Albert Camus The Stranger: Existentialism and Absurdism Essay

Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one’s acts. This philosophy is essentially the crux of the novel The Stranger and not only serves as one of the themes but probably the main reason Albert Camus wrote the book altogether. Presented in first person narration through the eyes of Meursault, the indifferent and apathetic main character, the novel serves to evoke the creed of existentialism through the embodiment of the philosophy in a person. Meursault’s speech, thought, and actions are what Camus believed a person who innately possessed the tenets of existentialism would have. Existentialism, what it represents, the results of its embodiment in a person, and the validity of the doctrine altogether are all important aspects explored in The Stranger by Albert Camus. â€Å"Maman died today or yesterday maybe, I don’t know†. These opening lines of the novel serve not only to introduce the novel but to summarize it as well. Rather than focusing on what is important-his mother’s death-Meursault is focused on when exactly she died; whether it was yesterday or today, since the telegraph only stated the funeral would be tomorrow. Right away, within the very first sentence, the reader is introduced to existentialism incarnate. Meursault exhibits a complete and utter indifference to life manifested by a profound lack of emotion. He doesn’t care when his mother died, in fact the fact that he has to attend the funeral altogether is the most troubling part of this whole ordeal to him. When he finally gets to the funeral, he couldn’t care less about his mother-as he rejects the offer to open the casket-but is utterly consumed by the days heat. Camus does a great job in the first part of the novel of demonstrating to the reader not only the philosophy of existentialism, but a corporal representation of it as well. This corporal representation of existentialism is what makes The Stranger the unique book it is. As opposed to the multitude of books and manifestos approaching existentialism from an academic perspective, The Stranger approaches the philosophy by detailing a character with the belief innately in him and showing how someone like this might behave. Neither the external world in which Meursault lives nor the internal world of his thoughts and attitudes possesses any rational order. Meursault has no discernable reason for his actions, such as his decision to marry Marie and his decision to kill the Arab. The book, narrated by Meursault, is basically life detailed superficially by him. He talks about the weather, the food he’s eating, about the things he did that day rather than how he feels or thinks of other people, places and things. This is how a person consumed with existentialism would behave and think-indifferently and apathetically. Meursault passes no judgment on people and is ultimate executed for killing an Arab for no apparent reason. The philosophy or theory of Existentialism is somewhat controversial, but nonetheless in many respects it has some notable and legitimate points. If one were to truly take a look at the universe, it would seem purposeless. And humans do in fact possess the innate desire, or rather compulsion, to explain things and have things figured out-thus explaining their need to associate a purpose with the universe, even when it doesn’t necessarily exist. But what made this theory come about in the 19th century when it could have been realized centuries before? The reason is the tragedy and devastation the world saw at this time-several world wars in specific. If we take a look at the life of Albert Camus himself, it’s hard to deny the fact that there is a connection between the existentialism’s inception and personal tragedy. In 1914, Camus’ Father was drafted into WWI and killed in France. In 1934 he Married Simone Hie, but divorced her two years later. In 1939 he volunteered for service in WWII, but was rejected due to illness. In 1940 he wrote an essay on the state of Muslims in Algeria causing him to lose his job and move to Paris. In 1941 he joined the French resistance against the Nazis and became an editor of Combat, an underground newspaper. These, as well as many other incidents and events in Camus’ life influenced him in the sense that they formed in him a bleak, pessimistic view of life. This perspective undoubtedly set the foundation for his adoption of the theory of existentialism. â€Å"If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life. † The point illuminated in this quote by Camus is that although some consider viewing life with despair to be wrong, or sinful, in reality hoping for an after life, â€Å"another life†, or living a life of implacable grandeur is the real sin. Camus held strong to the belief of Absurdism, or the belief that humanity’s effort to find meaning in the universe will ultimately fail-thus it is absurd to try to find meaning or to live as though there is a meaning because no such meaning exists. While Absurdism might seem like a synonym for Existentialism, the two are slightly different. Existentialism makes the point that there is no purpose or meaning in the universe. Absurdism goes a step further to say that not only is life purposeless, but any attempt at finding meaning is utterly absurd. Albert Camus, being the polarized man that he was, held more firmly to the belief of Absurdism than existentialism. In writing The Stranger, Albert Camus championed the idea of existentialism, a philosophy he truly believed in it. But the philosophy of existentialism is not free of criticism. Herbert Marcuse criticized existentialism, especially in Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, for projecting certain features of living in a modern, oppressive society, such as anxiety and meaninglessness, onto the nature of existence itself: â€Å"In so far as Existentialism is a philosophical doctrine, it remains an idealistic doctrine: it hypothesizes specific historical conditions of human existence into ontological and metaphysical characteristics. Existentialism thus becomes part of the very ideology which it attacks, and its radicalism is illusory† What Marcuse is saying here is that existentialism makes the mistake of thinking that just because human conditions are tragic and seem to lack a purpose, that they in fact do. Whether or not there is purpose to the universe is an ontological and metaphysical subject, not one that can be realized through historical events. Existentialism and its brother philosophy Absurdism are philosophies that emphasize the uniqueness and isolation of the individual in a hostile and indifferent world, and stress the fact the universe has no discernable purpose. This philosophy is essentially the crux of the novel The Stranger as Meursault, the indifferent and apathetic main character, embodies the tenets of existentialism intrinsically. Existentialism, what it represents, the results of its embodiment in a person, and the validity of the doctrine altogether are all important aspects explored in The Stranger by Albert Camus. Bibliography1. â€Å"Existentialism. † The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers. com 28 Mar. 2007. http://www. answers. com/topic/existentialism2. Marcuse, Herbert. â€Å"Sartre’s Existentialism†. Printed in Studies in Critical Philosophy. Translated by Joris De Bres. London: NLB, 1972. p. 1613. Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Middlesex: UK Penguin Classics, 1943. 4. Sartre, Jean P. Existentialism is a Humanism. World Company, 1956. 5. â€Å"Albert Camus. † 28 Mar. 2007 . 6. White, Ray. â€Å"The Meaning of Life. † 2004. 29 Mar. 2007 .

Entrance Nursing

Children pretend and use their imaginations to carry out their inner dreams. From playing doctor to wearing a firefighter’s hat as children we already have it set in our minds the roles we want to play in our adult lives. As a child I always had the desire to help people in need. If a friend fell while playing tag I would stop to help, when my younger siblings would cry I would always offer my candy and a hug. I learned that helping others made me feel good. It was something I loved.While becoming a woman I only embrace this love even more. Although I did not comprehend that these small gestures as a child would soon lead me into a path of nursing, I am truly aware that they have opened a place in my heart for a career as a nurse. Over the years I have assimilated the remedy of caring and understanding the medical needs of various individuals. I now understand that medical needs are not just cured with medicine alone; but with care, nurture and support received during the reco very period.For example, if you treat someone as if they are sick and not reinsure him or her that they can possibly get better; that person will continue to feel sick and have no ambition in recovery. I understand through my own personal experience that nurses/caregivers/doctors can pave the way for a person to find a balance and harmony within the mind, body and soul; which would promote a greater amount of health in a person and a sense of serenity. I believe through my life changing experiences I can make a difference in the lives of those in need and also helping those recover from their ailments.My first life changing experience was my first job at the age of 14. I received my working documents and had the privilege to work in the Admissions department at Metropolitan Hospital. The office was right outside the Emergency Room. I remember having front row seats to the different traumas that entered the hospital. The one experience that I will not forget was the time a teenage bo y was rushed in after being hit by a car while riding his bike. He was not severely hurt, just in pain waiting for his parents to arrive.My initial reaction was to help him and keep him company until his parents arrived. I was completely helpless but still felt the need to do something. The only thing that came to mind was purchasing the young boy a bag of potato chips and a can of soda from the vending machine. I gave it to him and he smiled and thanked me. I felt a sense of gratification but did not realize how much that small gesture helped him with his fear of being in the hospital. It made him comfortable and open to receiving care from the doctor if necessary and made me realize I wanted to pursue a career in nursing.My second life changing experience was in the year of 2007 in which I had the chance to participate in the delivery of a baby. My friend asked me to accompany her while she gave birth to her daughter. I was honored and extremely excited. I recall being extra suppo rtive during her periods of contractions; rubbing her back, getting her ice, assuring her that everything will be okay and telling her to breathe. I do not have any children of my own so this was all new to me yet I was ecstatic and prepared give all the help I could.I recall when it was time for her to deliver her baby; I held one leg while the nurse held the other. We both encouraged her to push and I held her hand at her request. I will never forget the feeling that I had from watching life being brought to this world. I also had a newfound respect for mothers, but also for nurses and doctors. I realized that working in this field is not a job but a lifestyle. You must prepare yourself for different situations such as births, deaths, and ailments. You have to be supportive and considerate to different kind of emotions.After taking place in this experience I have decided that I when I become a nurse I want to work in the Labor and Delivery unit. I want to contribute with bringing life to the world and happiness to an entire family. I enjoy being a part of that support system, especially for those mothers that do not have a support team of their own outside of the hospital staff. My final, but most important, life changing experience occurred in 2008. This was the year that I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).As a teen many circumstances forced me to live on my own at the age of 16, yet I managed to graduate from high school and find a job working with the mentally disabled. At 18 years old, I got my own apartment and had took on the responsibility of caring for my two younger brothers, whom I provided both emotional and financial support to. I had to provide housing and try my hardest to teach them responsibility although I was learning myself. This caused me to have to take on more hours at work and play a major role I was much unprepared for.Throughout life I have been so focused on providing and supporting others that I forgot to properly care fo r myself. I ignored all the symptoms of my disease for years until my body finally gave up and I had to be hospitalized. Though this may seem like a detrimental period of my life, it wasn’t. I had lots of love from family and friends but the nurses played a significant role in my recovery; not just physically but emotionally, mentally and spiritually. They were very helpful, nurturing, kind, and thoughtful and gave me the confidence needed to pull through this tragic moment in my life.The nurses and doctors vigorously reassured me that things would get better. They gave me energy, made me smile, and most of all they helped prepare me for my journey ahead allowing me to deal with my life long friend (MS). This life changing experience gave me the opportunity to intertwine the incident of being the patient and learning how to properly treat and care for a patient when I start in my career of being a nurse. Medical care is much more than a prescription from a pad, a needle to th e vein, an x-ray or a simple checkup. It includes the love and care that comes from within.You need an attitude that will stand firm with the fight against an ailment as well as be understanding when a patient is giving a hard time because he or she is afraid and does not comprehend their situation. If given the opportunity of _________ (to attend your school or receive the scholarship, include names) _______________I am confident that it will lead to a better career and lifestyle not only for me but also for others. I plan to complete my degree in nursing and pursue a career as a nurse but most importantly as a great leader encouraging others with obstacles that their goals can be achieved.Although I have been faced with many obstacles in my life, I do not feel these obstacles should prevent me from achieving my goals therefore I do not plan to allow any circumstances to prohibit me from what I am striving for. My life changing experience has molded me into the woman I am today, pu shing me to work harder towards my goals. I am ready to combine both the knowledge that I have gained from my own personal experience and the knowledge I will embrace from attending classes, working with other individuals in this field, and research to actualize what I am destined to do; helping others.

