Smoking or secondhand smoking Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Smoking or secondhand smoking - Research Paper Example This article briefly discusses the merits and demerits of this hypothesis and in the end suggests a method of controlling the rising level of smoking in the United States of America. It shall also briefly touch the history of smoking, the reason why it escalated and why it fell. These previous trends are kept as a focal point in the end when a recommendation for action is presented in the conclusion. Smoking and Its Increasing Prevalence Introduction All over the globe including the U.S.A, there is a rising concern by the medical agencies and public health insitutions in regards to the vice of Smoking. They are calling for Hollywood movies that contain scenes where people are smoking; to be rated as adult or explicit. The concept and reasoning behind this outcry is that enforcing such a rating might end up reducing the number of youth who are exposed to such scenes, within the course of watching a movie, that according to them, is one of the most direct causes for young teens to take up smoking and even that, at an early stage of their lives (Cnossen, 2008). With the help of a scientific consensus conducted by a huge spectrum of professional health organizations that includes the World Health Organization, National Cancer Institute and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention displayed that the films and movies which contain scenes in which the actors are smoking acts as a catalyst in inciting the young people to smoke and is the consistent finding of a dose response relationship, and like in any concern in regards to the public health which is related to a dose response. The single best alternative in order to deal with such a problem is lowering the dose, that recalls the topic of discussion. There needs to be the ratings of adult content for any movies which have use of tobacco and live smoking on screen in it (Eysenck, 2006). Simon Chapman and Matthew C. Farrelly published an essay in the PLoS Medicine. They made four arguments in opposi tion to the change of rating of movies that have smoking scenes to adult. The first and foremost point they suggest is that those researches or studies that show the link between acceptance of smoking by teenagers at an early age and their exposure to movies or film scenes that have smoking in them are not in any way controlled, which means that they are free from any sort of manipulation of numerous other factors for instance alcohol, violence, recreation drug portrayal, coarse language and of course sexual content and also smoking. The next point they presented states, that any claims in regards to the exposure to smoking in the movies resulting in an increasing in smoking prevalence in youth is crudely reductionist, while at the same time blatantly ignoring the huge exposure to such scenarios of smoking littered elsewhere throughout the society. Thirdly they further state that in regards to the classification of movies to adult rating, it is a futile gesture since the children ca n access more of such material by using the more popular medium, the internet. Lastly they say there is a merit of concern over the assumption that in case any cause is felt rational enough, the state itself needs to implement the control censor on any and all the cultural artifacts for instance movies, arts, books and theatre that are present within its’ jurisdiction (Chapman & Farrelly, 2011). Discussion The beliefs which Matthew & Simon’

Birth control Essay Example for Free

Birth control Essay Abortion is wrong and unjust housands of women throughout the world obtain abortions every year. The decision to have an abortion is life altering and can have an enormous impact on a womans future health and well being. The reasons for having an abortion vary from woman to woman. The fact that a woman has even had to consider having an abortion can be in and of itself very disturbing emotionally. Some women experience a tremendous sense of relief, while others may have feelings of guilt, anger or profound sadness. For most women these feelings gradually improve and cease to be after a short period of time; however, for a small percentage, they may become much more pronounced or serious and for a far longer period of time. The more certain a woman is about her decision to terminate her pregnancy, the less her chances will be of developing emotional or psychological problems. The same holds true for women who have friends and/or family to provide support before, during and after this emotionally trying time. Emotional problems following an abortion tend to be more prevalent among women who have been previously diagnosed with depression, anxiety disorders or other mental health issues. Also noted at higher risk of developing depression are teenagers, separated or divorced women, and women