Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social and Behavioral Sciences - Research Paper Example Hypertension is very rampant today affecting even young people when it was considered the disease for the old. It must be understood that it affects all gender, races, and economic levels equally. Hypertension accounts for 45% of deaths due to cardiovascular related diseases making it a more lethal killer than any other known heart disease thus being a significant public health problem (Myat, Redwood, Qureshi, Spertus, & Williams, 2012). The etiology of hypertension is very elaborate and complex since there are several factors falling into two interrelated classifications. There are uncontrolled factors that cause hypertensions, factors that an individual has no capacity to change whichever way he or she tries. Different from uncontrolled factors are those that individuals can influence, manipulate and control. These are factors within the environment and in most cases; people significantly determine how they interact with them. Heredity- this is the likelihood of certain families to have a gene responsible for hypertension. This trait is passed on from one generation to another. There is nothing in plan to stop or control it (Ng et al., 2010). This therefore means that individuals from families with history of hypertension are more at risk of hypertension than those with no history. Gender- men are more susceptible to hypertension than women. The fact that gender cannot be changed makes it had to control hypertension in male gender. The probability is also determined by age and ethnicity. Men prefer dealing with stress intrinsically rather than seek help from counselors or psychologists. Furthermore, men are known to have poor coping skills when under pressure than women (Mounier-Vehier et al., 2012). Age-older people have a greater risk of hypertension than young ones, aging brings with it a period of physical inactivity physiological as well as structural alterations of the cardiovascular system such as arteriosclerosis that make

The madding crowd Essay Example for Free

The madding crowd Essay What can I say about this book? For 474 pages worth, this was disappointing. Thomas Hardy must have known something I didnt, because this book didnt do anything for me. And I dont think it can do anything for you. Dont get me wrong, the plot is an original one- a woman being harassed and ogled at by her workers, and her associates. But it quite frankly bores me. Focusing the book on two main characters: Theres solemn Gabriel, the honest bachelor who seemed to do nothing but envy Troy for marrying his seemingly forbidden love, and the powerful temptress known as Bathsheba. Whats the point? They got together in the end. Focusing the story on the friendship between the two- from Gabriels ignorant proposal to the eventual marriage of the two. Hardy couldve saved us 474 pages, and said they were married. Because in the end, thats what it comes down to. All the side distractions like Boldwood, and Troy, were for nothing. The rustic characters disappeared halfway through the book, their full potential never reached. In fact, Ive just told you what happens, so why bother going to read it? And its a shame. Because in these sort of depressant books, you need humour to drag it from the darkest bowels of the reject bin. The only thing funny about this book was the poor attempts at a love story. Hardy was criticised by the public for his other work, and I think this is another of those poor books. Wheres the entertainment? The only interesting part was when Boldwood shot Troy. This is just a book of annoyance. The only thing I can congratulate Hardy on is his sexism. The portrayal of Bathsheba as some form of super-woman made me wonder if reading the book was actually the bright thing to do. After all, what proud man wants to read about some woman running a farm? Bossing everyone about, its inaccurate! Its just stupid! Sanity is restored (Sort of) when Troy marries Bathsheba, but even that is scarred by the womanisers hastiness in marrying the jezebel. All romances end at marriage quotes the Sergeant. Romance? There never was any romance! Lust is the key here. In my opinion, Troy just used Bathsheba to exploit her position. Marry her for her money. Get a nice discharge from the army, a farm, what could be better? Oh, more money. And the brilliance is, he has to take some money to help his ex-fianci! Who dies in the next chapter! With his child! Not the most tear-jerking moment in the book, though. That award goes to the last page, which makes you cry with delight that youve finally seen the end of this travesty. The lady of the house isnt too pleased at this, and their unhappy marriage comes to an abrupt halt when William Boldwood shoots Troy. And so Frank Troy ends. Shame really. He was the life and soul of the book. The last few chapters are indeed entertaining. Theres the suspense of wondering if Boldwoods going to be executed or not. Then, to the disappointment of the bloodthirsty readers in the world, he gets off lightly. Thats what the book is full of: letdowns. Hardys architectural knowledge allows some beautifully described chapters to salvage the novel in parts, but writers require the ability to keep that level of consistency in their writing to write a brilliant novel. And that is what the novel lacks. At certain times, dialogue isnt always at its best. The mental imagery of the scenes are breathtaking- thats what Hardys descriptions do for you. The dialogue, however, destroys that. Too vague. Too boring. Repartees, puns, wittiness is whats needed, especially in the case of the rustics, and these three examples are missing throughout the majority of the book. In novels, I hate repetition. Seeing the word said after every spoken word becomes tedious. Missing are the stated and voiced. Interesting ways to say said benefit books more than you would think. And thats what niggles away at the book. Said is like saying nice to describe things. Its simple, and very dull. It may be petty, but these petty things can improve the novel, and stop this review being so negative. Far From the Madding Crowd is anything but that. It belongs with the mad crowd. Sane people wouldnt pick it up. I wouldnt advise you to buy, or even contemplate reading this book. For the romanticists among us, its great. For the non-romantic types, steer clear of this novel. Youll just be saddened that you paid good money for the book. Why pay good money when you can read this review? Ive told you what happens. Learn by my mistakes. The enjoyment factor is crucial for this books survival, and, sadly, the factor is reading 0.

