The Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology

Good afternoon everyone. The topic for our debate is that technology is making us less alienated, more sociable and more human. We, the negative team believe this statement is true. The first speaker Lily of the affirmative team has tried to tell you that†¦ this is wrong because†¦ the second speaker Lin of the affirmative team has tried to tell you that†¦ this is wrong because†¦ the third speaker of the affirmative team Moha has tried to tell you that†¦ this is wrong because†¦ our first speaker Bob has told you that†¦ he also spoke to you about†¦ our second speaker MB has told you that†¦ e lso spoke to you about†¦ our third speaker Ahemed has told you that †¦ he also spoke to you about†¦ so, in conclusion, our team†¦. We cannot escape from the absolute need of technology in our daily life. We are so dependent on technology that we cannot do without them. Starting from computers to keeping fit, we require technology at e very step. Technology helps us to keep in touch with people who are away from us. We use the telephones and computers to talk to them and even see them. Our daily office work is also technology based. No longer do people use the pen and paper to complete their work.We maintain our health by going to the gyms. There are machines in the gym which help us reduce our weight and keep fit. The use of technology has made our life comfortable. We cannot think of a life sans technology. We get to keep a lot of information in a small device and use it when we like. Cars have also become better with the use of technology. Thus technology is undeniably an important of our life. Communication has been made easier for example the internet has brought email and chatting facilities. Instead of sending letters to respective destinations, it is very easy to send an email which will be received instantly.

Daisy Miller

Daisy Miller, A Study can be examined as the story of initiation of Daisy, one of its main characters. To demonstrate this conception, we will consider Marcus Mordecai’s, Joseph Campbell’s and W. R. B. Lewis’ works as well as examples from the nouvelle itself. Marcus Mordecai states, ‘the most decisive initiations carry their protagonists firmly into maturity and understanding, or at least show them decisively embarked toward maturity. These initiations usually center on self-discovery’ (Mordecai,1960:223). Daisy’s process of initiation fits clearly in Mordecai’s decisive initiation. She enters the world of maturity through a series of steps. To begin with, we should cite the definition of story of initiation that Mordecai provides: An initiation story may be said to show its young protagonist experiencing a significant change of knowledge about the world or himself, or a change of character, or of both, and this change must point or lead him towards an adult world. (†¦ ) it should give some evidence that the change is at least likely to have permanent effects. (Mordecai,1960:223) To continue, the stages by which Daisy accomplishes her decisive initiation are depicted by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. On our opinion when the story begins, Daisy has already crossed the threshold, in others words, she has accepted the call of the adventure in Europe. This is the stage of departure. Being an American girl, what she sees as an adventure is the search for sociability and for being accepted as she had been in America. Daisy is the archetypical innocent uncontaminated heroine: There isn't any society; or, if there is, I don't know where it keeps itself. Do you? I suppose there is some society somewhere, but I haven't seen anything of it. I'm very fond of society, and I have always had a great deal of it (†¦ I used to go to New York every winter. In New York I had lots of society. Last winter I had seventeen dinners given me; and three of them were by gentlemen (†¦ ) I have (†¦ ) more gentleman friends; and more young lady friends too,† (†¦ ) She paused again for an instant; she was looking at Winterbourne with all her prettiness in her lively eyes and in her lig ht, slightly monotonous smile. â€Å"I have always had,† she said, â€Å"a great deal of gentlemen's society. (James, 1879: 11) Moving forward along the story we readers witness the stage of initiation proper. Daisy undergoes several experiences, that is to say, the trials or tests in Campbell’s terms. There are several crucial episodes outlining these tests. Many of them are mainly decisions taken by Daisy, which are seen as inexcusable mistakes by the American European society, though seen as natural behaviour by Daisy, quite the opposite to what she herself qualifies as ‘stiff’. As a way of example, Daisy has to cope with Mrs. Costello’s disdainful rejection, who refuses to become personally acquainted with her. Most importantly, Daisy herself deduces this fact through Winterbourne’s hesitant words. This is not a minor detail, because it is by her capacity of deduction that Daisy’s increasing emotional maturity is made evident: I shall be ever so glad to know your aunt. † Winterbourne was embarrassed. (†¦ ) he said; â€Å"but I am afraid those headaches will interfere. † (†¦ ) â€Å"But I suppose she doesn't have a headache every day,† she said sympathetically. (†¦ ). â€Å"She tells me she does,† he answered at last, not knowing what to say. Miss Daisy Miller stopped and stood looking at him. (†¦ ) â€Å"She doesn't want to know me! † she said suddenly. â€Å"Why don't you say so? You needn't be afraid. I'm not afraid! † (†¦ )You needn't be afraid,† she repeated. â€Å"Why should she want to know me? † (†¦ ) â€Å"Gracious! she IS exclusive! † she said. (James, 1879:18) At Mrs. Walker’s, one of the society matrons, Daisy makes a succession of social mistakes, such as asking Mrs. Walker, who was having a party, to bring her friend Mr. Giovanelli with her. Additionally, she confesses that she is going out for a promenade alone with him. Although this scandalizes Mrs. Costello, who prompted Daisy to desist from this plan, Daisy only fulfills her own desires. To make matters even worse, later on when Daisy is walking with Giovanelli and Winterbourne, Mrs. Walker follows Daisy and urges her to leave the men immediately and go with her in her carriage. Daisy’s firm refusal only accelerates what will be inevitable in the end, her social alienation. At the same time her determination and personality have reached their high peak: Do get in and drive with me! † said Mrs. Walker. â€Å"That would be charming, but it's so enchanting just as I am! † (†¦ ) â€Å"It may be enchanting, dear child, but it is not the custom here,† urged Mrs. Walker, (†¦ ) â€Å"Well, it ought to be, then! † said Daisy. â€Å"If I didn't walk I should expire. † â€Å"You should walk with your mother, dear,† cried the lady from Geneva, losing patience. â€Å"With my mother dear! † exclaimed the young girl. (†¦ ), â€Å"I am more than five years old. â€Å"†You are old enough to be more reasonable. You are old enough, dear Miss Miller, to be talked about. † (†¦)Daisy gave a violent laugh. â€Å"I never heard anything so stiff! If this is improper, Mrs. Walker,† she pursued, â€Å"then I am all improper, and you must give me up. Goodbye; I hope you'll have a lovely ride! and, with Mr. Giovanelli, who made a triumphantly obsequious salute, she turned away. (James, 1879:38-39) Mrs. Walker’s party is what Campbell designates as the Climax. Again, Daisy’s actions only seem to precipitate her dramatic fall. Initially, while she remains at home with Giovanelli, she first sends her mother alone. When she finally arrives she does not wait to be spoken to, totally unconscious of the ‘all the cold shoulders that were turned toward her ,‘ especially those of Mrs. Walker’s (James, 1879: 48). Eventually, the awful truth only dawned on her later: When Daisy came to take leave of Mrs. Walker, this lady (†¦ ) turned her back straight upon Miss Miller and left her to depart with what grace she might. (†¦ ). Daisy turned away, looking with a pale, grave face at the circle near the door;Winterbourne saw that, for the first moment, she was too much shocked and puzzled even for indignation. (James, 1879:44). Lastly, Daisy confronts Campbell’s Final Battle at the Roman Colosseum. When, disappointedly she perceives that Winterbourne, whom she had considered as a real friend, mistrusts in her chastity, she understands hat she will never fit in that hypocrite society, far advanced her ideas are for that era. Now she knows that her Gift, her knowledge, cannot be shared with this community. Therefore, she ultimate resolves to detach herself physically from that corrupted society. Being aware that being non native in Rome, hence not immune to malaria, and having spent many hours at the Colosseum, which is presumed to be in fected with this illness, she nonetheless refuses to take Eugenio’s disease preventing pills. In this way, Daisy completes the cycle of her story of initiation, by fulfiling Mordecai’s Decisive model. However, she does not do so in Campbell’s terms, namely in what he calls the Return. Quite the contrary, she follows W. R. B. Lewis’s pattern of Denitiation of the American Hero, explained in The American Adam : â€Å"†¦ the valid rite of initiation for the individual in the new world is not an initiation into society, but, given the character of society, an initiation away from it: something I wish it were legitimate to call denitiation’ â€Å" (W. R. B Lewis,1955: 115). In other words, the American hero does not return to the place from where he has departed. Instead, from disillusionment he prefers alienation, sealing her physical and social evinction. Henry James used many strategies when writing Daisy Miller, A Study. Whether literary, discourse or narrative, these features are what brought his nouvelle to life and provided it with unity. Henry James was born in New York, in a family of intellectuals. His father was a man known not only for his intelligence but also for encouraging his children to become the best in their fields of study. In Henry’s case, it was literature and he decided to follow literary realism. However, it was psychological realism what he was more interested in. This is what encouraged Henry James to create the term â€Å"central intelligence†: This term is used to describe a character in a story whose main purpose is to tell the story and filter the events taking place in it thought his or her thoughts and feelings. The central intelligence in Daisy Miller, A Study is Frederick Winterbourne. He is the character who filters the events in the nouvelle and he is the teller of the story, even though he is not the narrator. He is introduced in the second paragraph, once the setting of the story is provided to the reader by the narrator. The concept of central intelligence is probably the most important discourse strategy in the nouvelle. It is the main procedure by which the writer brings unity to the text, turning it into a whole. The centre of intelligence can also be seen as a narrative strategy, since it is the use of this character along with the presence of a narrator, the medium by which the writer tells the story. Daisy Miller, A Study has a 3rd person narrator as well as a center of intelligence. The narrator is not an omniscient narrator; it is a narrator who lacks the knowledge of what is happening in the minds of the characters, he only knows what Winterbourne perceives about them. An example that shows this relationship between the narrator and Winterbourne is the following:â€Å"Winterbourne wondered if he had been like this in his infancy, for he had been brought to Europe at about this age†. (James 1879: 6) In this extract of the text Winterbourne meets Randolph, Daisy’s brother. We can see the central intelligence of the nouvelle, how his feeling and thoughts filter the information, in this case Randolph’s behavior, and compares it with his own behavior, of which he is not certain of, since he does not remember. The narrator merely tells us what Winterbourne felt at the time but he does not give us any further information. An example of the narrative strategy found in the text, that shows us that Daisy Miller, A Study is in fact a story of initiation, is how the nouvelle is structured. It is divided in two parts. In the first part of the story we see how the two main characters meet and we learn about Daisy’s personality and peculiar manners. We could say that in this part of the nouvelle, which takes part in Switzerland, Daisy earns herself a bad reputation. An example of what people thought of Daisy can be seen in this extract taken from the text: In the evening Winterbourne mentioned to Mrs. Costello that he had spent the afternoon at Chillon with Miss Daisy Miller (†¦ ) She went with you all alone? †¦) And that, she exclaimed, is the young person to whom you wanted me to know! (James 1879:27) In the second part of the nouvelle, which takes part in Rome, we can appreciate how Daisy is rejected by Mrs. Costello and how the young woman accepts she will probably never be accepted as a respected member of society. As mentioned earlier, this is the moment we think Daisy receives her gift, in this case, the gift of knowledge, which is evidence in itse lf of Daisy’s acquired maturity. She knows what the rules of European society are and refuses to follow them. As the nouvelle progresses, this knowledge is what brings Daisy’s life to an end, both physically and socially. In Daisy Miller, A Study, there is a vast amount of literary devices playing art in what we consider the story of initiation. One such device is symbolism, and we have chosen to give this example since we believe it summarizes Daisy’s story. Flowers are said to be images that furnish sentences that would be very common otherwise. Moreover, the image of a flower can imply growth, maturity. Once flowers are mature enough, they blossom. The following quote shows how Daisy mature, from being a very naive girl, to a â€Å"very clever foireign lady†, as Winterbourne later puts it: â€Å"Winterbourne listened to him [Giovanelli]: he stood staring at the raw protuberance [bud] among the April daisies. † (James 1879:54) To conclude this essay, we would like to ratify our working hypothesis. We strongly believe Daisy Miller, A Study is a story of initiation. As illustrated previously, Daisy Miller, our heroine follows the stages proposed by authors such as Marcus Mordecai, Joseph Campbell and W. R. B. Lewis in her process of initiation and personal growth. As was also previously mentioned, we consider that this story of initiation was possible through the many strategies available to the author and writer of this nouvelle, that is, to Henry James. We also believe, this nouvelle transcends the obvious, it transcends the story of the encounter between an American man and a naive young American lady who does not seem to fit in European society. We think Daisy Miller, A Study is not only the study of the personalities its author describes, but also, and more importantly, the initiation of a young lady into womanhood.