with a history of more than one abortion. It is not unusual for a woman to experience a range of often contradictory emotions after having an abortion, just as it would not be unusual for a woman who carried her unintended pregnancy to term. There is no right way to feel after an abortion. Feelings of happiness, sadness, anxiety grief or relief are common. Providing women with an outlet for discussing their feelings is the first step toward the process of achieving emotional well being following an abortion. Ads by Google Most experts agree that the negative feelings a woman may have after an abortion may be due to a negative reaction by her partner, friends or family members, who might judge her negatively for having an abortion or for even becoming pregnant in the first place. Research studies indicate that emotional responses to legally induced abortion are largely positive. They also indicate that emotional problems resulting from abortion are rare and less frequent than those following childbirth. Most studies in the last 25 years have found abortion to be a relatively benign procedure in terms of emotional effect except when pre-abortion emotional problems exist or when a wanted pregnancy is terminated, such as after diagnostic genetic testing. While most abortion providers offer post abortion counseling or counseling referral sources,

Globalisation Has Benefited Everyone Brought Advantages Economics Essay

Globalisation Has Benefited Everyone Brought Advantages Economics Essay Proponents of globalisation are of the view that it has benefited everyone and helped to pull millions upon millions out of poverty. However a close analysis of the affects of globalisation tell a very different story. While it is true that globalisation has benefited many, it has had an equally devastating effect on the lives of many others and made true development more of a mirage rather than a reality (Dunning, 2003). This essay will critically analyse and discuss the benefits and disadvantages of globalisation and will conclude by either agreeing or disagreeing with the above statement. Even though globalisation is the buzzword today, it has been in existence in some form or another for over a century. After World War II many regions of the world that were reeling from the devastating effects of the war, came together to create trade agreements that would help each of those regions to grow in the post war era. The European Union is one such trade agreement as is the NAFTA agreement, GATT, APEC, ASEAN and many others. Due to the advances made in technology, especially in the telecommunication industry, globalisation saw a rapid increase in the latter part of the 20th century (Guillen, 2001). The ultimate goal of globalisation was to liberalise formerly closed economies, integrate national economies and create one huge global economy that would not only decrease trade barriers and increase trade and corporation but would also help poorer and developing nations to become industrialised thus uplifting the living standards of billions (Grewal, 2006). While the goals and objectives of globalisation are noble, such goals and objectives are not very easy to achieve. Even though the above may look good in theory, in reality it is easier said than done and usually causes more damage to economies, the social fabric of nations and the environment as a whole (Suà ¡rez-Orozco Qin-Hilliard, 2004). With the onset of globalisation in its current form, which began in the late 1980s and has been gathering steam, many manufacturing organisations in the west have seen their profitability increase. The reason for this positive effect on the bottom line has been chiefly due to the fact that globalisation allowed these companies to relocate their manufacturing plants to developing countries, where labour is cheap. In doing so they were able to reduce the cost of the products and become more profitable. While such a relocation, may have benefited the developing economy where the plant was relocated to, it left huge numbers of individuals unemployed in its home country (Helbling, Batini Cardarelli, 2005). Thus it can be stated that while one economy gained jobs and was able to uplift the living standard of many, another economy lost jobs, which had an equally devastating effect, while the company in question continued to earn profits and prosper. During the 1990s and to date, India is one such country that has benefited immensely from globalisation. Throughout the past decade or more many European and North American, technology companies have outsourced their software development to India, which rose up to the challenge and has become a global IT giant. While such a growth in employment has benefited the country and helped to create a new middle class, globalisation has not been as favourable to its closest neighbour Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka with a literacy