Theology paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Theology paper - Essay Example Feuerbach and Marx dismissed God and His expression in religion to be an illusory of projections of what is lacking in man. Feuerbach argued that God is really just a dream of the human mind, an illusion that became sacred, a projection of man’s unfulfilled desires. For Feuerbach, the idea of God’s magnificence is just a projection of man’s failure to realize its full potential and His holiness is just man’s expression of guilt towards his sin. In a way, Feuerbach believed that God is just a defense mechanism of man’s inadequacy and his attempt to fill it through the idea of God. Marx, shares many of Feuerbach’s argument that God is just an illusion and projection. But Marx went as far as dismissing God and religion as an â€Å"opium† that impedes development. And for man and society to progress, that opium has to be removed. For Marx, God is not only non-existent, but He is also an inconvenience and a stumbling block towards progress that needs to removed. Freud argued his skepticism on the existence of God according to his expertise in psychoanalysis. But his argument is still consistent with Feuerbach â€Å"illusory and projection† argument. ... An intelligent man who is predisposed to reason and logic goes beyond the physical evidence to believe that there is God. By just looking around, he would realize that there is a Supreme Being, a Supreme Intelligence who created it all. He knew that everything in this universe is made of a single element of carbon and there must be Somebody greater than man who created it. But merely believing on the existence of God by sheer faith renders that belief not only vulnerable but also unreasonable thus can easily be dismissed. It has to be supported by reason not only to convince, but to establish God’s existence according to the language of an intelligent man, which is reason. There were philosophers who established God’s existence through reason. Among them were Anselm, St. Aquinas, and the great scientist, Blaise Pascal. Anselm ontological premises raised the first argument on the existence of God. His argument purports to a priori proof of God’s existence which is independent of any proof or observation. He argued that because God is God, His existence does not need to be validated by experience to justify that He exists. He concludes that because there is nothing that exists to be greater than God, then it is unimaginable to think that there is no God. St. Aquinas took a different route from Anselm in explaining the existence of God. He was a cleric but he argued God’s existence from the point of view of reason. For St. Aquinas, he posited that God’s existence can be known without relying on mere faith and the Scripture because God’ existence is not self-evident but has to be argued. He argued that God does exist but the mode of knowing should be proportional to what is being observed. Man, being just a created being, cannot be proportionate

An argumentive research paper of how the use of cellphones negatively

An argumentive of how the use of cellphones negatively affect teenagers - Research Paper Example They cover wide geographic range, making their use easier, and definitely more convenient for us. They rule a large part of the world trade market. The competition between cell phone companies like Nokia, Apple and Samsung has already reached epic proportions. There is a constant struggle to achieve the position of the top seller in the world market. While Nokia reigned as king in the beginning of the cell phone era, it has lost its initial significance with all the new and efficient competition. With the increase in the rate of globalization in the last three decades, it only makes sense that the use of cellular phones has reached a phenomenal rate in these thirty years. Cell phones, while initially used only for telephoning purposes, now have a wide range of features incorporated. They have everything from camera, games, and music to GPS, email, internet, etc. However, with all these beneficial and advantageous factors in the world, cellular phones have proved to be more of a hazar d than a blessing, harming the teenagers and society more than can be accounted for. The purpose of this paper is to prove that cell phones have been more hazardous than beneficial. NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES: For a device so small, cell phones are proving to be very dangerous. One of the major problems caused by cell phones is that it endangers the lives of people. Conversation on cell phones while driving is being banned in most countries because of the number of accidents it causes. These conversations cause what Strayer and Drews term as Inattention Blindness in the driver. Their research proved that, â€Å"Cell-phone conversations impair driving by inducing a form of inattention blindness in which drivers fail to see objects in their driving environment when they are talking on a cell phone† (Strayer 128-131). Many people find it hard to multitask. The problem here is however, quite different. It is not about being unable or finding it hard to multi task but to drive a motor vehicle efficiently while conversing on the phone. These two elements are imperative. Strayer and Drews specifically researched with these two elements as their focal points. When a person is carrying a verbal discussion or simply conversing with members in the car, they found that the inanimate objects on the road do not fly out of the driver’s focus. Compared to this, on cell-phone conversations prove a strong distraction, causing the driver to be blind (mostly) to objects on the road. The drivers, in fact, failed to recall the objects they had encountered on the road when driving whilst talking on the phone. Cell phone conversations not only distract us, but they do so to the extent where our memory fails to retain data where it would have, had there been no cell phone in the equation. It is due to this reason that road accidents caused by people talking on cell phones are reaching a higher number day by day, endangering innocent lives. Cellular phones, while convenient fo r adults, carry a different sort of attraction for teenagers, music being one of the more popular features amongst them. The use of earphones when listening to music or when on the phone is especially detrimental for teenagers. â€Å"Earphones or headsets can diminish environmental perception because they cover (part of) the ears. Good environmental localization of environmental sounds is based on a calculation of distance...wavelength between the two

Young people 's attitude to health (young people who eat McDonald's Essay

Young people 's attitude to health (young people who eat McDonald's more than once a week do not care about their health) - Essay Example nald's more than once a week. The researcher has used two separate hypothesis regarding health awareness and hedonic value drivers of eating in fast food restaurants in order to develop research problems. As research methodology, the researcher has used triangulation approach in order to address the research problem in robust manner. Close ended questionnaire and open ended interview were used in order to collect the data. On the basis of data analysis, influence of hedonic value drivers on fast food consumption of young people has been identified but the study has failed to find any significance of the primary hypothesis: â€Å"Young people who eat McDonald's more than once a week do not care about their health†. It is not the fact that the research paper has only the academic value of fulfilling gap in the literature but the research findings will also have commercial value such as, findings of the research can be used by fast-food marketers to decide their marketing strateg y. Chapter 1: Research Background In the last couple of years, fast food industry has witnessed phenomenal growth in terms of both value and volume across different countries. Ali, Kapoor and Moorthy (2010) found that demand for fast food among customers have increased due to three reasons, 1- convenience for customers to consume fast food in quick succession in contrast to waiting in long queue to dine out in traditional restaurants, 2- fast foods are low cost food offerings which can satisfy the hunger of consumer without costing them huge chunk of money in contrast to dining in posh restaurants and 3- while consuming fast food, consumers often pass through health-indulgence antinomy which helps them to establish trade-off between immediate gratification and prophylactic reward. According to Ali, Kapoor and Moorthy (2010), children, adolescents, young people and working professional are the prime target market for fast-food marketers like McDonald, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pi zza Huts, Domino’s, US Pizza etc. Anand (2011) and Ali, Kapoor and Moorthy (2010) identified reasons why fast-food marketers target young people and the identified reasons can be summarized as, 1- income of young people is low as compared to adults, therefore they show the preference for low cost fast-food items in contrast to high end food items, 2- young people prefer to eat out in fast food joints with friends due to convenience, 3- health consciousness among young people regarding the ill effects of fast foods is less as compared to young people and 4- young people prefer to indulge themselves in fast-food experience in order to satisfy hedonic value. Now the question is whether eating fast-food offered fast-food marketers like McDonald, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pizza Huts, Domino’s, US Pizza has only benefits or there is presence of dark side of the story? The answer is yes and health related issues regarding fast-food consumption among people are central the me of the research paper. Consideration of the research works of Ritzer (2001) and Williams (2006) reveals the fact that periodic and frequent consumption fast food can lead to multiple health problems such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even cancers. Ali, Kapoor and Moorthy (2010) found a direct link between growing obesity among young people

