend contrasts with the increased importance played by Islamic banking in a majority of Muslim countries across Asia and Africa. Based on the details presented, this paper will, hopefully, contribute to the rising literature

MANIFEST DESTINY AND ASSIMILATION THEORY Term Paper

MANIFEST DESTINY AND ASSIMILATION THEORY - Term Paper Example Assimilation model is where a minority group adopts the values, norms, beliefs, and institutional systems of the domain culture, which the American culture. The Native Americans were not domain because they had to assimilate to the western civilization (Cullen, Lisle, Downs and Colombo 452). Fredrickson explains the assimilation theory proposed by Alex in the following manner. His explanations are based on ethnic relations between religions and races in the history of the US. He asserts that ethnic hierarchy is inevitable because it forms the first pillar of socialization between distinct ethnic groups. In American context, the essay is based on the view that the American race is the dominant group that holds the privileges and right not provided to other races in the society (Cullen, Lisle, Downs, and Colombo 463). Due to this, they view themselves as the superior to those races whom the rights are denied. The system of racial interaction influenced the blacks and Indian races in Am erican society because the whites deemed themselves superior to these races. Fredrickson continues with his assimilation theory using one-way assimilation model. He argues that the only way that other races such as Indians and blacks can pay the Americans is via adapting or conforming to the American culture. ... Fredrickson discuses the theory of separatism in groups by arguing that minority groups should be autonomous, independent and completely separated from the dominant or majority group (Cullen, Lisle, Downs and Colombo 479). Cultural pluralism is the most effective theory because it gives room to people to retain their own culture or ethnic identities without conforming to cultures of other dominant groups. Fredrickson explanation offers a way forward on how social groups can come together and live in unity. These assertions are evident in the manifest destiny and Americas’ expansion to the West. Further, cultural pluralism is demonstrated in the manner in which Native Americans were treated. Americans separated from other groups and followed their own western culture. Due to this, many Americans believed that they had the responsibility of spreading democratic ideals to other parts of the world. During their expansion, the Americans excluded groups with cultural differences tha t were characterized with prejudice and paternalism. This reality made the Americans realized themselves, and their role in the world. The manifest destiny doctrine was the idea that established the United States of America as a nation. Manifest destiny was an idea that influenced American policy in the twentieth century (The Great Nation of Futurity 428). The concept was the motivation behind the tremendous and rapid expansion of America into the West from the East. The idea of manifest destiny was promoted in poster, newspapers, and via the media. The idea of manifest destiny was not an official government policy but it led to enactment and passage of policies

Leadership in Education;Teachers as Leaders Essay

Leadership in Education;Teachers as Leaders - Essay Example It is equally important that certain basic assumptions about the educational leadership qualities especially which relates to the individual approach of tackling issues and objectives, may create a vast difference to the results achieved. The roles and responsibilities of a teacher are multidimensional. â€Å"The diversity, complexity, and changing nature of basic learning needs of children, youth and adults necessitate broadening and constantly redefining the scope of basic education† (UNESCO, 1995). The teachers often serve as role models for their students so they need to be very meticulous and at the same time, he/she should be extremely knowledgeable so as to command respect from their students. The inherent tendencies of the children to keep their teachers on the pedestal makes it imperative that the teachers themselves must cultivate a value based character so that they are not only able to command respect from their students but their impeccable behaviour and teaching prowess, serves to motivate them to achieve greater height of excellence in studies and personal growth. Educational leaders are not pre defined and moulded into certain stature. They are people who may be in the position to influence and motivate students to give their best. Educators and school administrators both can take up the role of educational leaders because both of them have the capacity to wield considerable influence among the students and teachers alike so that they give their best. While the non teaching staffs of educational institutes indirectly influences the students to acquire character, the role of teachers is of utmost importance because of their proactive involvement in the moulding of the character of the students. It is therefore, imperative that teachers must inculcate specialized teaching methodologies and value system that addresses the all round growth of the student fraternity. School administrator as educational leader, helps create a congenial atmosphere

Understanding the Annual Report and 10-K Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Understanding the Annual Report and 10-K - Essay Example There are three basic approaches for valuing inventory are; first in - First out, this approach involves basing the cost of goods sold upon the cost of material bought in earlier periods, while the cost of inventory is based on the cost of materials bought later in the year. The second approach is Last in - First out, it determines the Cost of goods based on the cost of materials bought towards the end of the period. However, the inventory is based on the cost of materials bought earlier in the year. Lastly, Weighted average, this bases the cost of goods and the inventory on average cost of all units bought during the period. This is the most used method of inventory by this company. Average inventory=($ 2,803,809 $ 2,751,398 $ 2,413,791)=ï ¼â€ž7968998. So the inventory turnover ratio will be =3.274. From the records it is clearly evident that there has been a gradual increase in the average inventory and the cost of goods simultaneously. Any business firm has two categories of liabilities, current and long-term liabilities. The current liabilities of the BBB Company include Accounts payable Accrued expenses and other current liabilities Merchandise credit and gift card liabilities, and Current income taxes payable. Long term liabilities of the company include deferred rent and Income taxes payable. Stockholders equity is one of the three major sections of a corporations balance sheet. Stockholders equity is the difference between the reported amounts of a corporations assets and liabilities. Stockholders equity is subdivided into components: paid-in capital or contributed capital, retained earnings, and treasury stock,-if any. The paid-in capital component reports the amounts the corporation received when it issued its common and preferred stock. Retained earnings reports the cumulative net income since the start of the corporation minus the dividends declared since the start of the corporation. Treasury stock (cost method) reports the amount paid by the

Family nurse practitioner program Personal Statement

Family nurse practitioner program - Personal Statement Example The education would be tailored on encouragement of healthy lifestyles in order to prevent the chronic illnesses such as cancer and other serious diseases and this I would do using my own real life example as I have experience with chronic illness. I have a background undergraduate degree in psychology as well as an AND. This is an indicator that I am dedicated to my education and would love to expand it and acquire more knowledge. The future of nursing practitioners is bright what with the passing of the Affordable Care Act and I would like to be on the forefront of providing the necessary services and especially through leadership and community support as a way of aiming for the quality health care needed. Having worked at various health facilities such as Bogarts Cancer Center and Children’s Hospital as well as Cedars Sinai as a neurosurgery nurse among others, I have come to value the opinion of the senior nurses because they have not only the knowledge but experience and this is something I envy in them and would like to have as well. I am also a very strong believer in advancing one’s level of education as education provides knowledge which is power and I want to attain that power to change the future lives of my patients however much I can. I have the potential of working as an advanced nurse not only based on my background education in nursing but because of my personal experiences of how nurses can help patients and their families during sickness. My father was diagnosed with brain cancer and this was a difficult time in our lives. The nurses in the cancer centers and hospitals were very supportive offering shoulders to cry on and hope to live even after he passed away. This experience combined with my candy striper passion and participation volunteer provides a strong motivation and determination to help the patients through their suffering. I would lie to be more involved on a one on one

