National Health Service Reorganization

Any UK government is faced with a long list of health issues, this list would include macro questions such as the relationship of the National Health Service (NHS) to broader policies which might affect the health of the population and how to finance and staff health services. The NHS has gone through many stages of development in the last century, however the 1990 act introduced the most radical accounting control system since the birth of the NHS. Much accounting research has been developed on this topic and this paper will bring together some of their findings. By the late 1980†³s general management in the NHS was in full force, and expectations of ‘management discipline† were high, however there were a series of recurrent crisis. These crises were particularly evident in the hospital services and were caused by a combination of scarcity of compatible resources and an infinite demand for health care. Through a fundamental view of operations in 1989, two reviews were drawn up by the department of health, ‘working for patients† and ‘caring for people† (DoH, 1989a, 1989b), and these formed the basis of the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. The main focus of the impact was the concept of the internal market. This essentially involved the separation of two of the main functions of the NHS, purchasing and providing. Purchasing is defined as the buying of health services to satisfy local needs and providing, is defined as the day to day business of delivering that care. The purchasing agencies are provided with a budget which reflects their defined population, from which they must identify health needs, plan ways to satisfy them while ensuring the quality of the service. When the purchaser identifies their requirements, they produce a contract with the providers, who in turn invoice the purchaser for the materials and services provided. This illustrates the ‘Quasi-market† in operation, a Quasi-market being a market which seems to exist but doesn†t really. Flynn (1993) described the internal markets in the NHS as a mechanism to match supply with demand, and allow hospitals to compete on price and quality to attract patients. This new ideology of governance of the NHS has changed dramatically, especially through the Thatcher administration. Harrison (1997) describes how there are three ways of co-ordinating the activities of a multiplicity organisation, through markets, clans and hierarchies. Clans and hierarchies are based on using the process of co-operation to produce an ordered system of outcomes. The historic NHS was built very much around them; a combination of bureaucracy and professional culture; labelled as ‘professional bureaucracy† by Pugh and Hichson (1976). The new NHS is now reflected as having a market orientated organisation. The reformed NHS was established on 1st April 1991. On that day the internal market became operational, it†s main features were, that there is a fixed level of ‘demand† whose total is determined by NHS funding, trading takes place among a large number of buyers and sellers, and there is competition among suppliers. In this market it should be expected that managers respond with price, quality and branding as weapons of competitive behaviour (Flynn 1993). Llewellyn (1993) described the introduction of an ‘internal† or ‘Quasi-market† in health and social care, as a reaction to and was practically enabled, by an expanding population. Her research that looked at two factors, which forced reform in the NHS, demographic trends and technological advancement. The first factor focused on the growing problem facing nation states in the developed world is that of an ageing population and hence a greater dependence on the NHS in future years. Between 1961 and 1990 the percentage of the UK population over sixty five increased by one third and the numbers aged eighty five and over, more than doubled (Population Trends 1992). The second factor looked at the advancing technology of medical care across the developed world, which offered a new range of medical services and techniques. These advances however caused a problematic escalation in the supply and demand for medical treatment, and therefore total cost of that treatment to the purchaser. The basic rationale of her paper, was how the introduction of a market into health care causes an anticipated stimulus to competition and hence constant improvement in resource allocation and cost management. Hood (1994) identified two aims of the government in office as regard to the public sector, first the desire to lessen or eliminate differences between modes of private and public sector organisation. Secondly, the intention of exerting more control over the actions of public sector professionals. However, to discuss the first aim it is important to realise that there is a fundamental difference between developing a customer orientation in the private sector and a user orientation system in the public services (Flynn 1993). Private sector problems tend to be in efforts to market their products or services to the consumer, usually in competition with other firms. Whereas, public sector problems tend to be trying to deter too many people using their services, as opposed to attracting them. Therefore, this produces a fundamental problem in the trying to eliminate these aspects. Several issues caused the government desire not only to control, but also to make resource usage more