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 40

Ethics - Essay Example 2. In this case scenario, a follower of moral pluralism would put into consideration various moral perspectives before deciding whether or not to help Hitler get out of the water; ultimately, the follower of moral pluralism would not help Hitler because not helping him is in conformity with many moral perspectives. On the other hand, a follower of Kantian deontology would help Hitler because failure to help him to get out of the water is tantamount to treating him not as end in itself, but rather as a mean to some end. 3. The main difference between ethics of care and other ethical theories is that, unlike other ethical theories that emphasize on application of universal principles in overcoming moral dilemmas, ethics of care advocates for consideration of the particular action committed and the circumstances under which the action was performed in determining the morality of an action. Ethics of care hold that application of universal ethical principles in solving ethical conflicts can lead to moral indifference in some circumstances. Ethics of care advocates for focus on the best way to respond in solving moral dilemmas. 4. Sartre claims that any explanation that deflects one’s complete responsibility is an example in bad faith. This is because an authentic moral agent for Sartre is a person who acts in freedom. Freedom and authenticity are key in Sartre’s ethical worldview. Freedom for Sartre means the ability for self-determination, while authenticity means the ability to be genuine in one’s actions. For Sartre, an authentic moral agent is free to genuinely make his moral decisions. Sartre’s authentic moral agent is different from Kantian ideal moral agent because, for Kant, ideal moral agent is a person who is restricted by the prevailing rules and regulations; Kant’s ideal agent is not free in his moral decisions. 5. An emotivist philosopher would lodge the following critique against the Rossian Pluralism: the Rossian

Supply Chain Integration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Supply Chain Integration - Essay Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that the supply chain is a vital topic for most of the practitioners and researchers. However, the main concerns constraining the full and complete use of the concept of supply chain management research has been the construct taking its own meaning that depends on the subjectivity of an individual and the different points of views. Therefore, there is a need for most of the researchers to operationalize and measure what actually supply chain integration means. Over the past years, one of the major themes in the supply chain literature has always been the integration as a key factor in achieving improvements. The general idea, in this case, is that the integrative practices and the high level of integration have a great impact positively on the performance of corporate and supply chain. A study conducted by McCarthy and Golicic showed that case studies are the most suitable methods for evaluating and understanding supply c hain integration. McCarthy and Golicic showed that case studies provided two important advantages that are crucial to achieving positive results in supply chain integration. Hitt, on the other hand, proposed that a quantitative approach is the best strategy to use in supply chain integration research. According to McCarthy and Golicic, case studies are ideal because they provide valuable insights into the theoretical and practical aspects of supply chain integration. In addition, unlike quantitative techniques, which show an overreliance on data, case studies offer real examples of successes and failures in supply chain integration and how they can be avoided. Quantitative methods are preferred in some quarters because they support long-term investigations. For example, data can always be stored and used in future probes. However, both case studies and quantitative technique demonstrate a noticeable weakness in the sense that they are not balanced enough to support varied and comple x inquiries on supply chain integration. This is a major reason for opting for a multi-case approach in this paper.

Kiosk Technology Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Kiosk Technology - Research Proposal Example Kiosk point-of-sale systems provide 24 x 7 availability to the customers where they can make transactions in an easy, user-friendly manner. The ease, with which transactions can be made, provides an important element towards an organization's ability to attract customers; as the customers look for user-friendly and always available systems that can take care of their needs. Kiosk promises to be the technological advancement that can take care of this need. In addition, kiosks provide customers with product information and interactive features that improves the overall image of the company in customers' minds. Kiosks are available in various types and for various purposes. Ranging from a simple cash register to a complex and integrated ATM (Automated Teller Machine), kiosks are believed to improve customer relationships, reduce headcounts for manual/ traditional operations, to take benefit of technology boom, to achieve accuracy and efficiency in operations and to improve customers' p erception about the company by providing various marketing and product/ services information on the kiosk terminals. This research will concentrate on evaluating the use of kiosks at var... Presenting Problem Any strategic investment in technology is made only if there are visible benefits and high expected returns from the investment. Kiosks have been used at POS sites with a hope to increase customer visits and their satisfaction levels that might ultimately lead to an increase in business revenue. However, there are no measurements and or performance evaluation mechanisms to find out the effectiveness of kiosks in adding to customer delight at the point of sale sites; and if at all there are some benefits to it. My research will help establish a relationship between kiosks and the POS systems to determine if kiosks add value to the overall productivity of POS sites and how can this value be measured, if at all. This can be used as part of feasibility analysis for strategic IT investment in kiosk technology by companies at their point of sale systems sites. Scope and Scale The scope of this research can not be restricted to few organizations or customers only. Since kiosks are being used by a variety of companies in a number of instances, it is wise to sample different sets of businesses and customers to develop a representative output for the entire universe of customers and businesses. The scope of this research includes surveys to be conducted with both customers who make use of kiosk technology and businesses that employ kiosk systems at the point of customer interaction. I will gather surveys from approximately 25 respondents belonging to various sites and areas, and then will attempt to compile the results. The number of surveys and interviews is only an estimate with an expected variation of ten percent for the number of respondents for the survey. Target The relationship between customer interaction with kiosk at POS systems and

