Argument for Lowering The Drinking Age to 18 Essay

Argument for Lowering The Drinking Age to 18 - Essay Example Banning drinking age at 18 will not stop teenagers from drinking. Some adults may have the impression that since it is made illegal to drink at age 18, then it would stop teenagers from drinking. On the contrary, the prohibition will not stop teenagers from drinking and that will even add to the thrill of drinking alcohol. Instead of stopping it, the prohibition will even have the effect of encouraging teenagers to drink. Banning alcohol at age 18 will just make teenagers hide when they are drinking and it is more dangerous. Adults or supervising authority may have the impression that they have stopped drinking but in fact, the drinking just went underground. This time, teenagers drink without the presence of adult supervision and this an unsafe environment for kids to drink. It is in this environment that excesses happen that often leads to the fatal outcome that some college presidents have aired their concern that drinking underground contributes to alcohol excesses among teenagers (Wechsler, 2010 pg. 987). Also, it is in this environment that beer binges and fighting occurs because teenagers tend to seize the moment and drink a lot until they could no longer control themselves. Also, 18 years old does not differ from age 21 in terms of the judgment. People may argue that older is better but being 21 does not make one wiser in terms of alcohol drinking. Delaying drinking age to 21 years old does not make one a more responsible drinker. In fact, delaying it promotes an irresponsible drinking behavior because teenagers will have to hide drinking first before they can drink in the open at age 21. So by the time they are already legal to drink to age 21, they have already developed the habit of drinking excessively because they were used to drink in an unsafe environment.

Native Americans in the United States Essay Example for Free

Native Americans in the United States Essay Dentify the economic, political, and/or social causes of the Civil War assess the influence of individuals and groups in the U. S. government on Reconstruction assess the influence of individuals and groups in the South on Reconstruction distinguish and analyze the freedoms guaranteed to African Americans in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution analyze the various components of Jim Crow legislation and their effects on Southern minorities describe efforts by the U. S. Government to assimilate Native Americans into American culture identify significant events that impacted the relationship between the government, Native Americans, and American citizens identify settlement patterns in the American West, the reservation system, and/or the tribulations of the Native Americans from 1865–90 After completing this lesson, you will be able to evaluate the causes and consequences of the Civil War identify the economic, political, and/or social causes of the Civil War assess the influence of individuals and groups in the U. S. government on Reconstruction assess the influence of individuals and groups in the South on Reconstruction distinguish and analyze the freedoms guaranteed to African Americans in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution analyze the various components of Jim Crow legislation and their distinguish and analyze the freedoms guaranteed to African Americans in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution effects on Southern minorities describe efforts by the U. S. Government to assimilate Native Americans into American culture identify significant events that impacted the relationship between the government, Native Americans, and American citizens identify settlement patterns in the American West, the reservation system, and/or the tribulations of the Native Americans from 1865–90After completing this lesson, you will be able to evaluate the causes and consequences of the Civil War identify the economic, political, and/or social causes of the Civil War assess the influence of individuals and groups in the U. S. Government on Reconstruction assess the influence of individuals and groups in the South on Reconstruction distinguish and analyze the freedoms guaranteed to African Americans in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution analyze the various components of Jim Crow legislation and their effects on Southern minorities describe efforts by the U. S. government to assimilate Native Americans into American culture identify significant events that impacted the relationship between the government, Native Americans, and American citizens identify settlement patterns in the American West, the reservation system, and/or the tribulations of the Native Americans from 1865–90.

The Role of Women in Society :: Sociology History Females Gender Essays

The Role of Women in Society   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The role women play in today’s society is a drastic change from the previous role. Women used to be confined to the superiority of the man. Physically, mentally, and emotionally abused, belittled, embarrassed, and silenced. These are just a few examples of the emotion from the isolated treatment of the past. A woman’s role in today’s society is more valued than ever before.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Women have always been essential to society. Fifty to seventy years ago, a woman was no more than a house wife, caregiver, and at their husbands beck and call. Women had no personal opinion, no voice, and no freedom. They were suppressed by the sociable beliefs of man. A woman’s respectable place was always behind the masculine frame of a man. In the past a woman’s inferiority was not voluntary but instilled by elder women, and/or force. Many, would like to know why? Why was a woman such a threat to a man? Was it just about man’s ability to control, and overpower a woman, or was there a serious threat? Well, everyone has there own opinion about the cause of the past oppression of woman, it is currently still a popular argument today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thanks to our strong, motivated, committed, dedicated, and determined women: who fought for the valued rights of woman everywhere. Without all the feminist, and woman activist women would probably still be oppress. Thank you to women like Eleanor Smeal, Bonnie Briggs, Maya Angleou, and Ms. Bensedrine, and Sadie Alexander (founder of DST).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Women today have excelled to unreachable heights. Today women are out in the workforce, the professional world, the military, and there are those that are still at home, but by choose. A woman’s value has skyrocketed over these past decades. A woman today can do anything a man can and more.

Food Justice Essay

Walking into the lecture I had no clue what food justice meant. If anything, I figured the lecture had to do with justice for fair trade for farmers or the justice in regulation of genetically modified foods. Instead it turned out to be justice that seeks to ensure that the risk associated with growing, producing, transporting, distributing, eating, access to food is shared by everyone fairly. After Professor Kieth Pezzoli gave a little explanation about food justice and its purpose I began to see the â€Å"background stuff† that goes on to get my food on my plate. I was beginning to see that the food that gets into my stomach has probably traveled to more places around the US than I will ever be. What was really interesting was learning that food that gets cultivated here will be shipped up north or elsewhere to be processed and then shipped back to California. In addition, all the traveling that my food not only waste time but also is detrimental to the environment due to the pollution caused by the vehicles that ship my food all around to be processed. Even though my food travels thousands of miles before it reaches me Professor Brad Werner made an interesting point in that we may never notice this process because of modern advancement in transportation and communication. The ability to easily receive my food is due to all the technology we have and having this ease of purchasing food is known as a low friction transaction. On the other hand, when it is difficult to purchase food due to varying factors this is known as a high friction transaction. Lastly Professor Jericho Burg demonstrated how the problems we face with food justice here in the states stretches far beyond our borders due to the excess food we give out to other countries in famine through food aid. Like many things good intentions sometimes have negative effects and there needs to be a re-evaluation and reform on the system we currently use to help others including ourselves.

Teens and Sex Education

Teens and Sex Education | | |Home >>Teen Sexuality | |[pic] | | | |[pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic] | |Teen sex education, or teen sex ed, is important for helping teens to understand the changes in their bodies and in their | |relationships during the teenage years.Sex education helps teens make healthy choices about relationships and sex. | |Sex education for teens should start well before the teenage years. Starting early, parents should have age-appropriate | |discussions with their children about love, relationships, values, and sex. It is appropriate to give children and teens honest, | |clear answers when they ask questions about their bodies or about relationships. For young children these answers do not need to | |be graphic, but should be straightforward. |If parents make sex education an open, ongoing discussion with their child, by the time the child is a teen he or she will feel | |more comfortable asking his or her parents questions about sex and the changes brought about by sexual development in the teen | |years.Parental opinion is one of the most important factors teens use to make decisions about sex. If parents have not educated | |their teens about sex, or discourage questions from their teens, the teens will get more of their sex education from friends and | |the media, which are not reliable sources. |Teens do learn about sex from television, movies, music, and magazines; those teens who were exposed to sex through any of these | |media when young are more likely to begin having sex at an early age. The need to correct the false impressions teens may get | |from the media about sex is an important reason that teens should get sex education from their parents. | |Sex education conducted through schools or religious groups can also help to correct the misinformed and sometimes deceptive sex | |education teens get from the media and from friends.Some types of sex education presented by schools or religious organizations | |for children an d teens might include: | |Good touch-bad touch talks for elementary students, teaching them that they have the right to be safe from inappropriate physical| |contact, and that they should respect this right in others. | |Basic descriptions of the reproductive system, usually presented in middle school, before puberty, to pre-teens separated by | |gender. |Discussions of human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, and types of birth control, including abstinence, usually | |presented to teens in high school sex education courses. | |Value-based, age-appropriate discussions about relationships and sexuality offered by religious groups. | |These sex education classes generally require parental approval before the child or teen can participate, and give parents | |another opportunity to discuss relationships and values with their children or teens.Schools, religious groups, and community | |organizations may also offer advice or written materials to help parents talk to their teens about sex. | |Some parents are afraid that teen sex education encourages their teens to have sex. A recent study in Texas, however, found that | |teens who took a two week sex education class became more interested in waiting until after high school to have sex; before the | |class 84 percent of the teens wanted to wait, and after the class 87 percent were planning on waiting.Also, before the class 60 | |percent of the teens said they wanted to wait until marriage to have sex, and after the class 71 percent were planning on | |abstaining until marriage. | |The likelihood that teens will have sex is also reduced if they watch less than 2 hours of television on school nights, attend | |religious services, and come from a family with both parents. | |Parents, whether married or single, are still the strongest influence on the choices their teens make about sex. By being | |involved in their teens' sex education, parents can help their teens develop healthy attitudes about love and sex. |