ADHD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ADHD - Essay Example Conservative estimates indicate that AD/HD affects between three to seven percent of school age children, and between two to five percent of adults† (Freer, 2004). This is how one author defines the disorder and its prevalence; although there has been a more recent interest in adult ADD and AD/HD, the disorder is primarily associated in the media and in most existing articles with children and adolescents. This means that the disorder is also aligned with the educational system in this country. At the same time, there has been a federal concentration on outlining programs that are relatively sensitive and malleable and do not reflect federalization in dealing with the problems brought up by special situations of AD/HD. In terms of the symptoms that they show, generally the individual with AD/HD, â€Å"Fails to pay close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork†¦ has difficulty sustaining attention, does not seem to listen when spoken to, does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish, has difficulty organizing tasks†¦ avoids or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort, loses things†¦ easily distracted†¦ forgetful† (Dreher, 1998). These symptoms could be seen as simply shortcomings in attention span or irresponsibility, so in many cases the student or child is blamed for their condition, when it is really the brain chemistry that deserves the blame, not the individual. This is why teachers and parents need to give children with AD/HD more tools to overcome the symptoms: they often have trouble writing neatly, so teachers could advocate early use of word processors. â€Å"Children with ADHD are sometimes poor s pellers, so let them use a spell checker to edit their stories. Wherever possible, let kids use checklists - to assess key elements of their stories during the revision process, to determine whether theyve followed important steps† (Weaver, 1998). Symptoms of

Copyright And Ethics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Copyright And Ethics - Research Paper Example The concept of whether copyrighting is unethical is a relatively new controversy. There are no religious references regarding this. Religious texts only state that use of another person’s property without his permission is illegal. It does not specifically state about the ownership of intellectual property. The only arguments regarding the ethics of copyright are either moral or social in nature. Those who support IP copyrights are of the opinion that any creation whether real or electronic should be protected legally. Most countries also take this stand including the United States. According to Warwick, the issue of the ethics of copyright is no longer an issue. The current stand is granting rights to the creator/owners will result in a balance of rights between them and the end users. The copyright period protects the rights of the creator/owner. When the duration ends and the work enters the public domain, then the rights of the users come into force. This view is expressed in another article as well. The author states that copyright (and IP) laws in the United States are based on utilitarian concepts whereby everyone or the maximum number of people benefits. A copyrighted material has two distinct parameters, the creator/owner and the user. Due to its uniqueness, it can be read, used or seen by a number of people at the same time. In the case of software, there is practically no limit to the number of users, unlike a film or book. Taking the utilitarian approach, both the creator/owner and the user should benefit.

Cosmetic Surgery Is Moving Toward Multiethnic Beauty Ideals Essay Example for Free