efficient. Firstly the deepening public sector problems had to be addressed, and the adoption of more accountable systems seemed a perfect solution. There was also the desire not only to be able to control but also reduce public expenditure. Finally, political promises were made to reduce the share of public expenditure in National Income, to curtail the range of functions being performed by government, whilst also seeking to improve, nurture and stimulate the business attitudes and practices necessary to re-launch Britain as a successful capitalist economy, this was a conservative attitude. The government therefore promoted the view that accountable management reforms are needed for the public sector to be more accountable to those who receive, pay for or monitor public services; to provide services in a more effective, efficient and publicly responsible fashion (Humphrey 1991). The emergence of an internal market for health services inevitably resulted in the emergence of various accounting techniques, their purpose was to act as a stimulus to ensure efficient allocation of resources and to minimise costs. The increasing competition derived from this market created a need for management control systems. Hood (1994) categorised international accountable management as having up to seven dimensions, for government implementation of a system in the public sector. First, that it sought a greater disaggregation of public sector organisations, secondly, it would be searching for a stronger competitive use of private sector management techniques. Thirdly, a heavier emphasis on efficiency of resource usage, fourthly, reforms in accountability management. Fifthly a clearer specification of input/output relationships, sixthly, a greater use of measurable performance standards and targets, and finally, the use of ‘hands on† management of staff in control. These categories relate to Hood†s (1994) two aims, discussed previously, with the first three dimensions relating to his first aim of eliminating differences of public and private sector organisations. The four are geared towards the second aim of control. Hood†s research was based on a comparative study of cross-national experience of accountable management reforms. Arguably the views on the adoption of management control systems in the public sector depends on our position in society. As our society is more focused on markets, competitiveness and efficiency, it is likely that accounting techniques will play an important role, however, the importance of keeping the welfare of our society should be first and foremost. After all the goals of public sector organisations should differ from those in the private sector (e. g. they should not be profit maximisers). The objective of the NHS as an organisation remains unchanged since the reforms, in terms of securing an improvement in the state of the health of the population. However, it is now faced with the dilemma, that the means of achieving this greater improvement has been surfaced with financial considerations (Mellett 1998). One of the consequences of the reforms carried out on the NHS, after the NHS and Community Care Act 1990, is that at the level of health care delivery, it has been fragmented into over 500 separate trusts. Each of these trusts is a clearly defined autonomous unit which has an obligation to monitor performance in terms of both finance and patient care activity (Clatworthy et al 1997). This was the governments preferred mode of organisation and it becomes universal along with the associated accounting regime (Mellet 1998). Mellett (1998), looked at how the revised accounting system operated within trusts, and found that their procedures included a system of capital accounting; it†s objective was to increase the awareness of health service managers of the cost of capital and the incentive to use that capital efficiently. However, introducing a new control system into an organisation, and also the fact the management team are unlikely to have experience in it†s application, could lead to several implementing problems and introduce another element of risk. Preston et al (1992) emphasis, that when a new accounting method is introduced, it is naive to assume that by simply assembling the components of a system, that the desired or officially intended outcome will be achieved. Since 1979 the UK government has tended to favour private sector management styles and culture (Flynn 1992), although there has been many debates about the different contrasts between the adaptable, dynamic, entrepreneurial private sector management styles and the bureaucratic, cautious, inflexible, rule bound public sector management. Could this be due to the strain on public sector managers, who work on a tight budget, and also that scope for reward in expanding the organisation is limited. So can we compare managers in the public sector with those in the private sector, for example accountability structures make managers jobs different from those of the private services. A public service manager for example, could be instructed to keep a hospital open, while the regional authorities may have different ideas and wish the hospital to close. This dubious accountability has no resemblance to the private sector, where managers are ultimately accountable to shareholders (Flynn 1992). An important part of managerial work in the public sector involves managing the relationship between the organisation and the political process. Therefore, the