Personal Statement Apply to UK Universities (Postgraduate Degree) Essay

Personal Statement Apply to UK Universities (Postgraduate Degree) - Essay Example good grades he had received in his initial year of his undergraduate course and his continued studentship in the organization has been based on his good academic showing. We understand that his performance during his course was above average and placed him amongst the upper bracket of the students in his class. His language of instruction, which was English, was another asset for us. At the time of his studentship the organization was in the process of re-organizing its use of information and communication technology in its business activities. Mr. Janny ---- was given the responsibility of planning the required changes, implementing the required changes and evaluating the impact of the changes, under my guidance over the many years of his studentship with us. We are pleased to confirm his ability for planning changes, leading and executing the changes and evaluating the changes. The end result of these activities of his has been that we find effective use of information and communication technology in our business operations, particularly with regards to our international trading activities and our attempts at remaining competitive and expanding our markets. He had indicated that he would like to pursue a post graduate course in information and communication technology and we believe he has made the right choice taking into consideration his undergraduate program, abilities and aptitude. It was this desire of his and the discussions with him that made us provide him with an opportunity to experience the field of information communication and technology during his studentship with us. The work experience that he gained with us in revamping our use of information and communication technology should stand him in good stead during his post graduate course in information communication and technology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. It is our experience of his nature of working hard with diligence, abilities and his analytical and

See below Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

See below - Term Paper Example On the third part of the paper, the impact of the great power and the attitude of the corporation were also discussed. The documentary entitled â€Å"The Garden† was used in this discussion. It displayed the attitude shown by the corporation. And the last part is the conclusion which is the idea and the opinion of the writer were written. On January 1, 2002, an article was published by The Washington Post written by Michael Grunwald which was entitled â€Å"Monsanto Hid Decades of Pollution: PCB’s Drenched Ala. Town, But No One Was Ever Told.† This article is regarding the contamination of a nearby creek from an area of wet lands where the Monsanto Factory hid PCB toxins. It was said on the article that some scientists tested the said creek from toxicity by releasing fish and in three and a half minutes, most of the fish died. A lawsuit had been filed against the corporation but on January 5th the corporation issued a clarification regarding the article stating that the Monsanto Corporation had no involvement in the ongoing lawsuit concerning PCB pollution which was made by the old Monsanto Corporation in Anniston Alabama Solutia Incorporated. The corporation said that the Monsanto Corporation’s chemical operation had been spun off in the year 1997 into a Solutia Incorporated which is responsible for the issue and which is the defendant of the lawsuit. The above example is just one of the happenings that showed the power and attitude of the Monsanto Corporation. The growing power, attitude and global control of Monsanto Corporation lead to the violation of the essence of â€Å"dirt,† leading to the farmers to become slaves and the risk of human and animal’s health. Monsanto Corporation was founded in the year 1901 at St. Louis Missouri. John F. Queeny, an Irish immigrant and a 42-year-old who is a purchaser of a Drug Company of the Meyer brothers, started this kind of

Hurricane sandy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hurricane sandy - Essay Example Work and classes were also cancelled as a result of all the circumstances happening in the areas. When the storm hit New Jersey, I consider it lucky for me to have been away on vacation. I may not have felt the direct effects of the storm as it hit the city nevertheless the information about what happened on that dreadful day has shaken me so strongly. Looking at all the deaths and the widespread effects of the storm on television, I thought about how things would have been for me if I were in New Jersey during that time. The event made me think about how a life could be lost in such an unexpected circumstance at an unexpected time and place. Who could have thought that the two cities could be so largely affected by the storm? New York, most especially, is considered a strong city where one can find security and yet it was not spared by a calamity that has proven to be destructive to the place it hits regardless of that place’s reputation and status. Indeed, this world offers no secure security. The money, job and other things found in the cities of New York and New Jersey that people consider to give assurance for their future have been affected by the storm as well. ... I could just imagine what difficulties the people have been through during the past days. The city that was once beautiful looked so devastated that I begun to think how vulnerable everything and everyone is to such destructions. The sight brought tears to my eyes knowing that people indeed have been through a lot of difficulties as they tried to clean up the city and fix everything to get the place back in order. Looking back at the events during the hurricane, I cannot help but think about the victims who suffered a lot. However, in the midst of the hardships, the spirit of unity once again arose among the American people. The president was shown on television giving support to the victims not only verbally but also in terms of physical help such as sending necessities to the cities. Moreover, people helped each other in order to overcome the difficulties they are going through. This struck me so strongly that it really made me appreciate our being humans when it comes to circumsta nces such as this. Political enemies may have heated arguments during ordinary days however, when such calamity occurs, political, religious or cultural beliefs find no strength in stopping the people to be united in helping each other to rise again. Such events make me think and consider what I should do as an individual to partake in such acts of kindness that may affect other people in ways I can just imagine. In this world that is full of troubles and threats, any help is necessary to make our place livable. Just like New Jersey after hurricane Sandy, the place has become physically bad for living. However, the efforts of people helping each other to bring the glory of the place back, made the challenges easier for

Occupy Wall Street Movement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Occupy Wall Street Movement - Research Paper Example The movement is stimulated by the recent successful uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and Syria. Their goal is to confront the status quo in the government and the wealthy people who control most of the world’s resources. Their dominance creates an iniquitous global economy that disfavors the majority who are unable to compete effectively within the capitalist system. They aim at confronting greed, corruption and dominance by the business elites and politicians and creating accommodative redress to all persons (Vag, 2011). â€Å"Moral and economic implications involved in the movement† The OWS believe that a minority 1% of the world’s population controls the majority of meaningful resources. Their slogan, â€Å"we are the 99%† is based on socio-economic statistics for the year 2011. They argue that the 99% in the society is left to survive on very little that compromises their sustainable living. This movement shuns such dominance. They assert that it is instiga ted by insatiability, egotism and corruption. They petition authorities and decision makers to review their policies and redress these economic disparities between the 99% and the 1% (Vag, 2011). The OWS movement is fundamentally an awakening caveat to the people that concentrate the world’s wealth, power and control in their hands at the loss of the society. The movement appeals to the moral reasoning behind utilitarianism. Majority of the world lives in unemployment, poverty and homelessness while another group enjoys luxury, space, wealth and power (Vag, 2011). Therefore, a majority group has a bleak future with an diminishing ability to determine their destiny. The historical and economic implications to these inequalities have resulted to perceived economic injustices. The OWS aims at prompting the decision makers to review these principals consciously and address livelihood variability’s among populations. â€Å"The implications identified against the utilitaria n, Kantian and virtue ethics to apply which theory best applies to the movement position†. The OWS aimed at confronting the corporate dominance in democracy and lack of legal actions to the perpetrators of the global economic crises. The utilitarian principle asserts that the ultimate socio-political and socio-economic achieves collective economic success. This system is not informed by moral merit and virtue. Nonetheless, it is expected to achieve the expected consequences of addressing socio-economic inequalities (White, 2006). The OWS bargains against these grounds to identify a cohesive ground for addressing social inequalities. The Kantian theory emphasizes on equality among all persons. It is perceived as a viable option to utilitarianism (White, 2006). Utilitarian theory overlooks the moral significance of moral virtues that inform minority issues and human rights. The utilitarian principles do not accord intrinsic values to human beings. The goal is to capitalize on in dividual rather than society benefits. The Kant theory concentrates on the most applicable channel to address issues. The theory that best compliments the OWS is the Kantian movement (Vag, 2011). The OWS is specifically is specifically interested in collective benefits and embodies a distinct shift in ethical dimensions. â€Å"Who is responsible for income inequality and wealth distribution in the US, Explain Rationale?†

Business Proposal-ECONOMICS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

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Global capitalism is the primary cause of world hunger Essay Example for Free