Cosmetic Surgery Is Moving Toward Multiethnic Beauty Ideals Essay The increasing number of nonwhites getting cosmetic surgery is helping society accelerate from a crawl to a full-bore sprint toward one truly melted, fusion community. In the following viewpoint, Anupreeta Das questions whether minorities go under the knife to look more Caucasian. She suggests that as ethnically ambiguous beauties emerge in entertainment and the media, many African American, Asian, and Latino cosmetic-surgery patients want changes that harmonize with their ethnic features. In fact, Das states more surgeons today are specializing in race-specific procedures. This blending and reducing of racial characteristics through cosmetic surgery allow minorities to fit in with beauty standards that are moving away from a Caucasian ideal, she claims. Das is a journalist based in Boston. As you read, consider the following questions: 1.As stated by Das, how do rhinoplasty procedures differ among Caucasians, African Americans, and Asian Americans? 2.Why did Jewish people embrace cosmetic surgery, according to the viewpoint? 3.According to Das, what do critics say about the increase of ethnic models in the fashion industry? For almost a century, the women who have turned to cosmetic surgery to achieve beauty—or some Hollywood-meets-Madison Avenue version of it—were of all ages, shapes, and sizes but almost always of one hue: white. But now, when there seems to be nothing that a few thousand dollars cant fix, women of color are clamoring in skyrocketing numbers to have their faces and bodies nipped, snipped, lifted, pulled, and tucked. This is a step forward, right? In the land of opportunity, we applaud when barriers break down and more people get to partake in the good life, as it were. There are many explanations for the new willingness of minorities to go under the knife: their swelling numbers and disposable income, the popularization of cosmetic surgery and its growing acceptance as a normal beauty routine,  and its relative affordability. Whats significant are the procedures minorities are choosing. More often than not, theyre electing to surgically narrow the span of their nostrils and perk up their noses or suture their eyelids to create an extra fold. Or theyre sucking out the fat from buttocks and hips that, for their race or ethnicity, are typically plump. It all could lead to one presumption: These women are making themselves look more white—or at least less ethnic. But perhaps not to the extent some suppose. People want to keep their ethnic identity, says Dr. Arthur Shektman, a Wellesley-based plastic surgeon. They want some change, but they dont really want a white nose on a black face. Shektman says not one of his minority patients—they make up about 30 percent of his practice, up from about 5 percent 10 years ago—has said, I want to look white. He believes this is evidence that the dominant Caucasian-centered idea of blond, blue-eyed beauty is giving way to multiple ethnic standards of beauty, with the likes of Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, and Lucy Liu as poster girls. No way is the answer Tamar Williams of Dorchester gives when asked if her desire to surgically reduce the width of her nose and get a perkier tip was influenced by a Caucasian standard. Why would I want to look white? Growing up, the 24-year-old African-American bank teller says, she longed for a nose that wasnt quite so wide or flat or big for her face. It wasnt that I didnt like it, Williams says. I just wanted to change it. Hoping to become a model, she thinks the nose job she got in November [2007] will bring her a lifetime of happiness and opportunity. I was always confident. But now I can show off my nose. Yet others are less convinced that the centuries-old fixation on Caucasian beauty—from the Mona Lisa to Pamela Anderson—has slackened. Im not ready to put to rest the idea that the white ideal has not permeated our psyches, says Janie Ward, a professor of Africana Studies at Simmons College. It is still shaping our expectations of what is beautiful. A Peculiar Fusion Whether or not the surging number of minority patients is influenced by a white standard, one point comes with little doubt: The $12.4 billion-a-year plastic surgery industry is adapting its techniques to meet this demand. The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS), for example, has in recent months held meetings on subjects ranging from Asian upper-eyelid surgery to so-called ethnic rhinoplasty. The discussion will come to Boston this summer [2007] when the academy will host a five-day event that will include sessions on nose reshaping techniques tailored to racial groups. And increasingly, plastic surgeons are wooing minorities—who make up one-third of the US population—by advertising specializations in race-specific surgeries and using a greater number of nonwhite faces on their Web sites. It could be that these new patients are not trying to erase the more obvious markers of their ethnic heritage or race, but simply to reduce them. In the process, theyre pursuing ethnic and racial ambiguity. Take Williams. With her new smaller nose and long, straight hair, the African-American woman seems to be toying with the idea of ambiguity. And maybe we shouldnt be surprised. The intermingling of ethnicities and races—via marriages, friendships, and other interactions—has created a peculiar fusion in this country. Its the great mishmash where Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are celebrated in one long festive spirit, where weddings mix Hindi vows with a chuppah, where California-Vietnamese is a cuisine, where Eminem can be black and Beyonce can go blond. And the increasing number of nonwhites getting cosmetic surgery is helping society accelerate from a crawl to a full-bore sprint toward one truly melted, fusion community. There were 11.5 million cosmetic procedures done in 2005, including surgical ones such as face lifts and rhinoplasties and nonsurgical ones such as Botox shots and collagen injections. One out of every five patients was of African, Asian, or Hispanic descent (separate statistics arent available for white versus nonwhite Hispanics). According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the number of minority patients undergoing cosmetic procedures increased from 300,000 in 1997 to 2 million in 2005.  Although the total demand for cosmetic procedures also increased—from 2 million in 1997 to 11.5 million in 2005—the rate of increase for minorities is higher than the overall rate. (Women account for more than nine-tenths of all cosmetic procedures.) Different ethnic and racial groups favor different procedures. Statistics compiled by the AAFPRS show that in 2005, more than six out of every 10 African-Americans getting cosmetic surgery had nose jobs. Unlike rhinoplasties performed on Caucasians, which may fix a crooked bridge or shave off a hump, doctors say African-American and Asian-American nose reshaping usually leads to narrower nostrils, a higher bridge, and a pointier tip. For Asian-Americans, eyelid surgery—either the procedure to create an eyelid fold, often giving the eye a more wide-open appearance, or a regular eye lift to reduce signs of aging—is popular. According to the AAFPRS, 50 percent of Asian patients get eyelid surgery. Dr. Min Ahn, a Westborough-based plastic surgeon who performs Asian eyelid surgery, says only about half of the Asian population is born with some semblance of an eyelid crease. Even if Asians have a preexisting eyelid crease, it is lower and the eyelid is fuller. For those born without the crease, he says, creating the double eyelid is so much a part of the Asian culture right now. Its probable that this procedure is driving the Asian demand for eyelid surgeries. Breast augmentation and rhinoplasty top the list of preferred procedures for patients of Hispanic origin, followed by liposuction. Asian-Americans also choose breast implants, while breast reduction—the one procedure eligible for insurance coverage—is the third most preferred choice for African-American women after nose reshaping and liposuction. Doctors say African-American women typically use liposuction to remove excess fat from their buttocks and hips—two areas in which a disproportionate number of women of this race store fat. The Culture of Self-Improvement Of course, the assimilative nature of society in general has always demanded a certain degree of conformity and adaptation of every group that landed on American shores. People have adjusted in ways small and large—such as by changing their names and learning new social mores. Elizabeth Haiken, a San Francisco Bay area historian and the author of the 1997 book Venus Envy: A History of Cosmetic Surgery, says ethnic minorities may use plastic surgery as a way to fit in to the mainstream, just as another group used it in the early 20th century. The first group to really embrace cosmetic surgery was the Jews, says Haiken. Her research indicates that during the 1920s, when cosmetic surgery first became popular in the United States, being Jewish was equated with being ugly and un-American, and the Jewish nose was the first line of attack. Most rhinoplasties therefore sought to reduce its distinct characteristics and bring it more in line with the preferred straighter shape of the An glo-Saxon nose. That people would go to such extremes to change their appearance should come as no surprise. Going back to early 20th-century culture, there is a deep-seated conviction that you are what you look like, Haiken says. Its not your family, your birth, or your heritage, its all about you. And your looks and appearance and the way you present yourself will determine who you are. In the initial sizing-up, the face is the fortune. Physical beauty becomes enmeshed with success and happiness. Plastic surgeons commonly say that minorities today choose surgery for the same reasons as whites—to empower, better, and preserve themselves. Its the universal desire to maintain youthfulness, and it doesnt change from group to group, says Dr. Frank Fechner, a Worcester-based plastic surgeon. The culture of self-improvement that surrounds Americans has also made plastic surgery more permissible in recent years. Making oneself over—ones home, ones car, ones breasts—is now a part of the American life cycle, writes New York Times columnist Alex Kuczynski in her 2006 book, Beauty Junkies: Inside Our $15 Billion Obsession With