government is faced a health policy dilemma; how to reconcile increasingly flexible NHS management and greater freedom to become competitive, with requirements for manageability of the NHS, for public accountability, and for political management (Sheaff et al 1997). The government then introduced a process to set about placing former private sector directors, into director positions of NHS trusts. Therefore directly introducing private sector experience into public sector management. However, Sheaff et al (1997) research, found that board members of trusts, with a predominant NHS background were likely to be less conservative, more flexible and less risk adverse than those with a non-NHS background. This highlights the emphasis put on different management styles associated with the public and private sector, and puts into doubt these classifications when developing the ‘strategy of managerialism† for the NHS. The new era of the NHS has left managers of trusts faced with a new dilemma, they are now accountable to producing two sets of information, finance activity and patient care activity. Clatworthy (1993) identified three users of this information, the electorate, the consumers of the public service and central government politicians. All these groups will have an interest in the NHS, but their concerns are likely to focus on different aspects of this information. This gives the managers the task of balancing two incompatible goals. As part of the NHS, trusts are charged with the intangible task of improving the state of the nations health, while also having to remain financially viable (Clatworthy 1993). Jackson (1985) perceives that by their very nature, performance indicators motivate individuals and cause them to modify their behaviour in order to meet the targets set. Could this give rise to anxieties of how managers could react to potentially bad results? Published performance indicators issued cover aspects such as percentage of patients seen by a hospital within 13 weeks. Looking at this as an example; this indicator could be enhanced by treating as a priority those that have been waiting longest, but these patients may not be those, whose health status would benefit most from treatment (Clatworthy 1993). It could be argued that in the pursuit of a goal, managers lower the possible increase in overall welfare. These performance indicators, both financial and patient care are produced in an annual report, although superficially similar to it†s private sector counterpart it is not addressed to an audience which can exercise control. Unlike a private sector shareholders meeting, the directors of the public sector trust cannot be removed from their position by a voting process, so it†s existence can be perceived as not a tool of control. This paper has analysed the introduction of the new reforms taken place in the NHS in the early nineties. The reasons for change were identified as being the change in the demographic structure of the UK population and the increased emphasis of technological advancement in medical health care, and their effect on the financial burden of the health service to the government. Changes brought about were to increase cost effectiveness and encourage efficient use of the scarce resources available to the NHS. Due to the competitive nature of the internal market, many management control techniques have been implemented to aid managers of designated hospital trusts to meet their budget targets. Due to the complexity of these systems, many trusts have had previously private sector managers, appointed as directors in charge of managing the budget. Many fears have been raised that these budget constraints and the introduction of performance indicators will have a detrimental effect on the health service†s ultimate aim, to improve the overall state of the nation†s health. It seems that managers are stuck in a conflict of interests, of whether to keep financial control of the trust, by cutting back in the overall service offered to the public.

Animal Slaughter

Animal slaughter is a necessary evil, but unfortunately with the way It Is carried out It Is repulsive. For as long as recorded history mankind has hunted animals for survival and that practice continues today. The main use for an animal is for food: this is the oldest and the most universal form of an animal. With advancements of the world's civilization, animals were traded at markets and the owner would receive a payment for the animal's value. This process continues today. Animals are sold for larger sums to corporations that will then send the animal to a slaughterhouse and sell the meat o a deliberate.Here customers purchase the meat at inflated prices. Around the globe meat from livestock animals Is a popular Item to add to one's plate for any meal. One could have beef, lamb, pork, or even horse, but how does this animal get from a place it once thought was it's home to the customers table. The amount of stress the animal goes through before the slaughter process is astonishin g. Horses that are slaughtered regularly come from the racetrack where they were administered drugs before running a race. These drugs are harmful to humans If consumed.The health of an animal while It Is living In Its pen, cramped with many of its own breed is heartbreaking to see. The World Organization for Animal Health has helped established new regulations for slaughter, transportation and killing animals for disease