Post Modernism In Pop Culture

Post Modernism In Pop Culture Attempts to define post-modernism can come in many different forms as different people have different ideas as to what exactly the term means. This being said, most people who take part in the debate over modernism and postmodernism share a consensus that postmodernism might be many things, but it certainly is linked with the growth of popular culture in the late twentieth century in the West. In other words, postmodernism can be seen as a new historical moment, a new sensibility, or a new cultural style, but popular culture can be referenced as the site on which these changes can be most easily found. Postmodernism is a perspective which tends to reject many of the accepted values of modernism. It involves a reinterpretation of gender roles and the differenced traditionally applied to them. It takes a more global perspective in its view of ethnic and national distinctions, and rejects stereotypes of all kinds. At the same time, it embraces the notion of nostalgia in art (film, telev ision, advertising) and uses multiple referencing (among other strategies) to communicate on a variety of symbolic levels. This essay will research the nature of postmodernism and apply it to a body of film, television, or advertising material. It should the focus on a single example and analyze it as typical of postmodern artistic form. From this essay it will be clear that postmodernism represents a blurring of the boundaries between levels of culture, and The Simpsons is a typical example of postmodernist artistic form. It was the late 1950s and early 1960s that the movement that we now come to know as postmodernism began to emerge. In the words of Susan Sontag, a critic of American culture, it came with the emergence of a new sensibility, and this involves a blurring of the distinction between high and low culture. Anyway, the distinction becomes less meaningful. The post-modern new sensibility did not follow along the same lines as the cultural elitism of modernism. Although modernism seems to have an important place in popular culture, it is marked by a significant suspicion of all things popular. It was those items that were associated with elite culture that were accepted under modernism. Culture was that which would be readily accepted into a museum, it was that which had a homologous relationship with the elitism that is inherent in class society. What this means is that the drive towards post modernism in the late 1950s and 1960s was associated with the growing attack on the elitism of modernism. The emergence of postmodernism signaled a refusal of the great divideà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a discourse which insists on the categorical distinction between high art and mass culture, moreover, to a large extent, it is by the distance we have traveled from this great divide between mass culture and modernism that we can measure our own cultural post modernity. A good early example of the new wave of post-modern popular culture can be seen in the American and British pop art movement of the 1950s and 1960s as it rejected the division between high culture and popular culture. This can be said to be postmodernisms first cultural flowering. One of pop arts first prominent theorist, Lawrence Alloway explains that the area of contact was mass produced urban culture: movies, advertising, science fiction, pop music. We felt none of the dislike of commercial culture standard among intellectuals, but accepted it as a fact, discussed it in detail, and consumed it enthusiastically. This acceptance of the new movement of postmodernism allowed people to treat popular culture in the realm of serious art, and not a second tier of culture. When seen from this perspective, postmodernism first came out of a refusal by the different generations to abide by the categorical certainties of high modernism. It came to be thought of as taboo to continue to maintain an absolute distinction between high and popular culture. This was very evident in the way that art and popular music merged. A good example of this can be seen in the way Peter Blake designed the front cover of the Beatles Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and the way Andy Warhol designed the cover of the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers. By the middle of the 1980s, the post-modern new sensibility had become deeply engrained into popular culture, and for some, a reason to despair. The postmodern condition is one that is marked by a crisis in the position of knowledge in Western societies. This served to give intellectuals less eminence as the academy continually lost its credibility. Iain Chambers argues this point from a different perspective. He says the debate over postmodernism can in part be understood as the symptom of the disruptive ingression of popular culture, its aesthetics and intimate possibilities, into a previously privileged domain. Theory and academic discourses are confronted by the wider, unsystemized, popular networks of cultural production and knowledge. The intellectuals privilege to explain and distribute knowledge is threatened. Another cultural theorist, Angela McRobbie agrees with this as she sees it as the coming into being of those whose voices were historically drowned out by the (modernist) metanarratives of mastery, which were in turn both patriarchal and imperialist. She put forth the argument that postmodernism has enfranchised a new sect of intellectuals who speak from the margins from a perspective of difference, including ethnic, class, gender and sexual preference differences. These are the people whom she refers to as the new generation of intellectuals. A similar point is made by Kobena Mercer as she sees postmodernism as partially an unacknowledged response to the emerging identities and voices of those people who have emerged from the margins, and this opens a new way of seeing and understanding. Hyperrealism can be said to be a component of postmodernism. In the sphere of the hyperreal, the real and the imaginary continually come into contact with each other. Simulations begin to be experienced as something that is more real than real itself. The evidence in favor of this argument can be seen throughout our Western society. For example, we live in a society where people write letters to the characters they see on television, asking them out on dates, and offering them places to live. This can be called the dissolution of television into life, or the dissolution of life into television. It was said by John Fiske that postmodern media does not, like it once did, provide secondary representations of reality: they affect and produce the reality that they mediate. Additionally, Fiske argues that those events in our lives that matter must be synonymous with media events. The arrest of O.J. Simpson was a good example of this. As the news of his story unfolded, people in the area rushed to his house so that they could be part of the news cycle. They wanted to be indistinguishably live people and media people. This is an attribute of the postmodern era. These people were aware that the media was not merely reporting of circulating the news, they were creating it. Therefore, if people wanted to be part of the news of this event, it was not sufficient to be there on the scene, to actually be part of this event, they had to be on television. This is a testament to the fact that in the hyperreal world of the postmodern, the distinction between a real event and its media represe ntation loses its distinction. Frederic James who is an American critic of culture as is well versed in postmodernism argues that it is a culture of pastiche. To him, postmodern culture is a world in which stylistic innovation is no longer possible, all that is left is to imitate dead styles, to speak through masks and with the voices of the styles in the imaginary museum. Postmodernism is a culture that is put together from many different places it can be said to be a culture of quotations. Our cultural production is the consequence of other cultural production. Postmodern cultural texts do not just quote other cultures, other historical moments, they randomly cannibalize them to the point where any sense of critical or historical distance ceases to exist there is only pastiche. This trend of the pastiche is noticeable in both the body of film and television. It can be seen in the nostalgia film that is evident in both television and film. Some movies that would fall into this category of the postmodern nostalgia film would be Back to the Future as it seeks to recreate the atmosphere and stylistic peculiarities of America in the 1950s. Other films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Robin Hood and Lord of the Rings act in a similar way as they induce a sense of narrative certainties of the past. In this way, the nostalgia film either recaptures and represents certain styles of viewing the past. These films seek to make cultural myths and stereotypes about the past. They offer false realism: films about other films, representations of other representations. As this study of postmodernism in popular culture progresses, it is useful to apply it to a single example, and then analyze it as typical of postmodernist artistic form. The Simpsons is a spectacularly popular show of the lat two decades and it represented the first prime time animated series since the Flintstones. Since its inception, this show has emerged as a cultural phenomenon. It is because of this immense success that The Simpsons represents a worthy object of study for cultural critics. There is no doubt that this television series can be placed in the category of the postmodern. All of the rhetorical devices that are synonymous with postmodern theory are present in The Simpsons: pastiche, quotation, intertextuality and reflexivity. The Simpsons, because of the way it uses reflexivity and intertextuality in particular is a great example of the postmodern at work. All elements of this show are related to a network of intertextual references to popular texts of other. In particular there are four ways in which The Simpsons uses intertextuality in recurrent forms. Firstly, there are single elements in the show that carry many intertextual references. A good example of this is the fact that the name of the town that The Simpsons live in is called Springfield. This is significant because it is the same name as the town that the vintage television show Father Knows Best was set in. This might be a rather obvious reference to the nostalgic, but there are much more subtle references in the show that make it surely a postmodern creation. For example, the curator of Springfields museum is named after a couple of dormitories at Harvard University. Also they build on nostalgic phrases on the past, two cars in every garage, and three eyes on every fish. In this way The Simpsons can be said to be a collection of quotations. Many of the scenes from The Simpsons are also taken from other movies or television shows. There is that episode that includes 22 Short Films about Springfield, and this in particular serves as a parody of Pulp Fiction, another important creation in the postmodern milieu. In fact, there are whole episodes of The Simpsons that are entire parodies of other shows. For example, the episode Bart of Darkness is a parody of Alfred Hitchcock, and there are even echoes of Jimmy Stewart in Itchy and Scratchy Land. Additionally, the show is one that heavily displays internal references. This builds on the fact that each episode is at its outset freestanding. Even though the main characters do not evolve, they posses a memory of past episodes and the supporting characters do change. The Simpsons can also be said to be postmodern because of the way that it is an example of reflexive television, one in which the text is a reference to its condition of consumption and production. This can be seen in four ways. First, The Simpsons can be seen to be reflexive from an examination of the opening credits where the family rushes home to crowd the couch and watch television. This highlights the fact that the show is about the process of watching television, and television consumption is a necessary component of family life. The Simpsons also possesses a commentary on the star system. In one way, the show contains a television universe where television stars are created. One such example is Krusty the Clown whose purpose is to fulfill the ongoing process of consumption and merchandizing. In another way, real stars make cameo appearances on the show giving their voices characters that either represent themselves of other figures. The show can even serve as a parody of the a nimation industry within the animation industry. There is an episode where the ratings of the new Itchy Scratchy Poochie Show has poor ratings. This episode is interesting because it highlights a caricature of a market research process which utilizes the pulse meter for assessing how new characters are received when they are seen by the audiences for the first time. This is a great example of how The Simpsons is reflexive television. The Simpsons can even refer to what has been dubbed postmodern hyperconscious. It is a type of commentary on the role that they play in popular culture. An example of this comes when Homer is enjoying a night out and Apu ask Homer if he is on television as he looks familiar. Homer says, sorry buddy, you got me confused with Fred Flintstone. This is reflexive in that it shows that the series creators are aware of the links between their show and their predecessors. These are just some of the many examples that make The Simpsons a great example of postmodern culture, although their use of these rhetorical devices is systematic. What is the reason for this shows particular approach, meaning that unlike the other cartoons on television, The Simpsons is very unique? This is because the show is not intended to attract the same audiences as other cartoons, it provide a social commentary and is thus attractive to the sophisticated public. The Simpsons actually works in an interesting way as its form serves to encourage the consumption of popular culture. The show uses postmodern strategies to make political and social commentary in a way that is non partisan and in a way that is appealing to the masses. The creators of the show clearly do not want to create divisions among its audiences. In this paper it has been shown that attempts to define postmodernism can be a difficult task, but there are simple ways to explain it. One thing for sure though is that postmodernism is linked with the growth of popular culture in the late twentieth century in the West. Postmodernism is a perspective which tends to reject many of the accepted values of modernism. It involves a reinterpretation of gender roles and the differenced traditionally applied to them. It takes a more global perspective in its view of ethnic and national distinctions, and rejects stereotypes of all kinds. At the same time, it embraces the notion of nostalgia in art (film, television, advertising) and uses multiple referencing (among other strategies) to communicate on a variety of symbolic levels. It was then shown that The Simpsons is a perfect example of postmodern pop culture as it is nostalgic and reflexive, and also uses rhetorical devices which are common in postmodernism. From this essay it is clear th at postmodernism represents a blurring of the boundaries between levels of culture, and The Simpsons is a typical example of postmodernist artistic form.

Ralph Waldo Emersons Transcendentalist Philosophy and Its Influence on

Ralph Waldo Emerson's Transcendentalist Philosophy and Its Influence on Margaret Fuller's Feminist Philosophy Ralph Waldo Emerson was a leading thinker in the American Transcendentalist movement, who first proposed many of the movement’s most influential ideas regarding the relation between the human mind and the world. He believed each person to possess a â€Å"soul,† a power within the self to uniquely perceive and understand the world, and grasp the intricate relationships between all things; Emerson’s universe was infinitely knowable, and his ideal, independent soul should be in a state of constant consideration and reevaluation of the world around him. Emerson’s notion of the chief end of life was the growth and development of one’s soul, and the maintenance of a constant state of learning and changing, of always becoming rather than simply being. He viewed society as a fundamentally oppressive phenomenon, as it imprints itself upon one’s soul and possesses the dictatorial capacity to hinder the soul’s crucial independent thought; to E merson, society was a â€Å"conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members†¦ The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators but names and customs. Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist,† (Self-Reliance 1162). â€Å"Self-reliance,† the title of Emerson’s 1841 essay, advocates independent thought as a human ideal, above and beyond the confines of traditional, unquestioning society. Emersonian Transcendentalist thought influenced many other emerging figures, including the feminist thinker Margaret Fuller, who believed society, males and females alike, to be suffering from a lack of gender equality. Fuller took t... ...of minds, gains the capability of self-reliance. Emerson depicts his homeostatic society as governed by the tyranny of the fickle majority: â€Å"the sour faces of the multitude, like their sweet faces, have no deep cause,—disguise no god, but are put on and off as the wind blows, and a newspaper directs. Yet is the discontent of the multitude more formidable than that of the senate and the college,† (Self-Reliance 1164). This is paradoxical, in that the American people should ideally be free, but are instead manipulated by the tyrannical masses. If all Americans are governed by an oppressive majority, it seems that nobody is yet free. It would, therefore, follow, that some institutional or governmental reform should be necessary before anybody, man or woman, can be free enough to become self-reliant and, through Emersonian ideals, change society internally.