rate of 90% has seen much foreign direct investment in the garment sector. While this has helped the country to keep unemployment levels down, the semi-skilled or low skilled nature of the jobs that are available to its citizens does not help the country to grow and prosper to the level that globalisation has aided India (Schmidt Hersh, 2000). On the contrary, Sri Lanka has seen a severe increase in underemployment of its university educate youth, who due to the lack of white collar jobs, have had to resort to working in the garment industry (Kiggundu, 2002). As is apparent from the above, while globalisation benefits one segment of the population, its affects are not equal, on the contrary they are mixed, thereby it can be stated that the above statement is not accurate in its view of globalisation. Proponents of globalisation often cite the fact that increased demand for export from developing countries, create an inflow of foreign exchange revenue and increases employment opportunities, which in turn helps the country to develop (Bhagwati, 2004). While this is true to some extent, there is an equally disadvantageous side to this phenomenon. In order for employment opportunities to increase in an economy, it requires output growth to exceed productivity growth. At the same time for profitability to increase, it needs productivity growth to outpace output growth. This conflict in the two, results in companies opting to increase productivity at the expense of output growth. Thus even though the developing economies have bent backwards to attract foreign direct investment by providing tax cuts, capital and natural resources etc, in the hopes of boosting domestic employment and earning foreign exchange revenues. The companies that enter the country usually plunder the capital and n atural resources made available to them (Samli, 2002). And instead of making use of the labour that is available to them, they automate their production processes to a great extent. Further they return much of the profits earned to the parent company and its shareholders who are often resident in developed economies (Smith Debrah, 2002). Here again it is apparent that while globalisation has helped businesses to develop and become more profitable, the benefits of globalisation are often enjoyed by the developed economies, rather than the developing economy that were supposed to benefit, in the first place. As a part of the initiative to liberalise an economy, most developing economies were forced to reduce welfare spending in terms of healthcare, education and social assistance. Further in order to attract foreign direct investment into the country, most of these economies were required to relax their stringent labour laws, which have resulted in the exploitation of workers (Murshed, 2002). While it is true that many multi-national companies are now operating in developing economies and have helped to increase employment levels within the country. The lack of strong labour laws, allow these companies to pay meagre wages to their employees and not a living wage as is the ethical thing to do. This combined with the lack of universal health care and education has a devastating affect on the workers (Brysk, 2002). While they may have a job and are able to earn a living, their wages are usually insufficient for paying for more than food and rent. Thus making it impossible for this segment t o educate their children adequately (Mittelman, 2002). Thereby causing a vicious cycle, where the children end up in low skilled or semi skilled jobs much like their parents and unable to breakout of poverty (Midgley, 2007). The lack of education and healthcare also has a catastrophic affect in the long term for the economy, as it will never be able to make the leap from being a developing economy to a developed economy as long as its citizens lack a strong education (Micklethwait Wooldridge, 2001). Further this lack of education not only will increase the wealth disparities within the economy, but it will also continue to increase the disparity between developed and developing nations in the long run. Based on the discussion above it is apparent that globalisation has been very advantageous to businesses. While it is a fact that some countries like India and China have benefited immensely from globalisation and seen the prosperity of their citizens increase to unprecedented levels, other countries have not been so lucky. On the contrary, globalisation has succeeded in further increasing the social challenges faced by these countries and pushed the dream of becoming a developed economy further out of their reach (Micklethwait Wooldridge, 2001). Therefore it can be stated that the statement Globalisation has benefited everyone. It helped all the people to increase their living standards, brought advantages to organisations and businesses and enabled economies to develop is only partially true.