Genes - Definition, Function, and Mutations

Genes - Definition, Function, and Mutations Genes are segments of DNA located on chromosomes that contain the instructions for protein production. Scientists estimate that humans have as many as 25,000 genes. Genes exist in more than one form. These alternative forms are called alleles and there are typically two alleles for a given trait. Alleles determine distinct traits that can be passed on from parents to offspring. The process by which genes are transmitted was discovered by Gregor Mendel and formulated in what is known as Mendels law of segregation. Gene Transcription Genes contain the genetic codes, or  sequences of nucleotide bases in nucleic acids, for the production of specific proteins. The information contained within DNA is not directly converted to proteins, but must first be transcribed in a process called DNA transcription. This process takes place within the nucleus of our cells. Actual protein production takes place in the cytoplasm of our cells through a process called translation. Transcription factors are special proteins that determined whether or not a gene gets turned on or off. These proteins bind to DNA and either aid in the transcription process or inhibit the process. Transcription factors are important for cell differentiation as they determine which genes in a cell are expressed. The genes expressed in a red blood cell, for example, differ from those expressed in a sex cell. An Individual's Genotype In diploid organisms, alleles come in pairs. One allele is inherited from the father and the other from the mother. Alleles determine an individuals genotype or gene composition. The allele combination of the genotype determines the traits that are expressed or the phenotype. A genotype producing the phenotype of a straight hairline, for example, differs from the genotype resulting in a V-shaped hairline. Inherited Through Both Asexual and Sexual Reproduction. Genes are inherited through both asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction. In asexual reproduction, resulting organisms are genetically identical to a single parent. Examples of this type of reproduction include budding, regeneration, and parthenogenesis. Gametes Fuse to Form a Distinct Individual Sexual reproduction involves the contribution of genes from both male and female gametes that fuse to form a distinct individual. The traits exhibited in these offspring are transmitted independently of one another and may result from several types of inheritance. In complete dominance inheritance, one allele for a particular gene is dominant and completely masks the other allele for the gene.In incomplete dominance, neither allele is completely dominant over the other resulting in a phenotype that is a mixture of both parent phenotypes.In co-dominance, both alleles for a trait are fully expressed. Some Traits Determined by More Than One Gene Not all traits are determined by a single gene. Some traits are determined by more than one gene and are therefore known as polygenic traits. Some genes are located on sex chromosomes and are called sex-linked genes. There are a number of disorders that are caused by abnormal sex-linked genes including hemophilia and color blindness. Variation Helps Adapting to Changing Situations Genetic variation is a change in the genes that occur in organisms in a population. This variation typically occurs through DNA mutation, gene flow (movement of genes from one population to another) and sexual reproduction. In unstable environments, populations with genetic variation are typically able to adapt to changing situations better than those that do not contain genetic variation. Mutations Are From Errors and the Environment A gene mutation is an alteration in the sequence of nucleotides in DNA. This change can affect a single nucleotide pair or larger segments of a chromosome. Changing gene segment sequences most often results in non-functioning proteins. Some mutations can result in disease, while others may have no negative impact on or may even benefit an individual. Still, other mutations may result in unique traits such as dimples, freckles, and multicolored eyes. Gene mutations are most commonly the result of environmental factors (chemicals, radiation, ultraviolet light) or errors that occur during cell division (mitosis and meiosis).

Understand Chemistry Unit Conversions

Understand Chemistry Unit Conversions Unit conversions are important in all sciences, although they may seem more critical in chemistry because many calculations use different units. Every measurement you take should reporting with the proper units. While it may take practice to master unit conversions, you only need to know how to multiply, divide, add, and subtract to do them. The math is easy as long as you know which units can be converted from one to another and how to set up conversion factors in an equation. Know the Base Units There are several common base quantities, such as mass, temperature, and volume. You can convert between different units of a base quantity, but may not be able to convert from one type of quantity to another. For example, you can convert grams to moles or kilograms, but you cant convert grams to Kelvin. Grams, moles, and kilograms are all units that describe the amount of matter, while Kelvin describes temperature. There are seven fundamental base units in the SI or metric system, plus there are other units that are considered base units in other systems. A base unit is a single unit. Here are some common ones: Mass kilogram (kg), gram (g), pound (lb) Distance or Length meter (m), centimeter (cm), inch (in), kilometer (km), mile (mi) Time second (s), minute (min), hour (hr), day, year Temperature Kelvin (K), Celsius (C), Fahrenheit (F) Quantity mole (mol) Electric Current ampere (amp) Luminous Intensity candela Understand Derived Units Derived units (sometimes called special units) combine the base units. An example of a derived unit is a unit for area, square meters (m2) or the unit of force, the newton (kg ·m/s2). Also included are volume units. For example, there are liters (l), milliliters (ml), cubic centimeter (cm3). Unit Prefixes In order to convert between units, youll want to know common unit prefixes. These are used primarily in the metric system as a sort of shorthand notation to make numbers easier to express. Here are some useful prefixes to know: Name Symbol Factor giga- G 109 mega- M 106 kilo- k 103 hecto- h 102 deca- da 101 base unit 100 deci- d 10-1 centi- c 10-2 milli- m 10-3 micro- 10-6 nano- n 10-9 pico- p 10-12 femto- f 10-15 As example of how to use the prefixes: 1000 meters 1 kilometer 1 km For very large or very small numbers, its easier to use scientific notation: 1000 103 0.00005 5 x 10-4 Performing Unit Conversions With all of this in mind, youre ready to perform unit conversions. A unit conversion can be thought of as a sort of equation. In math, you may recall if you multiply any number times 1, it is unchanged. Unit conversions work the same way, except 1 is expressed in the form of a conversion factor or ratio. Consider the unit conversion: 1 g 1000 mg This could be written as: 1g / 1000 mg 1 or 1000 mg / 1 g 1 If you multiply a value times either of these fractions, its value will be unchanged. Youll use this to cancel out units to convert them. Heres an example (notice how the grams cancel out in the numerator and denominator): 4.2x10-31g x 1000mg/1g 4.2x10-31 x 1000 mg 4.2x10-28 mg Using Your Calculator You can enter in these values in scientific notation on your calculator using the EE button: 4.2 EE -31 x 1 EE3 which will give you: 4.2 E -18 Heres another example. Convert 48.3 inches into feet. Either you know the conversion factor between inches and feet or you can look it up: 12 inches 1 foot or 12 in 1 ft Now, you set up the conversion so that the inches will cancel out, leaving you with feet in your final answer: 48.3 inches x 1 foot/12 inches 4.03 ft There is inches in both the top (numerator) and bottom (denominator) of the expression, so it cancels out. If you had tried to write: 48.3 inches x 12 inches/1 foot you would have had square inches / foot, which wouldnt have given you the desired units. Always check your conversion factor to make sure the correct term cancels out! You may need to switch the fraction around. Key Points Unit conversions only work if the units are the same type. For example, you cant convert mass into temperature or volume into energy.In chemistry, it would be nice if you only had to convert between metric units, but there are many common units in other systems. For example, you may need to convert a Fahrenheit temperature into Celsius or a pound mass into kilograms.The only math skills you need to do unit conversions are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