Cosmetic Surgery. Doctors have sold us on the notion that surgery is merely part of the journey  toward enhancement, the beauty outside ultimately reflecting the beauty within. Nothing captures this journey better than the swarm of plastic surgery TV shows such as ABCs Extreme Makeover, Foxs The Swan, and FXs Nip/Tuck. These prime-time televised narratives of desperation and triumph, with the scalpel in the starring role of savior, have also helped make plastic surgery more widely accepted. Through sanitized, pain-free, 60-minute capsules showcasing the transformation of ordinary folks, reality TV has sold people on the notion that the C inderella story is a purchasable, everyday experience that everyone deserves. Mei-Ling Hester, a 43-year-old Taiwanese-American hairdresser on Newbury Street, believes in plastic surgery as a routine part of personal upkeep. So when her eyelids started to droop and lose their crease, she rushed to Ahn, the plastic surgeon. He sucked the excess fat out while maintaining, he says, the Asian characteristic of her eyelids. Hester also regularly gets Botox injected into her forehead and is considering liposuction. I feel great inside, she says. With hair tinted a rich brown and eyes without lines or puffiness, her beauty is groomed and serene. I work out, I eat right, I use good products on my face. It was worth it, she says of her surgery. Although Hester says she pursues plastic surgery for betterment and self-fulfillment, she recognizes her privileged status as someone born with the double eyelids and sharper nose so prized in much of the Asian community. I just got lucky, because if you look at my sister, shes got a flat nose. Another sister was born without th e eyelid crease and had it surgically created, says Hester. The concept of the double eyelid as beautiful comes from the West. For many, many years, the standards for beauty have been Western standards that say you have to have a certain shape to the eye, and the eyelid has to have a fold, says Dr. Ioannis Glavas, a facial plastic surgeon specializing in eyelid surgery, with practices in Cambridge, New York City, and Athens. Sometimes, the demand for bigger eyes can be extreme. Glavas recalls one young Asian-American woman he saw who, in addition to wanting a double eyelid procedure, asked him to snip off some of the bottom lid to expose more of the white. I had to say no to her, he says. Glavas says both Asian women and men demand the double eyelid surgery because it is a way of looking less different by reducing an obvious ethnic feature. Presumably, Asian patients arent aiming to look white by getting double eyelids (after all, African-Americans and other minorities have double eyelids), but the goal is social and cultural assimilation, or identification with some dominant aesthetic standard. Across-the-Board Appeal In recent years, the dominant aesthetic standard in American society has moved away from the blond, blue-eyed Caucasian woman to a more ethnically ambiguous type. Glossy magazines are devoting more pages to this melting-pot aesthetic, designed (like the new Barbies) for across-the-board appeal. Todays beautiful woman comes in many colors, from ivory to cappuccino to ebony. Her hair can be dark and kinky, and she might even show off a decidedly curvy derriere—a feature that has actually started to prompt some white women to get gluteal augmentation, or butt implants. However, critics say these are superficial changes to what is essentially a Caucasian-inspired ideal—the big-eyed, narrow-nosed, pillow-lipped, large-breasted, boyishly thin apparition. There has been a subtle change in the kind of models you see in Victorias Secret catalogs or Vogue, says Dr. Fred Stucker, the head of facial plastic surgery at Louisiana State University, Shreveport. But they take the black girl who has the high cheekbones, narrow nose, and pouty lips. Its not uncommon, he says, to find a white face with dark skin. Going by the recent surge of minorities demanding plastic surgery, it is plausible that this attempt by canny marketers and media types to promote a darker-skinned but still relatively uniform ideal is working. After all, they are simply following the money. According to the University of Georgias Selig Center for Economic Growth, which compiles an annual report on the multicultural economy in the United States, minorities had a combined buying power of several trillion dollars in 2006. In 2007, the  disposable income of Hispanics is expected to rise to $863 billion, while African-Americans will collectively have $847 billion to spend. By 2010, Asians are expected to have buying power totaling $579 billion. And all of these groups are showing a greater willingness to spend it on themselves and the things they covet, including cosmetic surgery. Katie Marcial represents exactly this kind of person. The 50-year-old African-American is newly single, holds a well-paying job in Boston, and has no qualms about spending between $10,000 and $20,000 on a tummy tuck and breast surgery. Im doing this mainly because Im economically able to do so, says Marcial, a Dorchester resident whose clear skin and youthful attire belie her age. With her three children all grown, her money is hers to spend. I can indulge in a little vanity, she says. Marcial says she chose a young, Asian-American doctor to perform her surgery because I thought she would know the latest techniques and be sensitive to ethnic skin. Historically, plastic surgery has been tailored to Caucasian women. Glavas says that in medical texts, the measurements of symmetry and balance—two widely recognized preconditions of beauty—were made with Caucasian faces in mind. Such practices led to a general sense among minorities that plastic surgery was for whites and kept them away from tinkering with their faces and bodies. But even as the industry now adapts to its new customers, plastic surgeons are divided over whether surgical specialization in various ethnicities and races necessarily caters better to the needs of minority patients. Dr. Julius Few, a plastic surgeon at Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine, hails the fact that plastic surgeons are customizing their procedures to focus on minorities, so its not just the one-size-fits-all mentality of saying, well, if somebodys coming in, regardless, theyre going to look Northern European coming out. He even sees a sort of subspecialty emerging in various ethnic procedures. Meanwhile, Dr. Jeffrey Spiegel, who is chief of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at Boston University Medical Center and has a large number of nonwhite patients, is skeptical of the notion of specialization in ethnic and racial cosmetic surgery. It strikes me more as a marketing tool  than a real specialization, he says. In 1991, Michael Jackson crooned It dont matter if youre black or white. Jacksons message about transcending race may have won singalong supporters, but his plastic surgeries did not. His repeated nose jobs and lightened skin color (he has maintained he is not bleaching but is using makeup to cover up the signs of vitiligo, a skin condition) were perceived by minorities—especially African-Americans—as an attempt to look white. Doctors say that Dont make me look like Michael Jackson is a popular refrain among patients. People were put off by dramatic surgeries and preferred subtle changes, says Shektman, the Wellesley-based plastic surgeon. The New Melting-Pot Aesthetic Choices have expanded since then. Minorities can now hold themselves up against more ethnically and racially ambiguous role models that may still trace their roots to the once-dominant Caucasian standard but are becoming more composite and blended. The concept of ideal beauty is moving toward a mix of ethnic features, says plastic surgeon Ahn, a Korean-American who is married to a Caucasian. And I think its better. The push toward ethnic and racial ambiguity should perhaps be expected, because the cultural churn in American society is producing it anyway. Sure, promoting ambiguous beauty is a strategic move on the part of marketing gurus to cover their bases and appeal to all groups. But its also a reflection of reality. Not only are minorities expected to make up about half the American population by 2050, but the number of racially mixed people is increasing tremendously. The number of mixed-race children has been growing enough since the 1970s that in 2000 the Census Bureau created a new section in which respondents could self-identify their race; nearly 7 million people (2.4 percent of the population) identified themselves as belonging to more than one race. For minorities, this new melting-pot beauty aesthetic—perhaps the only kind of aesthetic standard that befits a multiethnic and multicultural society—is  an achievable and justifiable goal. Increasingly, advertisements use models whose blue eyes and dreadlocked hair or almond-shaped eyes and strong cheekbones leave you wondering about their ethnic origins. The ambiguous model might have been dreamed up on a computer or picked from the street. But advertisers value her because she is a blended product—someone everyone can identify with because she cannot be immediately defined by race or ethnicity. By surgically blending or erasing the most telling ethnic or racial characteristics, cosmetic surgery makes ambiguity possible and allows people of various ethnicities and races to fit in. For the Jewish community in the 1920s, fitting in may have had to do with imitating a Caucasian beauty ideal. For minorities today, its a melting-pot beauty ideal that is uniquely A merican. How appropriate this ambiguity is, in a culture that expects conformity even as it celebrates diversity. Das, Anupreeta. Cosmetic Surgery Is Moving Toward Multiethnic Beauty Ideals. The Culture of Beauty. Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from The Search for Beautiful. Boston Globe 21 Jan. 2007. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. Document URL http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?failOverType=query=prodId=OVICwindowstate=normalcontentModules=mode=viewdisplayGroupName=ViewpointsdviSelectedPage=limiter=currPage=disableHighlighting=displayGroups=sortBy=zid=search_within_results=p=OVICaction=ecatId=activityType=scanId=documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010659218source=Bookmarku=lawr16325jsid=8af464626ea9692fea0cb02ef9c121a3 Gale Document Number: GALE|EJ3010659218