Virtualization Design and Implementation Guide for the SMB Research Paper

Virtualization Design and Implementation Guide for the SMB - Research Paper Example Virtualization can be regarded as part of the overall enterprise IT trend (Langone and Leibovici, 2012). This project aims at illustrating concepts of virtualization and the application of the same concepts towards improving the performances of the SMBs effectively and efficiently. Virtualization has had different application in the business field. One of the enterprise IT includes the automatic computing a case that is defined by an IT environment that manages itself based on the utility computing and perceived activity. In this case, the computer processing power is pegged on the utility that the customer is able to pay as per the requirements (Langone and Leibovici, 2012). Virtualization often aims at centralizing administrative tasks while improving the overall hardware resource utilization and the scalability. Notably, virtualization allows parallel application of several operating systems on a one central processing unit (CPU) (Alvarez, 2011). The parallelism in the operation h erein often leads to the reduction in the overall cost of operation. However, the entire process differs from multitasking that involves running series of programs on a single operating system. The use of Virtualization allows enterprises to better their managements as well as allowing frequent updates and rapid changes to the OS and its applications without interfering with the user (Alvarez, 2011). Moreover, it dramatically improves the availability and efficiency of applications and resources in the organization. Ultimately, virtualization has broken the old norm of one server, one application, which led to underutilization of resources (Gasston, 2011). The application of the virtual resources has dramatically met the needs in the business field without extra use of other resources. The small and midsize business (SMB) often uses twenty or less servers. Therefore, it is vital to develop a highly available (HA) towards configuring software and hardware virtualization. To achieve t he desired virtualization configuration, there is need to develop VMware including VMware Site Recovery Manger (SRM). Additionally, there is need to have network storage solution since this is the only way to mange the configuration (Alvarez, 2011). The SMBs often have some difficulties in accessing virtualized solutions especially towards meeting their needs. Therefore, there are need to develop guideline upon which can assist the SMBs to apply the virtualization effectively (Alvarez, 2012). Notably, there are numerous buzz around the VMware; however, its underlying function and application is to reduce the cost and improving availability within the enterprise organizations (Langone and Leibovici, 2012). Nonetheless, there should be a clear guide to set up and configure VMware as it is to the Microsoft Windows Servers. Thus, the main aim of this essay is to develop a guide of an SMB VMware and hosting in a virtualization platform (Alvarez, 2012). The guide is vital for any virtuali zation program since the staff especially those who have never had access to the program should be able to mange the same. Additionally, the staff or customer should pursue the sever virtualization and the operating system they working they should remain operational. The virtualization should also be developed on the operating system that is known and well understood by the targeted clients. Hence, it

Right to Rule Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Right to Rule - Essay Example However, though the Supreme Court allowed itself to be bullied into submission, the country now has the chance to right the wrong committed four years ago and reinstate Estrada as president. Many things stand in favor of this. Therefore, though Chief Justice Davide and GMA stole the presidency from Erap and the Filipino people, now there is a chance that this injustice might be reversed. The truth regarding the conduct of former president Estrada has never really been sought by the Philippine Supreme Court. Over the past four years and with little success, Estrada's lawyer has repeatedly sought an audience with the justices of that court, arguing that his client had not received a fair trial. According to the constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, attorneys are allowed to call into question judgments made by the Supreme Court, provided the attorney act respectfully, in accordance with the law, and also provided that the faith of the people in the judicial system is not harmed. The law has made allowance for the fallibility of the Supreme Court and agrees to hear any respectful and warranted complaint brought against it. The truth of this was, however, not evident in the Court's handling of the appeals made by attorney Alan F. Paguia in defense of President Estrada. Rather, he has been accused of "seeking to breathe life into the carcass of a long-dead issu e" (CITATION). These and other similar accusations were made after Paguia, upon going before the Sandiganbayan, requested the following: First, that President Estrada be given the opportunity to vindicate himself and prove that he was not allowed to have a fair trial; and second, that Panganiban and several of the other key players in the prosecution's case be issued a subpoena to provide documents that prove their support of the edict that proclaimed Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as the new president of the Republic of the Philippines. However, this motion was denied and Paguia declared by the court to be belligerent and seeking to incite public mistrust of the judicial system. His behavior was described as "an obstinate display of defiance" (CITATION). Furthermore, it was said that "in liberally imputing sinister and devious motives and questioning the impartiality, integrity, and authority of the members of the Court, Atty. Paguia has only succeeded in seeking to impede, obstruct, and p ervert the dispensation of justice" (CITATION). Consequently, his license to practice law was indefinitely suspended by the Sandiganbayan. To allow himself to be barred from his profession, it would appear that Paguia, in making those appeals in the behalf of President Estrada, was acting upon a principle. In fact, he appears to have been morally obliged to assert these claims because of the manner in which the original case was handled. The components of the four-pronged charges in the case against President Erap are all monetary in nature. They consist of funds received from illegal gambling (jueteng), funds from the tobacco excise tax, commissions received from Bell Corporation, and owning an account in the name of Jose Velarde. These allegations

In the Midst of Pressures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

In the Midst of Pressures - Essay Example He was concerned about how the people would react. He was already a hated man, being a white man and a police officer in a foreign land. He has become, as the storyteller reveals, a tyrant who has lost his freedom; being pushed by the people to do things against his will. He knows that as an officer, he should follow protocol, get near the elephant and test if it is still harmful or it is already safe for it to be left alone. However, the area where the elephant was eating is muddy and it would be dangerous for the officer to get near the elephant because there is the possibility that he would be trampled upon like the Indian killed by the beast. Although he was not concerned about his safety, he was thinking what a laughing stock he would become in his time of death when he gets killed by the elephant. Therefore, in this certain circumstance, he decided to kill the elephant even though that was not really his intention. Similarly, in the second story, the main character gave in to p ressure. When Langston was left all alone in his seat, with his friend looking down at him from the platform and the older members of the congregation and the priest wanting him to move forward and receive his salvation, the young man went to the podium.

Applied_Health_Perspectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Applied_Health_Perspectives - Essay Example    "We must guard against the increasing commodification of human life, its tissues and body parts †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦which has the potential to debase human dignity and steer society towards a state where anything goes - if you have the money" Anon, 2010 Analyse the ethical basis of the views expressed in this quotation. Discuss any alternate views which are relevant to the topic and their ethical basis. Conclude by evaluating the effectiveness of any methods used to 'guard against' increasing commodification of human life. You are expected to use illustrative examples throughout and refer to primary literature. Money, money, money: the availability of which opens doors to a lot of possibilities especially in the utilization of human body and/or culture for one’s pleasure. The definition of commodification is based on the Marxist political theory. According to which, anything without a value is given a certain value. This could be anything such as an identity or an idea. This sh ows how with time, the social values have been replaced by market values. Hence, commodification can be defined as the process whereby things are treated as commodities and market trade is expanded to areas that were non-market previously (Stilwell & Argyrous, 2003). Commodification in relation to people is characterized with genetic engineering, cloning, eugenics, social engineering, fascism, social Darwinism, mass marketing and employment. And the most active participants to these forms of human commodification are those with the resources. All these would be discussed further in the following paragraphs. Genetic engineering is referred to the science of manipulating the genetic contents in order to insert genes of desirable traits into the organism. This induction could be done directly to the organism or it could be through an external cell that is permeated with the organism. Genetic engineering does not include traditional breeding of species, and allows man to choose the gene tic traits for its subject. When the genetic content of an organism is added to another host then the resultant is given the name of transgenic. Removing genetic content from an organism is also a part of genetic engineering. Genetic material is the commodity in subject, and when one has the capability and resources to acquire the desired genes the values in human reproduction and childbirth becomes skewed The same holds true for human cloning. Human cloning  can be defined as the process of creating a twin that is a human being who is a copy of another person based on genetics. There is usually not derived from a single fertilized embryonic cell mass. There have been plethoras of ethical outburst related to the concept of cloning. There are two types of human cloning that are discussed more frequently. These are reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning. Reproductive cloning can be described is the development of cloned humans and is considered a crime in many parts of the wor ld, hence, not done legally. The latter, therapeutic cloning is the area of cloning which uses human cells cloning for research and medicine. Another category which is rather novel is the replacement of damaged or failing body with the help of cloning supported by brain transplant. This type of cloning is referred to as replacement cloning. There have been supporters as well as opponents to the concept of cloning. Advocates argue that there is a considerable difference