Picture: Victim and Ultrahigh Spec Laptops

Mystery story It was an ordinary day with my two close friends, Adam and Matt. As always after school we all came over to my place for dinner, then go downstairs into my gaming room. Three desks with three really comfortable office chairs. We all had ultrahigh spec laptops and we all Just got new surround sound headsets for Christmas. We spent hours on our laptops playing video games together on a dally basis. But this one day right after New Year something inordinate and unforgettable started happening. Our New Year's holiday was coming to an end, we only had a few days feet to spend a lot of time gaming.We spent some money and bought a huge amount of snacks, enough to last for three days. We headed towards our gaming room and spent our days there. We didn't see sunlight for two days straight. Enjoying our time with our new headsets playing call of duty together, laughing together and getting mad at the game, we finally decided to take a break. As always Matt would go on his email t o check if his family for overseas emailed him. Many of his cousins enjoy video gaming as well so we invite them every now and then to our only party. An email appeared subjected â€Å"Boo†. As anyone else would do Matt just deleted it assuming it was spam.After a few hours of gaming he decided to check his email again and saw the same email. Out of curiosity he opened the email but not much appeared, just a blank page with a small message â€Å"Boo†, it didn't really make sense to him so asked us to check it out. Adam and me just laughed and cracked funny Jokes with him about his End. He shut down his laptop and headed back home. The next day, we all returned to our laptops but Mats laptop was open and on already. We assumed Matt forgot to shut it down and close it but he was sure of himself that he did. He asked if one of us go on it but we both shook our heads and said no.Matt sat down on his chair laying his hands on his laptop, realizing there was an extra folder on his desktop. The folder was named â€Å"Boo†. He opened it but it was an empty folder, he tried deleting it but an error message constantly appeared. As we all assumed the â€Å"Boo† spam email he received probably installed a virus onto his laptop which created that folder. Opening his Anti-Mallard program he did a virus scan but his computer was clean, no virus detected. He ignored it and we went on gaming. During our gaming session in the corner of Mats screen, a message appeared saying â€Å"Boo Is here. † He exited the game and clicked on the message.It slowly retyped Boo Has Started In big bold letters, we were all wondering what kind of virus this must have been to be able to hide for the Anta-Mallard software scans. As we were all suspecting Matt shut down his laptop but he decided to take It home to make sure It wasn't any of us. An hour later he arrived home and went up to his room. He sat on his bed and put on his laptop. He reopened the File †Å"Boo† but this time there was a notepad file In It, the file was named untitled 1. He opened the notepad and there were a list of 9 names on It. He goggled those names and found out they were all volts of recent murder cases.Matt didn't know what to do, contacting the police would raise their suspicion on him and they might think he Is the murderer. He decided to keep quiet about this. He shut off his laptop, and headed to bed. Two some sleeping pills, he received some and took them with a glass of water. The next morning he woke up noticing the laptop open and on, the â€Å"Boo† file was open, but this time there was another folder in the file called â€Å"pictures†. He opened the pictures lading, going through the pictures were pictures of murder with the victim's names written at the bottom.Matt was shocked from the pictures, Victims were burned and tortured, the last picture had an audio file with it. He played the audio and a weird radio beeping noise went off, screams could be heard in the back ground of the audio, after 6 seconds of weird noises a voice came up and said â€Å"Find what cannot be found†. The screen of the laptop went black after the audio played with a big play button in the middle. Matt clicked the play button and a collection of pictures getting skimmed through quickly created a video of a hand cutting open peoples belly, penetrating the eyes with knifes, cutting of tongues and many more disgusting pictures.On some bodies there was text inscribed in the skin with a knife. At the end of the pictures the voice came up again and said â€Å"Find what cannot be found†, Matt closed his laptop. For the upcoming four weeks Matt isolated himself from everyone else by staying in bed. His parents became more and more worried so eventually they called an ambulance and he was taken to a hospital. From the doctors perspective he experienced a severe transformation at the age of 16. For the four weeks after he was p ut on the hospital Adam and me visited Matt every four days.Whenever we visited he never said a word and never looked at us, he was always starring at the wall in front of him with tears coming out of his eyes. He wasn't the same old Matt we knew before, it was terrifying seeing him in that state. More weeks came by, he was still lying in the hospital doing nothing and saying nothing. Just waiting to die. A year has passed and reported on the new a calamity happened, a massacre. The hospital Matt was on caught on fire, after the fire was extinguished. There were nine patients who got burned alive.Three patients had carvings on their skin. Six patients were missing and matt was one of them. The police took Mats laptop into custody and tracked the IP address of the email. It led the police to a huge graveyard where all the victims were buried. It has been six years since the incident and the case has not been solved yet, the missing victims are still missing, not a single trace of the m was found, it's as if they disappeared into thin dust. If you receive an email subjected â€Å"Boo†, please contact the police and whatever you do. DO NOT OPEN IT!

Future of Corrections Essay Example

Future of Corrections Essay Example Future of Corrections Essay Future of Corrections Essay Future of Corrections Name: Course: Date: : Future of Corrections The correction department has been charged with rehabilitating and incarcerating criminal offenders before they are released back into society. It is expected that when these criminal offenders leave these facilities, they are reformed and ready to be socialized into the community. However, the criminals end up in these facilities again as repeat offenders or offenders of new crimes. The cause for this is the challenges the correctional departments all over the country. The prison employees and administration are ill equipped to rehabilitate the criminal offenders because of numerous reasons. One significant problem is the limited workforce in the prisons. It is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain correctional officers on the job. This is because the job usually entails interacting with dangerous criminals on a daily basis. This paints a false picture for the job profile making recruitment a weighty problem. Another problem facing the correctional department is medical care for the prisoners. The problems here include inadequate staff support, pharmaceuticals and the ability to control the spread of infectious diseases. Another issue ailing the correctional department is the inadequate resources for administrative work. This includes outdated management information systems, security system and communication devices when at work. Overcrowding of the prisons has been on the upward trend for a long time now. It seems that crime is on the rise, and the correctional department is unable to cope effectively (Waller 2009). Other problems include the illegal immigrants who greatly increase the populations of the, gang affiliations in the prisons making it difficult to control violence in the prisons. Funding also has been a significant inhibitor to effective prison administration. Administrative issues also go beyond funding. The prison system must devise ways through which administrators can be accountable for ineffective planning and operations in their prisons. Lack of funding has been attributed to lack of political will to make prison management increasingly effective. It is also becoming difficult to classify prisoners in with regard to transgender criminals. These problems and many more maybe carried into the future if the situation in the corrections is not resolved. In the past, it has always been expected that criminals be incarcerated. This practice was believed to be the most effective tool for rehabilitation. This has not been the case with ex-convicts go out and engage in crime landing them back into prison once more and subsequently increasing the prison population. However, recent developments in the corrections department have forced a change the system at present to change this situation. Legislation in the U.S has provided for use of community based corrections with an aim reduce population in prisons. These alternatives include but are not limited to community service, bail, probation, fines, conditional imprisonment, parole and electronic monitoring. These measures save the correctional departments all over the country costs in incarceration. It also offers minor offenders a chance to reform without the life shattering effects of jail time (Muraskin Roberts, 2009). The future lies in offering alternatives in offenders who have a chance to reform without experiencing jail. The future holds a vision of better correctional systems that exclude mass incarceration. Mass incarceration has been a trend thought of as a measure of reducing the crime levels in neighborhoods across the country by targeting minority races in the country (Robinson 2009). To reduce the crime levels that lead to imprisonment, it is recommended that high crime areas be provided with other opportunities for that would serve as an alternative crime. A reduced level in crime means that there are fewer offenders to imprison and thus improving the prison conditions in terms of population. The county jails have been many prisoners simply because due process takes a lot of time before a prisoner is presented before a court of law. It is essential for the police to simplify investigation procedures to avoid holding prisoners for longer than is expected. The waiting time between trial and the time of arrest and formal charges having been lodged has to be reduced (Victor Naughton, 2010). The longer people wait the more the number of people incarcerated without trial increases, as is the case with New York’s Rikers Island. It is necessary for legislation to impose a time limit within which trials can begin to avoid a backlog impossible to clear. Legislation sets minimum sentences for which criminals are supposed to be incarcerated. It also recommends that recidivists should serve longer period in jail. These legislative approaches should be revised to treat each case as uniquely as they appear before the court. The nature of crime maybe similar but the circumstances should count in determining the length of prison sentence one is going to take. The abolishing of educational programs from the jails does not help in reforming criminals. An educated ex-convict has a chance of avoiding crime and engaging in socially acceptable behavior. An ex-convict without education is more likely to commit crime and land in prison once more. These programs should be reinstated in correctional institutions that removed them for cost. The main issue of the future remains overcrowding and funding the correctional departments. All other problems will be dependent on the resolution of these two. Significant steps are being taken into avoiding overcrowding. However, these measures may have a lasting effect in the future where criminal offenders may feel that minor offences do not require jail time hence justifying committing these crimes. More prisons should be developed and at the same time initiate programs that would be effective and ensure that, the rate of repeat offenses goes down. It would also be necessary to initiate community programs that will reduce the number of juvenile offenders in high crime neighborhoods. However, all this require funding and political will to create an effective correctional system. References Muraskin, R., Roberts, A. R. (2009). Visions for change: Crime and justice in the twenty-first century. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall. Robinson, M. B. (2009). Justice blind? Ideals and realities of American criminal justice. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Victor, J. L., Naughton, J. (2010). Annual editions: Criminal justice 09/10. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Waller, B. N. (2009). You decide!: Current debates in criminal justice. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Analyzing Depictions of Family Life