Global capitalism is the primary cause of world hunger Essay Evolution/ change are a way of life. People evolve, cultures evolve, and so do our economies. And with every change comes a considerable amount of resistance. The transition from feudalism to capitalism gathered its momentum in Western Europe in 18th and 19th centuries. Along with came chaos, ambiguities and insecurities. Numerous theories on Capitalism as good or bad also came along. Some include famous works by premier sociologists: Karl Marx and Max Weber. Though Karl Marx’s most popular theories on â€Å"class and conflict† made him a capitalist critique, it is mainly Max Weber who’s considered to have developed a more rational theory on capitalism. Defined in Max Weber’s term, Capitalism is a process where money becomes an end in itself consequently changing the values of society. Although capitalism is an age old phenomenon what makes it younger even now is the global face it has assumed over the past two or three decades. It is now used in combination with globalization hence, termed as global capitalism. It has largely dominated the discourse on poverty and human development. Patrik Aspers (1) defines global capitalism as, â€Å"an economy that connects capitalistic actors from all over the world via production and consumption markets. † The common attack on this phenomenon is that it has increased the disparity between the rich and the poor in the developing world and widened the gap between the developed and the developing world. What’s perplexing is to see how the same phenomenon that is acclaimed for the growing GDP in many emerging economies is also seen as the culprit in raising world hunger. Global capitalism does not function in isolation. There are many other factors that determine its nature making it good or bad for human development. This paper will delve on those factors that have made this phenomenon so unpopular especially in the developing world. Also, to establish that global capitalism is not alone a cause per se of world hunger. Free Trade: Global capitalism means integrating the national economy into the world economy through breaking down of artificial trade barriers. In other words, allowing a free flow of capital across the globe. A more popular term given to this phenomenon is that of â€Å"Free Trade†. Joseph Stiglitz (2)defines it as â€Å"the closer integration of the countries and peoples of the world which has been brought about by the enormous reduction of costs of transportation and communication, and the breaking down of artificial barriers to the flows of goods, services, capital, knowledge and people across borders. Free Trade versus small –scale Farmers: There have been tall claims made on the benefits gained by the emerging countries out of free trade looking at their GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth over the past decade. While determining the effectiveness of Free Trade, most evidences are based on the number of jobs generated in emerging economies through this system. But this is also dovetailed by another question on whether these jobs also generate a livelihood option for the last common denominators in the developing world. The answer is quite evident from the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) that has taken a centre stage on the ongoing WTO (World Trade Organization) negotiations. The most affected lot of the multilateral trading system are the small scale farmers in developing countries who are largely being affected by huge subsidies provided to farmers in U. S and Europe. This in turn helps these farmers to sell their products at much reduced rates in international markets than the small- scale farmers of developing countries can afford to sell even in their own domestic markets. Hence, forcing these very farmers to sell their produce at a lesser price than that involved in production. One could argue that despite the farmer’s grievances, large flow of cheap food in developing countries could also mean that the poor and hungry benefit from floods of cheap food. The following fact answers this argument. World hunger strings from the current situation of small scale farmers in the developing world: The UN report on World Hunger 2000, revealed failure of the 1996 target of halving the number of people who do not have enough to eat within 15 years. Robert. Drinan (3) in National Catholic reporter, states that a total of 842 million hungry in the world during 1995- 1997 increased by 13 million in the 1999- 2001 period. The First Food Program Director, Kirsten Schwind points out that a vast majority of the world’s poor make their living off agriculture. Hence, failure in this sector also suggests that 50 percent of the people who live with hunger globally are these same small – scale farmers. United States and Europe: are they alone responsible for world hunger? Undeniably, the huge subsidies offered to farmers in the United States and Europe disrupts the global market. But this reason is not alone responsible for devastating farmer’s life in developing world. This era of global capitalism also calls for a global accountability. It isn’t right to put the entire blame on the US and Europe. Kenneth AJ (4) clearly states that â€Å"hunger is a multi-dimensional problem that requires a multidimensional approach and intersectoral interventions in relevant areas, such as health, markets, learning and emergency preparedness. But too often the necessary investments have not been made. National level strategies usually exist, but they often need to be modified to take hunger into greater consideration. † Simply judging the interventions made by international institutes, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund is not enough. Unless country’s own systems such as, domestic policies, their implementation, and their transparency are not evaluated, the current situation on world hunger will not improve. It is a stated fact that serious policy mistakes are dovetailed by crisis in the economic sector. What keeps many developing countries from benefiting despite numerous development projects are their own infected methods. Many people and many governments have misunderstood the meaning of liberalization. They have mistaken it to mean liberating themselves off their responsibilities. The idea behind globalization was to make competition healthier. This could be done when each country facing an international competition ensures improvement on its infrastructure and provides its workers with latest knowledge on their skills. It is after all a country’s own responsibility. Unfortunately, the latest trend is to blame it all on the unhealthy competition led by free trade. Little have these governments done enabling their own citizens to face the global competition. It is after all these policy makers who hold key to development of their own nation. They are the wheelers of the society who link the modern, pre – modern and postmodern together. When we talk about agricultural competition, besides looking at debates engulfing the distortion issue, it is also important for us to assess the country’s own performance in these areas. It is after all government’s responsibility to improve upon its agricultural production meeting market needs by assisting its farmers with latest techniques and knowledge on new variety crops. Even if we agree for a while that many developing countries cannot afford the latest technologies, how do these governments then account for the dramatic increase in their GDP growth? India stands as the best example, where on the one hand many reports reveals the increased suicidal rate of the farmers, on the other hand there are reports flashing India’s growing GDP rate. A country with 60 percent population involved in agriculture, accounts for only 22 percent of its total GDP growth. Fair Trade involves paying a fair wage to the growers for their goods. Ironically, the larger retailers involved in the selling of these goods exploit these growers by buying their goods, like coffee, cocoa and sugar, at world low prices and then selling the same goods at international markets at highly marked – up prices. The unequal ratio between the production cost and selling cost forces the small – scale farmers in developing countries to borrow money from the local lenders. These lenders decide their own interest rates which unfortunately keeps the farmers in perpetual poverty. There is no supervisory authority that can help these farmers get a fair share for their produce. Caught between the vicious lenders and retailers, these farmers are constantly facing a blow. The government does little in bailing out these ill fate stricken farmers. The borrowing chain does end with the farmers. This trend continues even with the government who borrows money from international bodies to finance their development through several development projects. The supervisory authorities spend little time in monitoring the international capital inflows. These authorities also do not collect information on external borrowing by private corporations in their respective countries and in turn to use this information for managing their domestic policies. The excessive borrowing has direct link to hunger as these payments back to creditors outside the country are drawn from funds that should instead be invested in areas that need greater funding to lift people out of poverty and hunger. The money that is initially borrowed to invest its large portions in areas like agriculture, health care, education, job creation, etc. helps little in elevating these spheres and is rather used up in dealing with the fluctuating market interest rates. Asian Crisis : a result of excessive borrowing: Prior to 1997, eight East Asian countries-Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia experienced a rapid economic growth often called the â€Å"East Asian miracle†. Between 1965 and 1990, the GDP in these countries doubled. Their success was attributed to many factors such as free trade, macroeconomic policies and discipline, high saving and investment rates that attracted many foreign investors looking for a high rate of return. With increasing pressure felt in the foreign exchange market there was a sudden flow of Thai baht in market against the US dollar (the currency speculators rushed to buy US dollar against the Thai baht). This resulted in Thai currency devaluation followed by withdrawal of foreign capital from other East Asian countries as well. What followed was the Asian crisis in mid – 1997 affecting currencies, stock markets and other asset prices of several Southeast Asian economies. Foreign investors lost confidence and withdrew their invested money from these countries. Extensive borrowing in foreign currencies by corporations and other financial institutions while turning blind eye to currency fluctuation was the main culprit for this crisis. The ineffective financial supervision that encouraged short – term borrowing underestimating while the risk involved in exchange rate proved fatal. Role of the National Government: In several working papers much has been said about the international bodies and their role in the Asian Crisis. What is even a greater matter of concern is the role of national governments during the crisis. Nobody ever talks about their intervention. It is true while dealing with global market; one normally expects the global bodies to be accountable for its success or failure. If that being the case, why don’t we abandon the idea of even being governed by national bodies if every downturn is expected to be addressed by the international ones? It is evident from the East Asian case that the supervisory authorities spent little time in monitoring the international capital inflows. The authorities did not collect information on external borrowing by private corporations in their respective countries and in turn to use this information for managing their domestic policies. In earlier times whenever there was a failure in any sector, the only remedy seen for it was nationalization. Any failure in a sector in today’s time is handed over to privatized bodies with national government taking a back seat. The national governments have completely turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to its citizen’s problems. In fact for any rising problem it is the international market that is held responsible. Conclusion: The facts stated above clearly points out the loop holes existing in domestic policies and governance. Lian Greenfield (2001) has argued that the driving force behind capitalism is nationalism. Many countries saw a strong economy as a way of strengthening the nation making capitalism as a means in this process. Hence, it wont be wrong to say that it isn’t global capitalism that is the primary cause of world hunger, it is the improper governance that has led to this disaster. Food availability, food access, and asset creation are virtues of a responsible government for which we cannot hold world systems alone accountable. A good government is one that ensures a proper and organized lending to its farmers helping them to cope with international prices through establishing local banks with reasonable interest rates. This is just one of the many solutions a government can adopt to encompass failures in the agricultural sector considered one of the most important sectors of the emerging economies. A democratic country is one that lets the state make some of the economic decision, and the market and the civil society do others, though with different emphasis on these spheres. References: Aspers P, Edling C, Hobson B. A Note on Global Capitalism. Sweden: Department of Sociology, Stockholm University; 2005. Stiglitz J. Globalization and its Discontents. New York: Norton; 2002. Jesuit Fr, Drinan R. Report Shows World Hunger Increasing. USA (MO): National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company; 2004. Shwind K. Going Local on a Global Scale: Rethinking Food Trade in the Era of Climate Change, Dumping, and Rural Poverty. USA (CA): Institute for Food and Development Policy; 2005. Kenneth AJ. World Hunger Series 2006: Hunger and Learning. Italy: World Food Programme and Standford University Press; 2006. Reuven G, Moreno R. Government intervention and the East Asian miracle. Business Economics; 1997.