Dealing with stress Essay Example for Free

Dealing with stress Essay One of the greatest sources of stress at work is caused by the innovations that have been created to make work easier. While it is true that there are already so many inventions and technological devices that have been invented to help people accomplish more at work, the result is far from the anticipated goal of allowing people to rest more. The increased capability of performing more work has been off-set by the fact that more and more tasks are placed upon the employees. The fact paced working environment and steady competition has changed the way work is being done and increased the stress levels. When a few decades ago companies only had to contend with local or national competition, the current business environment faces competition from firms and companies all over the world. Another factor which adds to the stress in any working environment, aside from the increased pressure to produce more, is the fact that the stress in the work place negatively affects the health of employees thus causing more absences and adding more pressure to catch up with the work load. It has been suggested that stress can be thought of as resulting from an â€Å"imbalance between demands and resources† or as occurring when â€Å"pressure exceeds ones perceived ability to cope† (Sedgeman 2005). The most common reasons for stress are poor working conditions such as excessive noise or heat and crowded or poorly designed workspaces, a lack of control over work, time pressures, long or inflexible working hours, too much or too little work or responsibility, confusion about duties and responsibilities, including role ambiguity, a lack of variety and interest in job, inadequate training and possibilities for learning new skills, poor work-life balance, difficult relationships with supervisors and coworkers, lack of support from colleagues, isolation from colleagues, organizational confusion, restructuring, and job change. All of these factors contribute to stress at the work place. It is important to note however that the effect or weight of each of these factors differs from person to person. Over the years, there has been more emphasis on job specialization and training. Aside from performing the regular work tasks, employees are also expected and pressured to meet higher expectations and maintain their competitive edge constantly. These factors were not as prevalent in the work place a few decades ago as they are now. There have been a number of studies on the relationship between stress and job performance that show that as the level of work related stress increases the job performance and satisfaction level also changes. Some of the consequences of stress include, job-related consequences such as low performance and absenteeism, emotion related consequences such as irritability and depression which affect work place relationships, and physiological consequences such as high blood pressure and other illnesses. All of these consequences affect the worker’s ability to perform his/her task at work and are also detrimental to the work atmosphere as more irritable people are less likely to contribute to team-related tasks and goals. Absenteeism is also a problem as it directly affects the work output of not only an individual worker but of the team or unit as well. Many techniques have been implemented to reduce worker stress. In a number of Japanese firms, certain activities such as worker exercise programs have been implemented in an effort to keep the employees in better shape. Other workplaces over the world have taken advantage of the technical advances in communications technology and used these to reduce worker stress levels. Some of these programs include the permitting of certain employees to telecommute at least once or twice a week in order to create a more relaxed yet productive working environment. Other programs included involving the families of the workers in group activities and corporate activities. While these have been shown to have mixed effects in relation to coping with stress, these activities have also shown that the most important way of dealing with work related stress lies in showing the employees that their employer cares about their welfare and is instituting programs to deal with such. In the long run, there is really no sure fire method of dealing with stress. There will always be different stress levels and methods of coping with them. The most important thing that remains, however, is that something is done. A proactive stance is still better than anything. References: Bower, J. E. Segerstrom, S. C. (2004). Stress management, finding benefit, and immune function: positive mechanisms for intervention effects on physiology. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 56(1): 9-11 Sedgeman, J. A. (2005). Health Realization/Innate Health: Can a quiet mind and a positive feeling state be accessible over the lifespan without stress-relief techniques? Med. Sci. Monitor 11(12) HY47-52.

Analysis of the Theory of Unbalanced Growth

Analysis of the Theory of Unbalanced Growth Do you think that a less developed /developing country should always follow the path of balanced growth? If yes, why and if not why not? Substantiate your arguments with the examples drawn from experiences of development in developing countries. Answer: When Rostow was making attempts to place economic development within a progressive framework, it lead to a debate in the 1950’s and the 1960’s which was primarily fixated on whether development efforts should focus on specific economic sectors within the countries or whether it should be carried out in all major sectors of the economy namely the manufacturing sector, agriculture and the service sectors. In this very context, economist Ragnar Nurkse propounded that development efforts should make synchronized use of capital in order to develop an extensive range of industries in the nations. According to his beliefs, an Intensive overall effort was of utmost importance, which would ultimately drive the developing or the underdeveloped nations away from the vicious circle of poverty where the limited supply of capital originated in the first place, due to the low saving rates. In underdeveloped countries, the vicious circle of poverty is responsible for the small size of the market for their goods. Nurkse was an â€Å"export pessimist† and he believed that the finances required to make investments in less developed countries should originate from their own domestic territories. He did not give any importance to the promotion of exports. The balanced growth approach also supports the big push theory which promotes the channeling of bulk capital to all the sectors at once owing t o the belief that gradual investment in the sectors is not reasonable. Investments should be carried out in a number of industries that mutually support each other, in order to enlarge the size of the market. Investments in the sectors should be made simultaneously such that it brings about a positive drive to overcome the significant barriers to development. With the adoption of this strategy, there emerges new opportunities to distribute the fruits of development more evenly throughout the society and to cure the plights of inequality, inflation and unemployment of resources. On the other hand, the theory of balanced growth has been largely criticized as it ignores the economic notions of all round benefits ensuing from specialization in production and development processes. Since it takes place within a closed economy and is applicable predominantly to a private enterprise system rather than specialization and trade, the doctrine contradicts the whole principle of comparative adv antage. Also, it emphasizes on the complementarity of markets for final goods and primary consumer goods as a stimulus to invest and ignores the immediate goods market. It has been stated to be unrealistic as it expects a country which is developing or is underdeveloped to make bulk investments in all the sectors simultaneously without considering the aspect that if a country had enough resources to invest in all the sectors of the economy all at once, it would not classify as underdeveloped or developing in the first place. Also, the theory makes an impractical assumption that all nations would start from the same zero point, whereas in reality such is not the case. Certain economies are bound to have certain historical strengths and different investment capacities which may vary. This theory has been massively dismissed, when in the 1960’s and 1970’s the actual progress of LDC’s reflected growth without any significant attempt to synchronize the simultaneous i nvestments in all the sectors as a result of which these nations continued to remain comparatively underdeveloped. Contrary to this theory, some theorists also advocated a strategy of investment only in selective sectors as an attempt towards encouraging growth in the developing countries. Economist Albert O. Hirschman put forth the idea of adopting unbalanced investments in specific economic sectors in order to complement the imbalances that already appear to exist within the economy of a nation as such. The unbalanced growth strategy aims at eradicating the scarcities in underdeveloped nations by adopting induced investment decision making. Hirschman contradicted the balance growth theory and argued against it, stating the most obvious that the LDC’S do not have access to adequate resources to adopt and implement a balanced, big push investment strategy. Instead, he proposes that investments should be carried out in strategically selected economic areas, such that there is growth in other sectors owing to the backward and forward linkages that are established, which will further lead to new investment opportunities, thereby paving the path for further economic development. Backward linkages bring about new investments in the input industries, whereas forward linkages do the same in the sectors that purchase the output of the selected industry. Deliberate unbalance, tensions, disproportions and disequilibria brought about in the economy is the most effective strategy to achieve economic growth in an underdeveloped or developing country. Thus the economy is able to gradually move from the track of an unbalanced growth pattern to that of balanced growth. Acknowledging all the advantages of the unbalanced growth strategy, this theory also has its shortcomings. The theory makes an inherent assumption that the success of the growth process can be traced down to external trade and foreign aids. This further upsurges the uncertainty of the growth process. The theory is also seen to emphasize on development through industrialization without taking into consideration the sig nificance of agriculture. Being concentrated on only a couple of industries, there might be situations where the resources are not appropriately utilized. Also, some sectors of the economy will be witnessed to grow at a faster rate while other sectors will remain neglected. This raises a question as to whether investment has been carried out in the correct sectors owing to the aspect that all the sectors of the economy are not invested upon. Therefore, in this particular scheme careful understanding of the situation of each country needs to be carried out, in order to determine what investment in which sector should take place as means to reach an ultimate balance among all the investment sectors in the economy. The theory of unbalanced growth appears to be an ideal strategy proposed by Hirschman at pointing out the ways to accelerate economic development in developing and underdeveloped nations in spite of all its flaws and disadvantages. As we know, with unplanned unbalanced growth there is absolutely no assurance against unemployment, inflation and unequal distribution of income and the strategy is recognized as a doctrine of laissez-faire, which indicates that there is an absence of safeguards against the socially divisive consequences of change. Howsoever, it still appears to be more realistic and feasible than the balanced growth strategy as it tries to take into account almost all the minute aspects of development planning. As a matter of fact, even the various inducements, obstacles and resistances to development are taken into consideration in their appropriate perspectives. Unbalanced growth generates externalities. The existing externalities are explored while generation of the fr esh ones take place. It promotes the growth of strategic industries and thereby, stimulates the growth of other industries. Also, there are technical complementaries which stimulate the growth of related industries along the lines of this strategy. Since investments in the form of Social Overhead Capital (SOC) and Direct Productive Activities (DPA) cannot be taken into consideration simultaneously in less developed or developing countries, owing to the obvious lack of resources, the theory proposes that focus should be established on either one of the two, and as a result of which the other one would be automatically stimulated. In order to achieve this, the growth of the economy should take place either by unbalancing the economy through SOC; by promoting the growth of SOC which would stimulate investment in DPA, or by unbalancing the economy with DPA; such that the investment made in DPA would eventually press for investment in SOC. It is through this process of linkages commonly known as the â€Å"linkage effect†, that the economic growth will ultimately take place. Development should progress with the aim of targeting projects which will have the largest total linkage. However, the main problem can be narrowed down to figuring out the kind of imbalance that is expected to be the most beneficial depending upon the economy of the nation. Hirschman pin points the absence of interdependence and linkage in less developed countries as a result of which the primary production activities for exports have very little development effects on the economy of an underdeveloped country. He therefore puts forth a tactic and advocates the setting up of â€Å"last stage industries first† in order to resolve the problem. He stresses on export promotion and import substitution and favors a mixed economy owing to the fact that unless the SOC pathway of economic development is adopted by the state, it will not encourage any form of private investment in DPA, as private investments in underdeveloped countries fail to create the necessary economic surplus that is a prerequisite for development to continue and even for the sustenance of losses. It has been seen, that despite the weaknesses of the unbalanced growth strategy as illustrated in the beginning of the report, the technique has come to be recognized as suitable for the development of underdeveloped and developing countries. When Joseph Stalin ruled developing Russia, it was one of the first countries to adopt this strategy and by implementing this technique it succeeded in accelerating its economic growth rate within a very short period of time. In the current scenario Russia is recognized as a developed country. Along the same lines, India adopted this strategy with the Second Five-Year Plan. In India, investments in heavy industries were kept at a high level during the five year plans and simultaneously there were consistent efforts made towards stepping up the production of consumer goods. But there was no attempt made to keep the levels of consumption low in order to produce a large economic surplus. Also, there is evidence which suggests that India did not fol low the typical pattern of industrialization. High technology industries flourished as opposed to the growth in the basic manufacturing sector which was lagging. The promotion of the high technology sector has had a negative impact on the manufacturing sector as well as on the aggregate income of the country. Instead if resources were directed towards infrastructure, it would have yielded benefits for all sectors and would have increased the aggregate income as well. Therefore, the unbalanced growth strategy in India did not meet with great success. Even China adopted the unbalanced growth strategy and as a matter of fact China’s unbalanced growth is an investment driven model due to which it has been predicted that growth in china will not be sustainable unless it adopts a more consumption driven model. China’s growth pattern apparently mirrors that of other successful emerging South East Asian economies namely Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. These countries were successful in the last fifty years in progressing from the middle income group to advanced economies. This transformation was characterized by long periods of high levels of investment after their economic take off, which corresponds to China’s growth trajectory. Unfortunately, many of the other developing economies failed to make it to the upper stage of development or are caught up in the â€Å"middle income trap†. But due to China’s high levels of investments in the last few years which had managed to reach a level, highe r than that of any other nation, it appears that China should adopt a rebalancing growth strategy, like other the countries after their considerably lengthy periods of high investment, which would mark the end of its period of unbalanced growth. However, it looks like China has to go a long way in order to catch up with the economies of the advanced countries in terms of productivity. When Japan and Korea internalized the unbalanced growth strategies, they concentrated their national resources on some strategically chosen industries and targeted principally for import substitution. Japan’s economic growth picked up pace, led by the electronics industry, heavy and chemical industries. As a matter of fact, both Japan as well as Korea, witnessed the growth of an independent national economy through the implementation of import substitution in the heavy and chemical industries as well as the ‘high tech’ industries. This strategy was adopted by yet another developing country in Africa called Zambia. Zambia’s excessive dependence on its mining exports is an apt instance of unbalanced growth which eventually proved to be more of a high risk strategy and hence, was not sustainable. Therefore, Zambia inherited an economy that took to the unbalanced growth strategy, but was unsuccessful in balancing it within the correct time frame. We see, that most of these developing countries adopted the unbalanced growth strategy, but only a few met with success. However, in this respect the balanced growth strategy with its limitations should not be completely dismissed as both these strategies appear to converge at certain points. Both the strategies consider the existence of a private enterprise system that is heavily grounded on market mechanism under which they function. Both the theories disregard the importance of supply limitations and supply inelasticities. Also, both the doctrines assume interdependence which vary in their degrees. This interdependence is seen in balanced growth, when the development of one sector is heavily dependent on the development of the other sectors whereas, in unbalanced growth strategy the economy progresses towards economic development by the creation of tensions, disproportions and disequilibria thereby attaining balanced growth. Thus, both these strategies are based on the interdepend ence that is established among the different sectors of the economy. The choice between adopting the balanced growth strategy and the unbalanced growth strategy is a difficult one. None of the strategies are perfect and both have their own advantages and limitations. Although, keeping in mind the scarcity of resources that a developing country faces, common knowledge directs the developing or underdeveloped nation to adopt and implement the strategy of unbalanced growth. Even under this strategy, it is beneficial if the nation invests on the SOC first, which will subsequently encourage investments in DPA, which would direct the economy further towards the path of balanced growth. In the Indian context itself we can see that unless SOCs such as power, transportation irrigation etc. are developed, the development in the industrial, agricultural and commercial sectors will automatically be retarded. When this strategy is being adopted by developing countries, it is crucial that they should try their best to control the evils of inflation and balance of p ayments. Nevertheless, we see that these strategies should not be considered as an alternative to the other, as they seem to complement each other. By implementing the unbalanced growth strategy as the means, the developing or the less developed nations can attain balanced growth, which is the ultimate aim. - References: Balanced and Unbalanced Growth- Robert B. Sutcliffe, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Nov., 1964), pp. 621-640. The Theory of Balanced Growth- S. K. Nath, Oxford Economic Papers, New Series, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Jun., 1962), pp. 138-153. Unbalanced growth and dependency theory in Zambia: A post-independence survey- Mark Ingle. Growth and Development with special reference to developing economies- A. P. Thirwall, Fifth Edition. Theories of Underdevelopment, Balanced versus Unbalanced Growth- Higgins. Is the Elephant Stepping on its Trunk? The problem of India’s Unbalanced Growth- Robin Douhan and Anders Nordberg. Balanced Growth: An Interpretation- Jose Maria Dagnino Pastore, Oxford Economic Papers, New Series, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Jul., 1963), pp. 164-176. Theory of Unbalanced Growth, chapter 29. China: Rebalancing Economic Growth, Chapter 1- Nicholas R. Lardy. The Unbalanced Growth Hypothesis and the Role of the State: the Case of China’s State-owned Enterprises- Carsten A. Holz. Restructuring Korea Inc.:Financial Crisis, Corporate Reform, and Institutional Transition- Jang-Sup Shin,Ha-Joon Chang. Towards more balanced growth strategies in developing countries: issues related to market size, trade balances and purchasing power- Jà ¶rg mayer. China’s unbalanced growth compared with Japan and South Korea- FTAlphaville. African Journal of Business- Review. Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Name: Prakriti Dasgupta. Roll No.: H2013BAMA28. Subject: Developmental Economics, DC7. Teacher: Dr. Poulomi Bhattacharya. BA 2nd Year, Semester: III.