Is Capital Punishment Necessary? Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Top

Is Capital Punishment Necessary? In 1980 Clarence Brandly, a black high school janitor, and his white co-worker found the body of a white female student. As the police interrogated them, the officers told them, "One of you is going to hang for this." As he was looking at Brandly, the officer said, "Since you're the nigger, you're elected." Brandly was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. The evidence against him was weak and the police disregarded other leads. In 1986, a volunteer group devoted to freeing wrongly convicted prisoners came to Brandly's assistance. Meanwhile evidence surfaced that another man had committed the crime that Brandly was convicted for. He wasn't released until 1990 (http://www.aclu.org/library/case_against_death.html/#eight). The death penalty is one of the most controversial topics in the world. The numbers of people who support the death penalty is diminishing for many reasons. The leading reason: discrimination. Punishment is only effective if it is constantly enforced, and capital punishment can't be enforced all the time. Third, people who commit crimes of personal violence may or may not premeditate the crime. Also, severe punishment can discourage crime, but is death better than life-long incarceration? Lastly, death is irreversible. Since 1990, in the United States, there has been an average of more than four cases each year in which an entirely innocent person was convicted of murder and sentenced to death (http://www.acle.org/library/case_against_death.html/#eight). The American public support of the death penalty is declining. Actually, the United States is the only Western industrialized country where people are still being executed.... ...ecuted. Is the death penalty really necessary? With the death penalty, there is a chance of executing an innocent person. The crime committed is not always thought out. Additionally, long-term imprisonment is enough to discourage some crime. Plus, there is no way to enforce the death penalty immediately and consistently. There is much discrimination in the court systems in the past and today. Also, the public support of the death penalty is decreasing. With all of these reasons it will make one wonder if the death penalty is needed in our society. Jesus rejected violence. His life and teachings invited people to a new style of living. Intimacy and trust, compassion and forgiveness, concern for justice and nonviolence were key aspects of this new life (http://americancatholic.org/newsletters/AFA/an1000.asp). Why can't we live like this instead?

Legal Reasoning

Introduction:This paper aims to draft what I believe to be the US Supreme Court opinion for the case of Brigham City, Utah V. Stuart including the concurring and dissenting opinions. Knowledge from of the Fourth Amendments will be used to draft the opinion or opinions and an identification of particular justices with each of the opinion will be made as much as possible.In as much that the Supreme Court has made the decision (May 22, 2006) on the matter, at the time of theis, this paper is now converted into a digest of the case but still following the structure of the original instruction that is to draft (now to analyze) the opinion (now the decision) of the Supreme Court with the concurring and dissenting opinions.2. Analysis:Facts:   The policemen were responding to a 3 a.m. call about a loud party by arriving at the house in question when the said policemen heard shouting inside said house. They then proceeded down the driveway, and saw two juveniles drinking beer in the backya rd. The police then entered the yard where they saw through a screen door and windows an altercation in the kitchen between four adults and a juvenile, who punched one of the adults, causing him to spit blood in a sink. (Cornell Law School, n.d.) (Paraphrasing made)An officer from the group of policemen opened the screen door and announced the officers’ presence. After having been ignored amid the commotion, the officer entered the kitchen and again cried out, whereupon the squabble gradually subsided. The officers made an arrest of the respondents and charged them with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and related offenses. The trial court granted private respondents’ motion to suppress all evidence obtained after the officers entered the home on the ground that the warrantless entry violated the Fourth Amendment, and the Utah Court of Appeals affirmed.The State Supreme Court affirmed further by holding that the injury caused by the juvenile’s punch wa s insufficient to trigger the â€Å"emergency aid doctrine† because it did not give rise to an objectively reasonable belief that an unconscious, semiconscious, or missing person feared injured or dead was in the home. In addition, the same Supreme Court suggested the doctrine was inapplicable because the officers had not sought to assist the injured adult but had acted exclusively in a law enforcement capacity. It further held that the entry did not fall within the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement.   (Cornell Law School, n.d.) (Paraphrasing made)The issue in said case is whether or not the police may enter a home without a warrant under the given circumstances as described above.The US Federal Supreme Court held that the police may enter a home without a warrant when they have an objectively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant is seriously injured or imminently threatened with such injury. The Supreme Court said:Because the Fourth Amen dment’s ultimate touchstone is â€Å"reasonableness,† the warrant requirement is subject to certain exceptions. For example, one exigency obviating the requirement is the need to render emergency assistance to occupants of private property who are seriously injured or threatened with such injury. Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385. This Court has repeatedly rejected respondents’ contention that, in assessing the reasonableness of an entry, consideration should be given to the subjective motivations of individual officers. Because the officers’ subjective motivation is irrelevant, Bond v. United States, 529 U. S. 334, n. 2, it does not matter here whether they entered the kitchen to arrest respondents and gather evidence or to assist the injured and prevent further violence. Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U. S. 32, and Florida v. Wells, 495 U. S. 1, distinguished.Relying on this Court’s holding in Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U. S. 740, that â€Å"an importan t factor to be considered when determining whether any exigency exists is the gravity of the underlying offense for which the arrest is being made,† respondents further contend that their conduct was not serious enough to justify the officers’ intrusion into the home. This contention is misplaced. In Welsh, the â€Å"only potential emergency† confronting the officers was the need to preserve evidence of the suspect’s blood-alcohol level, an exigency the Court held insufficient under the circumstances to justify a warrantless entry into the suspect’s home. Ibid. Here, the officers were confronted with ongoing violence occurring within the home, a situation Welsh did not address. (Cornell Law School, n.d.)The Supreme Court further added that the officers’ entry here was plainly reasonable under the circumstances. It said that given the tumult at the house when they arrived, it was obvious that knocking on the front door would have been futile a nd that moreover, in light of the fracas they observed in the kitchen, the officers had an objectively reasonable basis for believing both that the injured adult might need help and that the violence was just beginning.The court explained that nothing in the Fourth Amendment required them to wait until another blow rendered someone unconscious, semiconscious, or worse before entering. It further said: â€Å"The manner of their entry was also reasonable, since nobody heard the first announcement of their presence, and it was only after the announcing officer stepped into the kitchen and announced himself again that the tumult subsided. That announcement was at least equivalent to a knock on the screen door and, under the circumstances; there was no violation of the Fourth Amendment’s knock-and-announce rule. Furthermore, once the announcement was made, the officers were free to enter; it would serve no purpose to make them stand dumbly at the door awaiting a response, while t hose within brawled on, oblivious to their presence.† (Cornell Law School, n.d.) (Paraphrasing made)The Supreme Court reversed and remanded the UTAH Supreme Court’s decision via a unanimous decision, hence there, is no dissenting opinion.   Chief Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court while Justice STEVENS filed a concurring opinion.3. Conclusion:The case was unique in the sense that a state court namely the UTAH Supreme Court, which has decided unanimously, was reversed by the US Federal Supreme Court also unanimously. The case involves the interpretation of the Fourth Amendment where there the policemen were upheld in effecting the arrest in the absence of the warrant since the case is case falling under justified exceptions.Bibliography:Bond v. United States, 529 U. S.Cornell Law School, (n.d.), BRIGHAM CITY v. STUART (No. 05-502) , 2005 UT 13, 122 P. 3d 506, reversed and remanded, {www document}   URL   http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/htm l/05-502.ZS.html, Accessed June 10,2006. Florida v. Wells, 495 U. S. 1Fourth Amendment , United States Constitution Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U. S. 32Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U. S. 385 Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U. S. 740

Reflective Statement The WritePass Journal

Reflective Statement Introduction Reflective Statement IntroductionIndividual Contribution Working with Others and Resolving Conflicts Individual Improvement for the Future  ReferencesRelated Introduction This project involved creating a strategic report covering all aspects of the operation of the Walt Disney Group. The report entailed drawing on a relatively broad analysis of the workings of the Walt Disney Group, with each member of the team contributing certain parts of the report, before then coming together to undertake an overall analysis. This reflective statement looks at how I personally worked within the team and any areas that I feel I could improve upon, in the future. The reflective statement will also describe the way in which I worked within the team to assist others and how we dealt with any conflicts which occurred, during the length of the project. Individual Contribution I was personally responsible for specific aspects of the actual research and for writing up the project. At the outset, we sat down with the team to allocate certain areas of work, with a view to meeting regularly to combine our findings and to ensure that the report, as a whole, read as if it were one voice. As the project involved some form of strategic analysis, I was particularly concerned that if each individual simply worked on their own section, it