A Biography of Letizia Bonaparte - Napoleons Mother

A Biography of Letizia Bonaparte - Napoleons Mother Letizia Bonaparte experienced poverty and opulent wealth thanks to the actions of her children, the most famous of whom was Napoleon Bonaparte, the twice Emperor of France. But Letizia was no mere lucky mother profiting from a childs success, she was a formidable figure who guided her family through difficult, albeit often self made, situations, and saw a son rise and fall while keeping a relatively steady head. Napoleon might have been emperor of France and Europes most feared military leader, but Letiziawas still happy to refuse to attend his coronation when she was unhappy with him! Marie-Letizia Bonaparte (nà ©e Ramolino), Madame Mà ©re de Sa Majestà © lEmpereur (1804 - 1815) Born: 24th August 1750 in Ajaccio, Corsica.Married: 2nd June 1764 in Ajaccio, CorsicaDied: 2nd February 1836 in Rome, Italy. Childhood Born in the middle of the eighteenth century, August 1750, Marie-Letizia was a member of the Ramolinos, a low ranking noble family of Italian descent whose elders had lived around Corsica - and in Letizias case, Ajaccio - for several centuries. Letizias father died when she was five and her mother Angela remarried a few years later to Franà §ois Fesch, a captain from the Ajaccio garrison which Letizias father had once commanded. Throughout this period Letizia received no education beyond the domestic. Marriage The next phase of Letizias life began on June 2nd 1764 when she married Carlo Buonaparte, the son of a local family with similar social rank and Italian descent; Carlo was eighteen, Letizia fourteen. Although some myths claim otherwise, the couple certainly didnt elope on a lovesick whim and, although some of the Ramolinos objected, neither family was overtly against the marriage; indeed, most historians agree that the match was a sound, largely economic, agreement which left the couple financially secure, although far from rich. Letizia soon bore two children, one before the end of 1765 and another under ten months later, but neither lived for long. Her next child was born on July 7th 1768, and this son survived: he was named Joseph. Overall, Letizia gave birth to thirteen children, but only eight of those made it past infancy. On The Front Line One source of family income was Carlos work for Pasquale Paoli, a Corsican patriot and revolutionary leader. When French armies landed in Corsica during 1768 Paolis forces fought an, initially successful, war against them and, in early 1769, Letizia accompanied Carlo to the front line - at her own behest - despite her fourth pregnancy. However, the Corsican forces were crushed at the battle of Ponte Novo and Letizia was forced to flee back to Ajaccio through mountains. The incident is worth noting, for shortly after her return Letizia gave birth to her second surviving son, Napoleon; his embryonic presence at the battle remains part of his legend. Household Letizia remained in Ajaccio for the next decade, bearing six more children who survived into adulthood - Lucien in 1775, Elisa in 1777, Louis in 1778, Pauline in 1780, Caroline in 1782 and finally Jerome in 1784. Much of Letizias time was spent caring for those children who remained at home - Joseph and Napoleon departed for schooling in France during 1779 - and organising the Casa Buonaparte, her home. By all accounts Letizia was a stern mother prepared to whip her offspring, but she was also caring and ran her household to the benefit of all. Affair with Comte de Marbeuf During the late 1770s Letizia began an affair with the Comte de Marbeuf, Corsicas French military governor and a friend of Carlos. Although there is no direct evidence, and despite the attempts of some historians to argue otherwise, the circumstances make it quite clear that Letizia and Marbeuf were lovers at some point during the period 1776 to 1784, when the latter married an eighteen year girl and began to distance himself from the, now 34 year old, Letizia. Marbeuf may have fathered one of the Buonaparte children, but commentators who claim he was Napoleons father are without any foundation. Fluctuating Wealth / Flight to France Carlo died on February 24th 1785. For the next few years Letizia managed to keep her family together, despite numerous sons and daughters scattered across France in education and training, by running a thrifty household and persuading notoriously ungenerous relatives to part with money. This was the start of a series of financial troughs and peaks for Letizia: in 1791 she inherited large sums from Archdeacon Lucien, a man who had lived on the floor above her in the Casa Buonaparte. This windfall enabled her to relax her grip on household tasks and enjoy herself, but it also enabled her son Napoleon to enjoy quick promotion and enter into the turmoil of Corsican politics. After turning against Paoli Napoleon suffered defeat, forcing his family to flee for the French mainland in 1793. By the end of that year Letizia was lodged in two small rooms at Marseilles, relying on a soup kitchen for food. This sudden income and loss would, you can speculate, colour her views when the family rose to great heights under the Napoleonic empire and fell from them with equally spectacular speed. Rise of Napoleon Having plunged his family into poverty, Napoleon soon saved them from it: heroic success in Paris brought him promotion to the Army of the Interior and considerable wealth, 60,000 francs of which went to Letizia, enabling her to move into one of Marseilles best homes. From then until 1814 Letizia received ever greater riches from her son, especially after his triumphant Italian campaign of 1796-7. This lined the elder Bonaparte brothers pockets with considerable riches and caused the Paolistas to be expelled from Corsica; Letizia was thus able to return to the Casa Buonaparte, which she renovated with a massive compensatory grant from the French government. The Wars of the 1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th / 5th / 1812 / 6th Coalition Mother of the Emperor of France Now a woman of great wealth and considerable esteem, Letizia still attempted to control her children, remaining able to praise and chastise them even as they became kings, princes and emperors. Indeed, Letizia was keen that each should benefit equally from the Bonapartes success, and each time he bestowed an award on one sibling Letizia urged him to restore the equilibrium with awards to the others. In an imperial story full of wealth, battles and conquest, there is something warming about the presence of the imperial mother still making sure the siblings divided things equally, even if these were regions and people had died to gain them. Letizia did more than simply organise her family, for she acted as unofficial governor of Corsica - commentators have suggested that nothing major occurred without her approval - and oversaw the Imperial Charities. Snubbing Napoleon However, Napoleons fame and wealth was no guarantee of his mothers favour. Immediately after his imperial accession Napoleon granted titles to his family, including that of Prince of the Empire for Joseph and Louis. However, Letizia was so chagrined at hers - Madame Mà ¨re de Sa Majestà © lEmpereur (or Madame Mà ¨re, Madam Mother) - that she boycotted the coronation. The title may well have been a deliberate slight from son to mother over family arguments and the Emperor tried to make amends a year later, in 1805, by giving Letizia a country home with over 200 courtiers, high-ranking servants and vast sums of money. Madame Mre This episode reveals another side of Letizia: she was certainly careful with her own money, but willing to spend that of her children and patrons. Unimpressed with the first property - a wing of the Grand Trianon - she had Napoleon move her into a large seventeenth century chateau, despite complaining at the opulence of it all. Letizia was exhibiting more than an innate miserlyness, or using the lessons learnt from coping with her free-spending husband, for she was preparing for the potential collapse of Napoleons empire: My son has a fine position, said Letizia, but it may not continue for ever. Who knows whether all these kings wont some day come to me begging for bread? (Napoleons Family, Seward, pg 103.) Refuge in Rome Circumstances did indeed change. In 1814 Napoleons enemies seized Paris, forcing him into abdication and exile on Elba; as the Empire fell, so his siblings fell with him, losing their thrones, titles and parts of their wealth. Nevertheless, the conditions of Napoleons abdication guaranteed Madame Mà ¨re 300,000 francs a year; throughout the crises Letizia acted with stoicism and gentle bravery, never rushing from her enemies and marshalling her errant children as best she could. She initially traveled to Italy with her half brother Fesch, the latter gaining an audience with Pope Pius VII during which the pair were granted refuge in Rome. Letizia also exhibited her head for sensible finances by liquidating her French property before it was taken from her. Still showing parental concern, Letizia traveled to stay with Napoleon before urging him to embark on the adventure which became the Hundred Days, a period when Napoleon regained the Imperial Crown, hurriedly re-organised France and fought the most famous battle in European History, Waterloo. Of course, he was defeated and exiled to distant St. Helena. Having traveled back to France with her son Letizia was soon thrown out; she accepted the protection of the Pope and Rome remained her home. Post Imperial Life Her son may have fallen from power, but Letizia and Fesch had invested considerable sums during the days of Empire, leaving them wealthy and ensconced in luxury: she brought the Palazza Rinuccini in 1818 and installed within it a large number of staff. Letizia also remained active in her familys affairs, interviewing, hiring and shipping staff out to Napoleon and writing letters to secure his release. Nevertheless, her life now became tinged with tragedy as several of her children died young: Elisa in 1820, Napoleon in 1821 and Pauline in 1825. After Elisas death Letizia only ever wore black, and she became increasingly devout. Having lost all her teeth earlier in life Madame Mere now lost her sight, living many of her final years blind. Death / Conclusion Letizia Bonaparte died, still under the protection of the Pope, in Rome on February 2nd 1836. An often dominant mother, Madame Mà ¨re was a pragmatic and careful woman who combined an ability to enjoy luxury without guilt, but to also plan ahead and live without exorbitance. She remained Corsican in thought and word, preferring to speak Italian instead of French, a language which, despite almost two decades living in the country, she spoke poorly and could not write. Despite the hatred and bitterness aimed at her son Letizia remained a surprisingly popular figure, probably because she lacked the eccentricities and ambitions of her children. In 1851 Letizias body was returned and buried in her native Ajaccio. That she is a footnote in the history of Napoleon is an enduring shame, as she is an interesting character in her own right, especially as, centuries later, it is often the Bonapartes who resisted the heights of grandeur and folly who endear. Notable Family:Husband: Carlo Buonaparte (1746 - 1785)Children: Joseph Bonaparte, originally Giuseppe Buonaparte (1768 - 1844)Napoleon Bonaparte, originally Napoleone Buonaparte (1769 - 1821)Lucien Bonaparte, originally Luciano Buonaparte (1775 - 1840)Elisa Bacciochi, nà ©e Maria Anna Buonaparte/Bonaparte (1777 - 1820)Louis Bonaparte, originally Luigi Buonaparte (1778 - 1846)Pauline Borghese, nà ©e Maria Paola/Paoletta Buonaparte/Bonaparte (1780 - 1825)Caroline Murat, nà ©e Maria Annunziata Buonaparte/Bonaparte (1782 - 1839)Jà ©rà ´me Bonaparte, originally Girolamo Buonaparte (1784 - 1860)

CONFIDENTIALITY IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CONFIDENTIALITY IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE - Essay Example Confidentiality in health care is covered in Data Protection Act 1998 in force from March 1, 2000 covering ‘all social services and health records.’ (Beech, 2007) It’s important for patient to know that personal information won’t be disclosed or used without permission. However, in certain situations there is an ethical dilemma between the need to preserve confidentiality and disclose personal information for specific purposes. The breach in patient’s confidentiality can be possible if it concerns public interests. Although protecting confidentiality in health care is usually paramount, the legal obligation to maintain confidentiality is not absolute (McHale 2000 in Beech, 2007). Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 healthcare staff can disclose personal information in case of severe crimes or terrorism or in case when identification of people involved in traffic accidents is needed. The information can be disclosed also to assist the police to prevent murder, rape and kidnapping. So disclosure happens in situations when an individual is at risk of being seriously harmed when the information is not disclosed. (Beech, 2007). Personal information can be revealed in cases of certain infectious diseases when the law requires health providers to inform public health authorities. When it concerns public interest the breach of confidence is justified according to a common law justification. For example, when a nurse is aware of threat to public safety like in case when a person with epilepsy rides a motorbike, one is entitled to notify driving medical authorities. The same is true in case of communicable disease or sexually transmitted infections. It’s appropriate for the health care professional to inform a partner of the infected person of the possible threat. The breach of confidence here is justified on the basis of harm prevention. (Clinical Confidentiality, 2005) The laws

Individual Behavior and Communication Paper Essay

Individual Behavior and Communication Paper - Essay Example The behavioral culture of any organization is fashioned in large part by the commonality of the separate individuality of each separate employee as well as each division. Organizational behavior engage the study of how these employees operate and perform, concentrating on practices that can create a distinction in the way employees adjust to and execute their mission. Organizational behavior changes the focus of management towards job satisfaction and involvement, commitment to the organization, and actual task performance measures. Ethics is an important element as it is vital for organizations to exhibit a commitment to instilling ethical behavior. Ethical behavior in the arena of decision-making can be complex, and so it is important that a code of ethics be strictly defined, as well as the establishment of a fair disciplinary system for those who violate the ethical standards. It is just as vital that leadership also develop a procedure to reward employees when they have been recognized for exhibiting positive ethical behaviors. It is also essential that employees be involved in the process of identifying ethical issues and creating a means of ad dressing them when they are both violated and followed. In the arena of ethical decision making, the criteria used to classify the values that motivate the concept of ethics must also be considered. Moral behavior is involved in choosing problems as well as choosing who should be involved, approximating the impact of substitution. It is paramount that everyone in the organization understands that ethical conduct does not arrive as a result of being revealed as a violator of the already-in-place code. Organizational culture is made up of the values and beliefs that manipulate and persuade employee behavior. Diversity is the individual disparities that exist within members of an organization and is most readily based on external factor such as gender,