Green Marketing And Ethical Consumerism Marketing Essay

Green Marketing And Ethical Consumerism Marketing Essay Green marketing refers to the process of selling products and/or services based on their environmental benefits. Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly in itself or produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendly way. It takes advantage of customers willingness to purchase, and sometimes pay a premium for products that provide private benefits as well as public environmental benefits. This market place is predicted to grow by $845 billion by 2015, categories within the green market place are ; sustainable economy (green buildings), healthy life style, ecological life style(eco tourism). Top reasons why green consumers consume these green products are; to ensure a safer environment, protect and conserve natural resources, consistency with moral, ethics and personal beliefs. Green marketing targets such customers under the assumption that they will pay a premium for environmentally-preferable, or green, electricity products, and the development of this customer driven market has been heralded by some as offering significant, new, market-based opportunities for renewables. (Nakarado, 1996). In the marketing literature, there is a growing consensus that the green market is significant and that companies can profit by improving environmental performance and developing green products. But not all green products are successful in garnering customer interest, and customer surveys of attitudes toward, and even intended purchase of, green products often substantially overestimate actual product demand (Kempton, 1993). Ethical consumerism has to do with the purchase of products and services that consumers view as ethical, this consumption of such goods and services is intentional as most consumers are interested in purchasing goods that has an ethical brand, and one of the definition of what makes an ethical brand to a consumer are products of companies that promotes the environment. Ethical consumerism by some people is seen as a way of life An increasing number of people have begun to realize that it is often possible to do far less damage to the environment simply by taking more care over what goes into the shopping basket. This can be related to ethical consumerism, which includes buying foods produced under environmentally sustainable methods , buying coffee and other goods procured via fair-trade arrangements; boycotting companies that use sweatshop labor; favoring products with low carbon emissions (hybrid vehicles, Energy Star appliances); recycling diligently; shunning products with wasteful attributes (bottled water); buying animal products only from suppliers that use humane husbandry methods (cage-free eggs). Recent studies consistently report that a large number of residential customers (40-70%) express a willingness to pay a 5-15% premium for green products (Farhar and Houston, 1996). While this is the case, some consumers also find these green goods too expensive and these producers actually claim that the extra prices reflect the extra cost involved, but refuse to discuss their profits margins. The rapidly growing body of literature on consumer willingness-to-pay for products associated with more sustainable resource exploitation sends out a pessimistic message regarding the market potential for green (kempen et al, 2009), In a scenario like in the third world countries, most people are not willing to pay an extra premium to purchase green / ethical products. Different studies on developing countries concerning green consumerism have also showed that people in developing countries have a negative willingness to pay for green products, for example; Bonsu and Zwick (2007) concluded that Ghanaian consumers exhibit lower levels of ethics compared with Western counterparts, which suggests that ethical markets are not very likely to prosper in this country. Goswami (2008) found that only a small segment of consumers- wealthier liberal professionals-is positively motivated to preferentially buy eco-labelled clothing in India, supporting the proposition that only few (richer) consumers in developing countries may be ready to pay a premium for green products. Nonetheless, Mohamed and Ibrahim (2007) found that 32% of their sample of Malaysian consumers would be willing to pay a premium for environmentally certified wood products and that the average premium for this subgroup would amount to a sizeable 14.4%. The assumption underlying these conclusions is that consumers from developing countries cannot afford to care about the ethical profile of their consumption; specifically they are just too poor to be green. They are some factors that affect ethical consumption and they include income; goods that are environmental friendly are more costly than regular goods, so the propensity to consume these goods will rise with income. Conversely, ethical consumption practices that are intensive in time rather than money (e.g. recycling and reusing materials, commuting via public transportation) may tend to decline with income, (Starr, 2009 p.918). 2. Age: Younger people are generally more involved in the participation of the environmental friendly world, because having been educated more recently, there is a high possibility that they may have a better grasp of problems related to the environment and global warming than older people, so that the value they attach to consuming ethically would be higher than that of the old people. 3. Income: Controlling for income and other factors, education could be expected to raise the likelihood that a person consumes ethically, due to the advantages in acquiring and processing information on social, ethical and environmental issues that it confers, thereby lowering its extra costs over regular consumption. (Starr, 2009 p.918). But everything boils down to the income of the individual, because they may be aware of the benefits of purchasing these products to the environment but have inadequate income to purchase these goods. Social Norms: People are more likely to consume ethically when they live in an area in which it is relatively common, this shows the influence of the immediate environment in ethical consumption. Starr found a positive relationship between these factors listed above and buying ethically, first, buying ethically is positively associated with education, consistent with education conferring efficiency advantages in acquiring and processing information about social, ethical and environmental implications of individual consumption decisions, Second, buying ethically is also positively affected by income, consistent with its extra costs being less prohibitive for those with less binding budget constraints. (Starr, 2009 p.924) The bandwagon effect associated with ethical consumerism is a very missed blessing (Irvine, p.3), and there is a risk of consumers being seriously manipulated in ways like , some companies are more interested in cleaning up their image rather than their act, also some unscrupulous businesses are only interested to rip off a green consumer through unreasonable high prices on environmental- friendly products, another issue is the middle man who is standing between the producers and the would be green consumer is the advertising industry, these advertising industries exploit these green consumers, most of the adverts about environmental products are deliberately misleading and some others are false, governments are not even helping matters by providing necessary information in order for consumers to make appropriate choices, words such as natural, real, environmental friendly have become thoroughly polluted through misuse, all in the aim to increase the sale of a particular product, the reby misleading the consumers to think they are buying these products in order to protect their environment. They are factors that have resulted in green marketing, and they include; first environmental law: It draws from and is influenced by principles of environmentalism, including ecology, conservation, stewardship, responsibility and sustainability. Most governments favour incentives to favor economic incentives to encourage o=consumers and industries to behave in ways that do little harm to the environment. Most of these enviromental laws requite theses comanies to protect their enviorments, so these leads to green marketing opprtunities. Second, damage on the environment and its awareness through the media: individuals seek to want to protect the environment, and they are very sensitive to the issues of the environment, like the damage of the ozone layer of the earth, global warming, acid rain and reaching the limits of sand fills, and with the help of the media reports of these natural disasters are made known to the general public, freilich, (1989 p.45), found out that events and th reats influence consumers behaviors. Hardly a day passes without a mention of issues that has to do with environmental damage and a study in the United Kingdom found that the wood green was used 3617 times in some newspapers and five years later, it was mentioned 30,777 times (Smith, 1990, p. 77) this shows more than 60% increment and this was 20 years ago, probably it will be mentioned more than 100,000 times now. Thirdly, public opinion and Social concern for the environment: Public opinion in both Europe and the United States of America, as influenced by environmental damage, media coverage, has led to actions to protect the environment (Gazda and Lampe, 1995. Pp.298). public opinion concerning the environments shows an increasing support and need to clean up the environment. Fourthly, the need for greening of businesses: due to public concerns of the environment, these concerns have led to potent forced for the environment for the environment including green consumerism( the use of individual consumer preference to promote less environmentally damaging products and services) and green political power( environmental political party, for example, the United kingdom greens party, Australian greens party and the, Germany green party), these forces and pressures from investors, governments, consumers has been major catalyst for the greening of the business, it has also put pressures on retailers (particularly supermarkets) to meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly products. In the world now, socially responsible investing is a growing trend; most individual and investors will avoid companies with poor environmental criteria, a study by commissioned by the Michael peters group found that 77% of Americans said a companys environmental reputation affects what they buy (Kirkpatrick, 1990, p45). Because of this most companies have taken up environmental cause, like recycling, innovations of new technologies for environmental protection. All these issues has led to green marketing in one way or the other , either collectively or individually. conclusion The obvious assumption of green marketing is that potential consumers will view a product or services greenness as a benefit and base their buying decision accordingly. The not-so-obvious assumption of green marketing is that consumers will be willing to pay more for green products than they would for a less-green comparable alternative product an assumption that, in my opinion, has not been proven conclusively. Green marketing has not lived up to the hopes and dreams of many managers and activists. Although public opinion polls consistently show that consumers would prefer to choose a green product over one that is less friendly to the environment when all other things are equal, those other things are rarely equal in the minds of consumers. How then, should companies handle the dilemmas associated with green marketing? They must always keep in mind that consumers are unlikely to compromise on traditional product attributes, such as convenience, availability, price, quality and performance. Its even more important to realize, however, that there is no single green-marketing strategy that is right for every company. It is suggested that companies should follow one of four strategies, depending on market and competitive conditions, from the relatively passive and silent lean green approach to the more aggressive and visible extreme green approach with defensive green and shaded green in betw een. Managers who understand these strategies and the underlying reasoning behind them will be better prepared to help their companies benefit from an environmentally friendly approach to marketing.

