Domestic Partnership Essay

The advantages gained by providing benefits to domestic partners can outweigh the costs. This report will define domestic partnerships, outline the various benefits available for dependants, provide analysis related to the cost of providing benefits to dependants of domestic partnerships, discuss various benefit package options and related costs, and provide details related to the value the company stands to gain by offering such benefits. Domestic Partnership Domestic partnerships are generally thought of as a relationship between two members of the same sex. While same sex relationships garner most of the attention, domestic partnerships are not always between members of the same sex. California Family Code Section 297 defines domestic partners as â€Å"two adults who have chosen to share one another’s lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring. To establish a domestic partnership in California, a couple must file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of the State, share a common residence, not be married or in a domestic partnership with someone else, not be related by blood, both are over the age of 18, both are the same sex, or opposite sex over the age of 62 and meet the eligibility criteria under the Social Security Act. Legal Issues Currently, 18 states offer domestic partner benefits for same-sex partners of state employees. Several state and local governments that offer health insurance and other benefits to employees’ unmarried domestic partners are currently facing lawsuits. Proponents of the Defense of Marriage Acts (DOMA) claim these constitutional amendments prohibit governments from offering such benefits to any dependent of a relationship that does not fit the state’s constitutional definition of marriage. Both gay-rights advocates and the American Civil Liberties Union dispute such amendments and are currently engaging DOMA proponents in courts across America in attempts to resolve their differences (Gentile, 2006). The costs associated with defending such legal matters can prove to be very cumbersome. Types of Employer Benefits When seeking employment, benefit packages play a major role in attracting and keeping employees. Employer benefits consist of more than the basic medical, dental, and vision plans. A variety of additional benefits being sought after by potential employees include, but are not limited to, retirement plans, life insurance and the family medical leave act. To qualify for domestic partner benefits, employees may be asked to sign a statement or submit an affidavit asserting they live with a domestic partner and are financially interdependent† (Greenwald, 2003). Health Insurance â€Å"For most nonelderly people in the United States, health insurance and access to health care derive from one’s own or a family member’s employment† (Ash and Badgett, 2006). In all fairness, these types of benefits should be offered to these types of families under the cu rrent guidelines of Domestic Partnership. Two levels of benefits are offered by employers, single coverage and family coverage. Single employees are at a disadvantage when it comes to compensation because some employers offer their employees a flexible benefit to assist with costs. These benefits will include all the same privileges that legally recognized families are currently receiving. The entitlement shall consist of doctor’s visits, prescription drug coverage, hospitalization, and eye exams (Briggs, 1994). Dental Benefits Dental care is an essential benefit which should be available to all family members. Preventive dental care could significantly reduce loss of productivity and catch problems before they become chronic or severe† (Gustin, 2003). Dental benefits are very affordable and valuable. One available option is for this company to offer dental as a voluntary option. This would enable the employees and their domestic partner to take advantage of the dental plan at a group rate, but the employee woul d be responsible for the cost (Gustin, 2003). Retirement/401K Retirement Plans and 401K’s are benefits that are only available to employees; however, choosing beneficiaries is a very important detail to these plans. Although domestic partners cannot be given all of the rights of spouses, plans can be structured to provide them with many of the benefits available for spouses† (Davis, 2007). In addition to being named as beneficiary, a hardship withdrawal can be taken based on the need of the domestic partner, and domestic partners will have the right to rollover death benefits (Davis, 2007). Life Insurance Employee life insurance is available at a more affordable rate through employer plans. Adding family members is an optional benefit. Under this plan, domestic partners and children would be entitled to life insurance coverage for just pennies a day. This would incur no expense for the employer and the employee would benefit from a group rate. Cost to Employees and Employers The cost of healthcare is on the rise and no end to this crisis is in sight. Most people believe all employers should offer health insurance to its employees; however, with the cost of healthcare so high companies who offer these benefits are trying to find ways to offset costs. If all employers did offer health, dental, and life insurance, who would cover the cost? A survey administered by the Commonwealth Fund titled The Public’s Views on Healthcare Reform in the 2008 Presidential Election asked that question to 3,500 randomly selected adults. 70% of people surveyed thought the cost should be shared equally between the employer, employees, and the government. 80% of the people surveyed also thought that if an employer did not offer health insurance they should contribute to the cost of coverage (Lubell, 2008). Tax Equity The Tax Equity for Domestic Partner and Health Plan Beneficiaries Act of 2007 was introduced March 29, 2007. The act states employers offering healthcare insurance have to provide healthcare coverage to domestic partners, same-sex or opposite sex. This law has been added to stop federal tax inequalities same-sex couples currently face when receiving healthcare benefits offered by their employers (Postal, 2007). The new law significantly affected employers in the Northeast and Western states because 42% of larger companies in the Northeast, and 38% of companies in the West have same-sex domestic partner healthcare coverage. Only 14% of large companies in the Midwest and 10% of companies in the south have this type of coverage (Cohen, 2004). Dual Coverage Because the cost of healthcare has increased 15% since 2003, some states in the U. S. have prohibited employees from claiming their spouses/domestic partners as dependents; thus, prohibiting dual coverage in the workforce. Banning dual coverage for these employees saves the state tax payers several million dollars per year while the employees and their families have suitable health insurance coverage. Employees rely on dual health insurance coverage to cover out of pocket costs resulting from procedures which are not fully covered by their primary carrier. Dual coverage insurance can save families hundreds, if not thousands of dollars per year, but can potentially cost the employer hundreds or thousands more (Employer-Sponsored, 2004). Annual Cost According to a research study performed by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Education Trust in 2006, private employers nationwide spend an average of $4,242 for single coverage and $11,480 for family coverage on employer sponsored health insurance coverage annually (Employer Health, 2006). Whether the employee is a single hetero-sexual or homo-sexual the rate for single coverage remains the same. The same for family coverage, the married hetero-sexual couple and the same-sex or opposite-sex domestic partners family coverage cost also remains the same. Employees are paying an average of $1,860 for single coverage and $4,848 for family coverage annually. These costs are causing employers to raise workers’ insurance premiums or reduce coverage. Some companies perform internal audits to eliminate ineligible dependents, older children, and ex-spouses/ex-domestic partners. If an employer finds dependents on an employees’ insurance that should not have been covered, the employee is required to pay back medical bills and insurance premiums through payroll deductions (Employer-Sponsored, 2004). Using information from these internal audits employers may notice a slight domestic partner enrollment increase: 0. 1%-0. 3% for gay and lesbian partners and 1. 3%-1. 8% for heterosexual partners. The increase in enrollment does not significantly affect the annual cost to the employer for employer-sponsored benefits provided to domestic partners and their families (Ash and Badgett, 2006). Benefits to the Company Healthcare continues to be a concern to both employees and employers. Employers are developing and offering programs and incentives to attract various types of workers, including those in domestic partner relationships, to attract more qualified candidates. Making benefits available to an employee’s domestic partner, a company is likely to hire and retain an employee whose work output is optimal. Employees in a domestic partner relationship appreciate their employer considering their particular need which results in a higher production rate. Davis 2007). Increased Productivity An employee who is healthy and has a healthy family is less likely to call in sick and take unnecessary time off to care for his or her family. In a study conducted by Ipsos-Reid (2004), two main contributors to employee absenteeism are depression and stress. Health benefits made available to an employee and his or her domestic partner can help reduce these factors. Mark Cauthen, benefit manager for the city of Colorado Springs, believes if one’s dependents feel better, the employee is more productive and focused at work (Wojcik, 2007). Preventative Measures Many companies have recognized the importance of helping employees manage their work and personal lives. Some of the more common preventive measure benefits currently being offered to employees, their domestic partners, and other immediate family members residing in the home are: wellness, flu shots, and fitness programs. Offering these various programs help the employee feel the employer cares for the health of his or her family resulting in increased productivity (Meghji 2007). Lower attrition rates An employer must also be concerned with the effect of employee retention. Currently 50% of Fortune 500 companies are providing benefits to employees involved in same sex domestic partnerships and heterosexual partnerships. Conclusion Offering benefits to domestic partners makes good business sense. While providing benefits to domestic partners may slightly increase employer cost, the benefits will prove profitable. As the research has indicated, enrollment will increase slightly which will not pose a financial hardship to any corporation.