Death of a Salesman is a Tragedy as Defined in Millers Tragedy and the

Death of a Salesman is a Tragedy as Defined in Miller's Tragedy and the Common Man In Tragedy and the Common Man, Arthur Miller discusses his definition and criteria for tragedy as they apply to the common man. The criteria and standards proposed by Miller may be used to evaluate his timeless work, Death of A Salesman. The first major standard of tragedy set forth is:   â€Å"...if the exaltation of tragic action were truly a property of the high-bred character alone, it is inconceivable that the mass of mankind should cherish tragedy above all other forms.† All persons regardless of background, nobility stature, rank, or pretended or actual social division can innately empathize with the tragic hero. In the case of Willy Loman there is a certain familiarity. He is the proverbial man down the block; indeed we may say in viewing the play   common man is empathizing with common man. Willy Loman is real. Where as some may remark, â€Å"I know someone like him,† perhaps they may even see themselves in him. Miller’s subtle wordplay of â€Å"Loman† and â€Å"layman† is interesting in this regard. It is our familiarity with Willy Loman that is the endearing quality which draws us closer to him. Through, identification with his struggles and pains we achieve an apprec iation of his plight. This identification is universal. The universality of identification is, among   those reading or viewing the play, a bonding force for persons of every station. Miller’s success in this point is bred from our own pathos for Willie Loman.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Another point by Miller is that, â€Å"the tragic feeling is invoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is willing to lay down his life... to secure one thing- his sense of personal dignity.† Willie Loman is tha... ...mething greater than himself, his image, or his success. He is motivated by his love for his son.   Therefore, since his primary focus is beyond himself, it consequently elevates him. He taps into and is accordingly clothed with   the grandeur tragedy.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Considering the points discussed here in this paper, which is by no means a comprehensive analysis of Miller’s essay, several questions are raised in my mind. Did Arthur Miller provide us with this essay as a response or defense of Death of a Salesman? Is he trying to justify his work by remolding the definition of tragedy to justify and elevate this play? Whatever the case it is clear that Death of a Salesman fits the model set forth by Miller in Tragedy and the Common Man. Miller, Arthur. "Tragedy and the Common Man." Weales, Gerald, ed. Death of a Salesman: Text and Criticism. New York: Penguin Books 1996.

Visualizing Rhetoric Essay -- Philosophical Philosophy Essays

Visualizing Rhetoric I. Principles of Visualizing Rhetoric The idea for Visualizing Rhetoric began after being introduced to rhetorical thinking models, Richard Paul’s Critical Thinking model and the Constructivist approach to teaching. Its aims are to unite the visual and the verbal, the critical and the constructive; to present the student with a practical way to both break down and understand, and also build and communicate an argument. The underlying principle of Visualizing Rhetoric, put simply, is that all communication is rhetorical (McCroskey, 1993). Communication presupposes an audience and a source. Furthermore, the methods of logical thought borrowed from mathematics, and too often applied to composition – namely the premise/conclusion structure of the syllogism – are not suitable for communication. Another paradigm for thinking about arguments and communication must be used. Aristotle called this structure the enthymeme, or Rhetorical Syllogism (McCroskey, 1993). The Rhetorical Syllogism provides a shift from the purely logical mode in that it represents more accurately the way in which arguments are communicated from a source to a receiver. It adds to the premise/conclusion model (data/claim in rhetorical thinking) a third major element, called the warrant. The warrant is the bridge that the speaker uses to connect the data to the claim. In other words, the warrant is the underlying set of inferences (asserted or assumed) that connects the pieces of the rhetorical argument. It authorizes the relationship between data and claim (Toulmin, 1958). By adding this crucial and often missed piece to the compositional puzzle, one can see how it transforms an assertion into something tha... ...to two dimensions in organizing and examining their thoughts, they will be able to conceive of arguments as a structure built to communicate meaning. The structure, like any physical structure, has a goal and a purpose. Students can diagram the foundation of an argument, build different strands, and learn how to see connections between different elements. Works Cited 1. Booth, W. C. (1998). The Vocation of a Teacher: Rhetorical Occassions 1967-1988. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2. McCroskey, J. C. (1993). An Introduction to Rhetorical Communication (8th ed.). Needham Heights: Allyn & Bacon. 3. Toulmin, S. (1958). The Uses of Argument. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Works Referenced 1. Paul, R. (1990). Critical Thinking: How to Prepare Students for a Rapidly Changing World. Santa Rosa: Foundation for Critical Thinking.