control. The World Organization for Animal Health, also known as OWE, has developed basic standards that developed and developing countries now agree on. In addition to Oleo's standards, each country has specific laws and standards of their own. OWE designed the five basic standards. One, the percentage of animals stunned on the iris attempt. Two, percentage rendered insensible prior to hoisting. Three, percentage that vocalizes (moo, bellow, or squeal) during movement up the race and in the stunning box. Four, percentage that fall down, and five, percentage moved with an electric goad† (Grand 56). An animal welfare addling system that Is deemed â€Å"good† should have standards that prohibit bad practices, Like, dragging, dropping, throwing, punctilio, (which is a small knife or dagger used to cut the spinal cord. And hoisting live animals. Some examples of welfare misfortunes can be measured with the outcomes is the percentage of animals that are underfed, lame, have lesions, bruising, missed their stuns before being slaughtered or fell down during handling. The examples given are outcomes of bad practices or unacceptable conditions (Grand 57). The standards are based on conditions that are the results of poor management, neglect, abuse of the animals, or poorly designed equipment. N. G.Gregory did a review on pigs, lambs and cattle while in transport, at a livestock market and in the slaughterhouse (before being slaughtered). Many physical injuries can take place along with high stress levels. Gregory gives the world in his st udy an extensive amount of examples of the animal's welfare at the markets, during transport and at the time of slaughter. If animals have a high stress level, for pigs there is evidence that any type of strenuous exercise of CA stunning can contribute to old or stale tastes in pigs, poultry and fish.One study was done in Australia and the second in New Zealand. Over time we have learned from other studies and experience certain breeds are more difficult to handle, for example, the Limousine, Red Borrow cattle and Text sheep (Gregory 3). It is now recommended that if working tit these breeds one is experienced and accustom to the handling procedures. This will make it easier for the animal and create less stress for the animal before the slaughter period. Unfortunately for any animal, as soon as it is loaded for transport it becomes stressed.Sometimes it can even start earlier then this, during the study in Australia five out of thirteen lambs had pre-transport stress or were underf ed (Gregory 2-11). A study was done on lambs in Spain during the transportation period by G. C. Miranda- De la Lama. This study that Miranda-De la Lama performed is also helpful to animals in the United States. Miranda-De la Lama helps explain the stress created on lambs and how it can bargain with the animal's welfare during transportation. When transporting animals it is usually a stressful process, especially for the animal.A study was done in Spain with lambs during transportation. This study mainly consisted of the handling of the animal before and after transporting. Specific categories were focused on and surveyed, farmers, haulers, abattoirs (a slaughterhouse), and classification center (a temporary feedlot). A Journey of seventy- nine kilometers and average Journey time of seventy-four minutes was conducted. A questionnaire was created for all categories specified above. When preparing for transport lambs were normally separated from their first enclosure the day before bei ng transported.They were also kept off their feed for five or more hours before departing for slaughter. Many of the animals were maneuvered onto the transportation truck using plastic bags. Very few of the farms that the studies were done on did not usually have climate or environmental control or veterinarians present while the sheep were being loaded. Thankfully while lambs were being unloaded there is no reported application of sticks or electric rods. When lambs had arrived to the second farm for weight gain, they arrived weighing in at an average of 19. 6 keg, and departing at 25. 6 keg, with a stay period averaged at twenty-one days.That is rather revolting that someone can beef up an animal in a short time span. The lambs would be transported again to the slaughterhouse once the slaughter weight was met (Miranda-De la Lama 175). Many important points on the farm where the lamb is coming from incorporate poor loading facilities including not having a veterinary on site while the lambs are being loaded. Transportation can have a combination of many different stresses that can eve harmful effects on the lambs. Miranda-De la Lama states that there should be some sort of installed payment plan that will be put into action.This would help agree to terms on transportation quality of the lambs directly for the welfare of the lamb (Miranda-De la Lama 178). All attempts should be made to help decrease the level of stress on any animal heading to the slaughterhouse. Careful planning should abattoirs need to have better communication to help create a smoother traveling system. Miranda-De la Lama states in her study that a decision support system to assure animal welfare across the board for any animal should be implemented to help reduce and prevent the different welfare risks (Miranda-De la Lama 178).All possibly ways to help reduce the amount of stress of an animal should be observed and rules set into place. Thankfully, some