CHAUTAUQUA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CHAUTAUQUA - Essay Example This is a goal, which a first year engineering student should develop although long term (DiLaura 07). Consequently, having a family should also be a goal of a student, as every moral life requires a family. A goal map than can be used to accomplish the above goals includes scoring satisfactory grades in the engineering collage from all the exams. This entails developing proficient qualities of listening and understanding, taking notes and being active in class. Good grades guarantee a degree in engineering after which I seek for an outstanding engineering job (DiLaura 05). With full experience after working in another firm, running, my engineering firm is not a difficult task. Over the past two years, there are various goals; I have achieved; first, I succeeded in securing a chance in the engineering collage. This is a marvelous achievement considering my background. Consequently, I have attended varied classes on computer studies to impart skills later applicable in life. Students who dodge their classes opting to other activities have goals but at the same time have detractors. The student, therefore, follows other people’s goals instead of his own goals (DiLaura 12). In conclusion, goal setting is a step in realizing any success. Lack of commitment often forces people to abolish their goals, which is a wrong step in life. It is, therefore, noteworthy that students focus on their goals for success. DiLaura, David. Being smart is not enough, Chautauquas for first year engineering students. New York, NY: Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Department of The College of Engineering and Applied Science in The University of Colorado at Boulder, 1998.

Violent Video Games Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Violent Video Games - Essay Example However, the diversity of these video games is threatening. Many of these games are violent in nature. Examples of violent video games are: Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat and Sega's Primal Rage. All these games deal with fighting and killing the opponent in the most terrible and cruel way possible. Many of the more recent violent video games are modifications and are influenced by the above mentioned games. According to Dill, "Provenzo (1991) studied the most popular video games and noted that 40 out of 47 were violent in nature." Several other studies are mentioned by Dill, all of which support the idea that most of the video games are violent in nature. This research seeks to discover the degree of influence of the violent video games to selected college students. Inevitably and naturally, the players are affected by the games they play. This study will try to find out the causal relationship between violent video game and aggression. This will try to prove the hypothesis that the exposure of the students to video game violence increase aggressive behavior and other aggression related phenomena. Specifically, the study will answer the question: Does playing violent video game increase aggressiveness This research will use 40 respondents, 20 males and 20 females. ... The researcher will determine the video game to be played. Immediately after playing the video games, their cardiovascular measures (blood pressure and heart rate) will be taken then immediately they will be asked to answer the questionnaire. The IV (independent variable) will be the video games and the DV (dependent variable) will be the cardiovascular measures and the questionnaire. They must not take alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes and any drugs that may affect their behavior prior to the experiment. The following is a list of the video games that will be played by the respondents. The violent games are: Dark Forces (The player assumes the role of a special ops guy in the Rebellion aiming to steal the Death star plans and to get out alive. Weapons like a blaster rifle and laser pistol are used to kill enemy guards and storm troopers.); Marathon 2 (The shooter is a space marine trapped in a base that is taken over by aliens. His goal is to retake the base and not die, shooting at anything that moves.); Speed Demon (The player drives a heavily armed vehicle in a race with other armed vehicles. One gets points by destroying other vehicles.); Street Fighter (This is similar in many ways to Mortal Kombat. The player chooses a character and then engages in a series of fights with other characters.); and Wolfenstein 3D (The player assumes the role of B.J. Blascowitz, an American soldier caught and taken prisoner trying to infiltrate a top-secret Nazi lab. There are several deadly weapon s and he shots at all things that move). The nonviolent games are: 3D Ultra Pinball (This is simply an electronic version of a pinball game, complete with flippers, buzzers, bells, and various visual and auditory effects); Glider Pro (Players of this game control the forward and

Demonstrative Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Demonstrative Communication - Essay Example As we have defined communication, we can now delve into the definition of demonstrative communication. A very simple definition of demonstrative communication is the communication that takes place without any use of words. It includes both unwritten and non-verbal communication. There are many components of demonstrative communication such as tone of voice, posture, gesture and most importantly a person’s facial expressions among others. In order to better understand demonstrative communication let us consider an example. Let’s suppose that Simon is an entrepreneur and has a business that manufactures and sells tires. One day while sitting in the office he receives a call that his import shipment of rubber from India has been delayed by a week because of bad weather and heavy monsoon rains in India. This is bad news and makes Simon angry. To vent his anger, Simon slams the phone receiver down and begins pacing his office, his shoulders drooped and a worried look on his face. Paula, his assistant, has some more bad news. She nervously walks to Simon’s office and knocks. Simon gives her a menacing look and beckons her to come in. Paula then tells him that the lucrative deal, he had been working on since last week, with a major car dealer could not get through and the dealer had sent a letter refusing his proposal this morning. Simon clenches his fists and in a restrained and tired voice tells Paula to leave him alone and not disturb him for the day. The above is a perfect example of demonstrative communication. Although not directly visible, we can infer from Simons actions (the drooped shoulders, slamming of the receiver, pacing the office, clenched fists), facial expression (menacing look) and tone of voice (restrained and tired) that he is very angry and worried after hearing the bad news. Demonstrative communication can be used along with verbal communication to convey one’s message more clearly. For example when greeting someone a nd saying ‘Pleased to meet you’ will be less effective than not only saying ‘Pleased to meet you’ but also shaking the other person’s hand warmly and giving them a smile that really shows we are pleased to meet them. Demonstrative communication can only be effective if both the verbal and non-verbal message convey the same meaning. For example if some uninvited guest comes to our place then we may greet them jovially however our facial expression may show that we are unhappy on the guests’ arrival. Demonstrative communication also proves to be ineffective when there are different interpretations of non-verbal communication in different countries. For example in Sri Lanka shaking one’s head from side to side means a yes and nodding of the head means a no (totally opposite from the American meaning), in China biting one’s nails is considered disgusting while in America it is looked upon as a sign of insecurity and nervousness (Morr ison, Conaway & Borden 1972). Some examples of positive demonstrative communication include smiling, dressing neatly and jovial voice while negative demonstrative communication includes an aggressive tone and a frowning or scowling face. Demonstrative communication can be used to interpret other people’s behavior and using those interpretations to make our own responses. This involves observing and understanding people’s actions whilst they interact with you and then deciding on one’

(How has the oil wealth affected the prospects of democratization in Essay

(How has the oil wealth affected the prospects of democratization in the Arab Gulf) and ( Evaluate the role of civil society in - Essay Example Political science and economics studies have found that there is limitation of advances in democracy where countries in the Middle East have vast oil reserves. Oil wealth has a long-term effect on Middle Eastern democracy efforts. While extraction activities normally take place over an extended period, major oil discoveries take place during these countries’ peak production years (Ehteshami 37). Oil discoveries made in democratic countries such as Norway have no effect on their democratic trajectories. However, where oil is discovered in non-democratic countries, it is less likely that these countries will transition to democracy. Oil discovery has little effect on democratic countries politically. While Iran has been under theocratic rule for over 20 years, oil was discovered when they were a democracy, which can be seen to date as the country holds regular elections compared to its other Middle Eastern oil producers. The country only became less democratic after the Western- led coup of 1953 before transitioning back to elective democracy. This is in contrast to Qatar that discovered oil as a monarchy and has not made any strides towards democracy (Ehteshami 37). Prior to the early 50s, Egypt had one of the most vibrant democracies in the region with limited supplies of oil peaking in the mid 60s after which oil production declined from the 90s onwards. A similar history is shared by Tunisia, which was also a democratic country when they discovered oil. The relatively peaceful transitions in these countries are not a coincidence (Ehteshami 38). This is in stark contrast to Syria, whose major oil discoveries were made during authoritarian military rule. The transition from Bashar Al-Assad’s government to another has seen a bloody civil war erupt, as is the case with Iraq where oil discoveries were made during authoritarian rule. Oil rich non-democratic countries spend more on their military in order to stay in power, which enhances their political power and prevents the democratization of their countries. Lucrative reserves of oil also provide dictators with the incentive to want to stay in power longer since they fear they will loose everything if another leader comes in (Ehteshami 38). While civil society has played a critical role in the democratization of countries in Latin America and Eastern Europe, this has not been reflected in the Middle East. In this region, NGOs have been tamed and weakened since they can be co-opted using oil money (Ehteshami 98). Meanwhile, the EU and the US have continued to emphasize how important it is to develop civil society. Funding by the west for Arab NGOs has seen a significant increase since the September 11 attacks. The amount of money channeled to Middle Eastern countries by the US has tripled in the 12 years since. However, empowerment of these NGOs remains flawed and aimless because the countries’ leaders also have money that can co-opt them. Most of the NGOs in Arab countri es are government organized with staffing and funding provided by the government. Their main idea in funding the NGOs has to do with managing and controlling change, rather than inspiring or instigating change (Ehteshami 98). Even where it is relatively easy to establish organizations that fight for democracy, these are still under strict