Nanotechnology Essay examples -- Science Technology Essays

Nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the development of atoms in a certain object. Nanotechnology has become very popular in the past few years. It is a way to rebuild the systems of life. To make systems move faster than ever before. Nanometer is about 10 times the size of an atom. Each of these has a huge effect on a system. Still there are questions out there that keep people wondering how important nanotechnology is to us. Many wonder how will it affect them and if we should continue this research. I myself wondered about nanotechnology. After researching this topic I have learned new and interesting facts to help me understand the entire concept. Nanotechnology is defined as â€Å"the development and use of devices that have a size of only a few nanometers. Research has been carried out into very small components many of which depend on quantum effect and many involve movement of very small number of electrons in their action. Such devices would act faster than larger components. Considerable interest has been shown in the production of structures on a molecular level by suitable sequences of chemical reactions or lithographic techniques. It is also possible to manipulate individual atoms to surfaces using a variant of the atomic force microscope to make, for example, high density storage devices.† (Joseph Andersen’s Guide to Physics). In this definition we find that nanotechnology is very complex but as we continue to pursue this extraordinary idea, we find that it is very important to us in many ways. Nanotechnology is the development of devices that build our computer systems and aid in our everyday lives. T ake your families computer for example, the entire system of your computer is made up of millions upon millions of tin... ...ducts to make our lives that much easier and that much safer. Look around you and see if you can guess all that has been helped or bettered by nanotechnology. From your computer to your cell phone, all of these things are available to you because of nanotechnology. Tell me this, could you live without them? Bibliography Andersen, Joseph â€Å"Nanotechnology definition† 23 July, 2004 http://physics.about.com/cs/glossary/g/nanotechnology.htm Schmergel, Greg â€Å"Nanotechnology Now† 23 July, 2004 http://nanotech-now.com/ U.S. Department Of Health and Human Services â€Å"Cancer Nanotechnology† 23 July, 2004 http://otir.nci.nih.gov/brochure.pdf â€Å"What is Nanotechnology?† 23 July, 2004 http://www.nano.gov/html/facts/whatIsNano.html â€Å"What is Nanotechnology?† 23 July, 2004 http://www.lanl.gov/mst/nano/definition.html

FMB&T Case Study Essay

This case study is all about a bank by the name of FMB&T. Recently, the CEO and President of FMB&T, Marshall Pinkard, received an e-mail from a Vice President of the company, Ayishia Coles, who also happens to be the company’s Chief Information Officer. Ayishia reported to Marshall with several frustrations. She was having problems with her job because she didn’t have clear cut responsibilities or authorities, which had caused her some trouble in how to deal with people who had come to her for IT solutions. She had expressed that employees from several departments had come to her with problems she could not understand because they were poorly described. She had also expressed that these employees that came to her expected immediate results, but when she tried to be an administrator or facilitator, her efforts were not responded to with open arms. The other departments’ problems seemed to all be very complex and required a lot of time for the IT department to fix, which irritated the other departments in the bank. Ayishia’s last frustration seemed to be that the IT department seemed to simply work in applications development and only had a responsibility to fix the problems of the other departments in the bank. She noted that the IT department had some good ideas for business strategies involving IT developments, but their ideas seemed to be shunned or neglected. Marshall seemed to agree with Ayishia in her request for a formal copy of her authorities and responsibilities, but also pondered the idea that maybe Ayishia had uncovered a major organizational problem throughout the bank. Ayishia’s main frustrations stemmed from her lack of a feeling of authority, although she was an executive Vice President. It seems as though workers in the bank have a problem respecting her, and the study hints that it might be because she’s still new and the employees aren’t as familiar with her and her duties yet. Ayishia may have asked for a formal copy of her duties and powers because she is new and wants something formal from the President to give her and the other employees throughout the company a feel for what her job exactly is. That way Ayishia will feel more confident in her actions and employees will be more open to her help. If I am Marshall Pinkard, I take the situation one step at a time. On one hand, the feeling that Ayishia, a  major leader in the company, is not respected hints that maybe it is time for a massive overhaul in the company’s organizational structure. You can make the argument that the situation will get better with time, but there are other factors that say otherwise. There are problems within the IT department where they basically believe they are â€Å"lab rats† and do a lot of the â€Å"dirty work† for the other parts of the company, while their ideas about improving the bank as a whole seem to be ignored. So Ayishia is a new executive and her department seems to be not only neglected but also under a lot of fire for performing under expectations. That situation poses quite the conflict for Pinkard in that maybe it’s just that Ayishia is new and hasn’t fully settled in yet, like Marshall expected before he opened the e-mail. Maybe the IT department is just having a rough patch with the problems recently, which could possibly be fixed with minor adjustments. But, at the same time, the IT department seems to be integrated in a lot of the bank’s functions and they feel like the runt of the bank in that they are underused and their good ideas are going to waste. Maybe it is time for the bank to give the IT department more power or place them higher up in the order of the business. All of these factors will add to why Marshall will have to gather more information and make a decision very carefully. As far as Marshall’s actions, his first should be to give Ayishia her formal list of responsibilities and authorities as soon as possible. She is the Chief Information Officer, so she should have complete control over the IT personnel and department as a whole, which she doesn’t feel like she has. Next, since the situation is pretty delicate, I would think that the best course of action for right now would be to try the small adjustments for 6 months or so, and then assess the situation again. With that said, the bank has been growing with the way it has been currently organized, and a massive overhaul could result in bad news. Clarifying Ayishia’s roles and duties will hopefully make her life easier, and I would have to see ho w the bank will react to her after she is given that information. There are several other things that could have been the root of the problems Ayishia described, and now that I am aware of them, I want a trial period to see what exactly she was talking about and how to improve those problems. When reassessing the situation, I would take into account how the work environment changes in the trial period, taking note of how Ayishia works  with other employees. I would also take into account what troubles the IT department comes into when helping other members of the bank, and whether or not those troubles are due to the information system currently in place. In general, the main thing to do would be to see how the bank runs after Ayishia feels more comfortable with her job and evaluate the company before making a decision. As far as organization of the IT Department should go, I think that President of the large local branch has a point that individual IT departments would save a lot of time and unnecessary work from corporate. However, the individual IT departments would need to be checked upon by corporate routinely and corporate should still have some controls over each department. Ayishia’s work scope would expand with making sure these departments are up to standard, but I would go with individual IT departments at each branch. However, instead of getting rid of several employees in Ayishia’s department, I would assign them all to work for the various branches and work as corporate delegates, since they are already familiar with how corporate’s system currently works. They would be the branch’s link to corporate and deal with getting what the branch needs from corporate. That way, corporate still has some control, but each IT department could meet their individual needs faster as well. Overall, Ayishia’s situation has raised a cause for concern and improvement through FMB&T bank. Ayishia’s troubles with her job will hopefully be fixed once she receives a formal copy of her responsibilities and authorities, which will be given to her immediately. Marshall Pinkard needs to handle this delicate situation carefully, since he has limited information. He needs some time to do a little trial and error to gather more information and test out making small adjustments here and there. Once Marshall has seen what he needs to see, then it is time to assess whether or not a major overhaul of the bank’s organization is actually needed. Ayishia’s e-mail will hopefully bring the company to make the improvements it needs to.