Organic Foods Pdf Essay

Abstract: During the last decade, consumers’ trust in food quality has decreased drastically, mainly because of growing ecological awareness and several food scandals (e. g. BSE, dioxins, bacterial contamination). It has been found that intensive conventional agriculture can introduce contaminants into the food chain. Consumers have started to look for safer and better controlled foods produced in more environmentally friendly, authentic and local systems. Organically produced foods are widely believed to satisfy the above demands, leading to lower environmental impacts and higher nutritive values. So far, studies have partly con? rmed this opinion. Organic crops contain fewer nitrates, nitrites and pesticide residues but, as a rule, more dry matter, vitamin C, phenolic compounds, essential amino acids and total sugars than conventional crops. Organic crops also contain statistically more mineral compounds and usually have better sensory and long-term storage qualities. However, there are also some negatives: plants cultivated in organic systems generally have 20% lower yields than conventionally produced crops. Several important problems need to be addressed in the coming years: environmental, bacterial and fungal contamination of organic crops and, the most essential issue, the impact of organic food consumption on animal and human health.  © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry Keywords: organic plant crops; quality; yield; composition; nutrition; vitamins; phenolics; sugars; nitrates; nitrites; pesticides; dry matter; health; sensory qualities. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE QUALITY OF ORGANIC PLANT FOOD PRODUCTS There are several important factors in?uencing the quality of food products that also are relevant to organically produced plant products. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the basic factors are the quality of the environment (abiotic factors) and the levels of pest and pathogen damage (biotic factors) to which plants are subjected. The main components of the environment (air, water, soil) have to be unpolluted if the crops obtained are expected to be of high nutritive quality. Many environmental contaminants enter the food production chain (soil–plant–animal–human organism), causing signi? cant problems in human health. 1 These contaminants include heavy metals, pesticide residues, nitrogen compounds, mycotoxins, chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), aromatic hydrocarbons (e. g. benzo[a]pyrene), plant growth stimulators (e. g. choline chloride), antibiotics, hormones, radioactive isotopes and plastic substances (monomers). Climate and weather are also important factors, as well as soil type and pH, soil cultivation, fertilisation and conditions of crop storage after harvest. ? Biotic factors can have also a signi? cant impact on crop quality. The main biotic factors are cultivar choice, bacterial and fungal contamination (disease) and pest damage. Cultivars of the same crop species can differ signi? cantly in nutritive quality. For example, the content of ? carotene in carrots (Daucus carota L. ) can vary between 7. 19 and 13. 84 mg g? 1 depending on the cultivar. 2 The main potential source of bacterial contamination in plant crops is animal manure used in organic farming. Contamination can take place via the roots or by water splashing onto the leaf surfaces. The most important organisms are several species of facultative anaerobic bacteria (Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Campylobacter spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium botulinum, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis), protozoa (Toxoplasma gondii), tapeworms, viruses and prions. The results obtained so far are contradictory. Some studies indicate higher bacterial contamination in organic crops, while others show the opposite. 3 Mycotoxins (produced by fungi) originate mostly in the ? eld but can also develop during storage. Owing to the fact that fungicides are not used Correspondence to: Ewa Rembialkowska, Organic Foodstuffs Division, Faculty of Human Nutrition and Consumer Sciences, Warsaw Agricultural University, Nowoursynowska 159 C, PL-02-776 Warszawa, Poland E-mail: ewa rembialkowska@sggw. pl (Received 24 October 2006; revised version received 29 January 2007; accepted 8 February 2007). Figure 1. Factors in? uencing the quality of organic food products. in organic agriculture, some authors believe that organically produced foods will contain higher concentrations of mycotoxins. However, literature reviews show that mycotoxin concentrations are usually similar or reduced in organic compared with conventional products. 4 The most notorious mycotoxins are those produced by Fusarium species on cereal crops and maize. One of the reasons for lower Fusarium infections in organic grains could be the lower nitrogen concentrations in the tissues. 5 Insect pests also exert an in? uence on crop quality. Because of the ban on synthetic pesticides in organic agriculture, insects often damage fruits and vegetables, thereby diminishing their yield and harming their appearance. However, it is not clear whether they also reduce their nutritive quality. In contrast, there is evidence that organically grown plants contain more phytochemicals (which are natural insecticides) and are therefore more resistant to insect damage. 6 They can also play a positive role in human health, because several phytochemicals, being plant defence compounds, are connected with possible health bene? ts (Brandt K, oral presentation at QLIF Congress, Newcastle, 2005). Regulations on organic plant production allow actions that avoid many negative features of crop quality if they are consistently performed by producers. In order to ful? l these demands and to offer highquality products to consumers, an ef? cient and airtight certi? cation and control system must be implemented. In most countries such systems are quite ef?cient, though a rapid increase in the number of organic farms could lead to problems with a subsequent loosening of regulatory control. Therefore the main rule should be ‘trust is good, but control is better’. Moreover, the ? nal quality of organic food products is in? uenced by the effective implementation of 2758 the regulations on animal production and organic food processing. Only precise ful? lment of all these regulations can guarantee the best organic food quality (Fig. 1). IMPACT OF REGULATION ON ORGANIC PLANT PRODUCTION The regulations for organic plant production are clear and detailed. 7 The European Union (EU) regulation published in 19918 contains parts that relate directly to the composition of organic plant products. The most important aspects of this regulation include:7 †¢ a ban on genetic engineering and genetically modi? ed organisms (GMOs); †¢ lower nitrogen levels – a maximum limit for manure application of 170 kg N ha? 1 year? 1 ; †¢ a ban on synthetic pesticides; †¢ a ban on synthetic mineral fertilisers; †¢ a ban on growth promoters. Organic farmers must follow the above regulations if they want to pass the inspection procedure every year and receive a certi? cation document. If all requirements are complied with, several qualitative results can be expected. The most important conclusions from scienti? c comparisons are given below. CONTAMINANTS Nitrates and nitrites A large amount of data shows that the content of nitrates and nitrites is distinctly higher in conventionally cultivated than in organic crops. This is important, because nitrates can easily be converted into nitrites, which can cause a dangerous illness called methaemoglobinaemia in babies, infants and elderly people. 9 J Sci Food Agric 87:2757–2762 (2007) DOI: 10. 1002/jsfa Quality of organic plant products. Moreover, nitrites can react with amines to create nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic and mutagenic substances causing cancer of the digestive tract and leukaemia. 10 This process is dangerous not only for young children but also for adults of any age. Based on a large amount of data, the nitrate content of organic and conventional crops has been compared. On average, the nitrate content of organic crops was 49% that of conventional crops. 11 These and other data provide a basis for stating that organic methods lead to an approximately 50% reduction in the intake of nitrates and nitrites by humans. Pesticides Governments place legal limits, known as the Maximum Residue Level (MRL), on the level of pesticides that can be present in food. The MRL is usually estimated by testing individual pesticides on rats. Governments maintain that consumption of pesticides below the MRL is not a health risk. However, at lower levels, pesticides are known or suspected to cause many diseases and health problems, including cancer. 12 The main problem is that the MRL for pesticides is usually estimated by testing individual pesticides on rats for a relatively short period. Virtually nothing is known about the effects of consuming combinations of potentially hundreds of different pesticides over the course of a lifetime. We do not and cannot know explicitly what is causing what, so precaution is the main tool available to us (Howard V, oral presentation at QLIF Congress, Newcastle, 2005). The levels of pesticide residues found in organic crops are de? nitely lower than those present in conventional crops (Howard V, oral presentation at QLIF Congress, Newcastle, 2005). It can be expected that eating organic foods will result in lower pesticide levels in human milk and body tissues. There is some evidence con? rming this hypothesis. Researchers in France found that the level of pesticide residues in the milk of breast-feeding women decreased signi? cantly with an increase in the proportion of organic food in the daily diet (from 25 to 80%). 13 All available results show that the content of pesticide residues is signi? cantly lower in organic crops, which creates safer health conditions for consumers eating organically. Heavy metals Heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, mercury and zinc are introduced into the food chain from various sources, including industry, transportation, communal wastes and agriculture. For example, mineral phosphoric fertilisers used in conventional agriculture can introduce cadmium into crops, but the metal industry and transportation also cause cadmium contamination of soils and crops. Therefore there are no clear results in studies comparing the levels of J Sci Food Agric 87:2757–2762 (2007) DOI: 10. 1002/jsfa heavy metals in organic and conventional crops. Some data point to higher levels in conventional crops, while others show the opposite. 11 A problem to be solved is whether organic farming (composting, increasing the organic matter in soil, pH, etc. ) can diminish the intake of heavy metals by cultivated plants. DESIRABLE COMPOUNDS IN PLANTS Vitamins, phenolic compounds and mineral compounds The nutritive value of foods depends mainly on them having the appropriate content of compounds indispensable for proper functioning of the human organism. The content of phyto-compounds in plant foods is a topic of great interest in food science nowadays. A growing body of evidence indicates that secondary plant metabolites (phytochemicals) play a critical role in human health and may be nutritionally important. 14 There are two main theories explaining the factors in? uencing the levels of compounds in plants. 15 The carbon/nitrogen (C/N) balance theory states that, when nitrogen is easily available, the plant will ? rst make compounds with high nitrogen content, e. g. proteins for growth and nitrogen-containing secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, glucosinolates and non-protein amino acids such as the Allium ? avour precursors. When nitrogen availability is limiting for growth, the metabolism changes more towards carboncontaining compounds, e. g. starch, cellulose and non-nitrogen-containing secondary metabolites such as phenolics and terpenoids. The second, newer theory is the growth/ differentiation balance hypothesis (GDBH). 15 It states that the plant will always assess the resources available to it and optimise its investment in processes directed towards growth or differentiation. The term ‘differentiation’ encompasseses increased formation of defence compounds as well as accelerated maturation and seed development. The C/N balance theory is a special and typical case of the GBDH theory, since low nitrogen availability is the most common growth-limiting condition in natural ecosystems. 15 To verify the above theories, several authors investigated the content of some vitamins and phyto-compounds in organically and conventionally produced crops. In order to summarise different data, for each organic–conventional comparison a % difference was calculated: [(organic ? conventional)/conventional] ? 100 The collected data for several desirable components are presented in Table 1. The role of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in the human organism is basic for several metabolic functions, mainly because it is one of the major cellular direct antioxidants (along with glutathione) and is a 2759 E Rembialkowska Table 1. Contents of desirable components in organic crops relative to those in conventional crops Component Vitamin C Phenolic compounds Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Mean % difference +28. 7 +119. 3 +21. 1 +29. 3 +13. 6 Range (%) ? 38 to +135. 5 ? 56. 6 to +734. 2 ? 73 to +240 ? 35 to +1206 ? 44 to +240 Number of studies 21 15 16 17 18 production and reduces carbohydrate production. Moreover, the increased protein produced in response to high nitrogen levels contains lower amounts of certain essential amino acids such as lysine and therefore has a lower quality with respect to human nutrition. Source: Ref. 17 and author’s own calculations. cofactor for certain enzymes. Vitamin C also supports detoxication and resistance of the human organism. The higher content of vitamin C in organic crops is bene? cial to health, because vitamin C inhibits the in situ formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines, thus diminishing the negative impact of nitrates on the human organism. 10 Therefore organic vegetables can play an important anticarcinogenic role. Plant-based phenolic metabolites are particularly interesting because of their potential antioxidant activity and medical properties, including anticarcinogenic activity. 15 According to Benbrook,16 organic farming has elevated antioxidant levels in about 85% of the cases studied to date and, on average, levels are about 30% higher compared with foods grown conventionally. Mineral compounds containing iron, magnesium and phosphorus are fundamental for human health. According to Worthington,17 the higher mineral content in organic crops may be connected with the higher abundance of micro-organisms in organically managed soil. These micro-organisms produce many compounds that help plants to combine with soil minerals and make them more available to plant roots. Unfortunately, there have been only a few studies on other vitamins such as ? -carotene, B1 and B2 and the results are contradictory. Therefore no general conclusions can be drawn about these compounds. Total sugars A higher total sugar content in plant crops not only improves their taste but is also an important component of their technological quality, e. g. in the case of sugar beet. Studies clearly indicate a higher content of total sugars, mainly sucrose, in organically produced vegetables and fruits such as carrots, sugar beet, red beetroot, potatoes, spinach, Savoy cabbage, cherries, redcurrants and apples. 11,18 Proteins Several studies analysed in review papers11 show that the quantity of crude protein is lower in organic than in conventional crops but that the quality is better as measured by essential amino acid content. According to Worthington,17 nitrogen from any kind of fertiliser affects the quantity and quality of protein produced by plants. Provision of a large amount of nitrogen to a plant increases protein 2760 SENSORY QUALITY OF ORGANIC FOODS Many studies have proved quite unequivocally that vegetables and fruits from organic farms have a better taste and smell. This was found for carrots and potatoes, celery and red beetroot, head cabbage and tomatoes as well as for apples, cherries and redcurrants. 11 Organic fruits contained more total sugars, which probably in?uenced the better taste perception by consumers. Better taste and smell have also been found for bread made from organic grain, which also had better crumb elasticity. 6 Interesting studies have been conducted on animal food preference in which animals were given organic or conventional fodder. Most studies have proved a clear animal preference for foods produced organically; such studies have been conducted on rats, mice, hens and rabbits. 19 Preference for organic fodder was also observed in cases where, according to chemical analyses, both organic and conventional fodder ful? lled all physiological needs of the animals tested. 20 The reason for this was probably the difference in taste between organic and conventional fodder. STORAGE QUALITY OF ORGANIC PLANT CROPS Transpiration losses and decay processes, as well as changes in nutritive value, normally take place during the storage period of potatoes and other vegetables. However, these changes can proceed at different rates and to differing degrees. Most of the available data indicate that the decay process is slower in organic crops, which therefore show better storage quality after the winter period. A review study based on many sources21 concluded that the storage quality of vegetables and fruits was better in the case of plants grown on organic farms (Table 2). The better storage quality of organic crops Table 2. Storage losses of carrots, potatoes and various fruits and vegetables from organic (ORG) and conventional (CONV) farmsa Carrots Potatoes Fruits and vegetables ORG CONV ORG CONV ORG CONV Number of quoted studies Storage loss (% of initial mass) a 15 33 15 40 22 22 22 30 53 28 53 38 Average data based on literature review. 21 J Sci Food Agric 87:2757–2762 (2007) DOI: 10. 1002/jsfa Quality of organic plant products Table 3. Positive nutritive attributes of organic plant products No. 1 2 3 4 5 Attribute Organic crops contain fewer nitrates, nitrites and pesticide residues than conventional crops. There is no clear difference in the content of heavy metals between organic and conventional crops Organic plant products contain, as a rule, more dry matter, vitamin C, phenolic compounds, essential amino acids and total sugars. However, the level of ? -carotene is often higher in conventional plant products Organic plant products contain statistically more iron, magnesium and phosphorus. They also tend to contain more chromium, iodine, molybdenum, selenium, calcium, boron, manganese, copper, potassium, sodium, vanadium and zinc Organic plant products usually have better sensory quality. They have a clearer smell and taste and are sweeter and more compact because of their higher dry matter content Preference for organic products is typical not only for humans but also for animals such as rats, rabbits and hens. This preference was also observed in cases where, according to chemical analyses, both organic and conventional fodder ful? lled all physiological needs of the animals tested Vegetables and fruits from organic production maintain better quality during winter storage, showing lower mass losses due to transpiration, decay and decomposition processes. A possible reason for this is their higher content of dry matter, minerals, sugars and other bioactive compounds 6 Table 4. Negative and unclear aspects of organic plant products No. 1 Negative aspect Plants cultivated in organic systems have, as a rule, signi?cantly (on average 20%) lower yields than conventionally produced crops. This increases their price and creates for many consumers a barrier to buying organic foods Unclear aspect Environmental contamination (heavy metals, PCBs, dioxins, aromatic hydrocarbons) can be similar in organic and conventional crops, because the impact of industrial, transport and communal sources is similar on organic and conventional farms located in the same area Bacterial (mainly Salmonella and Campylobacter) Contamination can sometimes be higher in organic produce, but scienti?c evidence of this is still not clear Mycotoxins can contaminate both organic and conventional foods, but scienti? c data are contradictory The impact of organic food consumption on human health and wellbeing remains essentially unknown in spite of some positive indications, so the subject needs further study 2 3 4 was probably associated with a higher content of dry matter in their ? esh, resulting in less extensive decay and decomposition. Lower losses in organic production have not only nutritive but also economic bene? ts. In conventional systems, high yields are produced but signi?cant losses during storage reduce the economic bene? ts. CONCLUSIONS Recent food crises (BSE, foot and mouth disease, food contamination by dioxins, toxic fungi, Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria) have caused consumers to look for more authentic and safer foods. Organic food production is widely recognised as being more friendly to the environment, more controlled and better for animal welfare. On the other hand, many data indicate that a lot of food contaminants have their source in conventional methods of agriculture, animal production and food processing. The negative effect of the continuing enthusiastic use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides in agriculture is potentially huge. Therefore safer methods of agricultural production, mostly organic methods, are very important. Studies conducted in various countries have indicated several positive attributes of organic plant J Sci Food Agric 87:2757–2762 (2007) DOI: 10. 1002/jsfa products (Table 3) but also a few negative and unclear aspects (Table 4). To summarise the positives, organic food should be recommended for all, but especially for young babies, pregnant and breast-feeding women, elderly and chronically ill people and vegetarians. The last group obviously consumes a lot of vegetables, which can contain too high levels of carcinogenic substances when produced conventionally. The lower content of nitrates and higher content of phenolic compounds and vitamin C in organic crops are especially important for health. Nitrates are easily converted in the digestive tract into poisonous nitrites, which are the precursors of carcinogenic nitrosamines. This process is hampered by vitamin C, and carcinogenesis is retarded by phenolic compounds and other dietary phytochemicals present at higher levels in organically produced crops. Therefore organic vegetables can play an important anticarcinogenic role. REFERENCES 1 Rembialkowska E, Organic agriculture and food quality, in Ecological Agriculture and Rural Development in Central and Eastern European Countries, Vol. 44 of NATO Science Series, ed. by Filho WL. IOS Press, Amsterdam, pp. 185–204 (2004). 2761 E Rembialkowska ? ? 2 Schuphan W, Biochemische Sortenprufung an Gartenmohren ? ? als neuzeitliche Grundlage fur planvolle Zuchtungsarbeit. Z? chter 2:25–43 (1942). U 3 Franz E, van Bruggen AHC and Semenov AM, Risk-analysis of human pathogen spread in the vegetable industry: a comparison between organic and conventional production chains, in Bayesian Statistics and Quality Modelling in the AgroFood Production Chain, ed. by van Boekel MAJS, Stein A and van Bruggen AHC. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, pp. 81–94 (2004). 4 FAO, Food Safety as Affected by Organic Farming (Twentysecond FAO Regional Conference for Europe). [Online]. (2000). Available: www. fao. org/docrep/meeting/x4983. htm. 5 Van Bruggen AHC and Termorshuizen AJ, Integrated approaches to root disease management in organic farming systems. Aust Plant Pathol 32:141–156 (2003). 6 Bjorn G and Fruekilde AM, Cepa onions (Allium cepa L) grown conventionally and organically – similarities and differences. Gron Viden 153:1–6 (2003). (in Danish). 7 Hansen B, Alroe HF, Kristensen ES and Wier M, Assessment of food safety in organic farming. DARCOF Working Paper 52 (2002). 8 EU, Council Regulation No. 2092/91 of 24 June 1991 on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs. OJL 198, 22. 7 P. 1 (1991). ? 9 Szponar L and Kierzkowska E, Azotany i azotyny w srodowisku oraz ich wplyw na zdrowie czlowieka. Post Hig Med Do? w s 44:327–350 (1990). 10 Mirvish SS, Vitamin C inhibition of N-nitroso compounds formation. Am J Clin Nutr 57:598–599 (1993). 11 Rembialkowska E, Wholesomeness and Sensory Quality of Potatoes and Selected Vegetables from the Organic Farms. Fundacja ? Rozwoj SGGW, Warszawa (2000). 12 BMA, The BMA Guide to Pesticides, Chemicals and Health. Report of Science and Education. British Medical Association, London (1992). 13 Aubert C, Pollution du lait maternel, une enquete de terre vivante. Quatre Saisons Jardinage 42:33–39 (1987). 14 Lundeg? rdh B and M?rtensson A, Organically produced plant a a foods – evidence of health bene? ts. Acta Agric Scand B 53:3–15 (2003). 15 Brandt K and Molgaard JP, Organic agriculture: does it enhance or reduce the nutritional value of plant foods? J Sci Food Agric 81:924–931 (2001). 16 Benbrook CM, Elevating Antioxidant Levels in Food through Organic Farming and Food Processing. An Organic Center of Science Review. Organic Center for Education and Promotion (2005). 17 Worthington V, Nutritional quality of organic versus conventional fruits, vegetables, and grains. J Alternative Compl Med 7:161–173 (2001). 18 Zadoks JC, Development of Farming Systems. Pudoc, Wageningen (1989). 19 Williams CM, Nutritional quality of organic food: shades of grey or shades of green? Proc Nutr Soc 61:19–24 (2002). ? 20 Woese K, Lange D, Boess Ch and Bogl KW, A comparison of organically and conventionally grown foods – results of a review of the relevant literature. J Sci Food Agric 74:281–293 (1997). 21 Bulling W, Qualit? tsvergleich von ‘biologisch’ und ‘konventionell’ a erzeugten Feldfruchten. Regierungsprasidium, Stuttgart (1987). 2762 J Sci Food Agric 87:2757–2762 (2007) DOI: 10. 1002/jsfa.