Ethical Challenges in Consent to Research Participation

Ethical Challenges in Consent to Research Participation Belmont Report (basic principles underlying the ethical challenges): Autonomy respect for persons beneficence justice [AS1]What should participants understand to understand they are participants in research? (Wendler et al. 2008). In order for a participant to give valid consent, the PIL at minimum should include 20 elements as detailed out in section 4.8.10 of ICH GCP guidelines so that comprehensive information is provided to them. The CIOMS guideline lists 26 essential elements to informed consent. Hence, this question encompasses one of the major ethical challenges faced during the consenting process. According to participants perspective, is all the information included in the PIL relevant to their decision-making? It is often noticed in practice that participants feel overwhelmed by the information provided to them, and as a consequence they skim over information which they feel is not applicable or relevant to them. But then the next question arises, what about the elements that are considered non-relevant by the patient? Does it contain important information which the patients would otherwise be missing out on? As result it is unclear as to what should be the adequate content of the PILs to satisfy the needs of the patient and delivering the minimum sufficient (encompassing all perspectives) information at the same time. Failure to find a balance in this respect might undermine the validity of potential participants consent is it as informed consent or not? Fortun et al. 2008 noted that participant recall and understanding of clinical trial information was poor despite a comprehensive 13 page PIL. A systematic review also highlighted that providing patients with more information results in lower participation rates (Edwards et al. 1998) To determine what information potential participants need to understand in order to give valid informed consent, it is useful to identify the purpose or justification for requiring consent in the first place. Once we answer this question, we can then determine what information individuals need to realize this purpose or goal (Wendler et al. 2008). Informed consent serves at least two purposes. First, the requirement for informed consent allows competent individuals to understand whether participation in research is consistent with their interests. Second, informed consent allows individuals to decide for themselves whether they will enrol in the study in question. For this purpose, potential participants should be provided with the information they want to decide whether to enrol in the study, which goes back to our earlier challenge of the content of consent. Not[AS2] just the content of PIL, but the quality of its content should also come under ethical scrutiny. Both the content and its quality together will help the patient to make a reasoned choice. In order to truly understand something, one must exercise two capacities (which together constitute the meaning of decisional capacity in healthcare) the capacity to understand the meaning of the information provided, and the capacity to appreciate the relevance of this information to ones own situation and come to a decision [Iltis, 2006, 181]. In terms of the actual words used in PIL, the complexity of the technical language in which consent forms are written remains a problem, though this can easily be remedied. (Macklin). But its not just that. Its even the simple terms like describing research using other terms, for example, explaining that the project involves a study or a clinical trial, seems unlikely to help those who do not already understand research. For example, a potential participant understands the studys risks, potential benefits, procedures, and alternatives. What else should the patient understand to understand that the project in which they are being invited to participate involves research? And what additional information should investigators disclose to help them understand this fact? Another facet to this linguistic challenge is when considering translation to local (or regional language). For example, some languages do not include a word for research. Does it follow, as some commentators speculate, that these individuals cannot understand that a study involves research, hence, may not be able to provide valid informed consent? At the other extreme, explaining every aspect of clinical research seems impractical, if not impossible. Understanding the history of clinical research and its abuses alone might require a lifetime of study. Between the insufficiently minimalist and impossibly maximalist extremes lie many questions, and the need for guidance. Must investigators disclose and must potential participants understand the scientific design of the study? Do they need to understand that the study is phase I, and how that differs from phase II and phase III studies? Too much information can be as bad as too little; both tend to interfere with the ability of research participants to grasp what is relevant Macklin et al. After the information has been provided, the next question is, has the information been received? As Nijhawan et al. states, it is very difficult to evaluate a participants viewpoint about trial since there is no established method to measure the level of understanding that a participant has about the information given. There are various factors involved in this. A participants level of understanding would be affected by a degree of misunderstanding that can occur because of incorrect or inadequate language translations as well as their level of education. (Ferguson, 2002) The national and international guidelines state that the comprehension of PIL should be accessible to a 12 year old. However, only 50% of patients feel that the provided information is clear and concise, with many patients having to read the document numerous times to gain a grasp of the medical terms contained within the PIL. There is also considerable debate about patients perception of the goal of research, which is termed as Therapeutic Misconception in an article by Appelbaum et al. It states that a further difficulty arises from the failure to distinguish between experimental research and therapeutic medicine in the context of clinical research. Surveys have shown that many patients who are enrolled as subjects develop the misconception that the goal of the research is a therapeutic one, and they agree to be enrolled in the often unrealistic hope that they will benefit directly from participation in the study which yet again undermines the validity of informed consent. Another [AS3]related difficulty involves the widespread variation in subjects comprehension and appreciation of the nature of risk. The Belmont Report reminds investigators that they have responsibility for ensuring that the subject has comprehended the information provided to them, and that the obligation to ascertain that the subject has adequately understood the nature of the risk entailed by the research increases in proportion to the seriousness of the risk (Section C). Studies have shown that most adults have a limited ability to think in terms of probabilities and to appreciate risk, even when steps are taken to enhance their understanding [Iltis, 2006, 181, 185]. It is generally agreed that the amount of information provided should be based on the typical reasonable adults understanding of risk, although there is much disagreement about how to define this, given that interpretations of both linguistic and numerical ways of expressing the possibility of risk vary considerably, as does the amount of risk different people are willing to assume. Moreover, what might be risky for one person, it necessarily wont be the same for another. While the investigator can provide the prospective participant with scientific data relating to types and probability of risk in order to assist her in making a decision, it is the value they attach to risk which will ultimately determine whether or not they chooses to participate. Thus great care has to be taken to ens ure that research risks and potential adverse events are presented to prospective participants as unambiguously as possible. Then [AS4]again there are problems relating to research involving vulnerable populations, some of whom may have diminished or impaired mental capacity and may not be capable of providing consent at all. (Macklin) A balance needs to be established between the obligation to protect more vulnerable or less autonomous research participants, on one hand, and, on the other, the need to conduct research involving minors and persons with reduced mental capacity in order to provide these populations with access to results or interventions which may benefit them clinically. Persons with diminished mental capacity and children who have not yet reached decisional maturity should not be automatically denied the benefits of medical research, but neither should they be excluded without justification from decisions made about whether or not they become involved in research. What is crucial is that additional safeguards be put in place to ensure that these groups are protected from exploitation, in particular while explaining the nature of the research when obtaining their consent. Where this is not possible, and it is felt that the research has sufficient clinical value to proceed, stringent requirements f or obtaining proxy or surrogate consent should be put in place. Consent forms should reflect this need for additional protection. [task article] Given the current socio-legal research environment, it is difficult to know whether, in practice, researchers and research review bodies err in overestimating or underestimating the decisional capacities of persons with mental illness. Either type of systematic error can be costly. Allowing persons with mental illness to participate on the basis of defective consent would violate the most basic ethical tenets governing human research and can amount to exploitation. Yet, by erring too much in the other direction-that is, by overemphasizing the vulnerabilities of persons with mental illness-researchers and review bodies could unfairly exclude competent individuals with mental illness from opportunities to participate in research. The ethical costs of excluding willing individuals with mental illness from participating in research are not sufficiently emphasized. Unjustified exclusion from research, however well intended, is a form of discrimination. Moreover, in the abse nce of adequate research on the most severe forms of mental illness, individuals with these illnesses are relegated to receiving treatments for which there is only inferential evidence of efficacy. For these reasons, a major ethical challenge for psychiatrists and other professionals engaged in mental illness research is to develop ethical principles and practices for selecting research participants that ensure proper respect and protection without reinforcing incorrect assumptions about individuals with mental disorders. Another major ethical challenge faced during obtaining consent is assessing the patients voluntariness. Macklin et al. paper questions, can the complete voluntariness of patients decisions to participate in research always be guaranteed, especially when the person conducting the research is the patients own physician? Objective of a researcher is to perform systematic investigations involving human beings to develop generalizable knowledge whereas as a practitioner their focus is on diagnosing and treating the illness in individual or group to meet their health needs. So an interesting, albeit ethical, dilemma arises. Should the physician fulfil their sole obligation of focusing on the well-being of the patient, yet in the context of trial conduct, the physician (now an investigator) has competing obligation to generate high quality data. The trial distracts from good personal care. Declaration of Helsinki 2000 Article 28 says: The physician may combine medical research with medical care, only to the extent that the research is justified by its potential prophylactic, diagnostic or therapeutic value. When medical research is combined with medical care, additional standards apply to protect the patients who are research subjects. [macklin] There are problems concerning the way research is presented to patients who are potential subjects when the investigator is faced with such a dual role. When researchers are also clinicians caring for their patients, they face a conflict of interest that is non-financial. The need to accrue a sufficient number of patients in a study could affect the way a researcher conducts the informed consent process. Patients tend to trust their doctors, even when the intervention is research rather than a treatment proven to be effective. Practically in such a situation, patients often rely on the responsible doctor for decisions about whether to take part in a research study, the treatment available and its associated risks, despite the information available in the PIL [Bjorn et. Al, 1999] Hence, a sense of patience and training as a researcher is required from the investigators end. Investigators should receive education in research ethics that addresses rules and norms governing research; sensitivity to ethical implications of decisions and actions; and skills in ethical problem solving, including ascertainment and disclosure of conflicts of interest. [task article] Conclusion: Informed Consent is not enough. There are multi-factorial challenges to this single concept. With subject populations that are mostly medically naive and for whom the whole concept of clinical research and the umpteen terms and concepts associated with it are alien; the true essence of an informed and autonomous decision is fundamentally lost. The consent process thus gets reduced to mainly a narration-followed-by-signature process. Over the last few years, this gap in principles and practices of ethics and consent has been acknowledged and innovative concepts and attempts are being fostered, to make the informed consent process more ethical. Pranati et al. [AS1]Information Overload [AS2]Language Barrier [AS3]Comprehension and perception [AS4]Vulnerable patients