Issues in Uganda’s human rights Essay

Assignment – Research Paper Research Topic: Issues in Uganda’s human rights As a female-born Canadian, living in one of the better countries of the world, take solace in the fact that as a person, have consciously been able to exercise my â€Å"rights and freedoms† through working, schooling or voting. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Constitution Act, 1985.) safeguards our basic human rights. As Canadians, we feel protected in this way, exercising our rights without much thought, passing through our day and night without griping fear for our lives, or of the police. Imagine for a moment waking up and the army has moved in, soldiers, police, trucks, tanks control the streets. All â€Å"left-handed† people, regardless of age are being taken away, and secretly relocated for re-education?! As a society or an individual within, we would be helpless and vulnerable, should some form of organized brutality be thrust upon us. The western countries of the world place human rights, in high esteem. In stark contrast, woefully many countries, U ganda in particular, are continually in a desperate struggle for the advancement of human rights. (Ewins, 2011) The country still faces heavy criticism regarding the treatment and growth, or lack thereof in the area of human rights. In particular, the specific malfeasance shown toward women, children, homosexuals, and the disabled. Officially known as the Republic of Uganda, is a sovereign nation located in the continent of Africa, bordered by Kenya, Sudan, the Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Rwanda. Even though this republic is only forty-six years old, since gaining independence from Great Britain, methods of torture and child labour still exist. Continually, there are seemingly insurmountable struggles (i.e. arrests, enslavement, poor laws, etc) (Middleton & Miller, 2008). Additionally, the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) and the mentally/physically ill in Uganda have virtually no protection at all, and both male and female homosexual activity or interaction is illegal. (Ewins, 2011) The Uganda Human Rights Commission, an agency established in 1995, still continues to struggle trying to put an end to the cruelty concerning the treatment of women, children, homosexuals, and the mentally ill. This same  agency is responsible for crimes against children, which is an underlying problem that only exacerbates the situation for the advancement of human rights in Uganda. The practice of child abuse is considered exploitative, extremely unethical, and inhumane. Commonly, children are laboured for days on end, performing chores for superiors. Ugandan children are trafficked within the country, as well as to other countries as Canada, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia for forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. (Clark-Kazak, 2010) Karamojong women and children, an ethnic group of herders living mainly in the northeast of Uganda, are sold in cattle markets or by intermediaries and forced into situations of domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, herding, and begging. Many Ugandan security and government agencies, including Uganda’s Rapid Response Unit, the police force, law-enforcement officials and the military, have been accused of torture. (Clark-Kazak, 2010) These agencies persecute opponents of the government, carry out abductions, disappearances, extrajudicial killings and torture and act both independently, as well as interdependently with each other, and in cooperation with the Ugandan Police. Some of these inhumane acts of torture include kicking and beating, which is described as â€Å"kandoya† – a tying of the victim’s hands and feet behind the body and strung from the ceiling, and even electric shock by attaching wires to the male genitalia. Because these agencies operate through the Ugandan Police, not much stance has been taken by the government. (Clark-Kazak, 2010) Over the past twenty years, the rebel group LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) has abducted more than 30,000 boys and girls as soldiers. Attacks against Uganda’s Acholi people have resulted in severe trauma to civilians from extreme violence and abduction. Girls are often forced to become sex slaves, and the UPDF (Uganda People’s Defence Force) has recruited small numbers of children into its forces, some as young as thirteen. (Mujuzi, 2011) Not only are children being treated as property with no rights protecting them, women also receive similar treatment. For many decades, the Ugandan culture has made it clear that women should treat men as higher class citizens, and respect their commands, as they are higher in value than women. Despite the substantial economic and social responsibilities of women in Uganda’s many traditional societies, women were taught to accede to the wishes of their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sometimes other men as well, and to  demonstrate their subordination to men in most areas of public life. Customary law also prevails in the event of divorce in that child custody is typically awarded to the father. (Mujuzi, 2011) The physical integrity of Ugandan women is poorly protected. Violence against women is widespread: some estimates say that more than half of the women in the country have suffered domestic violence at the hands of their partners. Domestic violence has wide social acceptance, even by women. Rape is very common in Uganda. In nearly half of sexual violence cases, the victim’s husband or partner is the perpetrator reflecting a widely held belief that spousal rape is a husband’s prerogative. (Ehiri, 2009) Many women were raped by rebel soldiers during the conflict in northern Uganda. Women of the Sabiny tribe are subjected to female genital mutilation. There are no laws prohibiting the practice, but the local authorities have issued a decree denouncing the custom. (Kafumbe, 2010) In addition, in 2006, The World Health Organization (WHO) published results of a study on countrywide domestic violence and women’s health in Uganda. In the study, they found that 22% of adult women in the country experienced sexual violence, with 76% of men transmitting the HIV virus with 82% chance of the women becoming pregnant. 70% of women and 60% of men agreed that wife beating was justifiable under certain circ umstances. Ethically speaking, this makes the situation extremely uncomfortable. (Ehiri, 2009) An example one of which can be seen as a step in the right direction is with regards towards marriage and divorce laws in Uganda. The proposed legislation, the Marriage and Divorce Bill, which was passed in March of 2011, recognizes cohabitation in terms of property rights, abolishes forced marriage, prohibits same sex marriage and allows women to divorce their husbands on grounds of cruelty. Ultimately, the Bill still condemns same sex marriage, however, gives women in marriage more freedom. While polygamy has been quite popular in Uganda, it has been decreasing every decade, with only 27% of men having more than one wife, as opposed to 43% of males with more than one wife in 1988. (Kafumbe, 2010) The situation compared to decades ago, where polygamy was on the rise, is much less in existence. Granted, the government still has a vast array of issues to fix. For example, the period following the collapse of Idi Amin’s regime (which lasted from 1979–1986), was characterized by continued turmoil, violations of human rights, including the killing of innocent people, mismanagement of  the economy, a nd guerrilla warfare, which is civilians attacking members of the military. The army, led by General Tito Okello, overthrew President Obote in 1985. This gave the rebels of Yoweri Museveni, a former guerrilla leader, an advantage to take over government from Okello on January 26th, 1986. From 1986, however, with a new government headed by Museveni, Uganda started on the path to reconstruction and rehabilitation with new promise of security, peace, and development. (Middleton & Miller, 2008) One issue that it is not showing any signs of improvement, applies to the gay citizens in Uganda. Homosexuality in all its forms is illegal. This includes sexual acts, and just being gay. The consequence for homosexuality can put a Ugandan in prison for life. Prior to 2000, only male homosexuality was criminalized, then in 2000 under the Penal Code Amendment (Gender References) Act 2000, all references to â€Å"any male† was changed to â€Å"any person† so that lesbianism was criminalized as well. A new bill has been introduced into parliament, providing for harsher penalties for homosexuals, including the death penalty for â€Å"repeat offenders.† Ugandan citizens would be required to report any homosexual activity within twenty-four hours or face a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment, and Uganda would request extradition if Ugandan citizens were having same-sex relationships outside the country. Gays and lesbians face discrimination and harassment at the hands of the media, police, teachers, and other groups. According to Jessica Stern of Human Rights Watch, â€Å"For years, President Yoweri Museveni’s government routinely threatens and vilifies lesbians and gays, and subjects sexual rights activists to harassment.† (Clark-Kazak, 2010) There appear to be two types of harassment of the Ugandan LGBT community: human rights violations against this community, as well as failure to provide governmental and non-governmental services to this community. First, in Uganda, there is a strong cultural abhorrence and complete lack of understanding of LGBT individuals. This is reflected in everyday actions throughout the country, from minor forms of harassment in clubs, restaurants, and on the streets, to more pernicious forms of discrimination in terms of jobs and service distribution. Interviews with members of the LGBT community suggest that an openly gay individual will likely be excommunicated by his or her church, will be neglected by his or her family and community, may be kicked o ut of school, will have difficulty finding and  holding a job, and will be otherwise persecuted in everyday life. Stories of people being maimed or killed because they are thought to be gay are a persistent, minute to minute reminder to the LGBT community to maintain strong secrecy, often forcing people to engage in heterosexual relationships to give the impression of being straight to the outside world. Much of this type of cultural bias and discrimination cannot be attacked using current laws; it can only be attacked through new laws creating positive rights enabling LGBT individuals to be free from this type of harassment and discrimination. (Hollander, 2009-10) Condemned by world leaders, some western governments threatened to withhold financial aid. In the United States, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon has argued that, should the legislation become law, Uganda would be ineligible for trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The global backlash to this bill has been significant. President Barack Obama recently denounced it as â€Å"odious† and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton communicated her â€Å"strongest concerns† over the proposed legislation directly to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Resolutions have been introduced in the U.S. Congress condemning the proposed bill, calling on the Ugandan Parliament to reject it, and urging all governments to reject and repeal similar laws criminalizing homosexuality. Some countries have gone even further; with Sweden has threatening to cut off all aid to Uganda should the bill become law. (Ewins, 2011) As well, the U.K. partnered up with BBC to film a documentary on Uganda’s treatment of homosexuals. It was filmed in Kampala and its surrounding slums, where they interviewed leaders in the anti-homosexual movement, as well as homosexuals who are out and living in fear. Radio DJ Scott Mills travels to Kampala where the death penalty could soon be introduced for being gay. This was aired in the U.K. on February 2011 before the Bill was killed. Mills, who is openly gay, finds out that the living situation in Kampala and around Uganda is incredibly frightening and horrific. Those who are openly gay are disowned by their family and friends, and are forced to live in slums and outside the city so they can be somewhat protected. An effective way that the Ugandan people â€Å"capture† homosexuals is through their newspapers. The newspaper â€Å"The Rolling Stone† publishes photos of openly gay Ugandans living in and around Kampala, asking citizens to call them or the police if they know where they are located. (Mills, 2011) If a  person gets caught, they are persecuted and thrown in jail for adultery. In the documentary, we meet a lesbian named Stosh. When she was a teenager she was raped by a man to try and â€Å"cure† her of her lesbianism and as a result was infected with HIV. To make matters worse, Pastor Male is part of the self styled National Coalition against Homosexuality and Sexual Abuse in Uganda and claims he was the first person in the country to come out openly against gays. Male believes that no one is born gay and that through counseling they can be cured of this â€Å"affliction†. (Mills, 2011) Exercising tolerance of ignorance can be quite a bitter pill to swallow Although the focus of most research in the media on Uganda has been surrounding women, children, and the LGBT community, often overlooked is the mistreatment of the ill, specifically those with mental disorders. A survey of the existing mental health system in Uganda was conducted using the WHO Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems. (Fisher, 2010) In addition, 62 interviews and six focus groups were conducted with a broad range of mental health stakeholders at the national and district levels. Despite possessing a â€Å"draft† on mental health policy that is in line with many international human rights standards, Uganda’s mental health system inadequately promotes and protects, and frequently violates the human rights of people with mental disorders; through physical and emotional abuse. Qualitative interviews with a range of stakeholders revealed that patients had experienced various forms of direct human rights abuses within the mental health facilities and units in the country, particularly in psychiatric units in general hospitals. (Fisher, 2010) In discussions with the mental health service facilities, many stakeholders from different groups spoke about how it is fairly common for mental health professionals to infringe on the rights of patients. Numerous respondents, particularly mental health care service users themselves, spoke about the stigma and verbal abuse patients experience from mental health professionals. As one service user lamented: â€Å"Sorry to comment on psychiatrists, but when you are in hospital, instead of calling you by name, they call you ‘case’, ‘this case here’, ‘this mental case’ That is not a proper way to address people. Why do you call me case? I have a name. I am not a case and I have a right to be called my name. But because they have an attitude of labeling. You are  being turned into an object by them.