Course Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Course Work - Essay Example While the differences are that while hormones are produced by the endocrine system in our body neurotransmitters are created at nerve terminals and they need to be triggered by an electrical impulse sent by the brain. Hormones have to be secreted directly into the bloodstream since they can only travel short distances where the neurotransmitters are secreted at the nerve synapse. The hormones can be synthesized artificially outside the body and neurotransmitters have to make inside the body. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that controls the brain’s pleasure centers which also helps to regulate emotions and movement. It functions to help us see pleasurable things and also attracts us towards them. Drugs like cocaine affect the dopamine in the brain and make it work better and faster so people get addicted to the sensation of being drugged. The association cortex is the cerebral cortex located outside the primary areas of the brain and it is needed to perform essential mental tasks that are more complicated than the detection of dimensions of sensory stimulation. In the animal kingdom, the cerebral cortex is more developed in the humans than any other species since it is absolutely necessary for perceptual activities like recognizing and understanding the differences in objects rather than edges or color. Repeated drug abuse causes damage in the association cortex which tends to signal the brain to produce a ‘happy sensation’ with drug abuse. Most of the time, the people may not be technically addicted to the drug itself however the emotional response that it produces brings pleasure to the body and mind. Since the cortex is damaged by substance abuse, the ‘happy’ sensation is not produced until the drug is taken so it makes the user vulnerable. These responses can be produced by narcotics, he roin and cocaine and alcohol. "We now know that many