Essay --

Dylan Kippola AMH2010 Feb, 2014 Kinston Hangings In the early hours of February 2, 1864, fifty-three North Carolina men were captured by Confederate forces under the command of Major General Pickett. Within four months of their capture, most would be dead. Most would fall victim to the diseases acquired in Southern P.O.W camps in Richmond, Virginia, and Andersonville, Georgia. However, twenty-two were publicly hanged in Kinston, North Carolina. The wives, neighbors, friends, and former brothers in arms in the Confederate army were forced to watch the executions. From the Confederacies point of view, the executed men were Union soldiers because they deserted. Once captured, they deserved to be treated as prisoners of war. President Abraham Lincoln mentioned this on July 31, 1863. He ordered retaliation on the enemy prisoners in the North’s possession. His response was to kill a Southern P.O.W for every P.O.W the Confederacy killed. The Confederates argued that the men were simply deserters and therefore execution was a legiti mate punishment for them. Desertion was most apparent in North Carolina. North Carolina was contradictory in both providing more soldiers to the Confederate army than any other state and of having more deserters from the army than other states. Although North Carolinian disloyalty to the Confederacy was not any worse than other Southern states, it was more publicly pronounced. North Carolina was the last to secede and did so only after a statewide vote of the people. Because desertion was not a crime in the state, citizens who housed and protected deserters felt safe from arrest for hiding them. It was said that the deserters could band together and defy the officers of the law who came after them because of t... ...e placed over the heads of the condemned and they were hanged. Joining their other deserters. The thirteen remaining condemned men had four days to sit in the jail's dungeon to think about their deaths that would take place on Monday, February 15th. Chaplain Paris described the scene in a letter that appeared shortly afterward in the North Carolina Presbyterian and the Wilmington Journal: "I made my first visit to them as chaplain on Sunday morning. The scene beggars all description. Some of them were comparatively young men. But they made the fatal mistake. They had only twenty-four hours to live.... Here was a wife to say farewell to a husband forever. Here a mother to take the last look at her ruined son, and then a sister who had come to embrace for the last time the brother who had brought disgrace upon the very name she bore by his treason to his country."

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Essay -- Papers

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, depicts a vivid reality of the hardships endured by the African American culture in the period of slavery. One of the many things shown in Frederick's narrative is how slaves, in their own personal way, resisted their masters authority. Another is how slaves were able to create their own autonomous culture within the brutal system in which they were bound. There are many examples in the narrative where Frederick tries to show the resistance of the slaves. The resistors did not go unpunished though, they were punished to the severity of death. Fredrick tells of these instances with a startling sense of casualness, which seems rather odd when comprehending the content of them. He does this though, not out of desensitization, but to show that these were very commonplace things that happened all over the South at the time. One example that Frederick mentioned in the subject of resistance of the slaves against the masters is when he was under the charge of Mr. Gore. A slave by the name of Demby was getting whipped for a mistake he made. After Demby received but a few stripes he ran and jumped into a creek to the depth of his shoulders and refused to come out. This took great bravery considering Mr. Gore had a famous reputation for being nasty to slaves. Demby was given to the count of three to get out of the creek or he was to be shot, knowing the consequences Demby still refused to get out. He was then shot in the face by Mr. Gore with a musket. Demby truly resisted his master at the greatest cost he could have paid, his life. Another example given by Frederick in his narrative of how slaves were able to ... ...laves to be drunk during this time; in fact, they often got angry if they weren't drunk. Frederick feels that the master tries to make the slaves sick of freedom during this holiday time, by showing them only the abuse of it rather than the good. There was also a mention of a couple of "classes" among the black slaves. Slaves, from the viewpoint of Frederick, I feel, had a sort of "slave-class". The richer your master was the higher class you were, the poorer your master was the lower class you were. "To be a poor man's slave was a disgrace indeed!", was what Frederick mentioned of the issue. As you can see Frederick Douglass provided many glimpses into the world of slavery in his narrative. He showed many different examples of how slaves were able to resist their masters and create their own autonomous culture within the brutal system of slavery.