† (Fisher, 2010) Many respondents also spoke about the ‘poor food supply in the mental health units’, which is ‘never enough for everyone’, and is often ‘old’ or ‘so bad you would not wish it upon anyone’. Poor dietary supplies were seen as impacting especially badly those patients who are also physically ill (i.e. as HIV-positive patients). The patients are continuously secluded, sometimes they are beaten up, or starved as punishment, and sometimes they are left alone for hours with no one attending to them. This study was done in every mental institution in the country except for Butabika, which is known as the best mental establishment and is known for its good conditions. Although that does say there can be good and bad institutions, knowing there is only one with a positive rating in the whole country is beyond troublesome. (Bernstein & Okello, 2007) Briefly, a final problem, which falls under the umbrella of human rights, is that of refugee status. In Uganda, refugee policy and programming is focused almost exclusively on providing protection and assistance to refugees residing in rural settlements. While international law allows refugees the right to freedom of movement and choice of residence, Ugandan legislation restricts refugees’ residency to rural settlements, subjecting those who wish to live outside of settlements and in urban centers to severe restrictions. This study sheds light on the reasons refugees choose to reside in Kampala as opposed to rural settlements and the challenges they endure while attempting to sustain and support themselves. Research findings indicate that at all stages of exile, refugees in Uganda are put under pressure, either implicitly or explicitly, to relocate to settlements. The lack of progressive thinking and hence over-reliance on settlements as the mainstay of refugee protection and assistance has hampered reforms of refugee policy and hindered the broader involvement of municipal authorities in responding to protection and assistance needs of refugees in urban areas. Research findings suggest that many refugees have talents, skills, and abilities, which would enable self-sufficiency in Kampala and other urban areas. However, these capabilities are currently undermined by a refugee regime which only promotes self-reliance in rural settlements. In an effort to enhance refugees’ overall human security and to support their own efforts to become independent and self-reliant, this paper asserts that refugee policy in  Uganda should be reformed to support refugees’ decisions to choose their own places of residence, instead of restricting them to rural settlements. (Bernstein & Okello, 2007) When first beginning my research on Uganda, I wanted to focus specifically on the lack of rights for the LGBT community, yet there is a glaring human rights problem all throughout the country, especially including women, children and those with mental/physical ailments. While researching through my references, it is positive to note that â€Å"human rights† is a hot button topic in Uganda, there is some progress; albeit small. (Ewins, 2011) There is focus on the topic of â€Å"human rights† in Uganda and how it effects women, children, the mentally ill, and homosexuals. As a Canadian, I recognize and exercise my rights because I have all of them as a woman and a Canadian citizen. Often times, people seem to forget how fortunate they are to live in a first world country where they do not have to be afraid everywhere they look because of who they are. Dismally, many Ugandans have to exist that way with no escape in sight., as a significant amount of the population are poor and unable to flee to a safer place. Having always been interested in human rights in all countries and how they differ from Canada’s laws, researching the human conditions in Uganda has been a huge eye opener concerning the depth of despair. Although I am not gay myself, rights for LGBT members is one of things that I am very passionate about changing around the world. My research will show what they have to go through on a daily basis as Ugandans and changes that have been made throughout the decades to improve on these rights, or make them harsher. With my research, I have developed the following research questions: Creating the Anti-Homosexual Bill has received negative attention from countries around the world including the United States and Sweden. How has the Ugandan government dealt with this image the rest of the world has about their country? In Uganda, if someone is homosexual, they will most likely be discriminated against. What acts of discrimination by the rest of the Ugandan population will put homosexuals in danger? Some forms of data that will be presented are primarily from observation and  documentaries. Ideally, it would be more advantageous to travel to Uganda and experience life there first hand, therefore many researchers document their work by recording it, so others can see exactly what they saw. Most of my references are in text form and come from either observation from the writers’ own perspective or research from other writers, which can be also known as unobtrusive research (Trochim, 2006), or more specifically, content analysis. (Chapter 10, textbook) All my research has been through the Concordia Database in the Sociology section. From that database, the oldest document used is from 2006, with an exception to the New Encyclopedia of Africa†. (Middleton & Miller, 2008) which described various significant years in Uganda’s fight for human rights in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Additionally, this specific topic is not one that I can do myself or ask people about whil e I am in Montreal. These observations are helpful for my research, as it is the easiest and most precise type of research. The work will be even more helpful if anyone can see it first hand rather than just reading text. The documentary will show you more of an in-depth, depressing look at the lack of human rights in Uganda. The ethical issues I will be facing are my own, since being aware of these issues, I feel obligated to help in some manner. I do not know anyone from Uganda that faced the brutality or human rights violations themselves, or someone who has studied human rights in Uganda. While not doing interviews myself, several of my references have taken certain documentaries when it comes to citing their research. One in particular, which I happened to find on YouTube, is a documentary done by BBC3 in the U.K titled â€Å"The World’s Worst Place to Be Gay?†. It is hosted by a British radio DJ and openly gay Scott Mills, who traveled to Uganda where the death penalty is the huge is sue for homosexuals. He finds out what it is like to live in a society which persecutes people such as himself, and meets those who are leading the hate campaign. In its favour, is that it is a recent documentary, originally aired in February of 2011 on BBC. I have also located two other documentaries under my own independent online research, one entitled â€Å"A World of Conflict† in which reporter Kevin Sites covers every major war zone in the world in one year, and another called â€Å"Hope for Uganda†, a documentary created by World Vision, a non-governmental organization. While these highlight how poorly a condition Uganda is in, there are definitely  ethical issues that occur during filming. Ethical issues include threats of violence open discrimination and hate. While I seemingly cannot do anything to prevent it, it still remains extremely horrific and unethical. One has to come into contact with this venue of research to appreciate this line of study in a proper context. I have not required any approvals, as all of the research I have is not mine. The documentaries were approved by World Vision and BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). With regards to the rights of the Ugandans shown in the documentaries, they were given approval to show themselves on camera beforehand. If they were not comfortable being on television, their faces would be blurred out. While filming â€Å"The World’s Worst Place to be Gay?† in Kampala, the city was warned beforehand that there would be camera crews around. Given that all the stories in the documents and in the films are quite painful, the risks were ever present. Some quotes remained anonymous, some were given with names. It took a great deal of courage for Ugandans to come forward with their hardships and their pain, however it sheds light on the primitive condition of human rights in their country. In conclusion, this topic was something I chose to study, due to the fact that this is a subject that greatly interests me, and that one day, might want to help to fight for this cause, or be involved with as a career. While I might not ever travel to Uganda or work in Africa, I can pursue those fights in Canada. It is certainly an area in which I desperately want to see change in the world; equal rights at every level for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Despite having some background knowledge on this issue, I have many more things to learn, and that is also again in support of my selection. Something I know a lot about is not as challenging or interesting to research. I somehow feel consciously and morally obliged to learn more about the violated and disenfranchised of this country. Lastly, there will be an examination of the â€Å"human rights† issues in Uganda, focusing on how children, women, and homosexuals are treated. The research covered many kingdoms and cities all over the country. I am hoping that because of this paper, the readers will learn more about the situation in Uganda and are motivated to get involved in a project such as this, and possibly compel them to do something to help. At the beginning of the course, deciding which subject I would focus this research paper on, and focusing it on something I want to see change and would want to make a  difference in that situation. In the future, it is my hope that Uganda’s human rights will be improving in the years and decades to come, with the determination, aid, and influence of other countries, apolitical outside agencies, as well as Ugandans learning to help each other. By doing so, people can make the world a better place, not just for today, but rather for the future, and proactively forever. In my future, there will always be a watchful, hopeful eye on Uganda. References: 1.) Cooper, S., Ssebunnya, J., Kigozi, F., Lund, C., & Flisher, A. (2010). Viewing Uganda’s mental health system through a human rights lens. International Review Of Psychiatry, 22(6), 578-588. 2.) Kafumbe, A. (2010). Women’s Rights to Property in Marriage, Divorce, and Widowhood in Uganda: The Problematic Aspects. Human Rights Review, 11(2), 199-221. 3.) Miller C. J., John, M. Ed. (2008). â€Å"Uganda.† New Encyclopedia of Africa. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 119-127. 4.) Bernstein, J., & Okello, M. (2007). To Be or Not To Be: Urban Refugees in Kampala. Refuge, 24(1), 46-56. 5.) Ewins, L. (2011). â€Å"Gross Violation†: Why Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act threatens its trade benefits with the United States. Boston College International & Comparative Law Review, 34(1), 147-171. 6.) Hollander, M. (2009). Gay Rights in Uganda: Seeking to Overturn Uganda’s Anti-Sodomy Laws. Virginia Journal Of International Law, 50(1), 219-266. 7.) M ujuzi, J. (2011). Protecting Children From Those Who Are Supposed To Protect Them! The Uganda Human Rights Commission And Children’s Right To Freedom From Torture. Journal Of Third World Studies, 28(1), 155-168. 8.) Clark-Kazak, C. R. (2010). The politics of protection: aid, human rights discourse, and power relations in Kyaka II settlement, Uganda. Disasters, 34(1), 55-70 9.) Emusu, D., Ivankova, N., Jolly, P., Kirby, R., Foushee, H., Wabwire-Mangen, F., & †¦ Ehiri, J. (2009). Experience of sexual violence among women in HIV discordant unions after voluntary HIV counselling and testing: a qualitative critical incident study in Uganda. AIDS Care, 21(11), 1363-1370 10.) Mills, S. (Producer) (2011). The world’s worst place to be gay? [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=168gaNmaIFo 11.) Allyson, S. (Producer) (2007). Hope for Uganda [Web] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IGKnQRPF-I 12.) Trochim, William. â€Å"Unobstrusive Measures.† Research Methods: Knowledgable Base. (2006): 1. Web. 4 Apr. 2012. . 13.) Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, section 15. (Constitution Act, April 17th 1985.)