Letter to self Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Letter to self - Essay Example Your journey in becoming a highly skilled communicator was filled with challenges, being an international student and not a native English speaker. You had to struggle in learning the complicated rules of the English language which so confused you at that time! Not to mention that you were very young and was at the phase of adjusting to a new culture in America, coming from your home country, Bahrain. However, due to your zest for learning and your persistence in mastering the English language, you succeeded in communicating effectively in your second language. You learned that you had to suit your style to your audience. It was easy for you to write informally when your audience were your friends and people who did not mind a more laid-back approach. However, when it came to writing formal essays, research papers and business correspondences, you found it more difficult to adjust your tone to a more serious audience. You’ve always been a great communicator, judging from your work in high school when there was no issue about using a second language. In your native tongue, you expressed yourself very well in both verbal and non-verbal ways. Your essays and letters were very clear and reflected your personality. Add to your strengths, your capacity to understand instructions well and deliver action quickly and accurately. In your first semester in College, learning English was no easy feat! You manifested weakness in exams and tests and were frustrated in performing poorly in such tasks. However, once you persevered in learning the language well, you were able to achieve the goals you set for yourself as a college student eager to prove your inherent skills and abilities. Living at a time when language evolves rapidly, it is easy to give in to the temptation to adopt colloquial and bastardized words in one’s writing. The proliferation of â€Å"text language† or short-cut spellings of words in text messages such as IKR (I know, right!_, BRB (b e right back) or even the oft-used LOL (laugh out loud) may confuse people with its use in writing. It is still not acceptable to use such in more formal writing work. Remember not to include them in your repertoire of words to use in your future business correspondences or else you might not be taken seriously. Learning about theories in your college years clarify much of what you will encounter in actual practice. That is why you studied about the works of prolific writers and authors. Reading articles and books helped a lot in building your vocabulary and developing our own style. Do keep reading books, magazines, newspapers and even online articles to keep you up-to-date and keep learning how people use the English language to convey their messages. You have also learned about the ethics of using other people’s ideas in your work. Never plagiarize. Give credit where credit is due. How would you feel if someone else snatched your awesome work or bits of it and never mentio ned that it was you who came up with such a brilliant idea? Reading other people’s works should not stop you from developing your own original ideas. Let it enhance your own imagination to create something related but different. Cultivate your creativity share your novel ideas with others. In your own practice as a business person, work on innovating things and come up with new strategies to promote your business. Use various communication avenues to disseminate it. As of this time, the internet is a great medium in sharing one’

Family Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Family Law - Essay Example However, many feel that family law does not deal with disputes adequately. This is because not only does family law fail to adequately consider areas such as equal parental rights over children, it fails to deal with unmarried couples that have a relationship and do not live together. It also fails to deal with heterosexual cohabitation, same sex cohabitation, etc. Family law needs to accommodate these types of structures as well because these arrangements are growing in number. In order for family law to deal with the changing nature of family, it has to recognize and accommodate the fact that family structures now vary. In order to develop a general understanding of the reasons why family law has to be amended in order to become more accommodating in its approach, one has to consider the areas family law encompasses1. Family law deals with the following areas that are all family-related: All the three points above appear to be quite broad and encompassing. However, there are family structures today that may not necessarily be encompassed by them. This particularly refers to cohabiting couples. These may be heterosexual or same sex couples. It must be noted that same sex cohabiting relationships, however, have been recognized since 2004. It took a slow process for this type of relationship to be recognized2. Also, with cohabiting couples, cases may be more complicated because of them having children. Along with considering cohabitating heterosexual couples, a look at Figure 1 in the Appendix provides one with the trends of Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the UK3. These indicate perhaps an increasing trend towards families that do not consider marriage. A broader view of cohabitation is addressed later in this paper. New Family Structure [The Single Parent Family]: It is known that now marriage is becoming less significant to family structure, and parenthood is taking its place. Parenthood may be in the form of two parents or a single parent. Single parenthood may emerge from different situations. In many cases it emerges from a couple dating and having no commitments4. A dating couple that does not live together or does not even plan to get married may end up with a child accidentally. Therefore, they might feel forced into remaining together as a family. Since, in many cases, there is no commitment on either side, the mother decides to keep the child and raise it alone. In such a case, there can be little demand for child support from the father. This is because there is no civil union or any such family law that could compel the father to pay towards the child's upbringing without the existence of marriage. It must be noted here that a father becomes legally bound to pay for child support if he is married to the mother of his child. In many cases, the mother does not want to continue her relationship with her partner5. If no marriage exists, a father does not have to pay for child support, but he may also not be able to see his child. Therefore, there is every chance that the child will grow up without knowing or seeing his or her father. Figure 2 in the Appendix shows the percentage of single parents in the

Operating System Concepts Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Operating System Concepts - Assignment Example 2. Methods and Object Synchronization (mutual exclusion): One process should be able to use only one resource at a time. The request by another process should be delayed until the resource has been released. 3. Deadlock prevention: Deadlock can be prevented by using different schemes or by avoiding the necessary conditions (mutual exclusion, hold and wait, no preemption and circular wait (Stalling, 274)) which hold true for it. The different schemes are: 2. (20 points) Given that the first three necessary conditions for a deadlock are in place, provide detailed comments on the feasibility of the following strategy and the potential outcomes based upon its application. All processes are given unique priorities. When more than one process is waiting for a resource and the resource becomes available, allocate the resource to the waiting process with the highest priority. Now, in the given scenario all processes have their unique priority. Let us assume there are two resources R1 and R2 and process P1 has higher property than P2. Consider P1 holds R1 and P2 holds R2 and P2 is requesting for R1. Now, if P1 requests for R2 it will not get the resource even if it has the higher priority, because resources are not preemptive. So deadlock is still possible in this condition. There exists one CPU in this system, which may run one program at a time. Should information be allowed to move from any level to any level or should transfers only occur from adjacent levels? Explain in detail.

Portugal's Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Portugal's Economy - Essay Example Indeed, the economy grew by more than the European Union average in the 1990s, declined between 2001 to 2009 then recorded a 1% growth in 2010 (Central Intelligence Agency , 2011). The 1% growth notwithstanding, Portugal faces tough economic crisis as she recently sought outside help in 2011 in order to recover from her economic problems. In fact, the economic situation is predicted to worsen given the severe austerity measures impose on Portugal by her EC partners (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2011). Gross Domestic Product Portugal’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the market value of all her final goods and services produced within the country in a given period and which is the standard means of measuring a country's economic growth and standard of living, is estimated at $247 billion as at 2010 with the services sector accounting for 74.5%, secondary sector contributing 23% and primary sector accounting for 2.6% (Central Intelligence Agency , 2011). Figures from the Central Intelligence Agency ranked Portugal’s GDP 50th among other countries in 2010.

The Emergence of a Superpower Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Emergence of a Superpower - Essay Example He ended U.S isolationism policy by acting aggressively in foreign matters without even the consent or support of the congress (Oakes 89). Roosevelt also developed a powerful and large navy that was significant to the U.S defense since it served as strong restraint to American foes. Woodrow Wilson as the president of the U.S abandoned the imperialist policy implemented by Theodore Roosevelt and came up with a new means of America dealing with other nations. Despite the fact that he believed that it was the duty of America to change the world, he believed that everybody in the globe had the right to self determination in that they were to decide on the type of government they wanted (Oakes 148). In order to increase U.S influence abroad, Wilson aimed to protect democracy. For instance, Wilson was forced to invade Nicaragua in order to assist the rebels who had ousted a totalitarian regime. Franklin Roosevelt’s foreign policy was overshadowing domestic or local policy because he was more concerned about what was happening in Europe. After refusing to support stabilization of global currency in 1933, he stabilized the dollar in 1934 and started to assist Great Britain and France to stabilize their currencies and keep them from totalitarian nations (Oakes 96). Just like Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt believed that U.S had to develop strong army in order to quarantine aggressive nations such as Germany and Japan. In order, he developed the good neighbor policy, which was a re-examination of the U.S policy in Latin America. During Franklin Roosevelt’s term as president, Latin America was the U.S area of interest, thus, it was significant to make American presence felt in the area (Oakes