Unseen Forces That Pushed A Couple To Trouble Essay Example for Free

Unseen Forces That Pushed A Couple To Trouble Essay A person’s fate is not only said to have been the result of one’s decisions in life; but on a larger perspective, resulted from the influences of societal forces. â€Å"Social forces are shaped by human interaction and have a direct effect on life chances and life experiences. † (Conyers, J. L. ) Such is the case of a couple, named Ted and Zelda. There are several societal forces I’ve seen in this case and among them are: social structure, employment opportunity, education, the healthcare, and the criminal justice system. The first social problem is Ted and Zelda’s place in society, which is their social structure. They both belong to the working class, which is the middle class, neither rich nor poor. I viewed this as a social problem, because it influenced Ted and Zelda’s decision to become doctors one day. It is, indeed, very expensive to pursue medicine yet it became the dream of the couple. Since it is a standard for a middle class couple to pursue medicine, it will be a shame if they can’t pursue that course. They have to pursue it no matter what. The next social problem I’ve seen is the education system. This social problem has been the most prominent all throughout because it greatly affected them in many ways. First, due to the medical course’s very expensive tuition fee, they were compelled to use up their savings after using up the maximum amount for student loans. Probably the reason why their student loans were used up was due to the fact that their present tuition fees kept increasing and they have to pay for it. They are very fortunate, though, that they have the privilege to get student loans to help them with their tuition fees, because other countries don’t have that option. Ted was accepted in three medical schools, while Zelda didn’t. The education standard was forcing Zelda to take up nursing instead. Being a female she is, the education system convinced her that she would be better off as a nurse because since she will be a wife and a mother some day. The next social problem is the employment opportunity. When Ted lost his job, it became a huge obstacle for him to pursue medicine. This forced Zelda to seek a job in order to help Ted. Remember that Zelda is not a college graduate, so that means that her chances of getting a higher wage are poor. Whatever she’s earning from her job wasn’t enough to help Ted. This lack of greater employment opportunity due to outsourcing led the couple to despair. Isn’t it true that when you feel like the world is crushing you, you will tend to seek comfort somewhere? Well, where do you think Ted and Zelda will gather their strength to move on? Of course, they get the comfort from each other. Since both of them are unemployed, they don’t have anything to focus on except themselves. They got more time for each other, thus, more time to have sex. Zelda, of course, eventually got pregnant. This led to another social problem. There was a great stigma to society for her to become pregnant out of wedlock. Instead of getting more help or support from her family, she was disowned. This probably had emotionally tormented Zelda a lot when she was pregnant, which could explain complications in childbirth. Healthcare played a vital role to Ted and Zelda’s life. The complications of birth led them to get huge bills from the hospital. Since Ted and Zelda’s employment doesn’t cover health insurance, this forced Zelda to look for a second job, and eventually led the couple to seek somebody who could take care of their baby. Their baby mysteriously died. Finally, the last social problem they encountered was the criminal justice system. Ted was incarcerated for the assault which led him to become unemployed again. The stigma of this event had greatly affected both their opportunities to get jobs, therefore, in great despair; Zelda chose to commit suicide instead. Things will be different if these social problems weren’t present. If Zelda was accepted into medical school, she would’ve had higher hopes and would’ve pursued it well. On employment opportunity, if Ted’s employer didn’t outsource, then Ted will still have a job enough to pursue his studies and will eventually prevent Zelda from becoming pregnant. Zelda won’t have to be disowned, and the couple would’ve been doctors one day. Conclusively, social factors indeed affect anybody’s decisions. It should not be blamed alone on the individual on whatever happens to his life. Family support and great understanding plays a good role in order to prevent social problems occurring from one stage to another. Works Cited Conyers, J. L. 2003. â€Å"Afrocentricity and the Economy. † Jefferson: North Carolina. McFarland Company, Inc. p. 28. October 11, 2008 [http://books. google. com/books? id=pDE4LXoIcP8Cpg=PA28lpg=PA28dq=social+forces+and+life+chancessource=webots=954jbjCFPAsig=-UlWUATNeIcpp55RjFCHb4oWlW0hl=ensa=Xoi=book_resultresnum=6ct=resulthttp://www. youtube. com/watch? v=139NEANvig4feature=related].