would not come together as a sensible whole (Forsyth, 2009). I personally felt that I took the lead, when it came to communicating amongst the team and also when ensuring that we met up regularly to discuss progress. I myself as one of the other team members took the lead in arranging these meetings. Whilst this was successful, initially, we soon found that other members of the team were not responding to the suggestion of meetings and were not sending their own work in good time, thus creating difficulties amongst the team and also making it harder for me as an individual to complete my element of the project (Boud Walker 1993) If I were to undertake the project again, I would ensure that, from the outset, much greater emphasis was placed on setting out the full scope of each individual’s work assignment, as it quickly became apparent that each individual within the team was relying on others to undertake their part of the report. Therefore, when one individual was failing to keep pace with the rest of the team, this created a much greater problem than simply one person not â€Å"pulling their weight†. As a relatively strong individual, I would personally put myself forward as more of a co-ordinator, at the outset, to ensure that this lack of cohesion did not happen in future (Jarboe Witteman, 1996). When we encountered difficulties at the end of the project, with one individual not being available in the few days prior to the deadline, I took on another section of the writing in order to ensure that we were then able to meet the deadline, something which put me under increased personal pressure. Based on the problems that we were having, at that point in time, it was the only reasonable solution available; however, better team management, at an earlier stage when it became apparent that some individuals were not going to make the deadline would have prevented such a high level of personal pressure and this additional workload could then have been spread more evenly. Working with Others and Resolving Conflicts As noted above, it became apparent, as the project progressed, that there were certain key individuals within the team who were becoming increasingly unresponsive to setting up meeting times and were not presenting their work when requested. This could have put the entire project in jeopardy and was exacerbated when one individual was not available at all, in the few days prior to the deadline. The fact that some of the key individuals were not responding to requests for meetings or submitting their work on-time became apparent midway through the project. Yet, action was not positively taken by myself and the other organising team members who were still responding until just a few days before the deadline (Coleman, 2011). Effectively, our approach to dealing with this matter was to ignore it and simply continue with our own activities, something which potentially jeopardised the project in its entirety. With a project of this nature, merely ignoring conflict was not an option. Furthermore, although regular negotiations were attempted by suggesting meeting times, communication between team members had already broken down.   In reality, this conflict could have been resolved, at the outset, before any difficulties emerged, by setting out a team leader who was going to be responsible for keeping everybody on track and ensuring that the meetings took place as arranged. As soon as it became apparent that the timeframe for the project was not being kept, the appointed team leader could then have taken a more aggressive stance to ensure that such failings did not jeopardise the overall project. It was arguably this failure that was instrumental in creating a last-minute panic and rush. Individual Improvement for the Future Bearing all of this in mind, I feel that my own areas for improvement, in the future would be to take a much more active stance, in terms of project management, from the outset (Schon 1996). I would also ensure that all team members complied with the timeframes set out. I became personally aware that there were difficulties with communication and timeframe, at a relatively early stage, yet I largely chose to ignore this in the hope that matters would improve of their own accord. This approach led to me personally being put under considerable pressure, towards the end of the project and, as such, my own individual performance was not as good as it could have been, particularly with the last section of the project being rushed, over a period of 2 to 3 days. I therefore feel that I could have improved my own personal performance by taking a much more active role in project management. This would enable me to ensure that each individual was working within the timeframe and I was not requ ired to rush during the last few days of the project, potentially sacrificing the quality of the work.   References   Boud D Walker D (1993) Barriers to Reflection on Experience. In Boud D,. Cohen R Walker D. Using Experience for Learning. Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education Open University Press. Coleman, P (2011).  The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts. Public Affairs. New York, p.26 Forsyth, D. R. (2009).  Group dynamics  (5th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Jarboe, S. C., Witteman, H. R. (1996). Intragroup conflict management in task-oriented groups: The influence of problem sources and problem analysis.  Small Group Research, 27, 316–338. Schon D. (1996). From Technical Rationality to Reflection in Action, In: Edwards, R., Hanson, A., and P Raggatt (eds) Boundaries of Adult Learning, London, Routledge.