Virtual Classroom Essay Example for Free

Virtual Classroom Essay In the rapidly changing way that information exchange takes place during our times, the Virtual Classroom Information System, or simply Virtual Classroom, demonstrates very effectively that technology can be explored and utilized to make new ways to do old things, and at the same time be more efficient in doing it. The Virtual Classroom is a web-based information system that basically allows a class to take place over the internet and through a website, breaking the restrictions imposed by distance. It provides a venue where students and teachers can meet, albeit virtually, and do the things that are normally done inside actual classrooms. Although communication is limited through the computer as compared to meeting personally, the Virtual Classroom provides alternative ways that were still effective in providing the users with the information they need. The Virtual Classroom provides functionalities for the following different kinds of users: system administrator, teacher, and student. The system administrator, or sysad for short, is not necessarily the system owner. The system owner is the school who bought a copy of Virtual Classroom and had it installed in a server to be used by that particular school. The system administrator is preferably someone from the school administration. The system administrator has complete control over the system as he/she is the one who has the highest privileges in accessing the system. It is up to the sysad to populate the database with the available classes, and later assign teachers to handle those classes. He/she has the responsibility of managing all other user accounts, be it a teacher or a student account, involved in the system. The system administrator is like a moderator that sees to it that everything is in place and working well. The teacher has lesser privileges compared to the system administrator. He/she is allowed to upload files such as documents, pictures, or animations for the students to download. Also, the teacher can give exams or quizzes through the internet, which are automatically corrected and computed when answered by the students. The teacher is also in charge of the management of the forum of the class which he or she is teaching. At the end of the semester, the teacher can submit the final computed grades through the system. The system developer is preferably someone involved with the system as he or she needs to be well aware of the concerns and requirements asked by the system. The developer should have at least made thorough consultations with the members of the faculty, the students, and most especially the school administration. The Knowledge Building Block The knowledge building block is basically the information available for the system. This is mainly about populating the database with enough data for it to run effectively. With regards to the Virtual Classroom, the knowledge building block contributed by the system administrator consists of the list of students currently enrolled in a particular school, and the list of teachers who are currently available for teaching. This also includes personal information such as student number, name, course, year level and other basic information that the school needs to know. Also, the list of available classes that students can enlist to is populated by the system administrator. The teacher is left with the uploading of the necessary lecture files for the classes assigned to him. Also, exam questions would come from the teacher with the corresponding answer key for the system to automatically check the paper and compute the scores when answered. The Process Building Block This part of the information system is concerned about what the system does with the information, or knowledge, that is made available to it. Basically, a process takes input data and modifies it based on the conditions and logic provided by the system, then finally, outputs the data needed by the users. With the Virtual Classroom, one process is the assignment of the teachers for each class offered by the school. The system should see to it that there will not be conflicts with the schedule. When uploading the files of newer version, the system would automatically replace the old ones and sees to it that the concerned students will be notified either by email or through SMS, if the phone number is supplied by the user. Also, when a student finishes answering an exam, the system automatically checks it and outputs the results for the teacher to see. The Communications Building Block This block involves sending and receiving data between the users of the system. In terms of the Virtual Classroom, the communications block plays a major part in it, because the classroom is basically having a teacher communicate with a group of students so that the students will learn something from it. In this regard, there are several ways that the concerned users can communicate through the system. First, there is a general messaging system. The system allows any user to send a private message to another user, or group of users as long as the sender has prior knowledge of the recipient’s username. Upon receiving the message, the user has options to reply. In addition to this, there is also a message board per class. The management of this board is the responsibility of the teacher because this is where class discussions will take place, and although slow and not as efficient compared to the real classroom experience, information is guaranteed to be transmitted. An important part of this system is the notification system that contacts the needed users through email or through SMS, whichever is available, when something of great importance and ugency demands his or her attention.

Why Safeway Is Better Than Save a Lot Essay Example for Free

Why Safeway Is Better Than Save a Lot Essay There’s no place like Safeway that’s why Safeway is better than Save A Lots Safeway has a fantastic atmosphere were customers feel at ease, the friendly employees always had a smile they face on the other hand Save A Lot had a poor envirment were the shoppers were ignored workers didn’t have a pleasant attitude. I said to myself why have I shop at Save A Lot for so many years? Suddenly, I had an Oprah ,Aha! Moment which came over me, after that day I have not been back to Save A Lot First Safeway has quality luscious fruits the fresh vanishable are so scrumptious I can’t wait to get home to eat them. And endless variety of fresh fruit that never lacks quality that I am lookingfor Save A Lot did not have quality fruits the vanishable were brown and bruised and lacked freshnesss, fruit were always limed I was so happy that I switch stores because of that reason. Secondly Safeway has fresh meat which is top of line ,fresh tender meats also the quality of the the meats at Save A Lot lacked freshness. Most importantly the was not up par: refrozen, freezer burned and discolored. In addition, Safeway quality brand name products that I enjoy such as :Kellogg’s ,Special K and Progresso, just to name a few. Really make me feel good about safeway. Incontrast, I shopped at Save A Lot they lacked brand name products they did not have them in stock. Not only dose safeway have quality prices, but they have every prices. I save fifty dollars at Safeway and when I use my safeway card I always save. Also Safeway I spend only two hundred and forty dollars. Save A Lot the prices are extremely high; I spent over three hundrend dollars Also Safeway has a lot of women with there children, Save A Lot has college studans who think there saving . However Safeway has quality prices great coupons Save A Lot lacked quality prices ,coupons limed ,Safeway is the places for a girl like me who enjoys bargains In conclusion, most of all Save A Lot did not provide , and they did not have quality prices. And I said to my ,thank heaven for the Aha! Moment. That is when the light switch came on for me to start shopping at Safeway. My reason is simple, Safeway has quality prices and food.

Lorenzos Oil Film Synopsis and Analysis

Lorenzos Oil Film Synopsis and Analysis Lorenzos oil touches the hearts of most as you watch the story of a young boy battling adrenoleukodystrophy or ALD. The story is based off a true story as the parents, Augusto and Michaela Odone, take care and search with uncertainty for a cure for their son Lorenzo. The story identifies with those who suffer from an incurable disease which neurologically effects Lorenzos life. The oil, found by Lorenzos dad, brings hope to him and his family. Lorenzos battle is fought with courage and strength and he identifies with so many important subtopics in our class such as: disease and illness, death and dying, and the body. Lorenzos battle will show us how one struggles with disease and illness but strives with his loved ones by his side. Lorenzo begins to show signs of neurological problems when he and his family move back to the United States for his dads military work. Lorenzo begins to show signs such as fits, lapses, and hearing problems. Lorenzos parents set out on a mission to find a cure for the incurable disease he has. The Odones have many encounters with doctors/ professionals. The work done from parent to professional shows the strive in the Odones hopes to find a cure for their son. After being told that there is no cure by some doctors, they begin to travel and meet with many different people, doctors, scientists, researchers, etc., who are willing to do all they can to help find a cure for their son. These professionals give an examples of how well some professionals work with the parents rather than the patients in this case. The Odones can barely watch as their sons health declines and knows it is up to them to set out to find a cure. While researching so many different aids, the Odones come up with one last final shot. His parents, declined by many researchers again, finally discuss a cure with a Chemist involving oils to add to their sons daily diet. The oil helps in repair in some of the damaged parts of the brain but does not aid in repairing the myelin deficiency in the brain. Mr. Odone takes it into his own hands to seek out an appeal of medical research and efforts to treat myelin damage and or deficiencies in the brain of ill patients. Lorenzo deals with his illness very strongly. As he begins to lose neurological functions, life becomes much harder. He is not treated horribly by many doctors; he is more the less treated like a boy with a disease that has no cure. Lorenzo battles his illness with as positive a mind set as possible, as he begins to take the oil, he feels little relief and shows improvement, but the improvement is not enough to save him from this horrible disease. He later is only able to blink yes or no and can barely swallow on his own. Thankfully for Lorenzo he continues to keep his sight which is a beautiful gift he is pleased to still have. In researching the medical response to the movie, the film was criticized to have given the idealistic view of finding a cure, which was not found. Research done regarding Lorenzos disease has shown little to no effect of taking the oil during the illness, but shows results when taken before the illness. The real Lorenzo Odone, lived to be 30 and died of pneumonia in 2008, living two decades longer than predicted by physicians. In the movie, the Odones compare their studies to those done by animal experimentation finding vague results in the process. I feel as if the events of the film played out appropriately. Being hard to accept the news of an incurable illness, Lorenzos parents react more strongly than he does. Lorenzo accepts his disease as anyone must once they are told they have something inoperable. The only thing which could have been done differently in the film was not acting as if they found a cure but more the less acting as if they found an agent that helps one who suffers from ALD. In the movie and in the real life story, I do not feel as if there is any one who deserves the blame. Blame cannot fall on anyone as Lorenzo has a disease with no cure. Really in reality praises deserve to be given to Lorenzos parents for attempting to find a cure for there son. The Doctors deserve praise for there attempts at finding cure as well. The only blame can be on the disease itself. The general public and prospective health care providers can learn very many things from this film. The general public can learn that horrible diseases can happen to anyone. The general public can also learn from this that parents and family members can do so many things to help their child or loved one. Anyone can become involved in helping whether its just by doing little things. For example, my mother suffers from ulcerative colitis and last year I did a triathlon and raised money for Crohns and Colitis research we raised near $2,000 for research. The general public can do so many things to aid in the development of a cure for diseases. Health care providers can learn both positive and negative things from this film. Health care providers can learn never to give up on a family and let them try to do what they can to help a child or a loved one. Health care providers can also see that parents typically do not have the equipment or information needed to find a cure for a loved one although they can put their foot in to help. Health care providers in this instance should see the glass half full rather than half empty. Patients can learn so many positive and negative things from this film as well. Patients can learn that people can have an effect in finding a cure. Patients can also learn not to count on a cure for a disease that is incurable. Patients can learn that some doctors will treat them with respect while others will not. Patients can also learn that researchers do care and they will help as much as they can to aid in a patients health. Lorenzo learns that his health, disease, and illness although incurable can be fought with compassion and strength. Lorenzo who was diagnosed with his illness at the age of 7 technically could not do much for himself at the time of diagnoses. Lorenzo takes his illness day by day. Lorenzo slowly loses neurological functions every day. He struggles with impairments everyday like lapses and tantrums. These lead Lorenzo to question his body and wonder how much more it could handle but Lorenzo never gave up and fought his body until the age of 30, two decades longer than doctors expected. Lorenzo never truly was considered disabled more the less just ill. I would have considered Lorenzos illness a disability. Lorenzo was beginning to lose functions and that in my opinion would classify as a disability. Being disabled to me is when someone is not able to function regularly without assistance whether their disability be visible or invisible. Lorenzo needed help from his parents after his illness became severe thus classifying him as disabled to me. Lorenzo seems to avoid the reality of death and dying. Lorenzo truly avoids death and dying by defying the odds and surviving his illness for two decades longer than expected. I would assume that as a child one cannot grasp the thought of death or dying, but more the less just barely be able to understand that he is sick with an incurable illness. Being 7 years old, death does not seem to be a realistic thing. I think back to when I was 7 and would never be able to comprehend the fact that I am ill and could die whenever from a horribly rare incurable disease. Lorenzo also faces the sad reality that his own body is fighting against him. The body being a wonderful but terrifying place takes over without Lorenzo being able to do anything to stop it. The oil that Lorenzo is given has a certain amount of fatty acid chains which attack the part of the brain that is being affected by ALD. Unfortunately, ALD had already taken its toll on other parts of his brain including the myelin sheath which help protect neurotransmitters in sending messages from cell to cell. The body did not reject nor accept the treatment but rather just let the treatment work on his body. The treatment may have helped his body at an earlier stage but its not as if his family predicted he would get a rare disease like ALD. Lorenzo and his family face a series of unfortunate events upon the development of this horrible disease in their son. ALD is a disease linked to the X chromosome. First this disease effects fatty acid buildups and then damages the myelin sheath within the brain. These lead to lack of hearing, lapses, seizures, and eventually hyperactivity in the brain. ALD is a very rare disease which effects a very small number of people in the United States. The Odones have been faced with a very hard challenge and do as much as they can to stop the disease their son is infected with. The never ending positive intentions of the Odones lead them to finding a treatment for ALD which has helped effect many lives of people with ALD today. The Odones have helped scientists and doctors today give patients with ALD relief and hope. Although ALD is still without a cure, the Odones and Lorenzos actions have helped the medical community achieve a great necessary success which will play an impact on the live s of anyone with ALD.