Demonstrative Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Demonstrative Communication - Essay Example As we have defined communication, we can now delve into the definition of demonstrative communication. A very simple definition of demonstrative communication is the communication that takes place without any use of words. It includes both unwritten and non-verbal communication. There are many components of demonstrative communication such as tone of voice, posture, gesture and most importantly a person’s facial expressions among others. In order to better understand demonstrative communication let us consider an example. Let’s suppose that Simon is an entrepreneur and has a business that manufactures and sells tires. One day while sitting in the office he receives a call that his import shipment of rubber from India has been delayed by a week because of bad weather and heavy monsoon rains in India. This is bad news and makes Simon angry. To vent his anger, Simon slams the phone receiver down and begins pacing his office, his shoulders drooped and a worried look on his face. Paula, his assistant, has some more bad news. She nervously walks to Simon’s office and knocks. Simon gives her a menacing look and beckons her to come in. Paula then tells him that the lucrative deal, he had been working on since last week, with a major car dealer could not get through and the dealer had sent a letter refusing his proposal this morning. Simon clenches his fists and in a restrained and tired voice tells Paula to leave him alone and not disturb him for the day. The above is a perfect example of demonstrative communication. Although not directly visible, we can infer from Simons actions (the drooped shoulders, slamming of the receiver, pacing the office, clenched fists), facial expression (menacing look) and tone of voice (restrained and tired) that he is very angry and worried after hearing the bad news. Demonstrative communication can be used along with verbal communication to convey one’s message more clearly. For example when greeting someone a nd saying ‘Pleased to meet you’ will be less effective than not only saying ‘Pleased to meet you’ but also shaking the other person’s hand warmly and giving them a smile that really shows we are pleased to meet them. Demonstrative communication can only be effective if both the verbal and non-verbal message convey the same meaning. For example if some uninvited guest comes to our place then we may greet them jovially however our facial expression may show that we are unhappy on the guests’ arrival. Demonstrative communication also proves to be ineffective when there are different interpretations of non-verbal communication in different countries. For example in Sri Lanka shaking one’s head from side to side means a yes and nodding of the head means a no (totally opposite from the American meaning), in China biting one’s nails is considered disgusting while in America it is looked upon as a sign of insecurity and nervousness (Morr ison, Conaway & Borden 1972). Some examples of positive demonstrative communication include smiling, dressing neatly and jovial voice while negative demonstrative communication includes an aggressive tone and a frowning or scowling face. Demonstrative communication can be used to interpret other people’s behavior and using those interpretations to make our own responses. This involves observing and understanding people’s actions whilst they interact with you and then deciding on one’

The spread of Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The spread of Islam - Essay Example Also, when a religion claims to be Universalist, it accepts the presence of other religions as a part of the bigger picture. When it comes to Islam, it recognizes and validates the presence of Abrahamic religions; they are called as the â€Å"people of the books†. Islam, started from the Arab about 1400 hundred years ago, has been spreading far and wide across the whole world. In this massive movement of the basic concepts of Islam throughout the world, there have been cultural adaptations of rituals and beliefs that have been added to the original ideas and thoughts. Considering a humanistic perspective, this is nothing sadistic about it as transference of knowledge from people to people, generation to generation, for 1400 hundred years is bound to have some infiltration, changes made to it; it can be termed as human error. The result has been creation of a diverse culture of Islam in different parts of the world (Omid, 2010). The basic theology of religion, has been the same and believed by all the creeds and is the same. However, the different theological schools have their own interpretations of the beliefs that they have carried forward for the last 1400 years. Emphasis to certain beliefs over other is present. The very fact that Islam and the Quran talks about inference and discussion over beliefs open ways for different interpretations of the core beliefs (Hussein, 2003). The problem where questions rise about the universality of Islam as a religion is when the different theological schools of Islam talk about the righteousness of their own sect, without tolerance for the other’s beliefs. Over the recent years, it has been seen that Muslims have been attached to only the secondary traditions and practices to a point where they have lost the basic spiritual teachings and violate the basic terms of the religion (Hussein, 2003). Islam has covered all aspects of a life, whether they are social, political, ethical or political thought. There is a

Windows 2008 Network Services Essay Example for Free

Windows 2008 Network Services Essay DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. DNS stands for Domain Name Server. What these two concepts do is get a unique identifier known as a (MAC address) from any computer. When the DHCP gets the MAC address from a computer it provides an IP address for that computer allowing it to access the Internet. When the computer accesses the Internet the DNS memorizes IP addresses of websites that a computer users wishes to. The reason DNS does this is because all of the websites have domain names. Domain names are translated to IP addresses. One example is Facebook. www.facebook.com is 31.13.70.81. Instead of users trying to memorize this IP Address, it just makes it easier to access Facebook or even all the IP addresses that users visit. DNS makes internet surfing easier just using alphabetic letters for easy access. For two computers it’s not worth setting up a DHCP because when the two computers want to access the Internet, they will be provided the first available IP address. If you have five computers it would be a great idea to setup a DHCP because with setting up a DHCP you could set permissions which monitors what the other computers could access the Internet for, how long they could be logged in using the Internet and their activities. Now, if there were twenty-five computers it would be perfect to have a DHCP because each computer will have its own IP Address and the IP address would never expire. Also, with a DHCP you could get permission in what any users is able to do in their specific accounts between the network computer and you are able to monitor the daily activities of each user.