Medication Adherence And Treatment Satisfaction In Patients Nursing Essay

Medication Adherence And Treatment Satisfaction In Patients Nursing Essay Abstract Background and Objective: Medication adherence and treatment satisfaction are important for successful therapeutic outcome. The objectives of this study were to (1) assess antipsychotic medication adherence using 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS), (2) assess treatment satisfaction using Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM 1.4), and (3) correlate adherence and satisfaction with psychiatric symptoms measured using 24-item expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E) in patients with schizophrenia. Methodology: This is a cross sectional study Admin2010-12-25T10:07:00 Also, You should mention your design of study inside the textcarried out at governmental out-patient psychiatric unit in Nablus/ Palestine during summer 2010. Two hundred and sixty seven schizophrenic patients were registered at the clinic. Patients included in the study were those whose medications have not been changed in the past six months and those who did not have an acute attack in the past year. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS 16 for windows. Results: One hundred and fifty patients Admin2010-12-25T12:46:00 In cross sectional study, you should calculate the sample size to give a good precision for reliability and validity. These terms increase the quality and acceptance rate of articles.out of 267 registered schizophrenic patients met the inclusion criteria. Nineteen patients refused to participate while 131 patients agreed giving a response rate of 87.3%. The mean  ± SD of MMAS was 6.1  ± 1.7 in which 44 patients (33.6%) had low rate, 58(44.3%) had medium rate 29 (22.1%) had high rate of adherence to their antipsychotic medications. The means of satisfaction with regard to effectiveness, side effects, convenience global satisfaction were 72.6  ± 20.5, 67.9  ± 31.47, 63.2  ± 14.3 63.1  ± 18.8 respectively. The mean BPRS score of the patients was 68.4  ± 24.5 with 14.4  ± 6.7 13.7  ± 6.1 means for positive and negative symptoms scores respectively. Pearson correlation showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between effectiveness (P = 0.002, r = 0.27), side effects (0.006, r =0.24), convenience (P Discussion and Conclusion: conclusions can be summarized as follows: First, the majority of the patients had low to medium rate of adherence. Second, adherence was positively and significantly correlated with satisfaction. Third, adherence was significantly but negatively correlated with most psychiatric symptoms. Fourth, no significant difference in adherence was found among patients receiving various antipsychotic therapeutic regimens. Finally, various antipsychotic regimens significantly differ in side effects satisfaction domain only. Key words: adherence, satisfaction, psychiatric symptoms, antipsychotics Introduction Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric disorder that impairs the quality of patients life and requires pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions (Palmer et al., 2002; Pinikahana et al., 2002; Sharma and Antonova, 2003). Antipsychotic drug therapy is considered as the key element in schizophrenia management and has been reported to minimize the frequency of acute schizophrenic episodes and hospitalization (Awad and Voruganti 2004; Campell et al., 1999). Adherence (compliance) to antipsychotic medications is necessary in order to achieve these therapeutic goals. Furthermore, adherence has been reported to lead to considerable cost savings (Damen et al., 2008). However, non-adherence (non-compliance) to antipsychotic medications is common and is considered as an integral barrier to the successful treatment of schizophrenia (Dolder et. al, 2003; Weiden 2007; Byrne et al., 2006; Kim et al., 2006). There are several factors that can cause treatment non-adherence in schizophreni c patients. Such factors include those derived from schizophrenic disorder itself, patient characteristics, those associated with the health-care system, and the antipsychotic treatment regimen (Svestka Bitter 2007; Misdrahi et al., 2002). Patients related factors contributing to non-adherence include gender, age, socio-economic status, race, and religion (Lowry 1998; Borras et al 2007). Cultural differences might be a potential factor for non-adherence. For example, a review article about psychotropic medications found that rates of non-adherence were higher among Latinos than Euro-Americans and clinical and research interventions to improve adherence should be culturally appropriate and incorporate identified factors (Lanouette et al., 2009). Although patients satisfaction with treatment regimen is crucial for medication adherence (Atkinson et al., 2004; Taira et al. 2006), few studies had examined the relationship between adherence, treatment satisfaction and therapeutic outcome in patients with schizophrenia (Fujikawa et al.; 2004; Freudenreich et al., 2004 Watanabe et al, 2004). Therefore, the objectives of this study were to: (1) Assess the degree of adherence to antipsychotic medications among schizophrenic outpatients using eight-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS), (2) Assess the degree of patients satisfaction with their treatment regimen using Treatment satisfaction Questionnaire for medication (TSQM 1.4), (3) Evaluate patients clinical symptoms, Positive Symptom Score (PSS) Negative Symptom Score (NSS) using Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and finally (4) Investigate relationships and correlations between medication adherence, subjective patients treatment satisfaction and psychiatric symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Methodology 2.1. Patient selection: This study was conducted between July 2010 September 2010 at Al-Makhfya psychiatric Health Center in Nablus, Palestine. Approval to perform the study was obtained from the Palestinian ministry of health and IRBAdmin2010-12-25T10:09:00 Define this abbreviation committee at An-Najah National University. Patients who met the following criteria were invited to participate in this study: 1) their age was between 20 65 years, 2) they were diagnosed with schizophrenia as defined by DSMAdmin2010-12-25T13:29:00 Define this abbrev.-IV, 3) they had not been suffering from an acute attack of illness during the past year, and 4) their drug regimen had not been changed in the past 4 months. 2.2. Assessment and measures The instrument used in this study consisted of three parts: part one collected socio-demographic and medication data from patients medical files; part two was the Arabic version of the validated eight-item Morisky Medication Admin2010-12-25T13:31:00 . The final version of the Arabic questionnaire should be assessed to know if the Arabic version is reliable and valid to be used in your population. This a routine question by high impact journal Also, I suppose you are the first who use this score in Arab country, and this is good for you because you can write new article related to validity and reliability and it is preferred to be published before this article.Adherence Scale (MMAS) (Morisky et al., 2008, Morisky et al., 1986) and part three was the Arabic version of Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM 1.4) which the researchers obtained from Quintiles Strategic Research Services. The English version of the MMAS was translated into Arabic and was approved by professor Morisky through e-mail communication. The translation process was carried out according to the following procedure: 1) A forward translation of the original questionnaire was carried out from English to Arabic language to produce a version that was as close as possible to the original questionnaire in concept and meaning. Translation was carried out by two qualified independent translators; both native speakers of Arabic and proficient i n English. Each translator produced a forward translation of the original questionnaire into Arabic language without any mutual consultation. The corresponding author, who is a native Arabic speaker, reviewed the two primary versions and compared them with the original. (2) A back translation from Arabic language to English was carried out by two different translators after lengthy discussion between the translators and the corresponding author. (3) The back translated questionnaire was approved by Professor Donald Morisky through e-mail. The Arabic version of MMAS is an 8-item questionnaire with 7 yes/no questions while the last question was a 5-point likert question. Based on the scoring system of MMAS, adherence was rated as follows: high adherence (= 8), medium adherence (6 The TSQM 1.4 is a 14-item psychometrically robust and validated instrument consisting of four scales [Bahramal et al., 2009]. The four scales of the TSQM 1.4 include the effectiveness scale (questions 1 to 3), the side effects scale (questions 4 to 8), the convenience scale (questions 9 to 11) and the global satisfaction scale (questions 12 to 14). The TSQM 1.4 domain scores were calculated as recommended by the instruments authors, which is described in detail elsewhere (Atkinson et al., 2004; Atkinson et al., 2005). The TSQM 1.4 domain scores range from 0 to 100 with higher scores representing higher satisfaction on that domain. Psychiatric symptoms, positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms were evaluated by a psychiatrist and well trained psychologists using the expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E) (Overall and Gorham, 1962; Overall 1988; Lukoff et al., 1986; Ventura et al, 1993) at the same visit. The BPRS-E consists of 24 items measuring psychiatric symptoms. It measures four different dimensions: manic excitement/ disorganization, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and depression/ anxiety (Ruggeri et al., 2005). Positive symptoms were the followings: grandiosity, suspiciousness, hallucinations, unusual thought content and conceptual disorganization. Negative symptoms included disorientation, blunted affect, emotional withdrawal, motor retardation, and mannerism and posturing. 2.3. Data analysis Continuous variables like Morisky score, satisfaction domain scores, BPRS, positive and negative symptoms scores were expressed as mean  ± SD. Correlation between continuous variables was carried out using Pearson correlation test. Difference in means was carried out using one-way ANOVA test. All statistical analyses were conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS; version 16.0) for Windows. The conventional 5 percent significance level was used throughout the study. Results Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients One hundred and fifty patients out of 267 registered schizophrenic patients met the inclusion criteria. One hundred and thirty one (131) patients agreed to participate giving a response rate of 87.3%. Of the 131 patients, 40 (30.5%) were female and 91 (69.5%) were male. The mean age of the patients was 42.9  ± 10.3 years (range = 20 65 years). The mean duration of illness was 16.23  ± 9.59 years. Eighteen patients (13.7%) had other non-psychiatric diseases mainly diabetes mellitus (10 patients; 7.6%). Smoker schizophrenic patients represented 55% (72 patients) of the sample. None of the patients were reported to have any type of drug abuse. Details regarding demographic and clinical characteristics of the studied patients are shown in Table 1. Regarding treatment regimens, patients were grouped into 7 categories based on the type of antipsychotic medications they were using: Twenty four patients (18.3%) had been treated with oral typical antipsychotics only, 8 patients (6.1%) were using combination oral typical antipsychotics, 19 (14.5%) had been treated with typical depot injections only, 37 (28.2%) had been treated with typical oral and depot injections, 18 (13.7%) had been treated with oral atypical only, 12 patients (9.2%) had been treated with typical and atypical oral antipsychotics, and finally 13 patients (9.9%) had been treated with atypical oral and typical depot injection combination. The most common oral typical antipsychotic used by the patients was chloropromazine while the most common atypical antipsychotic was clozapine. Based on MMASAdmin2010-12-25T13:34:00 It is preferred to classify the characteristic of patients according to the adherence groups. Also, indicate if there is differences between the 3 groups , 44 (33.6%) of patients were rated as having low adherence, 58 (44.3%) were rated as having medium adherence 29 (22.1%) were rated as having high adherence to their antipsychotic medications. The average adherence score (6.1  ± 1.7) for the patients generally indicates medium rate of adherence. Upon investigation using 8-item Morisky scale (questionnaire ), we found that about 33.6% of patients forgot to take their medications; 15.3% of patients missed taking their medication for reason other than forgetting in the past two weeks before the interview; 13.7% stopped taking their medication without doctor counseling when they felt worse upon taking them; 16.8% forgot to take their medications with them when they leave home for long time; 10.7% didnt take their medication in the day before interview; 26% stopped taking their medica tion when they felt that their health is under control; and 55.7% felt hassled about sticking to their treatment plan. As for remembering to take their medications; 27.5% of the patients faced a difficulty in doing this once in a while; 6.1% of the sample sometimes had difficulties in remembering to take their medications; 6.9% of patients usually found difficulties; while 0.8% of schizophrenic patients faced these difficulties all the times. However 58.8% didnt show any difficulty in remembering to take their medication on time. Response to each question in the modified Morisky questionnaire is shown in Table 2. The average score of satisfaction with regard to effectiveness, side effects, convenience global satisfaction was 72.6  ±20.5; 67.9  ± 31.5; 63.2  ± 14.3; 63.1  ± 18.8 respectively. The mean BPRS score of the patients was 68.4  ± 24.5 with 14.4  ± 6.7 13.7  ± 6.1 means for positive and negative symptoms scores respectively Correlation between adherence scores and other variables There was a significant positive correlation between age and adherence (P = 0.028; r = 0.19Admin2010-12-25T13:35:00 As recommended, when correlation is less than 0.25 this considered as no or week correlation, 0.25-0.50 considered fair correlation. You can take this comments in your consideration. ). However, no such correlation was observed with the duration of illness (P = 0.13). Furthermore, no significant difference in the means of adherence was found between male and female (P = 0.76). Patients having other chronic diseases have significantly higher adherence score compared to those who do not, but the significance was at the borderline (P = 0.049). Pearson correlation showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between all satisfaction domains like effectiveness (P = 0.002, r = 0.27), side effects (P= 0.006, r =0.24), convenience (P Adherence, Treatment Satisfaction and type of antipsychotic regimen Adherence score was not significantly different (P = 0.6) among patients having different antipsychotic therapeutic regimens. Analysis of satisfaction