researchers have already put this to the test. Veronique Deeds performed a study on lambs to try to pinpoint where these animals become stressed. Today, public and consumers are concerned about the welfare of animals, mainly for the discomfort of the animals that are going to be slaughtered. To elf reduce the stress of the animals during the slaughter period it is imperative to comprehend the causes of stress for the animal. The slaughter process can represent different types of stress for every animal.When Deeds conducted this study, it was done on lambs on to determine profiles measured during rearing, plasma cortical levels in blood collected at assassinations (draining blood of the animal), and metabolic activity in the dead bodies muscle. Tests showed many differences in lamb's muscles with lower pH levels produced in their meat. Even lambs that produced a high- pitched bleating had a higher muscle temperature. The more alert lambs had a higher pH after death compared to others. Any animal that has a higher pH le vel in the muscles before dying will not taste as good.These different tests of post mortem muscle metabolism and expressions of social distress predict stress during the slaughter period. Also social disturbances and the environment of the slaughterhouse contain major causes of stress (Deeds 193-202). Deeds concluded in her study that lambs showed coherence in emotional reactivity to different stressful conditions. In her current study, lambs slaughtered in a commercial abattoir, the lactating cortical levels at assassinations and post-mortem measurements of stress reactions had been related to the day of slaughter.Now, seeing how the lambs reacted on the day of slaughter, another study has been done on cows to see if it is possible to identify how the cows react to the slaughter procedure. A study on thirty-two Norman cows was done to see if it is possible to identify if cows reacted to the slaughter procedure. Along with which factors contributed to stress during the pre-slaughte r period. Many different tests proceeded with the cows to test behavioral and physiological activity. These tests consisted of but were not limited too, social separations, and human exposure.Tests showed that when cows saw other cows compared to having a human presence there was a stronger reaction. The cow's heart rate elevated and spent more time in the exit zone. A stress-inducing atmosphere can have very negative repercussions for animal welfare and meat quality. The slaughter duration begins at the animal's farm with the preparation of transport, and then ends at the moment of slaughtering the animals. Many of the cows might not become stressed to the same things as their fellow cows. All cows differ in their evaluation of stressful to the reactivity tests. Two slaughter situations were used. Limited Stress† situation and an â€Å"Added Stress† situation were used on the cows (Burette 11). Each day two cows were put to slaughter from the same pen, one for each str ess environment. A cow brought down the added stress situation had to maneuver through different hallways inside and outside, consistently hear banging from metals objects and was immediately slaughtered. A cow that was led through the limited stress situation was handled with a human and another cow was also being led. This cow heard no banging of any kind, did not need to maneuver through different hallways, and was able to be calmer with another cow by its side.The cow with a limited stress evaluation was slaughter with a lower heart rate and a lower pH level in the muscles (Burette 11-12). Since Burette concluded his study many advancements have been made, but challenges do still exist. Temple Grand helps the U. S. Get an idea of the progress and challenges in handling the animals during the slaughter process. In many slaughterhouses around the world serious animal abuse exists. Other than we re actually killing them for us to eat. Many restaurants have started auditing the U. S . Beef and pork slaughter plants.Surprisingly McDonald's has played a huge part in this. McDonald's made large improvements in the way people handle and stun the animal. McDonald's used five different measurements to start helping the way they handled and stunned the animal. â€Å"One, the percentage of animals stunned on the first attempt. Two, percentage rendered insensible prior to hoisting. Three, percentage that vocalizes (moo, bellow, or squeal) during movement up the race and in the stunning box. Four, percentage that fall down, and five, percentage moved with an electric goad† (Grand 129).Since 1996, before McDonald's began their audits, each average percentage grew. The most impressive developments were in beef. In 1996 the average first attempt to stun a cow was rated at eighty-nine point five percent. By 2003 it was ninety-eight point six percent. Even visualization has improved during stunning from 1996 was ten percent, in 2003 it was two percent (Grand 129). In 1 996 and on a total of fifty plants were audited. Many of the plants were able to significantly improve welfare of the animal y improving stunner maintenance, installing non-slip floors and better training of the staff (Grand 131).Since we have created better standards for the animal's well being in a slaughterhouse, we now have another challenge to face, drugs used on different animals. Nicholas Adman has helped the world understand more on the slaughter of race horses that were given medication