Different Marriage Perceptions In Contemporary And Traditional China

Different Marriage Perceptions In Contemporary And Traditional China The main purpose of this report is to give the values of marriage in terms of contemporary Chinese perceptions. According to a survey through questionnaire of naked marriages, this report reflects the different view points of marriage between contemporary and traditional Chinese people. In order to indicate the new trend of peoples marriage views, the report will firstly analyze the results of research in terms of percentage. Then, the report will give an account of naked marriages, with people standing on different opinions. Next, it will analyze the main causes from different standpoints. It will state the root reason as well as other reasons. Finally, the report will give the comprehension of naked marriage and reach the conclusion on the basis of the researchs result and the reasons above. 2. Introduction Naked marriage refers to a phenomenon that people are directly married at a registry under condition of lacking house, car, even their wedding ring. In other word, naked marriage is to get married without debt and luxury. In this case, there are less complicated things to prepare and to undertake than previous marriage. It is a new network vocabulary which gained popularity in 2008. With the development of civilization in modern society, the first objective of a marriage has transformed into love from breeding offspring. As is known, marriage and material are always inseparable in Chinese traditional marriage perception. Before 1949 when the new country was established, both boys and girls should get married on coming of age, and they would be tied in wedlock formally through matchmakers on the basis of financial situation of the mens family. After the founding of new China, the feature of marriage was simple and thrift which followed the style in revolution time and the wedding just means a common meal. In the 1960s, the marriage began to attach importance to exquisite decorations; it was common to see that couples asked the carpenter to make wooden furniture such as wardrobe, table and chair. When it comes to 1970s, three major items including watches, bicycles and sewing machines were necessary in marriage. Approximately ten years later, however, they changed into the refrigerators, color TV sets and washing machines. In addition to home appliance, many brides must own the gold necklace, gold earrings and the gold ring, which afterwards were called three pieces of gold. At the beginning of 21st century, house, money and the car becomes the new contents of three major items. Contrasts to the Chinese family concept in the past, the modern couples emphasize freedom and independence to a higher degree and pay less attention on wedding from the standpoint of marriage. Meanwhile, marital status is regarded as one of the privacy in the eyes of young white-collar, a nd then the phenomenon of hidden marriage appears. Under such background, naked marriage is brought to the publics attention. 3. The Analysis of Research In the investigation of naked marriage, as for the question of whether naked marriage is the trend or the helpless option, 18% of the respondents choose trend while 82% of them choose helplessness. When being asked the opinion of the relationship between naked marriage and happiness, the number of people who hold the views that the naked marriages can obtain happiness accounts for 44 %. In their opinions, only love can endure the test of lacking material products, can it mean precious. The ratio of people with the opposite views is just the same. They argue that economic basis is the prerequisite for the daily life and the absence of substance will cheapen the quality of life and the degree of happiness. Another 12% people are uncertain about this. Interestingly, the research indicates that the attitude to the naked marriage between men and women are quite distinct. 80% of men are in favor of naked marriage while 70% of women feel that naked marriage is infeasible. In regard to the a pproval of naked marriage, the proportion of people who welcome the naked marriage takes 57.7%, they argue that love is the core of marriage and couples can make efforts together to buy house after marriage.in the meantime, those who disapprove of naked marriage accounted for 35.7%. The research also reveals that the majority of people who agree with the perception of naked marriage family are at the age of 20 to 35. Furthermore, most of them are urban white collar with high education and large income. 4. Literature Review As a token of modern marriage perceptions, naked marriage has been brought to public attention with people standing on both sides. Some people welcome this new form of marriage with applause, arguing that holding a wedding for others watching is costly and time-consuming. As a result, it can be omitted if couples themselves feel it is unnecessary .The money spending on houses, cars and other things is a great mass of expenditure for their parents. In this case, the things like ostentation and extravagance have nothing to do with marriage. Anyhow, marriage is related to two people and it can be conducted as long as both of them feel proper. Professor Chen who has engaged in social psychology research since 2002 illustrates the popularity of naked marriage in terms of sociology. She has been holding the opinion that it is sagacious for couples to live together simply. They should get marriage certificate from marriage registration office under the insufficient material conditions. (Chen, Fu-Mei and Li, Tsui-Shan. 2007, p400) It shows the increasing legal consciousness among the new generation of young people. Besides, Lu Rucai thinks that compared to the premarital cohabitation, naked marriage is worthy of being advocated. Moreover, it also deserves to advocate as a simple way of life in the high level of material development. Naked marriage gets rid of the material restrictions and secular ideas and makes couples get married without any burden. (Lu Rucai. 2004, p34) Other Sociologists also indicate that naked marriage should give praise and support. Professor Chia thinks that it is not only a return of rational knowledge but also a kind of social progress. According to the analysis of them, during the 1950s, due to the restricted conditions, many peoples weddings were naked marriages. However, it has not prevented the passion of this generation in work and life. (Chia, Rosina C. etc.1986, p599) In fact, the form of marriage is considered less important when taking sincere love into account. Accordingly, parents are supposed to put aside outmoded thoughts, and offer more freedom to the next generation in order to reduce their economic pressure. Feldman also points out that naked marriage encourages to forming a plain life style which is worth recommending. Thanks to naked marriage, young generation no longer acts as the NEET group (Not in Education ¼Ã…’Employment or Training). Instead, they rely on their own efforts to create the future. (Jin X, Li S, Feldman MW. 2005, p30) On the other hand, there are also many opponents who strongly believe that basic material is the foundation of a marriage. Professor Cao who criticizes the naked marriage on a realistic basis, argues that it is not a feasible thing to do, especially in this fast-developing material world where the divorce rate is rising alarmingly. Naked marriage will result in more life pressure and competition. (Liv Jiang and Cao Yang. 2006, p40) In this context, material preparation is equivalent to a promise for a new marriage, particularly for expensive urban living. Having a home and a car is really beneficial to a new family and it helps them grow from a pretty good start. Jill Savege predicts that naked marriage will not be always in vogue in China. It is common that China has constant custom with long history towards marriage that cannot be easily changed. Marriage has a close relationship with material in Chinese traditional marriage perception. (Shi, Qijia; Scharff, Jill Savege. 2008, p310) In this regard, even through couples have reached consensus on naked marriage, their parents would object strongly to the wedding , and the reason is that they cannot afford a diamond ring and marriage ceremony, let alone a home and a car. In their opinion, house and car represent the capability of getting established in society. In addition, the scholar Olga thinks that due to the insufficient material foundation, their children may lag behind others at the starting line at birth. Many educators like Lu also point out that good material elements have far-reaching influence on mental development of children, and they reveal that children with good material elements are inclined to form the extroverted and gregarious character which is benign to their future. (Pochagina, Olga. 2004, p140) Both sides of the scholars discuss the naked marriage from different angles and aspects which offer plenty of valuable ideas for this report. On the basis of their works and results of research, the report makes synthetic and comprehensive analysis. 5. Methodology This report is mainly to discuss the modern Chinese marriage perceptions by questionnaires and interviews of naked marriage, and it will use data analysis and the qualitative analysis. Data analysis will offer sufficient data to support the facts. And qualitative analysis will see through the appearance to perceive the essence. This kind of analysis will expound from different aspects to form an integral evaluation for the viewpoints of marriage. However it should be pointed out that questionnaires failed to take into account peoples real-life action, the data getting here is the possibility of what people are willing to do, rather than what they would do in practice. 6 Causes of the Naked Marriage 6.1 Social Pressure Young generation that has reached marriageable age is inflicted with the heavy pressure from work and life, and it is the social pressure that makes young people cannot afford to houses and cars. In recent years, the soaring housing prices in China give rise to the increase of marriage cost and become the biggest obstructions in the preparation for marrying. Therefore young people begin to choose naked marriage as a way of compromise. A survey conducted by statistical bureau shows the average wedding cost in shanghai reached a high point at 18.7 million in 2009 and the spending was in line with that of the United States. Undoubtedly, the wedding cost in Shanghai ranks the first place in China and it is twice more than Harbin that has the least wedding cost in China. Another Investigation reveals that fifty percent of Chinese newly-married couples manage to get married at the cost of emptying their parents funding. A new national statistics conducted by Ministry of Civil Affairs show that the total consumption amount produced every year due to the marriage has reached 25 million Yuan. 6.2 Pursuit of Pure Love The young generation pursues pure romantic love in this frugal way of marriage. From the view point of love, the marriage is based on the ideal of common life between men and women, and then they will form a strong admiration for each other in their heart. True love means a strong pure feeling of a desire for people to become lifelong partners regardless of material constrains, and naked marriage can prove that true love is everlasting. The Associate Researcher Johnson, who works in institute of sociology and demography, argues that naked marriage can aid in getting rid of the secular concepts and making couples get married without any material burden. (Johnson, Julie R. 2010, p27)The ones who have a naked marriage can throw common customs and reveal the true meaning of marriage, so that the so-called honeymoon, wedding and money are not necessities if people are marrying with the people they really want. Besides, No matter how poor the man is, as long as this man has perseverance an d ambition, he will not let his beloved women suffer from hardships through his hard working. Only when people eliminate factors such as ceremony and traditional material concepts and just immerse themselves in the joy of marriage itself, will such naked marriage show distingue and faithful. And people can put off difficulties which are tough to handle temporarily in marriage and do them when the conditions are abundant. 7 The Significance of Naked Marriage On the one hand naked marriage manifests the changing attitude towards marriage in modern China. Choosing naked marriage is not only a familial decision, but also an individuals choice of love and lifestyle. Contrast to Chinese traditional wedding concept, marriage stands for the spirit of mutual assistance and efforts rather than the actual wealth people possess. On the other hand it also reflects the varying concept of material nowadays. Instead of spending extra money on unnecessary products, couples should make effective use of it and meet the challenge in a positive attitude. Love is a kind of intellectual product that needs the joint efforts of couples to accumulate. Therefore, choosing naked marriage might be taking a test in the future and the state of poverty after efforts cannot be accepted by everyone. Additionally, the popularity of naked marriage partly proves the struggle of social equity from men. Obviously, men have undertaken excessive pressure of marriage in modern life. As everyone knows, society calls on the equality between men and women for a long time, but these days the actual fact is that society pays close attention to ensuring women enjoy equal rights in employment and promotion with men, whereas the uneven marriage cost that men has taken on is neglected by most people. It seems that the mens natural responsibility is to buy houses for their families in the perspective of traditional Chinese people, and therefore many young men would like choose to support naked marriage in order to reduce their pressures of being mortgage slaves. But for women, they dont have a deep understanding of marriage cost due to the lack of houses supplement burden. In this regard, women dont need to carry too much pressure, thus they inclined to support the concept that it is appropriate to own houses at the time of getting married. 8 Conclusion This report is mainly to discuss the issue of naked marriage in the current China. It makes a detailed analysis based on the questionnaire survey with respect to whether naked marriage is appropriate and reasonable for love. It is apparent that people hold various views on this phenomenon. And it is a great challenge to the traditional family values. This trend is regarded as the sublimation of love which lacks the material and secular opinions and goes back to the essence of love itself. Of course, when considering choosing naked marriage, people should take account of both the enthusiasm of enterprising spirit and the growth of wealth to make full preparation for the unpredictable future of life. In conclusion, whether adopting naked marriage or not depends on the couple, and if their economic backgrounds and mutual perception of money is similar, naked marriage will bring them the happiness. It makes couples work hard together and start them off on an equal financial platform. But if their relationship is not strong enough, then naked marriage will have a higher probability of failing. 9 Appendices APPENDIX A: Questionnaire Dear Sir/ Madam, Thank you for your attention and opening this questionnaire. The project aims to give the values of marriage in terms of contemporary Chinese perceptions. Your opinion will be of great help in my project. Your response will and your information will be coded and will remain confidential. Thank you very much for your time and support. It will take approximately 10 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Please mark the appropriate answer to the questions below. 1. What will you place more weight on when you marry to your fiancà ©? A. House B. Pure love C. Wedding ceremony D. Car E. Honeymoon 2. Do you think naked marriage is the trend in modern society or the helpless option? A. The trend of marriage B. The helpless option with regard to modern society C. Not Sure 3. Do you think naked marriage can obtain happiness? A. Definitely Yes B. Yes C. Should be D. Not Sure E. No 4. Do you approve of naked marriage? A. Definitely Yes B. Yes C. Should be D. Not Sure E. No Thank you very much for completing this questionnaire. If you have some questions that we do not list, please write it down below. Thank you APPENDIX B: Interview Questions 1. What is the reason for couples to choose naked marriage in your opinion? 2. What do you think of the marriage?

Inherit the Wind- Freedom to Think Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inherit the Wind, based on the famous â€Å"Scopes Monkey Trial† in the small town Dayton, Tennessee, was written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The play was not intended to depict the actual history or the proceedings in the Scopes’ trial but it was used as a vehicle for exploring social anxiety and ant-intellectualism that existed in the Americas during the1950s. Lawrence and Lee wrote the play as a response to the threat to intellectual freedom presented by the anti-Communist hysteria of the McCarthy era. The major themes depicted in the Inherit the Wind include the intellectual curiosity, narrow-mindedness or limited perception, the importance of religion, and the relationship between the perception of others and self-worth portrayed by the characters in the play. The characters include Henry Drummond, Matthew Harrison Brady, E.K Hornbeck, Bert Cates and Rachel Brown; they represented the ideas and ways of thinking that existed then and no w.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inherit the Wind took place in the small town of Hillsboro in which ‘the time was not too long ago.’ Bert Cates, a young teacher, who is imprisoned in the jail for teaching evolution to his high school biology class. The Reverend’s daughter and Cate’s fiancà ©e, Rachel, urges Cates to tell the town what he did was wrong and he is sorry; however, the town firmly believes that Cates is wrong and awaiting for Matthew Harrison Brady to come to town to prosecute Cates. Brady is a three time presidential candidate and firm believer in the Bible. The town hung a banner â€Å"Read your Bible† on courthouse and paraded the streets enthusiastically singing â€Å"Give me that old-time religion† when Brady arrives into town. Also arriving in Hillsboro, is E.K Hornbeck of the Baltimore Herald, who is cynical reporter and comments on everything. Hornbeck informs Brady that he will be arguing against Henry Drummond in court. The town see s Drummond as the devils advocate. Drummond arrives in town with little notice and is shunned by the people in town. In the course of the trial, Brady starts out confidently and chooses witnesses who profess strong religious belief. Brady calls for Rachel to be on the witness stand and twists her words about what Cates has told her. Meanwhile, the judge excludes all Drummond’s scientific witness on the grounds of evolution itself is not on trial. D... ...will appeal the case; however, his victory is setting an example for others who choose to think. It will make it easier for the next person. Cates finds a new life with Rachel away from the small town Hillsboro. The trial in Hillsboro is an allegory for the situation in the 1950s. In the 50’s, the government condemns people who supported Communism; thus leading to the censorious climate of McCarthyism. In addition to the witch-hunt and anti-Communist hysteria, regional conflicts between northern and southern states in the east of America. Laurence and Lee wrote the play to parallel some of conflicts of idea and subtly review them to the people. It was the method of exploring the major themes in the theses conflicts between intellectuals and believers, thinkers vs. narrow mindedness, and the relationship between the perception of others and self worth. Ultimately, Inherit the Wind encourages the right to think and the freedom of thought. In the attacking the value of free thought and speech upon which this country is built, nothing is obtained just like the situation in which Brady attacks his own house and inherits the wind—nothing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Acquainted with the Night: a Story of Night Walks Experience Essay