Language: The Fatal Weapon in Othello Essay

Language is especially tricky because of all the possibilities it can manage. â€Å"Be quiet† versus â€Å"Shut up† is one example of the power that language holds. Rumors are another example of how powerful language can be when it passes through a certain set of ear lobes; some people are shattered by the rumors floating around about them. Othello is a play that takes the intricacies of language—the way something is said versus what is actually being said—to show the dire consequences put into effect when someone hears something a certain way. The following three passages will examine how language hides and reveals something about Othello, Iago and Desdemona, and how it is ultimately the downfall of the characters. Jealous Iago uses language like a cunning fox, hiding behind his words to get to his prey. Othello in turn is easily deceived, himself jealous and paranoid because of the viral words strategically planted throughout. In the third scene of the third act, Iago’s use of language makes him very visible to the audience—by this point the audience is well aware that Iago is jealous of Othello, but eager nonetheless to hide this fact from Othello. But it is this scene that most reveals Iago to the world, when Iago may not be at all visible to himself. Saying of jealousy, â€Å"It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock/The meat it feeds on† (166-167). Iago may be jealous of Othello by this point in the play, but he seems either unaware of it or in denial of it. To speak of jealousy in this way directly to Othello—the object of his envy—is to suggest that Iago may not be fully conscious of his own jealousy. Perhaps if Iago were to realize what he was saying, he might have changed course and decided against pointing a finger at Cassio. Yet clearly he goes on, â€Å"That cuckold lives in bliss/Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger† (166-168). Iago could very well be describing himself here, ignorant of his own jealousy toward Othello, whom he obviously does not truly love. He is hiding not only from Othello but from himself as well, but psychologically he is rather apparent to the audience, for which Othello will unknowingly kill. Desdemona’s language reveals her purity even when faced with accusations, even when she is unsure of what exactly she is being accused. When Othello tells her she must die by his hand, when her sins are her love for him, and before he tells her why he must kill her, she says, â€Å"These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope,/They do not point on me† (45-46). She knows he is accusing her of something, but in her pure love for Othello she dares to hope that he is not charging her. Here she is hiding from herself, knowing full well that, â€Å"Some bloody passion shakes your very frame† (44) means that Othello is indeed pointing on her for some crime. Desdemona’s purity, revealed through her speech, further enrages Othello, for in his jealousy he sees her shock and fear as further proof that he must kill her for dishonoring him and their marriage. The audience, however, is fully aware of Desdemona’s purity and honesty; honesty in the marital sense to Othello, even if she is not honest with herself at this crucial time. This self-deception reveals how pure her love is by showing how she does become self-righteous or quick to anger and resentment. In the face of an unjustified accusation and obvious mistrust, Desdemona stands her ground in her love, taking her punishment though protesting it, â€Å"That death’s unnatural that kills for loving† (42). Yet she dies for loving. Othello shows through his speech how utterly ignorant and blind he has been throughout the play, â€Å"O vain boast! /Who can control his fate? tis not so now† (264-265). Here he is resigned to his fate, to falling to his weaknesses despite his obvious strengths, â€Å"Here is my journey’s end† (267). For killing Desdemona he feels incredible guilt, and does not wish to go on. This reveals Othello’s regret, and in turn reveals his acknowledgement of wrongdoing and sorrow at his actions. Othello could very well have stuck to Iago’s story without implicating himself, but through his jealousy he was able to see that Emilia was telling the truth, and for that he is truly sorry. Language is the fatal weapon in Othello. Jealous Iago uses it to verbally plant seeds of doubt and jealousy into Othello’s mind. Desdemona in turn can say nothing to save herself from Othello’s jealous rage. Othello himself ultimately realizes he was duped by it into killing the woman he loved and who loved him in return. The subtle complexities of language can turn a normally level headed person into a foaming, jealous beast who mistrusts his gut, and Othello was no exception.

A Critique on the Blank Slate Essay

in that location atomic number 18 three doctrines which feel win sacred status in contemporary intellectual life. The Blank Slate, a secrete translation of the medieval Latin bound tabula rasa, scraped tablet, commonly attributed to John Locke which delves into the opposing of governmental status quos and social arrangements, stating mainly that the call backing is like a sheet of sporty paper void of all char effecters and ideas, render with words through pose it denounced the differences analyzen among speeds, including the basis of slain truth as slaves could no s eve-day be thought of as inherently inferior, ethnic groups, sexes and individuals for the differences come not from the innate constitution but from the differences in the experiences. It is thus fitting to think of the capitulum that course as the promontory is like a blank sheet of paper change only through experience. only it is safe to prescribe that not only experience that raise fill i t but alike pre conceptions and expectations of the ordering.Another doctrine is The fearful Savage, commonly attributed to philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, inspired by the European colonists husking of the indigenous in the New land it stated the opinion that savages were solitary, with off ties of love or loyalty and without any industry or art. It also captures the belief that humans in their natural state are selfless, peaceful and untroubled and that negative emotions such(prenominal) as greed and jealousy are products of civilization, a concept which debased Thomas Hobbes belief that man is naturally inhuman and requires a regular system of police to be resolved. Looking at it from a face-to-face angle, I would say that I so wizr learn with Hobbes only on one aspect man is naturally cruel if he isnt, then how is it that our history has been mar with the blood of millions of people who have died because of a single man who could not tackle his malice, i.e. Hitler. Even in our everyday life, we portion out to impress upon other people our wrong genius, even if in a impartial way.But that does not specify that we desire to surrender our lives to leviathan control for I debate that we can change our nature, no progeny how far back we may convergem. As the last doctrine states, we are not merely machines with gears and springs, we are our minds and thus we have the ability to think and choose our give birth decisions. The last doctrine, attributed to Rene Descartes, is perhaps the most intelligent of all The Ghost in the Machine. Our mind exists because we know how to think and the very act of doing so proves it. Our bodies existence however may be doubted for we may simply be overbold spirits who merely ideate that we are incarnate. Add to that a righteous bonus the belief that the mind is a different kind of thing from the luggage compartment. And what makes it authentically intriguing is the fact that philosophers argue as to when the ghost enters the body, during the start of the fertilization when the spermatozoan cell fertilizes the formal cell and creates the zygote or when it has become a fetus ready to be borne into the world.Certainly it is an end comparable to the question, Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Philosophically answering the question would name to another question, what is meant by came first? as all philosophical questions go. These doctrines have so do the world that it has left fingerprints, from Walt Disney to the source president of the United States, George W. Bush. And even for a simple student like me who has latterly come across the subject, I can say that I have already thought of such concepts even without narration it before, or at least I have thought about the idea of the Noble Savage and the Blank Slate. Yet as I read the concept of the Ghost in the Machine, I was very much in awe for I have never, in my whole xvi years of existence, thought of such a thing. And what really accumulations to me is the fact that Descartes claims that we are our minds and that our body may merely be an go through we have formed as immaterial beings.Even Buddha thought so, stating that We are shaped by our thoughts we become what we think I have long doubted the ideas of ghosts and reading of such a concept, especially in a subject such as this, makes me wonder how the philosopher conceived such an idea. Thinking of it gives me shivers as it implies that we are beings far greater than we imagined. And as corking as it may sound, I think it appeals to mans egotistic nature we as humans who have through things, good and evil, try to look for a sound explanation to ease our consciences.I cannot say that the idea does not appeal to me yet I cannot also say that I do agree with it on the other hand, of the three doctrines, I agree the most with the doctrine of The Noble Savage. I do believe that in our lawful nature, we are savages but that does not mean that we did not know how to control ourselves thus it would seem that the Native Americans, the specific race of people that the Europeans based the doctrine of The Noble Savage on, had a better society than we did they were less barbaric, no employment problems and center abuse, even crime was nearly nonexistent.And even if there were hard times, life was unquestionably stable and predictable. And yet that in itself was the case why man chose to come out of his savage nature he treasured adventure, twist and turns in his life he wanted to feel the thrill of living. in that location is nothing wrong with that but for every choice there is a expenditure to pay and the price we paid was spicy even if it remains to be seen whether it was worthy it or not. However that is not liberal reason to turn over our dispense with will to an autonomous control doing so would merely undermine the choices we have do for our civilization. Besides, our lives are meant to be lived ful ly and some(prenominal) choices we make, we must stand by it and see it to the end.Our mind, no matter how it started or any(prenominal) way it really is, is a irradiation for us to live our lives as we see fit. We must learn to harness our authorized potential to make sure that whatsoever choices we make would produce positive ripples that would be felt in the distant futurity to help the coming generations. As Plutarch said, The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a burn off to be kindled.