known as Phenylalanine. Horse slaughter has had many attempts from animal rights activists to see the end of it. Last year alone there was about sixty seven million pounds sent across seas from the United States. Many drugs are used for horses while they are at work. The most common is known in the horse world as ‘butt', Phenolphthalein by the vet.This is the most common used drug in the horse world. It is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. The most common slaughter horse in the U . S. Is the Thoroughbred, most commonly known as racehorses. ‘Butt' is banned for any type of human consumption. It can cause serious and lethal unique harmful effects in humans. Tests have been done during race day to horses that were given ‘butt' and then sent U. S. Horses. In this case, it can create a serious health risk for the people who ingest reseat (Adman 1270-1284). Horses should not have to be slaughtered for any reason other then it is seriously injured.Sadly they are slaughtered for many other reasons. The American Association of Equine Practitioners helps the United States get a glimpse of what its all about. The Unwanted Horse in the U. S. Is an ongoing issue for many people. Tom Lend helps give the U. S. A glance of the issue. To many people horses are seen for their beauty, poise, and the Old West and are a cultural icon. This has made it very difficult for the unwanted horse issue and the decision of ending the life of a horse. Including in this debate the horse business will usually categorize a horse as livestock, where the public tends to categorize the horse as a companion.The ‘unwanted horse' came about in 2005, from the American Association of Equine Practitioners (APE) at a meeting in Washington D. C. These unwanted horses are defined as, â€Å"those no longer wanted by their current owner because they are old, injured, sick, unmanageable, or fail to meet their owners expectations† (Lend 253). This has become a very large issue in the U. S. Many horse rescue, adoption and retirement organizations have made a dedicated and vigorous effort to provide care, funding or suitable accommodations for unwanted horses over the years.

Othello: A Tragic Hero Essay

Considered by some to be one of the finest tragedies ever written, Shakespeare’s Othello tells the story of one man’s fall from happiness to utter despair. This is achieved by Othello’s fatal flaws – his jealousy and pride. Othello’s own fatal flaws lead him to his demise not Iago’s manipulation. This view point is supported in Professor Crawford’s article â€Å"Othello as a Tragic Hero.† In his article, Crawford conveys the idea that the misfortunes that befall Othello are cause because of Othello himself – drama of character – not by Iago or any outside social forces – drama of intrigue. Because of this Othello can be described as a drama of character meaning that it is an internal conflict within the main character Othello. Othello is the one at fault for the terrible events in the play. In order to fully understand what a tragedy is one must understand the characteristics of what a tragedy and a tragic hero is according to Aristotle. Aristotle indicates that in order to be a tragic hero is not perfect; the character is fallible. The character’s fatal flaw or hamartia is the weakness that will ultimately lead to the character’s demise. And for a play to be a tragedy, the protagonist must be a person of high standing in society and that the character must fall from power and happiness in the end. This can be seen in Othello when at the beginning of the play, Othello is introduced as a great man of power and high status to the rest of the characters. This can be seen during Act I, Scene III, the duke and a couple of senators of Venice were discussing issues and when Othello enters the room and the senators say, â€Å"Here comes Barbantio and the valiant Moor† By saying this, the senators make it clear that they hold Othello in high esteem. Othello is known to the senators and the rest of the characters as a great war hero full of pride and courage. However, as the play progresses, Othello’s character begins to deteriorate. His character changes from that of a flawless leader to a murderer after Othello is driven over the edge by â€Å"honest Iago’s† lies. Iago, knowing that Othello is overly trusting, takes advantage of that fact to manipulate Othello into doing whatever he wanted. Throughout the entire play, Iago never made Othello do anything in was all in Othello’s control of how the events happened. Iago merely insinuated that something should be done about Desdemona’s unfaithfulness. It was Othello who jumped to the conclusion that Desdemona should die. Even though Iago said he would take care of Cassio, it was Othello agin that jumped to the conclusion that Iago would kill Cassio. Othello’s destruction is precipitated by his own actions throughout the play. By isolating himself from everyone except Iago, Othello made it especially easy for Iago to influence him and his course of action. This does not mean that the play is a drama of intrigue, meaning that â€Å"outside events manipulated the main character in a way so that he had no choice in the matters at hand† (Crawford). No, Othello was responsible for his decisions meaning this play is a drama of character. An example of a drama of intrigue would be Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare made it so Romeo and Juliet had no control over their two families’ quarrels. They had neither control nor power in stopping the outside events that ultimately tore them apart. Romeo and Juliet were victims of their own parent’s animosities towards each other. This is different from Othello and Desdemona. With Othello and Desdemona, Othello had complete control in ending the confusion. He could easily have talked to Desdemona and stopped Iago’s dastardly plans from the start. But no, Othello let Iago control the situation in what Othello thought at the time was Iago trying to help him. This happened because of Othello’s flaw of being over trusting of those around him. By doing this, Othello made it too easy for Iago to influence his decisions. Iago may have been able to influence Othello’s decisions and the decisions of those around him but it was Othello’s own actions that eventually led to his downfall. The way the events of Othello interacted with each other in a way that made it seem like everything happened for a reason shows the literary merit of the play and how Shakespeare wrote it. The events of the play fit so perfectly with each other, it was almost too coincidental that the events happened in the way they did. For example, Cassio’s lover Bianca walking in with Desdemona’s handkerchief while Cassio is talking with Iago all the while Othello is watching from a far. However, Shakespeare made it so everything was done purposefully when he wrote the play. Everything had a purpose in conveying the story of Othello. By doing this, the play shows great literary merit. In conclusion, the play Othello shows many characteristics described by Aristotle in what makes a piece of literary work a tragedy. Othello was a high ranking person in society full of happiness only to lose it all due to his fatal flaws of jealousy and pride. Because the downfall of Othello is all his own doing making him the tragic hero of the play, the play is considered a â€Å"drama of character where the downfall of the character is his or her own doing† (Crawford). As opposed to a drama of intrigue where outside events influence the character. Due to the purposeful writing of Shakespeare of the events in the play, Othello shows great literary merit along with being a tragedy.

Westernization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Westernization - Essay Example The internet facilitates sharing resources and has brought about excellent technology that have brought about an immense change in the entire way that different societies live. All countries in the world are faced with an immense number of challenges, and with the advent of the internet they are all able to face their problems because all individuals strive for a better tomorrow which can be brought about with the help of the internet since it helps a great deal in helping people carry out most of their activities. Westernization is the process by which a person, group of individuals or a country is able to advance its thought process in various fields and matters, and try and bring about growth and progression within its economy. In the recent past, all this has been easier with the help of the internet. However, there still are a large number of underdeveloped and third world countries which do not fall under the category of westernized nations. The internet however has brought abo ut a vast number of changes in such areas too as is discussed within the scope of this paper. (Bruce, Richard) A number of western nations had first adopted the use of the internet into their daily framework, however, today, this has spread apart and become a global phenomenon and is helping more and more developing and third world countries to grow and nurture themselves into becoming ready for a powerful future. There are a number of different aspects that every country needs to look into the matters of; they range from culture and politics to business and science and technology. These form the main outlook of what every country needs in order to be at par with each other and the internet has helped in bringing these aspects closer and has made them stronger as well. Internet has been a huge revelation for non-westernised countries to promote their culture. Intermingling of these aspects has been tremendous. Internet has been influential on bringing non westernized countries toget her. It has been a great medium of communication and marketing. Let us take two non-westernized countries for reference. The countries chosen are India and China. Indian culture has been heavily influenced by the coming of the Internet in the country. More and more people are getting glued to the internet every day, and it’s a growing phenomenon in the country. The rock culture has come up leaps and bounds in the country after the evolution of the internet. This has culminated into a faster way of communication between the audience and the bands themselves, thus helping them serve their crowd in a better way. As far as the diversity in the country is concerned, it is pertinent to note that people from different parts of the country have intermingled with each other through the means of internet, which has thus promoted unity in the country on the aspect of cultural diversity. Islam and Hinduism are the two most important religions in the country. Internet has allowed people f rom different religions to learn something new about the other religion in a very effective manner. It is such a huge portal of information that knowledge is never limited. Even though in India politics is fought outside on the roads, it is of no surprise that Internet has made a foray into this stream as well. The number of educated people in India has increased, and this has amounted to more people having the understanding to use the technology. Not only this, but the per capita income in India also increased and which has thus allowed more and more people gaining access to internet, apart from the fact that the expense of obtaining and maintaining the connection has reduced. The Government is aware of such developments happening in the country and has therefore