College Admissions Essay: Art Therapy and Animal Therapy :: College Admissions Essays

Art Therapy and Animal Therapy    As another wave of excited, hopeful seniors pack their cars for college, the community that nurtured them watches them go with nostalgia and anticipation at what these bright new adults will make with the talents bestowed on them and with the mountains of opportunity available to them. The students are brimming with anticipation also - what possibilities await them! As I take my place with my fellow classmates, I watch my old community fade into the distance and wonder how I will contribute to my community in the future.    My career choices have varied throughout the years with a colorful strand threading my love for animals, art and people. I intend to major in psychology with a minor in art. My dream is to help people through my compassion and creativity. Art therapy and animal therapy are exciting fields of work hungry for new talent and well-educated, dedicated professionals. My love of these lines of work stems from having witnessed the wrinkled hand of an infirm, elderly woman stroke the soft fur of a dog, immediately brightening and starting to communicate her first words in years. I have also understood the intense relief of parents of a sick, depressed child whose interest in her artwork sparks renewed interest in the world around her. My artistic ability, strength in science, love of animals and passion for bettering the lives around me give me daily reasons why I know I am committed to this field.    However, the reasons do not stop there. I want to extend my vision into the community, perhaps starting a program in my church community that involves participants taking small pets on their visits to nursing home residents. I could even involve surrounding youth groups in work on art projects with the youth at our local children's home. Getting the community involved in such projects opens new outlets of creativity to flow into a cause I am so passionate about. Plus, the participation can be a healing, nurturing experience on both sides. With my sometimes-stubborn determination and enthusiasm for this endeavor, I will be able to involve my community in worthwhile efforts to improve the conditions of many of those who need most need assistance.

The Life Cycle of a Social Problem Essay -- essays research papers

The Life Cycle of a Social Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A social problem is a condition that a group of people view as being undesirable. These can be a variety of different à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“problems.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?They can occur in your community, school, church or any place that people interact with each other or an object. When a social problem arises there is a general way that they are handled.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The earliest of definition on how a social problem is reconized was made by Richard Fuller and Richard Myers. There cycle had three stages. The first stage was that the group had to some situation or behavior as a problem. Once they stated that there was a problem the next step was to transforms the situation or beahvior into a public debate to discuss that certain problem and how it could be dealt with and how the problem existed in the first place. This was a long process in which both sides discussed how it would be handled and also what would make both sides of the argument happy. The final stage is reform. This is the stage in which the solution to the problem would actually be put forth to the public so it would resolve or in many cases make the problem much more easy to live with.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The previous form of the stages of a social problem was thought to be the guidelines until Robert Ross and Gramham Staines revamped the cycle. In their cycle there were a few more details and checks that a social problem had to go though to complete the cycle. The first stage in the life cycle of a social prolem is when group of people that has determined that a situation or behavior is presienaic in terms of their ideas and or beliefs.Why the cycle started this way was pretty simple, without someone or a group of people having a problem with a situation or particular thing then there couldn't be a social problem in the first place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next stage in the life cycle cycle was to turn the issue into public knownledge. They could demonstrate for there solution or they could even write into a newspaper and tell them there story and how they would like it too be handled. The most important aspect in this step is by far the media. Although the people that are opposed to your point of view might try to sway the publics views on the situation by making you look like the guilty party, the media can always show s... ...is is if that just because the crusader has achieved a victory today doesn't mean that they should stop to bring a constant reminder to the public that if someone would try to change a law or rule that was made that it would be detrimental to the whole community in there mind and their supports. This is also known as never being happy with anything that you have done or said because if so then why did you lobby for it in the first place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lastly an important part that is associated with the life cycle of a social problem is resource mobilization. This is a part of all of the step of the life cycle. This is because if you dot have the means to argue or put thought a problem then there isn't a way that it will even become a social problem. Also there is the point that people that are well off are more likely to help with a social problem then people or groups that are not. In conclusion the life cycle of a social problem is a very structured cycle these days. It has four parts that any problem will have to overcome in order to be classified as one. Lastly with every problem the solution that come out will not nessarly be the best one but it is a start. The Life Cycle of a Social Problem Essay -- essays research papers The Life Cycle of a Social Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A social problem is a condition that a group of people view as being undesirable. These can be a variety of different à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“problems.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?They can occur in your community, school, church or any place that people interact with each other or an object. When a social problem arises there is a general way that they are handled.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The earliest of definition on how a social problem is reconized was made by Richard Fuller and Richard Myers. There cycle had three stages. The first stage was that the group had to some situation or behavior as a problem. Once they stated that there was a problem the next step was to transforms the situation or beahvior into a public debate to discuss that certain problem and how it could be dealt with and how the problem existed in the first place. This was a long process in which both sides discussed how it would be handled and also what would make both sides of the argument happy. The final stage is reform. This is the stage in which the solution to the problem would actually be put forth to the public so it would resolve or in many cases make the problem much more easy to live with.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The previous form of the stages of a social problem was thought to be the guidelines until Robert Ross and Gramham Staines revamped the cycle. In their cycle there were a few more details and checks that a social problem had to go though to complete the cycle. The first stage in the life cycle of a social prolem is when group of people that has determined that a situation or behavior is presienaic in terms of their ideas and or beliefs.Why the cycle started this way was pretty simple, without someone or a group of people having a problem with a situation or particular thing then there couldn't be a social problem in the first place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next stage in the life cycle cycle was to turn the issue into public knownledge. They could demonstrate for there solution or they could even write into a newspaper and tell them there story and how they would like it too be handled. The most important aspect in this step is by far the media. Although the people that are opposed to your point of view might try to sway the publics views on the situation by making you look like the guilty party, the media can always show s... ...is is if that just because the crusader has achieved a victory today doesn't mean that they should stop to bring a constant reminder to the public that if someone would try to change a law or rule that was made that it would be detrimental to the whole community in there mind and their supports. This is also known as never being happy with anything that you have done or said because if so then why did you lobby for it in the first place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lastly an important part that is associated with the life cycle of a social problem is resource mobilization. This is a part of all of the step of the life cycle. This is because if you dot have the means to argue or put thought a problem then there isn't a way that it will even become a social problem. Also there is the point that people that are well off are more likely to help with a social problem then people or groups that are not. In conclusion the life cycle of a social problem is a very structured cycle these days. It has four parts that any problem will have to overcome in order to be classified as one. Lastly with every problem the solution that come out will not nessarly be the best one but it is a start.

Kazakhstan’s 20 Years of Independence

Kazakhstan’s 20 Years of Independence When Kazakhstan became independent after the collapse of Soviet Union in December 1991, many experts had predicted the collapse of the Central Asian nation under the burden of economic and social problems. But 20 years since then, the country of over 16 million people has become the largest economy in the Central Asian region due to its enormous oil, gas and uranium reserves and bold market economic reforms and political stability in the nation of 130 ethnic groups.According to official figures, Kazakhstan's GDP per capita grew from $700 in 1994 to more than $9,000 last year. In fact the growth was five years ahead of the schedule, and faster than in any other country in the first 20 years of its independence. Kazakhstan held year-long celebrations across the nation to celebrate its success and look towards what needs to be done to maintain the growth curve. The rapid economic and industrial growth of the oil and energy rich nation is attr ibuted to Kazakhstan's concerted efforts to create a stable, investor-friendly environment.Despite the 2008 economic downturn, Kazakhstan retained and attracted a remarkable inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI). Last year, the nation scored among the the top 10 nations attracting FDI in the entire world. According to official figures, the country has attracted $132 billion in FDI in the last 20 years. Officials attribute the reasons to the economic growth to the political stability in the country and some of the bold decisions by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Nazarbayev moved the capital from Almaty to Astana in December 1997 which has proven to be a critical moment.The new capital has come up as a dynamic centre of a rapidly growing nation and a modern 21st century city of some 750,000 people. The model of inter-ethnic relations that has preserved peace and harmony in the ethnically and religiously diverse society of Kazakhstan is another cause for the countries strong growt h. On the political front, Kazakhstan is now moving towards multi-party democracy with the parliament elections to be conducted in January next year. Kazakhstan was the chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2010 and hosted the OSCE summit at Astana in December.An Astana Commemorative Declaration was signed, renewing commitment to a better cooperation within the organization of 56 participating states from North America, Europe and Eurasia. In 2011, Kazakhstan also chaired the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, seeking to strengthen it as a critical instrument of promoting multi-faceted cooperation among its six members. And in June, Kazakhstan assumed the one-year presidency in the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation seeking to promote peace, cooperation and development.