Robert Frost’s poem â€Å"Acquainted with the Night† is told from the point of view of an unknown person. This person tells a story about how he/she has taken numerous late night walks, specifically in the rain. Using tone, diction, the title, structure imagery, and language, Frost writes a poem about a person’s late night experiences to relate to similar experiences that a reader may have encountered. With Frost’s word choice and the title he chooses to tell this story, the poem comes to exhibit a gloomy tone. Immediately after reading the title of the poem, it can be derived that the lines to follow will chronicle some form of darkness because the word â€Å"Night† in the title is a natural embodiment of darkness itself. To help support the gloomy tone initiated with the title of the poem, Frost chooses words such as â€Å"rain,† â€Å"down,† â€Å"saddest, â€Å"dropped,† and â€Å"cry† to populate the body of his poem. It should also be noted that the speaker in the poem is constantly distancing himself/herself from life and light as he/she out walks â€Å"the furthest city light,† tries to hide from the watchman, is â€Å"far away from an interrupted cry,† and is â€Å"further still† from the light of the moon. The fact that the speaker is unidentified gives more support for the poems gloomy tone. These elements, the tone, title and diction used, contribute to Frost’s purpose for the poem because they characterize the dark setting that allows the poet to write a story that is both believable and easy to relate to. Frost applies a structure and an aspect of imagery to the poem that allows it flow nicely while distinguishing each separate occurrence that the speaker mentions as he/she tells the story. Frost uses assonance as he rhymes â€Å"night† with â€Å"light,† â€Å"lane† with â€Å"explain,† â€Å"feet† with â€Å"street,† â€Å"good-bye† with â€Å"sky,† and â€Å"right† with â€Å"night† in an ABA rhyming pattern for each three line stanza and an AA pattern for the final two line stanza. These end rhymes give the poem rhythm. The poet also uses symbolism when talking about the aspects of night versus light. Darkness seems to come from the below and light from above as Frost writes of a â€Å"city light† and a â€Å"luminary light against the sky†. The darkness in contrast is seen far away from the lights and â€Å"further from the sky†. By utilizing components of the literal language in the poem, Frost emphasizes important points that he wants his audience to take note of to make the scenarios he discusses in the poem easier to understand. The poet uses the strategy of repetition a number of times as the words â€Å"I have† begin all three lines of the first stanza, the first two lines of the second stanza, the first line of the second stanza, disappears from the fourth stanza, and reappears in the fifth stanza and the last line of the poem. Frost does this to highlight that the speaker of the poem is familiar with the dark of the night. In addition, the phrase â€Å"acquainted with the night† is, including the title, repeated three times in the poem to underline the fact the speaker is indeed quite familiar with the scenarios that he/she is describing. Through tone, diction, the title, structure, imagery, and language, Robert Frost tells the story of how and why the speaker has become â€Å"acquainted with the night† with the purpose of relating what takes place in the poem to similar ordeals that a reader may have experienced. The poet makes the tone of the poem dark and gloomy so that the words the speaker says contain a more sinister and powerful weight to them. This helps to make the poem feel like an adventure.

Rape of the Lock Satirical Devices Essay

From the excerpts studied in The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope skilfully uses the mock epic genre to satirize the trifling nature of his society through exaggeration, parody and juxtaposition in rhyming couplets. The epic form makes everything larger than life which Pope uses to reveal the absurdity of the society he lives in. A simple card game is turned into a complex â€Å"combat on [a] velvet plain,† which exaggerates the little action that actually takes place in the Canto. In the card game called Ombre, hands are not just hands. They represent armies of different suites. Face cards are â€Å"four kings in majesty revered, with hoary whiskers and a forky beard† ,†four fair queens whose hands sustain a flower, the expressive emblem of their softer power† and â€Å"four knaves in garb succinct, a trusty band, caps on their heads and halberds in their hand.† Pope also parodies the epic form in order to depict questionable values in his time. A feast is a scene common in epics like Beowulf and is mirrored by the coffee scene in this mock epic. â€Å"The board with cups and spoons is crowned† shows the great worth placed on China and utensils. Instead of vessels to hold beverages, Pope portrays them as â€Å"China’s earth [that] receives the smoking tide.† Coffee is almost given supernatural powers since it â€Å"makes the politician wise, and see through all things with his half-shut eyes.† The coffee is the â€Å"fuming liquor† that â€Å"sent up in vapors to the baron’s brain,† giving him the idea to plan to cut off a lock of Belinda’s hair. Pope combines the ordinary with the unusual with simplicity to suggest the triviality of the values of his time through the juxtaposition in rhyming couplets. Canto III describes Hampton Court where Queen lives â€Å"whom three realms obey, dost sometimes counsel take – and sometimes tea,† which sets the tone for the events to follow in the court. He suggests that â€Å"One speaks the glory of British Queen, and one describes a charming Indian screen; a third interprets motions, looks, eyes; at every word a reputation dies† through the conversation of the ladies and gentlemen in court, describing society’s twisted value system. Pope uses aspects of the mock epic to satirize his society’s irresponsibility. He uses exaggeration to mock misplaced importance. He takes specific scenes and uses parody to illustrate the irrelevance of rituals such as coffee drinking. He uses the structure of rhyming couplets to contrast the ordinary with the extraordinary to reveal how important things are considered.