based on the antipsychotic drug regimens showed that there was a significant difference in satisfaction with regard to side effects among different antipsychotic regimens ( P = 0.006, F = 3Admin2010-12-25T13:35:00 When you use one way ANOVA, it is recommended to use the Tukey post-hoc test to test the differences in the means between categories. To determine which group or groups are significant. ). Patients on atypical antipsychotic drug therapy showed the highest satisfaction with side effects (86.5  ± 4.8) compared with (51.3  ± 5.17) to those on typical antipsychotic mono-therapy. No significant difference with regard to other satisfaction domains (effectiveness, convenience and global satisfaction) among patients with different psychiatric regimens. Similarly no significant difference was found in BPRS scores (P = 0.6), positive (P = 0.6) and negative symptoms (P= 0.8) among different antipsychotic drug regimens. Details regarding adherence scores, BPRS, positive and negative symptoms with different antipsychotic drug regimens are shown in Table 4. Discussion This studyAdmin2010-12-25T13:36:00 This study is the first of its type in Palestine and the first study used an Arabic version for Morisky. You can add this points as originality of the article was conducted to assess medication adherence and treatment satisfaction among schizophrenic outpatients. The conclusions of the study can be summarized as follows: First, the majority (78%) of the patients had low to medium adherence rate. Second, adherence was positively and significantly correlated with treatment satisfaction. Third, adherence was significantly correlated with positive but negative psychiatric symptoms. Fourth, no significant difference in rate of adherence was found between patients using typical or atypical antipsychotic therapeutic regimens. Finally, patients on typical or atypical antipsychotic medications had similar scores in all domains of satisfaction except for that of side effects. Regarding rate of adherence, several studies have shown that up to 80% of all schizophrenic patients discontinue antipsychotic medications and that non-adherence rates ranging from 20% to 89%, with an average rate of approximately 50%, have been reported (Fenton et al, 1997; Lacro et al 2002, Young et al, 1986). Differences in rate of adherence among different reports might be attributed to different instrument used to assess adherence, social and cultural differences among different countries and differences in healthcare systems (Breen et al., 2007). In our study, younger patients had significantly lower adherence score than elderly patients. This finding is in agreement with other researchers who reported that younger schizophrenic patients have lesser adherence than older patients (Sajatovic et al 2007; Hui et al reported that younger age is a predictor for discontinuation of antipsychotic therapy (Hui et al.; 2006). However, other researchers reported equal non adherence among m iddle aged and elderly patients (Jeste et al., 2003) . Many factors have been cited as a potential cause for poor adherence. Side effects are key factors influencing compliance with antipsychotic medication (Weiden et al., 2004). (Liu-Seifert et al., 2005; Fleischhacker et al., 2003). There are few reports suggesting that treatment satisfaction is positively associated with antipsychotic medication adherence [Gharbawi et al., 2006,], improved clinical outcomes [Masand and Narasimhan, 2006], and quality of life [Hofer 2004,]. Our results give further support that treatment satisfaction is positively associated with adherence and symptom improvement, particularly psychotic positive symptoms. A study by Maneesakorn 2008 indicated that antipsychotic medication adherence has positive impact on psychiatric symptoms and satisfaction with medication (Maneesakron et al., 2007). Furthermore, Mohamad et al 2009 demonstrated an association between positive attitudes toward medication among schizophrenia patients and lower rates of study discontinuation (Mohamed et al., 2009). Thus, it is important to accurately evaluate patient satisfaction with medication treatment using validated instruments that can be utilized in clinical trials and practice. Medication non-adherence had a significantly negative impact on treatment response, highlighting the importance of adherence to achieve satisfactory treatment outcome (Lindameyr et al., 2009). A study by Liu-Seifert et al 2005 has found that discontinuing of treatment may lead to exacerbation of psychiatric symptoms and undermining therapeutic progress (Liu-Seifert et al., 2005). In these studies, poor response to treatment and worsening of underlying psychiatric symptoms, and to a lesser extent, intolerability to medication were the primary contributors to treatment being discontinued. Fewer extrapyramidal symptoms and tardive dyskinesia of atypical compared to typical antipsychotics led researchers to speculate that patients receiving atypical antipsychotics will show greater adherence, satisfaction and psychiatric improvement compared to patients receiving typical antipsychotics (Kane et al., 1988; Tollefson et al., 1997; Marder et al., 1994; Small et al., 1997 Jeste et al., 1999; Marder SR, 1998). However, our findings regarding adherence, satisfaction and psychiatric symptoms measured by BPRS-E were similar between patients on typical and atypical antipsychotic medications. Rosenheck and colleagues evaluated medication continuation and regimen adherence in 423 patients taking haloperidol or clozapine as part of a double-blind, randomized trial. Although the patients who received clozapine continued their medication significantly longer, the treatment groups did not differ in the proportion of pills returned each week (Rosenheck et al., 200). Olfson and colleagu es examined the effect of antipsychotic type on adherence 3 months after 213 inpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were discharged while receiving typical (84.5% of patients) or atypical (14.5% of patients) antipsychotics. A non-significant trend toward increased adherence was reported among patients with prescriptions for atypical antipsychotics (Olfson et al., 2000). Cabeza and colleagues retrospectively studied the relationship of adherence to antipsychotic type in 60 inpatients with schizophrenia. No significant association was found between adherence and type of antipsychotic (Cabeza et al., 2000). Dolder reported that patients on either typical or atypical had similar low rates of adherence (Dodler et al., 2002). Gianfransessco et al 2006 indicated that none of the atypicals showed treatment durations significantly different from the typical (Gianfransessco et al 2006). A study by Jones et al, 2006 has found that in people with schizophrenia whose medicatio n is changed for clinical reasons, there is no disadvantage across 1 year in terms of quality of life, symptoms, or associated costs of care in using FGAs rather than nonclozapine SGAs (Jones et al., 2006). Schulte et al concluded that, in general, very few or no advantages are to be gained from using SGAS rather than FGAS and the clinical effectiveness is not increased, but the side-effects are different. (Schulte et al 2010). In contrast, Al-Zakawani reported that atypical antipsychotic users were significantly more adherent to therapy, and had lower rates of office, hospital and emergency room utilization (Al-zakawani 2003). Actually, efficacy variations within SGAs and FGAs result in overlaps between the two groups and classification of antipsychotics into the two groups is no longer useful (Volvoka 2009). One might argue that cost of atypical antipschyotics is the barrier for medication adherence (Gibson et al., 2010). However, in our study, all patients had governmental insura nce and therefore cost of medications was not a reason of poor adherence of atypical antipsychotics. Regarding results of depot IM antipsychotic injections, we found no difference between oral and long acting antipsychotics with regard to adherence, satisfaction or psychiatric symptoms. Some researchers reported similar or better adherence, satisfaction and outcome with long acting injection than oral antipsychotics (Olivares et al., 2009; Gutierrez et al., 2010; Kane and Garcia 2009; Haddad et al., 2009). In contrast, vehof reported that patients on depot antipsychotics were less adherent and have more side effects than oral antipsychotics (Vehof et al., 2008). Our study has few limitations. The sample size might be relatively small to draw conclusions for assessing adherence, satisfaction and psychiatric symptoms. Instruments that we used to assess adherence, satisfaction and BPRS are might not be the gold standard for this purpose. A third Admin2010-12-25T13:16:00 Must be preceded by first and secondpotential limitation of our study is that the patients selected were homogenous in that all of them had governmental insurance and tends to use similar medications. Non-adherence among schizophrenic patients might be inherent in the context of the disease itself. Despite these limitations, results of this study were useful in understanding adherence, satisfaction and psychiatric symptoms. ReferencesAdmin2010-12-25T10:45:00 The number of references is too much, after delete the repeating ref. the number still 75 Al-Zakwani IS, Barron JJ, Bullano MF, Arcona S, Drury CJ, Cockerham TR. Analysis of healthcare utilization patterns and adherence in patients receiving typical and atypical antipsychotic medications. Curr Med Res Opin. 2003;19(7):619-26. Arana GW: An overview of side effects caused by typical antipsychotics.J Clin Psychiatry 2000; 61:5-11 Atkinson MJ, Kumar R, Cappelleri JC, Hass SL: Hierarchical construct validity of the treatment satisfaction questionnaire for medication (TSQM version II) among outpatient pharmacy consumers. Value Health 2005, 8(Suppl 1):S9-S24. Atkinson MJ, Sinha A, Hass SL, Colman SS, Kumar RN, Brod M, Rowland CR. Validation of a general measure of treatment satisfaction, the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM), using a national panel study of chronic disease. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2004 Feb 26;2:12 Awad AG, Voruganti LN. Impact of atypical antipsychotics on quality of life in patients with schizophrenia.. CNS Drugs. 2004;18(13):877-93. Review Bharmal M, Payne K, Atkinson MJ, Desrosiers MP, Morisky DE, Gemmen E. Validation of an abbreviated Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM-9) among patients on antihypertensive medications. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2009 Apr 27;7:36 Borras L, Mohr S, Brandt PY, Gillià ©ron C, Eytan A, Huguelet P. Religious beliefs in schizophrenia: their relevance for adherence to treatment. Schizophr Bull. 2007 Sep;33(5):1238-46 Breen A, Swartz L, Joska J, Flisher AJ, Corrigall J. Adherence to treatment in poorer countries: a new research direction? Psychiatr Serv. 2007 Apr;58(4):567-8 Byrne MK, Deane FP, Caputi P. Mental health clinicians beliefs about medicines, attitudes, and expectations of improved medication adherence in patients. Eval Health Prof. 2008 Dec;31(4):390-403 Cabeza IG, Amador MS, Lopez CA, Chavez MG: Subjective response to antipsychotics in schizophrenic patients: clinical implications and related factors. Schizophr Res 2000; 41:349-355 Campbell M, Young PI, Bateman DN, Smith JM, Thomas SH The use of atypical antipsychotics in the management of schizophrenia.. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1999 Jan;47(1):13-22. Review Clinical and resource-use outcomes of risperidone long-acting injection in recent and long-term diagnosed schizophrenia patients: results from a multinational electronic registry. Curr Med Res Opin. 2009 Sep;25(9):2197-206 Cost-sharing effects on adherence and persistence for second-generation antipsychotics in commercially insured patients. Manag Care. 2010 Aug;19(8):40-7 Damen J, Thuresson PO, Heeg B, Lothgren M. A pharmacoeconomic analysis of compliance gains on antipsychotic medications. Appl Health Econ Health Policy. 2008;6(4):189-97. De Hert M, McKenzie K, Peuskens J. Risk factors for suicide in young people suffering from schizophrenia: a long-term follow-up study. Schizophr Res. 2001 Mar 1;47(2-3):127-34 Dingemans PM, Linszen DH, Lenior ME, Smeets RM. Component structure of the expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E). Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1995 Dec;122(3):263-7 Dolder CR, Lacro JP, Dunn LB, Jeste DV. Antipsychotic medication adherence: is there a difference between typical and atypical agents? Am J Psychiatry. 2002 Jan;159(1):103-8. Erratum in: Am J Psychiatry 2002 Mar;159(3):514 Dolder CR, Lacro JP, Jeste DV. Adherence to antipsychotic and nonpsychiatric medications in middle-aged and older patients with psychotic disorders. Psychosom Med. 2003 Jan-Feb;65(1):156-62. Dolder CR, Lacro JP, Leckband S, Jeste DV. Interventions to improve antipsychotic medication adherence: review of recent literature. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2003 Aug;23(4):389-99. Review Fenton WS, Blyler CR, Heinssen RK: Determinants of medication compliance in schizophrenia: empirical and clinical findings. Schizophr Bull 1997; 23:637-651 Fleischhacker WW, Oehl MA, Hummer M. Factors influencing compliance in schizophrenia patients. J Clin Psychiatry. 2003;64 Suppl 16:10-3 Freudenreich O, Cather C, Evins AE, Henderson DC, Goff DC. Attitudes of schizophrenia outpatients toward psychiatric medications: relationship to clinical variables and insight. J Clin Psychiatry. 2004 Oct;65(10):1372-6 Fujikawa M, Togo T, Yoshimi A, Fujita J, Nomoto M, Kamijo A, Amagai T, Uchikado H, Katsuse O, Hosojima H, Sakura Y, Furusho R, Suda A, Yamaguchi T, Hori T, Kamada A, Kondo T, Ito M, Odawara T, Hirayasu Y. Evaluation of subjective treatment satisfaction with antipsychotics in schizophrenia patients. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Gharabawi GM, Greenspan A, Rupnow MF, Kosik-Gonzalez C, Bossie CA, Zhu Y, Kalali AH, Awad AG. Reduction in psychotic symptoms as a predictor of patient satisfaction with antipsychotic medication in schizophrenia: data from a randomized double-blind trial. BMC Psychiatry. 2006 Oct 20;6:45 Gianfrancesco FD, Rajagopalan K, Sajatovic M, Wang RH. Treatment adherence among patients with schizophrenia treated with atypical and typical antipsychotics. Psychiatry Res. 2006 Nov 15;144(2-3):177-89. Epub 2006 Sep 27. Gibson TB, Jing Y, Kim E, Bagalman E, Wang S, Whitehead R, Tran QV, Doshi JA. Gutià ©rrez-Casares JR, Caà ±as F, Rodrà ­guez-Morales A, Hidalgo-Borrajo R, Alonso-Escolano D. Adherence to treatment and therapeutic strategies in schizophrenic patients: the ADHERE study. CNS Spectr. 2010 May;15(5):327-37. Haddad PM, Taylor M, Niaz OS. First-generation antipsychotic long-acting injections v. oral antipsychotics in schizophrenia: systematic review of randomised controlled trials and observational studies. Br J Psychiatry Suppl. 2009 Nov;52:S20-8. Herings RM, Erkens JA. Increased suicide attempt rate among patients interrupting use of atypical antipsychotics. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2003 Jul-Aug;12(5):423-4. Hofer A, Kemmler G, Eder U, Edlinger M, Hummer M, Fleischhacker WW. Quality of life in schizophrenia: the impact of psychopathology, attitude toward medication, and side effects. J Clin Psychiatry. 2004 Jul;65(7):932-9 Hui CL, Chen EY, Ka