Hockey Sport Essay

Hockey is a fast, exciting sport played by two teams on a sheet of ice called a rink. Each team has six players on the ice, one goalie, two defensemen, two wingers, and one center man. The players skate up and down the ice shooting or passing a hard rubber disk called a puck with sticks. They score points by hitting the puck into the net. Hockey is much faster and swifter than any other sport. As the players streak across the ice, their powerful shots and passes can send the puck faster than 100 miles [160 kilometers] per hour. A goalkeeper on each team defends his net from the puck going in. They must often make quick slides across the on their skates, stomachs, knees or backs to stop the puck from going into the net. A puck that crosses the goal line is a called a goal and scores a point for the other team. The side that scores the most goals wins the game. To keep the action fast, hockey has an unusual rule. It is the only major sport that allows players to change or substitute during play. The game is rough and includes lots of hitting and some fights, although fighting is against the rules. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, and Arabs, perhaps among the earliest of stick-and-ball games, played forms of hockey. A sport similar to hockey, called Hurling, is known to have been played during the 1st millennium in Ireland, and other Europeans in the Middle Ages adopted similar sports. The historians don’t know for certain where the name Hockey came from. But most of them thought the name hockey have been adapted by the English from the French word hoquet (shepherd’s crook). How ever was the name first given to the sport in the 18th century, but was not in common usage until the 19th century. Hockey then started in Canada in the mid-1800’s. By the 1900’s it had become Canada’s national sport. Since then, hockey has become popular in many other countries including Russia, Sweden and the United States. Hockey is grouped in many different divisions including minor hockey, which is grouped into age categories, SJHL, WHL, OHL and IHL, which involve the smaller cities in province or state, and NHL, which involve the bigger, better known cities in Canada and the United States. Each period begins with a face-off at the center face-off spot. A face-off also starts play again after it has been stopped for any reason. During play, the puck must normally be kept moving. If it is hit over the boards, held by the goalie, out of the referee’s sight, frozen between opposing players, or is otherwise temporarily out of play, an official blows a whistle for a face-off. A player may move the puck along the ice, pass it to a teammate, or shoot it at the goal, but rules limit these plays in certain ways. One extremely important rule states that no player of the attacking team may be in the attacking zone ahead of the puck. One player must carry or shoot the puck across the attacking blue line before any other player on the team crosses the blue line. For violations of this rule, an official signals the offending team offside and conducts a face-off in the neutral zone. A player may pass to a teammate anywhere in the same zone. The player may also pass from the defending zone to a teammate in their team’s half of the neutral zone. If the pass is received past the centerline an official signals the pass offside and conducts a face-off where the play began. Hockey requires a variety of skills. They include checking, skating, passing, stick handling and shooting. Checking is the way a player takes the puck away from the opponent. There are two main types of checks: stick checks and body checks. For a stick check the player uses his stick to hook or poke the puck away from the opponent. In a body check the player bumps against the opponent with a hip or a shoulder to try any block the opponent’s progress or throw the opponent off balance. Both stick checking and body checking are allowed only against a player in control of the puck or the last player to control it. Skating is the most important hockey skill. Players must be able to turn sharply, skate backwards and perform many other maneuvers while skating at top speed. They must be able to do this with their head up and while stick handling the puck. Passing occurs when a player who has the puck passes it to another player. In most cases the players use their sticks to propel the puck toward the receiver. These passes are either flat passes or flip passes. To make a flat pass the player sends the puck traveling along the surface of the ice. To make a flip pass the player causes it to rise off the ice to avoid interception by an opponent. Sometimes the passer simply leaves the puck behind, so that a teammate can get it, this is called a drop pass. Stick handling is the use of the stick to control the puck. The player first moves the puck with one side of the blade and then with the other side while skating. The player makes some sweeps of the stick some wide and some narrow. In this way the player keeps the opponent guessing as to the next move and also makes it difficult to steal the puck. Shooting is the skill needed to drive the puck into the net and score goals. Most shots are either wrist shots or slap shots. In a wrist shot the blade does not leave the ice. The player uses strong wrist action to propel the puck. For a slap shot the player raises the stick for a back swing and brings it down against the puck with great force. Slap shots are more powerful but less accurate than wrist shots. Offside plays and icing account for most violations of the rules. For these violations, the offending team risks losing control of the puck in the resulting face-off. For more serious violations, players receive penalties ranging from two minutes in the penalty box to removal from the game, but each team must always have at least four players on the ice. If a third player is penalized while two teammates are in the penalty box, a substitute may replace the player on the ice. A teammate may serve the goaltender’s penalty. Hockey has five main kinds of penalties: minor penalties, major penalties, misconduct penalties, match penalties and penalty shots. Minor penalties are given for violations like holding, tripping or hooking resulting in two minutes in the penalty box. The team must play short-handed until the time is up or the other team scores. But if the same minor penalty is awarded against players on both teams they sit for the full to minutes and two different players may replace them on the ice. Major penalties are given mainly for fighting or cutting or drawing blood with a stick, they result in five minutes in the penalty box. The penalized team must play short-handed for the full five minutes, but if a player on each team receives a major penalty at the same time, substitutes may replace both players on the ice. Misconduct penalties are given mainly toward the improper treatment towards an official, which results in ten minutes in the penalty box, but a substitute may replace the penalized player. A game misconduct penalty is given mainly for more serious offences against officials. Match penalties are given for deliberately injuring or attempting to injure an opponent. The offending player is removed for the rest of the game and usually given extra penalty minutes depending on the severity of the incident, which a player on that team has to serve. Penalty shots are free shots at the opposing goal defended by only the goalie. They are awarded against the defending team when an attacking player throws his stick or is pulled down from behind and is so prevented from taking the shot. Those are the rules and regulations of the fun and exciting game of hockey.