Patents and Intellectual Property Essay

                    A patent is a set of rights given exclusively to an individual or firm by an independent nation to the inventor or discoverer for a given duration in exchange for detailed information on the details of the inventions or discovery (Foray 28). These set of rights are exclusive to the inventors thus acknowledging their contribution and get financial benefits. Inventions that can be patented are new products, processes of manufacturing, improvements to an existing product or process, new chemical compounds or compositions, or processes relating of an existing manufacturing process (Perelman n.p.). This form of intellectual property encourages the economic and technological development by rewarding intellectual creativity.                  Patents laws are set up to ensure that the owner of intellectual property benefits from his or her invention. The law gives the owner freedom of choice to do what they require with the invention as long as it does not conflict with other existing laws. The inventor can sell the patent at any market price they believe is commensurable, they can license the patent to others for use and in the process collect royalties from the users which increases their financial stability (Gold 135). Patent laws also offers a sense of protection to the inventors for the stipulated time usually twenty years and this approach usually is a disadvantage to the competitors in the same line of work. These laws also prohibit dealing with patented goods without permission from the patent holder and this ensures that pirating of patented goods or services is a prosecutable case whereby one can be sentenced to jail or heavily fined (Perelman n.p.).                Patents are a crucial part for advancements in science based professions such as medicine, biotechnology, computers and even drug chemistry. These advancements have born great fruits which have all been aimed at improving the life of mankind. In this paper, the strengths and weaknesses of patent laws and foreign investment, trade, innovation, public health, generic resources and traditional knowledge will be discussed. Patent laws have improved the life of investors greatly, this has led to greater determinations in patenting other products, and in the process, greater, and discoveries that are more useful have been made.                  Strong patent laws are a major attraction to foreign investors who are assured of the protection of their goods or services. They are thus confident about imitations of their product, which has lead to an increased net demand of their products leading to higher marginal profits. The intellectual laws act as an attraction and assurance to foreign investors as their business is enabled a fair play ground to compete with existing indigenous firms (Smarzynska 41). Strong patent laws also offer a location attraction to foreign investors opting for areas with enhanced patent laws. This has lead to further development and improvement of economies of such areas as compared to areas whose laws are not well established. Stronger intellectual property rights can be a deterrent to new foreign investors since existing firms may have already established large market bases which may not be easy to break through. With this kind of market, monopolistic ventures may mushro om to the disadvantage of consumers since they may overprice their commodities due to lack of competitors.                  Patent laws create ownership advantages conferring ownership advantages to firms serving the foreign markets (Cooter, & Ulen 124). Through the provision of legal redress against any violations, markets are expanded and increase in both multilateral and bilateral trade is enhanced. Patent laws increase bilateral exchange to foreign markets by reducing the costs associated with preventing loss of knowledge assets. Such costs consist of foregone revenues resulting from reduced bilateral exchange and or expenses incurred to make knowledge assets difficult to imitate especially when the destination country has strong imitative abilities.                     Strong intellectual property laws can increase market power and even though strong laws enhance ownership advantage, this enhanced ownership can increase or decrease bilateral exchange. The market power concept holds that strong rights reduce bilateral exchange by ensuring a temporary monopoly over the protected knowledge. This market power is attributed to the patent holder, whether domestic or foreign. Firms that secure strong patent protection in foreign markets can exercise their market power by restricting quantity and increasing the unit price of bilateral exchange to that market (Fink and Primo 26).                  According to Forays (13), strong patent laws provide incentives for people and firms to invest in research.Where there exists strong patent laws, inventors and innovators are energized since any benefits accrued from the new knowledge benefits them solely. With weak patent laws a free market economy fails to induce an optimal investment in research, development and innovation, since investors would not be able to recoup the full benefit from their investment. Patent laws also give strong ownership advantages to firms in developed countries, which encourage them to transfer their technology to developing countries through market channels at a cost. Strong patent laws may also be a disadvantage since they may lead to increased market power which results in high cost of technology transfer. In cases where there exist weak patent laws, this provides a loophole for technology transfer in non-market channels which would greatly disadvantage the innovators.                   Patents are important to pharmaceutical firms as they help in appropriating the benefits to the innovators. Moreover, products and the development process are protected from imitators in order to avoid replication of same drug. The process of drug development is quite costly averaging at about 1billion US dollars for the actual discovery, development and regulation approval. However, patenting novel drugs is essential and only beneficial in developed countries where many firms may want to set up drug manufacturing firms. According to Vernon (14), the expensive process of research and development is usually compensated by profits, which arise from patent protection. Patent laws in drug development are quite complicated since while patenting new drug protects the producers from unscrupulous firms may also increase the cost of the drugs thus making them unaffordable to needy people.                     The process of patenting innovations in public health may be long and tiresome which may discourage innovations. However due to emergence of tropical diseases in the developing world patenting may act as an incentive for continued research in both drug development and innovations of new procedures for their early diagnosis and treatment. All this will lead to improved health care for patients especially in developing countries where cost of drugs is beyond the reach of the majority who are struggling. Patent laws encourage the development of medicinal compounds or products. These conditions being rare are not economically viable for the pharmaceutical firms since the profits margins are so minimal thus little research is channeled towards them. However, through patenting, firms that delve into this kind of research because they are protected exclusively thus giving them the sole ownership rights to manufacture and distribute them at a given cost (Gol d 131-132). This enables them to make profits.                   Weak patent laws in the health sector have been associated by rise of firms, which exploit the whole process of drug development. Drug imitators can benefit from innovators’ free approval and produce duplicate drugs at a much lower cost relative to the real cost of discovering and developing the new product. Patenting the genetic resources and traditional knowledge ensures that people who participated in the development of the new information are acknowledged for the work they have done. To scholars being acknowledged builds confidence in them and is a motivator for them to work even harder. By them being acknowledged, it shows that they become authorities in their specific fields, which further leads to production of more accurate and high quality new knowledge. Patent laws regarding information are in conflict with human rights since plant information should be made public for the benefit of all. It is not easy to relate patent laws and human ri ghts since it exist in different perspectives on the same depending on the contributors (Gold 186). As such, information to the knowledge should be easily accessible at minimal cost affordable to all.                   In production of pharmaceuticals, patents laws restricted patent term to 20 years, this was disadvantageous to people who developed drugs for infrequent illness because sales of the drugs could not give adequate returns within the period. It was until 1984 that the congress amended the drug act by coming up with orphan drugs act that extended the period of patents to 25 years in order to allow developers to pay-back the cost of development and get profits (Gold 132). In addition, patent restricted use of available drugs for research of new drugs development. This presented a challenge to development of new and generic drugs until when the congress amended the patent laws to allow use of drugs for research purposes. Conclusion                   Patent laws have more strength compared to the weaknesses depending on the issue of involved in discussion. Through patenting, the innovators and inventors are not only recognized as the owner of the emerging products but they also have various benefits such as financial gains to payback on the capital invested. However, the patent are only limited to 20 years, which in some cases is disadvantageous to products with weak marketing such as orphan drugs. However, government intervention has seen developers reap high profits for their ideas, and products over a given period. The weakness of patent is limitation on research where they restrict third party from using the original product or idea to develop new product thus slowing research and improvements of the existing ones. Hence, caution is necessary to ensure that patenting does not give rise to monopolies, which would discourage competition at the expense of the consumers. References Cooter, Robert and Ulen, Thomas. â€Å"Intellectual Property† in Law and Economics 5th ed. Toronto: Pearson, 2008. Fink, Carsten. and C.A. Primo Braga. ‘How Stronger Protection of Intellectual Property Rights Affects International Trade Flows’. In C. Fink and E. Mansfield (eds) Intellectual Property and Development: Lessons from Recent Economic Research. New York: World Bank/Oxford University Press. (2004). Print. Foray, Dominique. Technology Transfer in the TRIPS Age: The Need for New Types of Partnerships between the Least Developed and Most Advanced Economies. Geneva international Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (2009). Gold, Richard E. Patents and Human Rights: A Heterodox Analysis. Journal of Law,Medicines and Ethics, 41(1) (2013):185-198. Perelman, Michael. â€Å"In Patents We Trust: How the U.S. Government Learned to Stop Worrying about Monopoly and Love Intellectual Property.† MR Zine (2005). Smarzynska Javorcik, B. ‘The Composition of Foreign Direct Investment and Protection of Intellectual Property Rights: Evidence from Transition Economies’. Journal of European Economic Review 48(1) (2004): 39–62. Vernon, J.A. ‘Examining the Link between Price Regulation and Pharmaceutical Research and Development Investment’. Journal of Health Economics 14(1) (2005): 1–16. Source document

Health Care Systems of Singapore and United States Essay

Health Care Systems of Singapore and United States - Essay Example The WHO Report revealed that U.S health system spends a higher portion of its Gross Domestic Product than any other country of the 191 countries. The report ranked U.S at position 37 according to its health care performance. Bureau report of 2006 revealed that 15.8 percent of citizens had no insurance cover. This represented an approximate of 47 million people (DeNavas-Walt et al, 2007:27). This paper compares the health care systems of United States and Singapore. It will look at the organisation, funding, regulation, and quality. Organisation The organisation of the health care system in United States and Singapore differs markedly. To start with, the structure of the health care systems in Singapore encourages her citizens to take responsibilities for their well-being. Singapore health care system comprises of both private and public hospitals. The organisation of health care system embraces three central components of the health care that include Medisave, Medishield, and Medifun d. Medislave is a compulsory saving plan while Medishield is a low cost, catastrophic health insurance scheme while Medifund is a welfare scheme. The three accounts augment government’s system of subsidies for health care. ... The polyclinics account 20 percent of the primary health care provision while the private sector captures 80 percent. However, the public health care accounts for 80 percent while that of private health care is 20 percent in the expensive hospital care (Usa, 2009:111). The structure of health care system in United States is very different from that of Singapore. The health system in United States are very fragmented and decentralised. The health care system concentrate on making profits and patients pay for all health care services. Although the government of United States invests many funds in the health care system, the outcomes are dismal. The organisation of health system in United States embraces private and public insurers in the health care system. The health insurance systems include the Medicaid and Medicare (Barr, 2011:14). The Medicare program, which the government of United State oversees, caters for the elderly and disabled people. The payroll taxes and federal revenues and premiums finance the Medicare insurance. On the other hand, Medicaid covers the low-income earners and the disabled. The federal law dictates that Medicaid should insure parents, disabled, poor pregnant women, and the aged people only. This program is under the State and the District of Columbia. This insurance covers about 13 percent of the American people that makes about 20 percent of total health care spending (Barr, 2011:166). In addition to the public Medicare and Medicaid, United States has private insurance system. This cover caters for 58 percent of the American population amounting to 33 percent of the total spending of health expenditure (Niles,

Monopolies in Todays Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Monopolies in Todays Market - Essay Example Atimes, monopolies exist as a result of government backings in which case the monopolies provide goods, products or services which the government considers essential to the well being of the people. The absence of supply curve in the monopolized market causes inefficient allocation of society's resources. Therefore there is that tendency for a monopolist to charge high prices and probably making higher profits compared with firms in perfect competition. The objective of this paper is to unravel the role of monopolies in today's market and the implications of technology and systems on the monopolies. The rest of this paper examines different types of monopoly, its revenue, monopoly and price discriminations, and implications of technology and systems. (a) Pure Monopoly: This is a type of monopoly that exists in a particular region or city in which its products have no close substitutes. This makes it possible for the monopolist to charge extra prices because their products are necessities. (b) Natural Monopoly: A monopoly that exists because of economies of scale it enjoys in which large scale production brings lower average cost. Even though a competitor arises in the industry lower prices the monopolist would charge is capable of sending the competitor off the market. (c) Efficiency Monopoly: When government does not legalize monopoly, a monopoly may exist largely due to its ability to satisfy the customers in which case competition is inadvertently rule out. (d) Legal Monopoly: This form of monopoly has government backing such that laws are enacted to simply rule out competition. Wikipedia says "when such a monopoly is granted to a private party, it is a government granted monopoly; when it is operated by government itself, it is government monopoly or state monopoly". Monopoly Revenue Basically, a monopolist faces downward sloping demand curve which is also the firm's average revenue curve. As the monopolist sells a single price for its products, average revenue per product is the same as the price. For the monopolist to increase its sales it charges lower unit price for its products. At price P1 the monopolist only manages to sell Q1 quantity of the product; in order to increase its sales it reduces the price from P1 to P2 and as such sales is increased from Q1 to Q2 which he now gains in figure 1 below. Given the above scenario, the differential of the total revenue in relation to quantity gives marginal revenue which shows that the additional revenue large enough to offset the reduction in price. Figure 1: Showing Monopolist's gain brought about by price reduction. However, the monopolist maximizes profit where marginal revenue equals marginal cost. The reason is the since marginal cost is always greater than zero the monopolist will operate at profit because marginal revenue will be positive and where demand is elastic. If the monopolist stops production where marginal cost is less than marginal revenue, he will be leaving his profit untapped while quantity in which marginal revenue is greater than marginal cost the firm will be operating at losses. Profit maximizing price is determined by drawing a line where marginal co