Analyzing Depictions of Family Life Introduction The family is one of the major subjects of study in sociology. In sociological terms, it represents the integral part of the social system. Each family is a cell which supports the society. Media, which is also the important part of the society functioning, touches upon the urgent social themes. The family relationships represent one of them.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Analyzing Depictions of Family Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The aim of this essay is to describe the family relationships in one of the families portrayed by the media. With this purpose in mind, I am going to analyze the family of Luke Harrison, one of the main characters of the fiction drama Stepmom by Chris Columbus. The main characters and film background Luke Harrison is a successful legal expert. However, he has faced rather difficult problems in his life. He and Jackie, a mother of his children, have divorced recently. They have two children: Anna who is 12 years old and Ben who is 7 years old. Luke has met another woman and tries to build the family with her. Isabel, his girlfriend and later the bride, is a photograph dedicated to her work. She does not have her own children and she recognizes the fact that the children of Luke and Jackie will become a part of her family. Isabel tries to make friends with Anna and Ben. However, it turns difficult to her because the children do not want to see another woman with their father. The relationships with elder child Anna seem to be the biggest problem for Isabel. The situation is sharpened by the jealousy of Jackie who feels that Isabel wants to â€Å"steel† her children. Two women are very different personalities. Jackie is elder than Isabel. She has devoted herself to her family but her relationships with her husband have been broken. Isabel is a career-minded and ambitious person. She lacks the experience in children upbringing. She is hardly to be the competitor to Jackie. Jackie is a perfect mother and it is natural that she fears to lose the affection of Anna and Ben towards her. Probably, the conflict reached its peak when Ben had been lost in the park while being on Isabel’s watch. Fortunately, the boy was found. However, the relationships of Isabel with Jackie spoiled much more. Isabel realizes that she will always be a stepmom for the children. Eventually, she finds the common language with them and Jackie. The episode when Isabel approaches Anna represents one of the turning points in the conflict. A girl has fallen in love for the first time but her boyfriend has offended her. Isabel gives advice to Anna how to teach him a lesson and to stand for herself. Anna follows her advice and feels herself a winner in the situation with her boyfriend. Jackie admits that Isabel has really helped her daughter.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The conflict has been solved because Jackie has known that she has a cancer. The characters have realized that it is vital for the happiness of the children not to break the family ties but to be strong and to do their best to solve the conflict. The last scene depicts the situation when Isabel takes a picture of Luke, Jackie and their children with the intention to make a family portrait and Jackie offers Isabel to join them. The Analysis The marriage is one of the central themes of the film. Besides, the theme of divorce is addressed parallel in the film. Unarguably, these themes are closely connected with the study of the institute of family. In addition, the problems of marriage and divorce are important for the understanding of people attitude towards family. The attitude of people to marriage depends on the social and historic events as well. It reflects the moods in the society. â€Å"Modern marriages might provide companionship in th e form of a spouse, but it deters companionship with relatives other than the spouse† (Gerstel Sarkisian 18). Sometimes the marriage can cause the breakdown of family ties. The situation portrayed in the film Stepmom is, undoubtedly, one of them. However, the characters have, eventually, realized the threat to their happiness and the well-being of their children and have prevented the breakdown of their family ties. The scholars stress that the society recognizes the importance of the family. In addition, the statistics shows that the number of years which people, on average, spend in marriage is substantially more than in the past (Goode 2). The plot of the film reflects this trend. We can see that despite the failure in the relationships with Jackie, Luke Harrison intends to build a new family and makes a proposal to his girlfriend Isabel. Thus, marriage is considered by him as a necessary step in building the family. The failure in relationships with Jackie has not changed the attitude of Luke to marriage and relationships. He intends to marry a woman with whom he feels himself comfortable. â€Å"As a recent Gallup poll finds, 94% of unmarried young women and men say their primary goal in marriage is finding a â€Å"soul mate† (Gerstel Sarkisian 19). At the same time, the scholars argue that the intention of marrying a â€Å"soul mate† often undermines the ties with other family members (Gerstel Sarkisian 19). The evidence of this can be seen in the film. Luke’s intention has caused not only the conflict with his former wife but also the problems with their children.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Analyzing Depictions of Family Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The care for children is also an important theme of the film. The author of the film touched upon the problem of the impact of the divorce of parents on children. Many scholars argue that this prob lem is closely connected with the concept of family structure. â€Å"Some argue that any family form diverging from two-parent, homemaker-breadwinner household represents decline, while others counter that new family forms actually represent creative adaptations to new social contingencies† (Gerson 16). In my opinion, the characters of the film have coped with the problem of the divergence of their family from the traditional family structure. However, it has taken a lot of time and efforts. As for Jackie, she has experienced a stressful situation in her life, the divorce. She feels that such values as family and her relationships with her children are threatened. According to C. Wright Mills, Jackie has experienced the crisis. The author states that the safety of our values is an integral part of our well-being (Wright Mills 11). He also stresses that when people feel that the values, which they cherish in their life, are threatened, they experience crisis (Wright Mills 11). It is obvious that the success of marriage depends on the characters of the wife and husband. It depends on their attitude to family, career, and children upbringing as well. The scholars state that the family with two parents provides more material and emotional benefits to children than the family with only one parent (Biblarz Stacey 5). Luke’s desire to marry Isabel is an important step in creating the environment facilitating the development of his children. Ultimately, Jackie has realized this as well. She will always remain their mother but she understands how important the family atmosphere is for the well-being of her children. Furthermore, she overcomes her jealousy realizing that she has a fatal illness. She wants Isabel to become a real supporter and caregiver for her children after her death. Conclusion In order to sum up all above mentioned, it should be said that the family relationships is the central theme of the film Stepmom by Chris Columbus. The plot of t he film is interesting in context of the sociological study. It addresses such social issues as the relationships between parents and children, marriage, and divorce. The film depicts how the characters prevent the breakdown of family ties in spite of the confrontation and conflicts. It reflects one of the modern social tendencies. The crisis resulting from the feeling of threat to the personal values is perfectly represented in the film. Finally, the importance of family environment for children upbringing is shown. In my opinion, the film is very emotional and dramatic, the same as the relationships in the family it portrays. I recommend watching this film to everyone who is interested in the theme of family relationships and social problems.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Biblarz, Timothy J. and Judith Stacey. How Does the Gender of Parents Matter? Journal of Marriage and Family 72 (2010): 3-22. Print. Gerson, Kathleen. Unfinished Revolution : How a New Generation Is Reshaping Family, Work, and Gender in America .New York, USA: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. Gerstel, Naomi and Natalia Sarkisian. Marriage: the Good, the Bad, and the Greedy. Contexts 5.16 (2006): 16-21. Print. Goode, William J. The Family. Englewood Cliffs, USA: Prentice-Hall, 1982. Print. Wright Mills, Charles. The Sociological Imagination .New York, USA: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.

Albert Durer essays

Albert Durer essays Albert Durer was a very great artist. Some people consider him one of the best artists in the Renaissance period, or the best artist of the renaissance period in Germany. He only left Nuremberg three times to visit Venice and the Netherlands. Albrecht Durer was born in Nurembourg in May 21, 1471. His father, Albrecht Durer was a goldsmith, he had come from Germany to Nurembourg in 1455 and married Barbara Holper. Barbara's father was Albrecht's master. Albrecht was his father's third son. He was apprenticed by Michael Wolgumut in 1486 and began to work with woodcuts. He finished his apprentiship with Michael Wolgumut after four years. Than, in 1494, he married Agnes Frey and left Nuremberg to go to Venice the same year. He became very fascinated by their style and worked on woodcuts, drawings, paintings, wood and copper engravings. From that period on, the Italian influence was unmistakable in his work. Since paintings were very costly and not many people could afford them. Durer decided to work on woodcuts so that he could easily create copies of his work. These copies were used to educate people in religious and classical history. In 1507 Durer made another trip to Venice; he stayed there for a year and a half. After he returned, he seemed to have given up painting, and instead spent most of his time to his copper and wood engravings. In 1513 and 1514 he completed his three best-known copper engravings: 'Knight, Death and Devil', 'St. Jerome in His Study', and 'Melancholia'. Durer also researched about the mathematics of proportion and perspective and published two works on this topic during his life. He was a friend of Martin Luther and several other leaders of the Reformation. He died in Nuremberg on April 6, 1528. ...