Cicero, Aristotle, Plato – Just Warrior

Tory Macdonald 9. 25. 12 Ethics of War and Peace Essay #1 My question: Plato, Aristotle and Cicero all talked about Just War Theory, and emphasis on the Just Warrior. Obedience and loyalty ( can lead to destruction. Plato, Aristotle and Cicero, the fathers of the Just War tradition, develop and enhance the concept of civic virtue and the necessity to uphold such morality during the most chaotic, violent and brutal of times – war. They each defend the necessity of war; yet emphasize the correct code of conduct in war and what makes an honorable and just warrior.Today, war is much less engrained in our culture; our sons are not born with the future of a warrior. However, when there is war, we hear of many unjust and dishonorable acts such as mass rape, genocide, or specifically the My Lai Massacre. Plato, Aristotle and Cicero lived through a culture of war, defending it as necessary to keeping the peace. Because it was so engrained in their culture, a normalcy, they were not as concerned with the inhumane idea that defines war- killing another human being. Today, we do not live in a culture of constant war, therefore we are more susceptible to becoming overwhelmed by the trauma of violence.Plato, Aristotle and Cicero, provide guidelines of a just warrior however, had not yet discovered what it is that can turn a good man into a bad one, and what horrible aspects of war he may fall victim to. Today, true courage means fighting against dishonor, because unfortunately, war turns the most honorable men into dishonorable ones. Plato is a philosopher who lived from 469-399 through the Peloponnesian Wars and stressed the belief that for man, there is something worse than death- an unreflective life. Plato reasoned that all people should strive to be pious, or good.He noted that piety is what the God’s hold dear, what all the Gods agree upon therefore, it is these morals that the people should uphold. In war, a soldier should not fear death but rather fear a dishonorable or impious life. He should rather die from pain than he should from shame. The same idea should be used when deciding to go to war or not. There must always be a just reason. In a conversation between Alcibiades and Socrates, Plato describes the importance of waging war for a just cause. ‘Soc: Don’t you know that when we make war we begin to wage war after accusing each other of some affront and what term we use when we begin?Alc: I do – we say we have been deceived, or done violence to, or deprived of something. ’[1] He then elaborates to whom a war can be claimed against: ‘Soc: Now, what of this? Whom will you advise the Athenians to wage war against, those behaving unjustly or those practicing the just things? Alc: What you are asking is a terrible thing; for even if someone had it in his mind that war ought to be waged against those practicing the just things, he would not admit to it, at least. ’[2] Plato seeks the unbiased truth, a critical reflection on why and what to do in a situation, especially regarding war.Each of his answers comes back to being pious and reflective. He believes that war is necessary to keep up a good state, however believes it especially important to uphold pious and virtuous standards as a just warrior, in a just cause, using just means, to accomplish just ends. Aristotle is the founder of virtue ethics or â€Å"Jus in bello†, just actions in war. Aristotle claimed that virtues are described as a mean of excellence, a center between two extremes: excess and deficiency. For example, courage is a balance between cowardice and recklessness.Prudence is practical wisdom that determines the mean of all virtues essentially what determines the mean between two extremes. This is especially important in defining the virtues of a warrior. Aristotle believes that a â€Å"just warrior† is a man who exhibits courage and commits actions that are only noble. He states there sh ould be a purpose to his fighting, something he is willing to die for. A â€Å"just warrior† chooses to endure things because it is noble. â€Å"He will fear them as he ought and as reason directs, and he will face them for the sake of what is noble, for this is the end of excellence. [3] He notes that a courageous man is not a fearless one, but one who faces those fears because it is right. Aristotle also notes that, â€Å"Courage is noble. Therefore the end is also noble; for each thing is defined by its end. Therefore it is for a noble end that the brave man endures and acts as courage directs. †[4] Aristotle emphasizes that a just warrior fights only for a just cause. Aristotle also illustrates five different types of courage and their honorable uses. The first is political courage. One who exhibits political courage fears shame rather than pain or punishment.The second is that courage is knowledge. He notes, â€Å"While the former from the very beginning faced t he danger on the assumption they were stronger, and when they know the facts they fly, fearing death more than disgrace; but the brave man is not that sort of person†. [5] He explains that when one knows of the danger, and still plows ahead, he is courageous. The third is that passion should aid morals, however feelings are not bravery and emotions should not speak louder than reason. As Homer noted, â€Å"put strength into his passion†[6] as those who are passionate are often eager to rush into danger.The fourth states that sanguine people are not brave, â€Å"for they are confident in danger only because they have conquered often against many foes†¦when their adventures do not succeed however, they run away; but it was the mark of a brave man to face things that are. †[7] A noble man acts on character, not calculations. The fifth point is that courage does not mean people who are ignorant. Those who do not know and succeed are not brave, just lucky. Cicero who lived from 106 to 43 BC, created the Peace Movement that moved away from â€Å"best defense is a good offense† to the idea of constant civic virtue.He strongly stated that war must be undertaken with the aim of peace. He believed that war must be a last resort and a declaration between two parties. â€Å"For this we can grasp that no war is just unless it is waged after a formal demand for restoration, or unless it has been formally announced and declared beforehand. †[8] Justice was to be maintained amongst all participants. He was the first to declare that war was not a world apart, and that atrocities committed at an international level were not different as if they were committed in ones own state.Cicero stated that the â€Å"moral fellowship of mankind should know no boundaries†. [9] This correlates with his idea of natural law; a natural fellowship that exists amongst all humans, which nature has provided for all men to treat each other morally. There are commonalities amongst all men, no matter if he is a sea away, and Cicero believed that each warrior to act justly was to uphold that concept. Cicero also stressed that the fighting during war must always be towards an honorable end.He notes that a just warrior does not think of self-interest saying, â€Å"However, if the loftiness of spirit that reveals itself amid danger and toil is empty of justice, if it fights not for the common safety but for its own advantages, it is a vice. †[10] He also values reasons that make decisions over courage that incites battle. A just warrior â€Å"fights on behalf of fairness†[11]. A just warrior must also be able to balance reason with his cause. Cicero notes, â€Å"However, we must exercise the body, training it so that when it has to attend to business or endure hard work it is able to obey counsel and reason. [12] Just because a warrior is fighting for a noble cause, does not mean he can lose sight of the just reasoning beh ind it and we must train our soldiers so that this doesn’t happen. The My Lai massacre on March 16th, 1968 was the mass murder of somewhere between 347 to 500 innocent, unarmed village people of Southern Vietnam. [13] The United States military men of the Company C â€Å"Charlie† of the 1st Battalion committed the acts that included mass murder, mutilation, ransacking and rape. Lead into the area under a false indication of dense enemy activity, they were met with women, children, and the elderly.Although the men had not yet suffered any direct attack in the first months of their deployment, they had suffered mines and booby traps, losing many men. [14] The company was given orders by Captain Ernest Medina, who clearly stated that all those who were enemies or seemed like enemies were to be taken down. [15] The company lead by Second Lieutenant William Calley then went in to the village, and began firing at what was supposed to be dangerous enemies. [16] The violence e scalated and the brutality did not stop.Several men participated, several men stood back and watched. Only one man, Warrant Officer Scout Hugh Thompson who had spotted the massacre from a helicopter, sacrificed his life and the lives of his men to stop the atrocities. [17] To this day, only one man has been convicted of war crimes and only served three years of house arrest. The others were left alone. Today, the My Lai Massacre is looked at as the epitome of the Vietnam War- a mistake, a terrible time of confusion, an example of the psychological traumas of war.Most importantly, it is an example of how easily dishonor can cloud moral reasoning. These men were angry to have lost their fellow brothers in mines and booby traps, they were scared, they were starving, and they were not in their natural mind. A soldier states of that day, â€Å"Yes I am ashamed, I’m sorry and I’m guilty but I did it†¦If you go to war, those are the types of things that happen and can h appen to anyone†¦It can happen, it happens, that is what war is†¦War is war, it’s killing all type of ways. [18] When a dishonor was done to them, when dishonor is all around them, dishonor is what they begin to do too. Today the dishonors of war range from obedience to a terrible leader, to dehumanizing the enemy so inhumane actions suddenly seem right. In the case of the My Lai Massacre, many soldiers involved to this day claim that they were just following orders and that their loyal obedience overtook their moral compasses. One soldier noted, â€Å"At no time it ever crossed my mind to disobey or to refuse to carry out an order that was issued by my superiors.I shudder to think what the repercussions would have been†¦Ã¢â‚¬  [19] The soldiers were fighting in a perceived honor and loyalty to the United States. The need to please and obey took the pressure off of their actions, because someone else was dictating them. In other instances, soldiers would dehu manize their enemy to get through the idea of killing them. Cicero notes that this is entirely wrong according to natural law: â€Å"Perhaps we should examine more thoroughly what are the natural principles of human fellowship and community.First it is something that is seen in the fellowship of the entire human race. For its bonding consists of reason and speech, which reconcile men to one another, through teaching, learning, communicating, debating, and making judgments, and unite them in a kind of natural fellowship. It is this that most distances us from the nature of other animals. To them we often impute courage, as with horses or lions, but we do not impute them justice, fairness or goodness. For they have no share in reason and speech. † [20] Cicero states that since we are all of peech and reason, we are all human. However, dehumanization, where one dehumanizes their enemy and views them as some sort of animal, is a common strategy and conflict in today’s wars . The Holocaust, the Bosnian and Rwandan genocide are all examples of dehumanization. The Nazi soldiers truly believed that they were ridding their country of â€Å"vermin†, and the Hutu soldiers considered the Tutsi people to be â€Å"cockroaches†. Similarly, soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War referred to their enemies as animals, less than human and the massacre is a clear example of that.Perhaps the rules have changed since wars progressed through time. Today’s atrocities don’t seem as atrocious to us as they would to Plato, Aristotle and Cicero because we have become accustomed to them, as they were accustomed to having a culture of war. Peter Olsthoorn stated in his book â€Å"Just Warriors† â€Å"Soldiers, although far from selfish, cannot be expected to perform their duties from a sense of duty alone. Both inside and outside the sphere of war, only the perfectly wise act virtuously for virtue’s sake.However those perfectly wise are rare, Cicero himself claimed that he had never met such a person†¦For the not so wise, that is, most of us, a little help from the outside, consisting of the judgments of our peers and our concern for our reputation, can be of help. †[21] Looking back on the massacre, many men are quick to point out the outside factors that effected their behavior such as their loyalty, fear, confusion, lack of direction, even a blank blackout. One man notes, â€Å"We felt what we were doing was right, and after it was over we knew it was wrong. [22] These soldiers eventually are able to reflect. However at the time, they were worried for themselves, acting out of vengeance and self interest, therefore were not leading an honorable life. Officer Thompson exhibited true courage of a just warrior. He saw that the bodies consisted of mostly babies, children, women and the elderly, without a threatening combatant or weapon in sight. After several failed radio transmissions, he ordered his m en to land on sight and aim their guns at their fellow American soldiers.He ordered that they would hold their positions against their bothers until they had agreed to a cease-fire and stopped the massacre. While doing this he walked out unarmed, entered a ditch and rescued a woman and her child. Officer Thompson knew what he was getting himself into. He recognized that his loyalty to his fellow Americans was the wrong kind of loyalty. He pushed past fear and fought for a noble cause, to save the people. He did not shoot anyone down to do it, but was prepared to do so to end an injustice. Thompson used honorable means to obtain an honorable end.He illustrated every of the five points Aristotle noted a â€Å"just warrior† should be. He was courageous but not reckless, and he proved that in an unjust war, in and unjust setting, justice still prevails. Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero believe that a warrior’s honor is the ability to exercise restraint under chaotic and emotio nally taxing experiences. It is not simply standing firm in battle or committing acts of heroic bravery. It is recognizing the differences between combatant and noncombatant, between the innocent and the guilty and acting with reason when reason is hard to find.Today, it is about escaping the dishonor. War is about entering with the right reasons and leaving with the correct ends. War can make an honorable man, a dishonorable one and the three philosophers explain that real courage, is tackling war itself and not falling victim to the demons. If they had been alive at the time their general philosophy would have stood, the advancing atrocities just would have made it that much harder and much more honorable to be a real, true â€Å"just warrior†. Bibliography: Reichberg, Gregory M. Henrik Syse, and Endre Begby, eds. The Ethics of War: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Blackwell, 2006. Print. Baker, Deane-Peter. Just Warriors, Inc. London: Continuum International Publishing G roup, 2011. Unknown. â€Å"The My Lai Massacre. † PBS. PBS, 29 Mar. 2009. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. . Wikipedia. org YmBigBen90 (User’s ID). â€Å"My Lai Massacre – Part One of Two. † YouTube. YouTube, 16 May 2009. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. ———————– [1] Reichberg, Gregory M. , Henrik Syse, and Endre Begby, eds. The Ethics of War: Classic and Contemporary Readings.Blackwell, 2006. Print. [2] Ibid. [3] [4] Reichberg, Gregory M. , Henrik Syse, and Endre Begby, eds. The Ethics of War: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Blackwell, 2006. Print. [5] Ibid. [6] Ibid. [7] Ibid. [8] Ibid. [9] Ibid. [10] Reichberg, Gregory M. , Henrik Syse, and Endre Begby, eds. The Ethics of War: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Blackwell, 2006. Print. [11] Ibid. [12] Ibid. [13] Ibid. [14] Wikipedia. org [15] Unknown. â€Å"The My Lai Massacre. † PBS. PBS, 29 Mar. 2009. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. . [16] Unknown. â€Å"The My Lai Massacre. PBS. PBS, 29 Mar. 2009. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. . [17] Ibid. [18] Ibid. [19] Unknown. â€Å"The My Lai Massacre. † PBS. PBS, 29 Mar. 2009. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. . [20] Ibid. [21] Reichberg, Gregory M. , Henrik Syse, and Endre Begby, eds. The Ethics of War: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Blackwell, 2006. Print. [22] Baker, Deane-Peter. Just Warriors, Inc. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2011. [23] YmBigBen90 (User’s ID). â€Å"My Lai Massacre – Part One of Two. † YouTube. YouTube, 16 May 2009. Web. 02 Oct. 2012.