Abortion :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Types of abortion†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Abortion is a common practice that may be performed for several reasons, all sharing the same end result, the termination of an unwanted pregnancy. In cases such as rape, incest or a simple lack of responsibility when having sex, having an abortion is a choice that some women may encounter. There are different types of abortion in today’s society. Some which are too scary to even dream of. There are two types of abortions: Spontaneous abortions; miscarriages and Induced, this is the deliberate termination of the fetus. If the fetus weighs less than 18oz or is less than 20 weeks into the pregnancy, it is usually considered an abortion. These usually occur during the first three months of pregnancy. It is estimated that 25% of all pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion (Epner 725). The very early stage of the pregnancy, up to 49 days after conception, the woman has two choices. The first is to take a combination of drugs. The embryo is then passed out. The other method is to use a syringe, and gently suck the embryo out. The next type can be preformed six to fourteen weeks after conception. The method the doctor’s use is to insert a tube in the vagina, and then hook it up to a suction machine. The fetus is then removed. This procedure takes about ten minutes. The second trimester abortions are called D&E, which stands for dilation and evacuation. These are preformed up to the twenty-fifth week of pregnancy, and usually take ten to twenty minutes. The way they are preformed is the woman is giv en absorbent dilators, which open up the cervix and absorb the fluids. After this is left in overnight the woman then is ready for the evacuation stage. The fetus is easily removed with instruments and suction. In the last trimester of the pregnancy abortions are preformed mainly if the woman’s life is in danger or the fetus is severely deformed. Only one out of every ten thousand abortions are preformed this way. The main way that is used is by injecting a salt solution into the vagina, causing contractions. The baby is then born stillbirth (Epner 724).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second form of abortion is induced abortion. There are four main types of induced abortions. The first takes place up to 12 weeks. It is called vacuum aspiration. This is where a tube attached to a vacuum is inserted into the uterus and sucks out the embryo and all other material.

Essay --

As we ended the year, the State Board of Education had approved a plan to replace the OGT with eight to ten end-of-course exams and had proposed that students earn points toward graduation. The State Board’s plan met challenges as the Ohio House committee passed HB 193 on December 18, 2013. HB 193 differed from the board’s plan by reducing the number and types of state tests that students will need to graduate. It also delays the timeline one year for implementation of the new assessments citing technology readiness issues from school districts. The State Board of Education was not included in the drafting of HB 193 but did provide written testimony on a number of issues it had with the bill early on in the process. HB 193 is expected to receive a House floor vote in early 2014, and then head to the Senate for consideration. I will continue to monitor HB 193 as this makes its way through the legislative process. In the meantime, a technology study conducted by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) shows difficulties in schools’ capacity to administer the new assessments online. T...