Pro's Google Medical Records Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pro's Google Medical Records - Essay Example Medical information has long been stored by doctors, hospitals, clinics and housewives. Doctors, hospitals and clinics have always used the medical charting system, keeping notes in thick files. Medical information was misread, misplaced, faded, and suffered a variety of accidents. Information was shared over telephones and FAX machines, or more often not shared at all. Bits and pieces would perhaps find their ways to a summer camp director, a human resource department, an insurance representative or some other storage destination, where it would become buried and inaccessible to the person whose body was the subject. Each member of the medical team responsible for the health of a given patient, stored only a limited set of medical information and there was little to no coordination of care (Gassee, 2010). To further complicate the patient’s fractured health picture, given the notoriously illegible handwriting of overly-busy doctors, what information there was in storage was o ften inaccurately interpreted. Without access, a patient could not take responsibility to correct inaccurate information. Inaccuracies became compounded. Google’s medical records storage system digitizes all the information and stores it in a central location, online. All members of the medical team, and patient-designated others, have easy access to accurate information, along with the patient (Seidman, 2011). Accuracy is enhanced by patient access to clearly organized records which, like credit card information or educational transcript information, can be corrected when errors are pointed out. Security, a critical issue, is well-assured with Google. Under the old charting system, the patient could not keep track of who had what personal medical information. There was no way to take information access away from those who had access. Google increases medical information security by linking access invitation, always generated by the patient, to specific e-dresses, keeping acc ess power and access-revocation power under patient control (Gassee, 2010). The patient can always see who has viewed personal medical information. Shared records are read-only (Kincaid, 2009). Probably the most important policy implemented by Google, with regard to use of their EMR, is that they will not share any information with anybody, without specific user permission to do so (Google Health, 2011). This policy clearly puts the patient, and not Google or â€Å"Big Brother†, in charge. Without this policy being in place and assured, those forecasting science fiction nightmares about lack of privacy and loss of self-determination, would have a point. Google is a technological giant. Such a massive undertaking as this EMR represents, requires human expertise and impressive computer capability. Google has more success in scalability than most other organizations. They have more than 2.5 million servers indexing and storing data daily, so they are experienced with this sort o f thing (Gassee, 2010). Furthermore, Google has joined forces with a consortium, to develop a software platform that automatically uploads medical information from home healthcare devices (Kirkpatrick 2009). They have associated with partner hospitals, pharmacies, etc., to link information, for the convenience of doctors and patients alike (Google Health, 2011). Google’

Personal Mission Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Mission Statement - Essay Example My goals and objectives in life are multifaceted and I believe I can achieve them all. The goal is to be successful in my personal life, professional life and become a better person in general. I am a single mother of a wonderful nine year old kid and I would like to be the best mother to my son. My son is my source of my personal happiness and I would like to provide him not only his material needs but also the love and support that would make him the best person he can be. I could not be more than happier to see that my son well taken-cared of and loved. I make sure that I spend quality time with him no matter how busy I am. Professionally, I would like to have a career in the future that is not only financially rewarding but also personally fulfilling as well. I would like to have a career in the future that touches people’s lives and that makes a difference in the community (no matter how small) that I am in. I also would like to have a career in the future that allows me to balance work with my personal life so that I will also have the time and energy to attend to my son. I also would like to contribute something to my community like engaging in some volunteer work to have the personal satisfaction that I made a difference. I believe that these goals can be achieved by following the guidelines set by Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. These habits include being proactive, begin the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seeking first to understand, then to be understood, synergize and sharpen the saw. These are simple rules or guidelines that enable an individual to become effective in the things that he or she does that would ultimately make him or her successful in whatever undertaking an individual may chose. Being proactive in the Seven Habits simply meant making the right decisions to become effective. In my case, to

Pro Forma Income Statement and Balance Sheet Essay

Pro Forma Income Statement and Balance Sheet - Essay Example This is done by dividing the balance for these accounts by sales revenue for 2013. The Balance Sheet accounts, which generally vary closely with Sales are cash, inventory, accounts payable, and accounts receivable. Fixed Assets are also often tied closely to Sales, unless there is excess capacity. On the Income Statement, costs are expressed as a percentage of Sales. Since we are assuming that all costs remain at a fixed percentage of Sales, net Income can be expressed as a percentage of sales indicating the profit margin. Taxes are expressed as a percentage of taxable income to determine the tax rate. The next step is constructing the Partial Pro-forma Financial Statements. The first step involves determining the forecast sales level for the company. One plus the forecasted growth rate in Sales multiplied by the sales for the year 2013 yields the sales forecast for 2014. The following formula explains this step. To obtain the growth rate, we compare the sales level of 2013 to the sales level of 2011 and 2012. There was a 1.6% drop in sales from 2011 to 2012. In 2013, the drop in sales was 3.1%. the average drop in sales for the two year period was 2.35%. therefore, the forecasted sales level for 2014 will be; After determining the sales forecast, the income statement and balance sheet accounts that vary directly with Sales are determined by multiplying the percentages by the Sales forecast. The accounts that do not vary directly with Sales are transferred to the Partial Pro-Forma Financial Statements without adjustments. The last step of constructing the pro forma financial statements is determining the external finance needed. External finance needed is the difference between partial pro-forma total assets and partial pro-forma total liabilities and owners equity. The amount for Garmin Ltd is 4887221-4879603 = 7618. Firms can choose to raise the external finance needed by

Iatrogenics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Iatrogenics - Research Paper Example The term Iatrogenic is defined as â€Å"induced in patient by physician’s actions, manner and therapy†. This term is specifically used to describe complications or adverse effects medical advice or treatment. Similarly, a pathological variation leading to detrimental consequences in a patient’s health caused by inappropriate practice of health care professionals is regarded as iatrogenic condition. According to WHO, iatrogenic disease may be defined as adverse drug reactions or complications induced by non drug medical interventions. Darchy et al., (1998) defined it, as a disease stimulated by drug prescribed by the doctor after a medical or surgical procedure. Health care associated or hospital acquired infections are a global problem. Iatrogenic frequently leads to severe complications and may require increased use of health care resources and medication, laboratory testing and prolonged duration of hospitalization. Health care personnel targets disease or risk factors for a future ailments by examining, diagnosing and prescribing a procedure for therapy. Most often, the objective of the caregiver is to prevent an ailment however, most of the effective therapies have side effects. Therefore, a dispute remains whether the benefits outweigh the harm. Initially, the focal point of iatrogenic infections is actions or inactions in terms of services of health care professionals such as physicians, pharmacists, therapists, nurses, psychologist etc. Also, the service environment of a hospital may be basis of iatrogenic (White, MA and Kleber, 2008). The estimated deaths caused by iatrogenic illness are 250,000 that make it third largest causes of deaths in U.S. (White, MA and Kleber, 2008). It costs about 6 billion pounds each year in United Kingdom for compensation (one tenth of NHS budget). History: Word iatrogenic is derived from â€Å"Iatros† a Greek word meaning brought forth by healer. Iatrogenic history can be traced back to 1800 s, when prior to implementation of aseptic techniques (hand washing and use of sterile gloves) thousands of women died due to puerperal fever; an infectious disease that was transferred between patients following delivery. Likewise, many soldiers that were injured in civil war died due to infections caused by health care personal in hospital tents. Later in 1847, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis introduced the concept of hand washing prior to patient handling which dramatically dropped the rate of infections caused by physicians. In modern medical times, in the presence of several aseptic techniques the incidence of infection caused by health care professionals is considerably reduced however, still it is regarded as a major issue in medical science (Cina and Perper, 2010). Presentations: Iatrogenic harm caused from errors in diagnosis can be broadly divided into three types: false positive results (diagnosing a disease/disorder in a individual who does not have one), false negatives (mis-diagnosi ng a disease/disorder in an individual or misjudging the severity of a disease/disorder) and failure to respond and execute to a long term treatment or recovery in a disease. It is a result of procedures or therapeutic treatments or diagnostic examinations. Most of the iatrogenic conditions become clinically evident during the hospital stay however, the infections caused

Compare and contrast the colonization of Sahul and the colonization of Essay

Compare and contrast the colonization of Sahul and the colonization of the New World. Consider how people might have gotten to each continent, and evidence for Pleistocene overkill in each situation - Essay Example Homo Sapiens are believed to have undertaken their migration from their origins in Africa from about 50,000 years ago (O’Connella & Allen 2004). These late Pleistocene migrations coincided with the end of the earth’s most recent period of glaciations (Ice Ages). The accumulation of vast amounts of ice in the glaciers resulted in punctuated drops in the sea level of up to 100m allowing easier access to the previously uninhabited continents. When the Homo Sapiens left Africa they are believed to have migrated east toward India and then south east along the coast of Asia until they reached Australia between 45,000 to 42,000 years ago (O’Connella & Allen 2004). At that time, due to the much lower sea level, most of martime Southeast Asia formed one land mass – known as the lost continent of Sunda. Following the coastal route southeast they would have reached the channel between Sunda and Sahul (present day Australia and New Guinea). This channel, between the Sahul and Sunda (known as the Wallace Line) must have been traversed by the technologically more advanced Homo Sapiens whereas the earlier Homo Erectus never traversed it (O’Connella & Allen 2004). It is presumed that they used rafts of some sort to traverse the channel. The close chronological coincidence of the arrival of humans capable of hunting megafauna and the Pleistocene mass extinction around 40,000 years ago in the Sahul lends support to the hypothesis that humans were in some way a causal factor. These megafauna, having evolved in the absence of human predation are thought to have been particularly vulnerable to the arrival of humans in the form of Homo Sapiens. The Megafauna had few other predators and because they evolved largely without significant predators. Models of migration to the New World are more divided. The reliable evidence currently available suggests a north western migration of

Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Hamlet by William Shakespeare - Essay Example There stand many conflicting theories and ideas on this subject, and this paper aims at analyzing the theme of revenge, in relation to sanity, the impossibility of certainty, the complexity of action and a brief analysis of the play. In the initial Act, Hamlet appears to be in a flawlessly sane state of mind in all the five scenes.   In the second scene, the audience starts to see his character change.  Polonius meets with Ophelia and reminiscences the meeting she previously had with Hamlet.   Ophelia tells her father that indeed Hamlet came to her messy and in a traumatized state of mind, talking of "horror†.   Her father instantly believes that he is actually "Mad for thy love?" (Act 2 Scene 2).   Ophelia answers a question postured by Polonius which she replied that had told Hamlet that Polonius could not communicate or see with him any further.   Her father refers to Hamlet madness once again by announcing that what his daughter uttered, "...   hath made him ( Hamlet) insane." (Act 2 Scene 2). The argument of if Hamlet is mad because of his affection for Ophelia remains often argued, but a more complex and confusing situation is the brawl within the mind of Hamlet. His personal struggle gets shown to the audience in the first scene of the 3rd act. In this first scene, Hamlet recites his eminent "being or not being- that are the query:" (Act 3 Scene 1) speech. Here, the audience truly apprehends that Hamlet is uncertain two means in his life. Being or not being essentially is Hamlet assessment on whether he ought to toil the efforts of living in such harsh world and contest to avenge the murder of his father or commit suicide. Hamlet remains muddled as to whether he have to avenge the death of his father when he, as Sigmund Freud "Oedipus Rex Complex" proposes, wished to kill his father to catch all the attention of his mother. However, in the hind of the mind Hamlet, which keeps him in continuous turmoil, remains his faithfulness to his f amily and furthermore, his father (Shakespeare 67). Hamlet, in scene two of act four, meets with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, and he appears to be breaking into madness. Hamlet had just murdered Polonius, and his friends were inquiring him on where he located the body of the deceased man. The odd thing about this scene remains that Hamlet appears to play with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz and does not offer them a straight riposte. Hamlet has practically malformed into a different individual and does not seem to be wholly sane (Cantor 44). Since Hamlet doubts the existence of Ghost's revelation, he chooses to put on the behavior of being insane; in the process he actually drives Ophelia mad, initiating her death. Sometimes it also appears that Hamlet's madness appearance become a reality. Next is another condition that cannot be totally elucidated: the condition being Hamlet's delays in revenging the death of his father. The first thing that Hamlet discovers is the death of his fath er in scene five of the scene one, where he trails the ghost. Hamlet eventually hears from this ghost, that he (ghost) is the soul of his father and that he got killed by Claudius. All this took place at the onset of the play and Hamlet waits until the play end to avenge for his father. Then again there stands different perspectives as to if Hamlet waited till the end to actually have revenge. Within the play there remain many insinuations that Hamlet tormented Claudius all the way up till he killed the king and the father of

Iatrogenics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Iatrogenics - Research Paper Example The term Iatrogenic is defined as â€Å"induced in patient by physician’s actions, manner and therapy†. This term is specifically used to describe complications or adverse effects medical advice or treatment. Similarly, a pathological variation leading to detrimental consequences in a patient’s health caused by inappropriate practice of health care professionals is regarded as iatrogenic condition. According to WHO, iatrogenic disease may be defined as adverse drug reactions or complications induced by non drug medical interventions. Darchy et al., (1998) defined it, as a disease stimulated by drug prescribed by the doctor after a medical or surgical procedure. Health care associated or hospital acquired infections are a global problem. Iatrogenic frequently leads to severe complications and may require increased use of health care resources and medication, laboratory testing and prolonged duration of hospitalization. Health care personnel targets disease or risk factors for a future ailments by examining, diagnosing and prescribing a procedure for therapy. Most often, the objective of the caregiver is to prevent an ailment however, most of the effective therapies have side effects. Therefore, a dispute remains whether the benefits outweigh the harm. Initially, the focal point of iatrogenic infections is actions or inactions in terms of services of health care professionals such as physicians, pharmacists, therapists, nurses, psychologist etc. Also, the service environment of a hospital may be basis of iatrogenic (White, MA and Kleber, 2008). The estimated deaths caused by iatrogenic illness are 250,000 that make it third largest causes of deaths in U.S. (White, MA and Kleber, 2008). It costs about 6 billion pounds each year in United Kingdom for compensation (one tenth of NHS budget). History: Word iatrogenic is derived from â€Å"Iatros† a Greek word meaning brought forth by healer. Iatrogenic history can be traced back to 1800 s, when prior to implementation of aseptic techniques (hand washing and use of sterile gloves) thousands of women died due to puerperal fever; an infectious disease that was transferred between patients following delivery. Likewise, many soldiers that were injured in civil war died due to infections caused by health care personal in hospital tents. Later in 1847, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis introduced the concept of hand washing prior to patient handling which dramatically dropped the rate of infections caused by physicians. In modern medical times, in the presence of several aseptic techniques the incidence of infection caused by health care professionals is considerably reduced however, still it is regarded as a major issue in medical science (Cina and Perper, 2010). Presentations: Iatrogenic harm caused from errors in diagnosis can be broadly divided into three types: false positive results (diagnosing a disease/disorder in a individual who does not have one), false negatives (mis-diagnosi ng a disease/disorder in an individual or misjudging the severity of a disease/disorder) and failure to respond and execute to a long term treatment or recovery in a disease. It is a result of procedures or therapeutic treatments or diagnostic examinations. Most of the iatrogenic conditions become clinically evident during the hospital stay however, the infections caused

Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Hamlet by William Shakespeare - Essay Example There stand many conflicting theories and ideas on this subject, and this paper aims at analyzing the theme of revenge, in relation to sanity, the impossibility of certainty, the complexity of action and a brief analysis of the play. In the initial Act, Hamlet appears to be in a flawlessly sane state of mind in all the five scenes.   In the second scene, the audience starts to see his character change.  Polonius meets with Ophelia and reminiscences the meeting she previously had with Hamlet.   Ophelia tells her father that indeed Hamlet came to her messy and in a traumatized state of mind, talking of "horror†.   Her father instantly believes that he is actually "Mad for thy love?" (Act 2 Scene 2).   Ophelia answers a question postured by Polonius which she replied that had told Hamlet that Polonius could not communicate or see with him any further.   Her father refers to Hamlet madness once again by announcing that what his daughter uttered, "...   hath made him ( Hamlet) insane." (Act 2 Scene 2). The argument of if Hamlet is mad because of his affection for Ophelia remains often argued, but a more complex and confusing situation is the brawl within the mind of Hamlet. His personal struggle gets shown to the audience in the first scene of the 3rd act. In this first scene, Hamlet recites his eminent "being or not being- that are the query:" (Act 3 Scene 1) speech. Here, the audience truly apprehends that Hamlet is uncertain two means in his life. Being or not being essentially is Hamlet assessment on whether he ought to toil the efforts of living in such harsh world and contest to avenge the murder of his father or commit suicide. Hamlet remains muddled as to whether he have to avenge the death of his father when he, as Sigmund Freud "Oedipus Rex Complex" proposes, wished to kill his father to catch all the attention of his mother. However, in the hind of the mind Hamlet, which keeps him in continuous turmoil, remains his faithfulness to his f amily and furthermore, his father (Shakespeare 67). Hamlet, in scene two of act four, meets with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, and he appears to be breaking into madness. Hamlet had just murdered Polonius, and his friends were inquiring him on where he located the body of the deceased man. The odd thing about this scene remains that Hamlet appears to play with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz and does not offer them a straight riposte. Hamlet has practically malformed into a different individual and does not seem to be wholly sane (Cantor 44). Since Hamlet doubts the existence of Ghost's revelation, he chooses to put on the behavior of being insane; in the process he actually drives Ophelia mad, initiating her death. Sometimes it also appears that Hamlet's madness appearance become a reality. Next is another condition that cannot be totally elucidated: the condition being Hamlet's delays in revenging the death of his father. The first thing that Hamlet discovers is the death of his fath er in scene five of the scene one, where he trails the ghost. Hamlet eventually hears from this ghost, that he (ghost) is the soul of his father and that he got killed by Claudius. All this took place at the onset of the play and Hamlet waits until the play end to avenge for his father. Then again there stands different perspectives as to if Hamlet waited till the end to actually have revenge. Within the play there remain many insinuations that Hamlet tormented Claudius all the way up till he killed the king and the father of

Democracy and Technology Essay Example for Free

Democracy and Technology Essay While technologies such as the use of internet and e-democracy have made the dissemination of ideas quicker, they have also resulted in the increase in a groups power to manipulate general opinion. The technologies aiding democracy today, such as computers, satellites, radio, telephones and television have undeniably changed the face of modern democracy. What constitute positive spill outs of these technologies for democracy also in some cases have a detrimental effect on it. While it increases the reach among people and nations, enriching both formal and business communication, it also provides these opportunities to fundamentalists to create rumours and channels individuals or a group of people against democracy. However a little caution such as verifying the news from multiple sources will easily reveal these elements and thus the negative influence of misleading a large group of rational individuals can be easily curtailed. The rise in literacy level and the positive trend of e-democracy deepens the process of democracy and empowers the individuals not only to have a say in the election of their government as earlier, but also empowers the citizens to have greater say in the decision making process of the government. With increasing literacy levels, as the citizens become more aware of the power of technology, they will find it easier to organise themselves for pressing on social, economic and political reforms from the government at helm thus ushering a truly democratic era where the citizens role is not only limited to electing their representatives but also to correct them if they are being found negligent in fulfilling their duties. However for this to happen in the future, it should be ensured that technology and their benefits are not limited to a select few in the upper echelons of society and that they are made available to those at the lowest level for complete integration of the masses to the democracy. References Allison, Juliann Emmons. (2002). Technology, development, and democracy. SUNY Press.

Political System of Pakistan

Political System of Pakistan INTRODUCTION The current system of government in Pakistan is a mixed, â€Å"hybrid† form of government with elements from the parliamentary as well as the presidential systems. The country initially had a parliamentary form of government, it shifted to a presidential one with the 1962 constitution but later reverted back to a parliamentary one according to the current 1973 constitution. However, the various amendments and modifications to the constitutional provisions carried out by political leaders over the years have left a democratic, parliamentary government only in paper. The question that this paper, thus, attempts to answer is that, is a pure parliamentary form of government suitable for Pakistan? To find a proper conclusion to the aforementioned question, the essay will explore the shortfalls of the current system and compare the two forms of government i.e. Parliamentary and Presidential, in order to suggest the better suited government structures of the two. In order to do this India, with its similarities to Pakistan in terms of shared history and culture, is taken as an example for Pakistan along with instances of the two types of democratic government systems prevalent in other countries. While the arguments for Parliamentary and Presidential forms of governments may draw inspiration from their practical application in India and elsewhere but these examples will be implied and not necessarily always mentioned explicitly. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research for this paper comprised primarily of review of works by established professionals and academics in the field. Most of the research was limited to consultation of print and online sources for access to published material on the relevant topic. The starting point of analysis was with examination of the text containing reviews of the current system of government structure in Pakistan, its flaws and the eventual inefficiencies it has led to. Various journal articles and books were consulted for a variety of perspectives on the debate regarding the suitable system of government for Pakistan. Along with consultation of material for analysis of government structure of various countries, especially India and the South Asian region in particular, online journals were looked upon for comparative perspectives on the suitable government structure and their merits and demerits. Although the research is limited to a select few academics and professionals in the field, it allows for a sample of the general prevalent views on the issue since both sides of the debate have been looked at. LITERATURE REVIEW A large majority of literature on the topic is either about the shortfalls of the current mixed government of Pakistan or it highlights how the presidential system of government is better suited for the country. What is needed, however, is a detailed comparison of the two systems and not just analysis of any one of the systems with regards to Pakistan. Material by foreign academics and professionals looks at the Pakistani political system in comparison to their own and focuses on the inadequacies of the Pakistani system. The following reviewed literature comprises of a small sample of previously conducted study and analyses on the subject under discussion. Khalid Sayeed (1967), in his book ‘The Political System of Pakistan, explained the chronological progression of events leading up to the constitution of 1962 and the provisions it made regarding the system of governance to be put in practice in Pakistan. Regarding the 1962 constitution, the author (Sayeed, 1967) was of the view that the constitution severely curtailed the powers of the parliament and reduced the country to a distorted version of a presidential government. The author provided a favorable opinion about the parliamentary form of government, provided that it is actually in its truly democratic form (Sayeed, 1967, pp. 83). Although the author has given his opinion with support through illustrative historical examples but the author has failed to mention, explicitly, the merits or demerits of either of the systems of government and his clear choice of the either of the two. The authors arguments seemed to reflect a leaning towards the parliamentary system but he does not clearly highlight his choice, leaving the audience a little ambiguous about his perspective. In the book entitled ‘Government of Pakistan, Parmatma Sharan (1975) gave an outsiders opinion regarding the system of government present in Pakistan with comparison to their home country, Indias government system. The author has sounded alarms regarding the high centralization of the government in Pakistan throughout the years ever since its independence. The author has said that this should be countered since a weaker leadership can, and has shown in actuality, the perils of a weak decision-making power in times of need (Sharan, 1975, pp. 150). Ahmed Shuja Pasha (1995), in his account of the scenario of the Pakistani politics, was of the view that people themselves are largely responsible for choosing the ‘wrong leaders as their democratic representatives. Pasha (1995, pp. 281-287) believed that the inefficiencies present in the political system of Pakistan are largely due to the fact that people associate democracy with one particular person who takes advantage of the situation and manipulates their powerful position for their own gains. Pashas (1995) views were a little biased as he does not consider the constant shuffling of the regime as much of a problem for the lack of people getting accustomed to the workings of a democracy. The authors views were favorable for the military as he finds the military having the most disciplined set up during the times it came into power in the country (Pasha, 1995, pp. 189-190). In an attempt to contextualize the latest Musharraf-led military coup in Pakistan, Sohail Mahmood (2001) tried to consider the factors that have led to the demise of true democracy in the country. He was of the view that regardless of the fact that the country is under parliamentary or presidential regime, the country has never truly been a democratic country because of the highly centralized nature of governance (Mahmood, 2001, pp. 7). The author also discussed the current semi-parliamentary system of Pakistan in comparison with a more presidential system like governance. He analyzed the merits and demerits of both (Mahmood, 2001, pp.128-129). Although the author presented a fairly balanced view about the situation, he merely referenced historical political situations as chronological facts without his opinions being clear regarding them. The autho,r Udaya N. Shukla, in his essay â€Å"Parliamentary Control over Government Policies in India† (1990) looked at the parliamentary system as a British legacy. The shortcomings in this system experienced in South Asia (by India as well as Pakistan) are attributed to the centralization and the lack of proper literate population to understand the exact nuts and bolts of a parliamentary government (Shukla, 1990). The author should consider that this leads to the political elite to manipulate the situation and also he should outline the kind of political elite that could benefit by the ignorance of the population regarding the system. This is important because it allows the audience to contextualize the problems that plague the current parliamentary form of government. Furthermore, it is not possible to make an absolute, decisive conclusion on the issue since access to every study and detailed research has not been possible and limited numbers of past discourses have been examined for the current analysis. ANALYSIS Pakistan, according to its constitution, is a ‘federal republic (Constitution of Pakistan 1973, Article 1(1)). This means that Pakistan is a country where several autonomous states have come together under a federation, the states being the self-governing provinces and the federal capital, Islamabad, being the centralizing federal authority. Being a republic, Pakistani government is a government where majority of the power vests among the larger body of citizens and where there is a head of state but that is not a monarch, the head of state is democratically elected, directly or indirectly (Merriam-Webster, 2011). The Constitution of Pakistan calls for a democratically elected government where the legislative authority is vested in the Parliament and the executive is led by the President (Constitution of Pakistan 1973, Objectives Resolution). The origins of the sort of power division proposed by the 1973 Constitution can be found in the ‘Separation of Powers doctrine proposed by Montesquieu (Anon. web). The Montesquieu doctrine called for division of the powers to govern a country with three proper divisions i.e. Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. Checks and Balances on all three of them by each other were proposed to ensure that every government instrument carried upon its tasks without infringing upon other institutions. However, the system of mixed government at present in Pakistan where the President, in paper is ceremonial, but in reality is a political affiliate of a particular party and where the Prime Minister is not only the leader of the Legislative body but also the head o f the Council of Ministers which is the Executive body, is not properly following the ‘Separation of Powers. Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, the fourth Prime Minister of Pakistan, has even been quoted calling the 1965 government one that is â€Å"a government of the President, by the President and for the President† (Sayeed, 1967, pp. 105), there is a similar situation at present as well. This is a problem for the country since the population has not even been accustomed to the concept of a proper parliamentary democracy that was introduced initially, now the highly distorted form of government is the product of and also leads to further irresponsible decision-making by the countrys leadership, centralization of all important government policy matters and hegemony of the few. These inefficiencies have also been reflected in the political parties of Pakistan and their working. Being a heterogeneous society, Pakistan, like other developing countries with people from a diverse background, for instance India, Pakistan also needs the participation of a larger number of people in the political life in order to break the shackles of domination that the political elite are keeping an overwhelming majority bound in (Kohli, 1994, pp. 90). The form of government and the design of party politics prevalent at present in the country is a major road block towards a liberal democratic Pakistan where all adults are actually empowered and educated enough to voice their opinions. Party politics is dominated by a handful of feudal families which share the government between them. This leads to a centralized system of decision making in the country regarding national and international matters which does not necessarily effectively reflect the majoritys opinion and keeps the ascendancy of the few (Kohli, 1994; Sayeed, 1967). Pakistan has also been suffering from bad governance owing to high centralization of the command (Sharan, 1975; Sayeed, 1977; Mahmood, 2001). This centralization of the decision making further conforms to Atul Kohlis (1994) comments regarding the increased hegemony of the richer, more dominant political elite. With increased concentration of powers not only does one person or office become uncontrollably powerful but there is an increased chance of the irresponsible and corrupt usage of that power (Mahmood, 2001). In Pakistans case if the Prime Minister or the President is leading the Legislative body as well as the Executive they themselves are the ones making any new laws and regulations and ensuring their adherence by the general public, this becomes a case similar to the British Monarchy where the crown is above the law (De, 1991, pp. 246). A situation like this leads to chaos when that particular person does not remain in their position anymore and since there has been no power sharing and none of the other institutions have contributed to the decision making process so nobody is ready to completely assume responsibility automatically upon the vacation of the office. Ahmed S. Pasha (1995) also sounded off similar comments when he mentioned that the population associated democracy with one person and the exit of that person caused chaos and disruption in the functioning of the government. In order to clear up the mess of the mixed system and completely evolve into a more efficient form of governance it is necessary to understand both the systems of government Parliamentary and Presidential. The Parliamentary form of government has been labeled by most as a direct descendent of Monarchy. While a monarch comes into power by a dynastic succession, the head of state in a parliamentary form of government is democratically elected through the concept of universal suffrage (Philip. 2007, pp. 42). The existence of political parties is crucial for a parliamentary form of government. For a true parliamentary democracy, S.C. Stokes (1999, pp.263) said that political parties are an essential component and there is no removing them. However, the present party system does not seem capable enough to accommodate the essence of a liberal democracy where any number of people from any background can represent their group. Thus, for establishing an effective liberal parliamentary democracy political parties need to be truly democratic themselves (Mahmood, 2001). This measure may also effectively solve the issue of centralization of power in the hands of a few since with a democratic setup of the parties more people from diverse backgrounds can participate in the party politics. Another feature of the parliamentary system is that the division of powers is often blurred; this again alludes to the Monarchical roots of the parliamentary system of government. However, lack of strong division of power does not mean lack of power sharing. Even in a parliamentary system there can be more decentralized decision making with powers vested in various echelons of the government. This can be seen in United Kingdom where although the final decision approving authority is with the executive the Crown, the decision-making power is highly differentiated with the House of Commons and the House of Lords being involved in the legislative process. On the other hand, the Presidential system of government is based strictly on the doctrine of ‘Separation of Powers and the Head of the State the President, is elected directly by the population along with the core legislative body (Philip. 2007. pp. 39). Both the systems have their own merits and demerits but for a heterogeneous society like Pakistan where strong ethic affiliations play a central role in the populations trust in their representative, a parliamentary system is rather more effective because the direct election of the Head of State in Pakistan is definitely not a suitable option as larger population areas are more likely to have their candidates elected to the office every time. Moreover, as Ahmed Shuja Pasha (1995) argued that most of Pakistans problems of electing the ‘wrong candidate are associated with the lack of awareness regarding the best candidate by the general voters. The Presidential system calls for the election of one particular person and implementation of such a system in Pakistan would not change the status quo of re-election of the same feudal leaders. In a true form of Parliamentary system where political parties are truly democratic themselves, this would allow for parties to choose better candidates for election and helping the largely illiterate Pakistani population in electing deserving representatives. Accountability of a ‘non-deserving candidates election will be, in such a system, done once that person has been elected to the Parliament. The lack of capability of such a person would soon be exposed in a truly parliamentary system and this would lead to damaging of the political partys image so they would be wary of choos ing those who are not capable. Another favorable argument for a parliamentary government system is that it allows for electing the government once, unlike a presidential system where the governments are to be elected in two steps; once the congress and then the president (Mehta, 1994; Mahmood, 2001; Philip, 2007). This may lead to instances, in a presidential system, where the president is of a different political ideology than the majority of the congress. In such a situation passing legislation would be a torturously slow task. While Sohail Mahmood (2001) was of the view that slowing down legislation is the goal for a country like Pakistan, in fact a quicker paced legislative process would be required for the country once it adopts the true democratic form of Parliamentary government. This quicker paced legislative process would be favored because this way reforms and legislation favored by the public can be enacted quickly which would be very slow if a Presidential system is adopted.. One point that defendants of the Presidential system make is that it brings the leaders closer to the people and this way the population can decide the best person they feel that can govern them (Philip, 2007, pp.45). However, in Pakistan this is actually a disadvantage since charismatic leadership is often overshadowed by the feudal hegemony maintained by the ruling elite. A pure parliamentary system can at least allow more people to compete alongside the ruling elite and may be they even give them an opportunity to be a part of the government. CONCLUSION The question of the form of government is extremely important for Pakistan because the form of government intended by the constitution is a parliamentary form of democracy (Constitution of Pakistan 1973, Preamble). This already establishes that all administrative and political aspects of governance will be dealt with according to the general provisions of a parliamentary democratic government. An important aspect to be discussed here is that parliamentary democracy itself is the ideal form because of a long history of the success rate of a parliamentary democracy as compared to a presidential one. JosÃÆ' © Cheibub and Fernando Limongi (2002, pp. 152) have reported that most forms of parliamentary democracies have survived over a longer period of time unlike a presidential form which has fallen prey to a dictators hands numerous times. Although in the current system even the president is part of one of those families, in the long term once a true liberal democratic regime has been established in the country the hegemony of the few might be effectively destroyed and the president will work as merely a ceremonial head of state, as can be seen in India. Regulation of political parties is also important and legislation to enforce certain measures, like in-party elections, should be introduced. Whatever the final outcome may be, it is quite welcome that the current government has at least intended to move away from the present mixed system to a more parliamentary form of government. The incumbent Prime Minister of Pakistan has been reported to have resolved to make sure necessary steps are taken to start the process of this transition (Daily Times, 2008; VOA News, 2010). It is suggested to the current government that decentralization of decision-making and clean-up process within the political parties be taken as the first steps to start the journey towards a pure parliamentary democracy for Pakistan.

Canada Essay -- Geography Canada Expository Essays

Canada Canada, is the world's second largest country and it is the largest country in the Western Hemisphere. It comprises all of the North American continent north of the United States, with the exclusion of Alaska, Greenland, and the tiny French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. Its most easterly point is Cape Spear, Newfoundland and its western limit is Mount St. Elias in the Yukon Territory, near the Alaskan border. The southernmost point is Middle Island, in Lake Erie and the northern tip is Cape Columbia, on Ellesmere Island. Canada is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the west by the pacific Ocean, and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and its associated bodies of water, including Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea. Canada has an abundance of mineral, forest, and water-power resources. The mining industry has been a major force in Canada's economic development in the past and is still the main force in the advance and economic activity and permanent settlement into the northlands. The principal minerals are petroleum, nickel, copper, zinc, iron ore, natural gas, asbestos, molybdenum, sulfur, gold, and platinum; in addition extensive beds of coal, potash, uranium, gypsum, silver, and magnesium are found. Fresh water covers an estimated 756 276 sq km or 7.6% of Canada. The many rivers and lakes supply ample fresh water to meet the nation's needs for its communities and for irrigation, agriculture, industries, transportation, and hydroelectric power generation. Canada has four principal drainage basins: the Atlantic Basin which drains to the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, the Hudson Bay Basin which drains northward into Hudson Bay via the Churchill, Nelson and Saskatchewan rivers, the Arctic Basin which is drained by the Mackenzie River and the Pacific Basin which drains into the Pacific Ocean via the Fraser, Yukon and Columbia rivers. Canada has six major physical, or physiographic, regions: the Canadian Shield, the Arctic Islands, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands, the Appalachian Region, the Interior Plains, and the Cordilleran Region. In simple terms, Canada can be considered a vast, saucer-shaped basin, bordered by mountainous lands on the west, east, and northeast. Hudson Bay and the lowlands along its southern shore form the central depression of this... ... During the last 75 years, the Canadian economy has been transformed from on based primarily on agricultural production and the export of agricultural products and raw materials to one based primarily on its manufacturing and service sectors, as well as a mining sector of continuing importance. Canada's economy reflects an affluent high-tech industrial society and resembles the United States, with whom it has close economic ties. This is one reason why a large percentage of the population live by the U.S.-Canadian border. Another reason is because a large number of the manufacturing plants are located in the southern section of Canada. Canada is rich in natural resources. It is a world leader in value of mineral exports and produces and exports many of the mineral needed for modern industrial economies. It's soils which are especially rich in the three prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, are intensively utilized and make Canada one of the world's largest exporters of agricultural products. Forests cover much of the land, and Canada is the world's largest exporter of newsprint and a leading supplier of lumber, pulp, paper, and wood products.

Sir John Hawkwood :: Essays Papers

Sir John Hawkwood English Mercenary 1320-1394 Sir John Hawkwood (1320-1394), also known as Giovanni Acuto, was an English mercenary fighting in Italy during the 1300s. He is considered the first military leader of the modern times. He was a member of the White Company of Englishmen, which was famous for its white armor, and loud harsh war cries. These men were infamous for their night raids. Hawkwood and his men never remained loyal to one side but were always changing sides of the war depending on who paid the most money. Money is what Hawkwood desired. He learned to fight during the Hundred Years War in France, where he fought first under Edward III and then at the command of his own company, which sacked Provence. When he came to Italy in 1360, he was first employed by the city of Pisa, then by the Viscontis of Milan, by Pope Gregory XI and lastly by Florence. In 1364 Hawkwood with his Pisan troops was the enemy of the Florentines and had raided their city but they forgave him and established such a good relationship with him that he was honored on his death with the equestrian monument frescoed by Paolo Uccello in Santa Maria del Fiore (1436). This monument is in the Florence Cathedral. In August of 1372, Hawkwood's White Company under the pay of the Viscontti fought Enguerrand de Coucy. Hawkwood's men were served with at least two pages. These pages made sure the armor was as bright as a mirror, and they also held the horses during the battles. Hawkwood desired the armor to look like a mirror in order to make them look more fierce. The men fought on foot in a tight circle that no enemy could break. Coucy claims that the war cries of the White Company were fierce and instilled fear in the enemy. After this battle, Hawkwood teams up with Coucy to take the city of Mantua. In 1375, at the age of 55, John Hawkwood fathered two sons without getting married. In this same year, he led raids into Tuscany to get spoils since the Pope was late on his payments. Hawkwood was not a religious man and did not deal with authority very well.