Roman Fever by Edith Wharton Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Roman Fever by Edith Wharton - Essay Example The main characters of the short story are two elderly women Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley. Thorough the theme of marriage, the author shows that most women rely upon successful match in order to achieve high social position. The short story suggests something of the historical loss for women of transferring the sense of self to relationships with men. For instance, Mrs. Slade reflected "he had always regarded herself (with a certain conjugal pride) as his equal in social gifts, as contributing her full share to the making of the exceptional couple they were" (Wharton). Wharton depicts that social status plays an important role in life of both women, because high social position determine their happiness and guarantee public recognition. The character of Mrs. Ansley does not differ greatly from her friend. "Mrs. Ansley was much less articulate than her friend, and her mental portrait of Mrs. Slade was slighter" (Wharton). Both women portrayed as typical wives whose domestic role is pred etermined. The theme of widowhood helps Wharton to unmask contradiction arisen in the society and criticize dependence of women upon their husbands. Wharton vividly portrays that women mean nothing as social members without their husbands. "Yes; being the Slade's widow was a dullish business after that. In living up to such a husband all her faculties had been engaged; now she had only her daughter to live up to" (Wharton). In reality, both women find themselves defeated by the social norms they have followed all their life. Wharton unveils that their society had been solid and secure up to the moment their husbands were alive. To some extent, this short story shows a parody of the happy ending when women are faced with realities of live after death of their husbands. It seems that after husbands' deaths women are excluded from social life. Wharton criticizes social statuses and positions which play a crucial role for women and unveils that women can commit any crime and play any trick upon their friends in order to secure their high position and public recognition. Wharton depicts that friendship does not exist between Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley, because their lives have been nothing more than a struggle for happiness and high social position. For instance, Mrs. Slade has hated her friend all her life because Mrs. Ansley is lovely and cleverer than she is. Many years ago Mrs. Slade betrayed her in order to secure her marriage which meant high social position. Mrs Slade recollects: "And I remember laughing to myself all that evening at the idea that you were waiting around there in the dark, dodging out of sight, listening for every sound, trying to get in" (Wharton). Wharton criticizes that only marriage can preserves the vital social values of stability, continuity and propriety. Only at the cost of brutally suppressi ng equally powerful individual

Bill Cosby legal allegations and laws that apply to and affect this Term Paper

Bill Cosby legal allegations and laws that apply to and affect this situation - Term Paper Example Several women have accused Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting them by use of drugs. The list has grown to13 plaintiffs with the latest being the two plaintiffs interviewed in Philadelphia and People magazines. The women that have claimed to be sexually assaulted by Cosby have grown to be more than 20 in number. The right to privacy holds that no person should experience not logical interference in his life. This right protects one’s privacy, correspondence, home, reputation, and honor. The law, therefore, should ensure the protection against such attacks or interferences. Bill Cosby has made efforts to see that his right to privacy is protected (Noorani 802). Bill Cosby has used his right of expression to protect his privacy in the cases of sexual assault. He has used this right to react to the accusers’ allegations by showing that they are liars. Bill Cosby’s act has aimed to gain and control the sympathy of the public and judicial process. He has painted the accusers as individuals who have hidden agendas of defaming him. This is by spoiling his reputation and honor that he has worked for long to gain. His act of doing this in the media is a technique that he uses to amplify his voice (Scocca). Bill Cosby has also used his right of self-defense to protect his privacy in the sexual assault accusation cases. For example, his lawyers’ call for dismissal of the defamation cases filed by the three women is an act of privacy protection. The lawyers argue the Cosby branding the women liars does not meet the defamation threshold. Bill’s statements were of self-defense, which is a privilege that should be provided to all the accused. In contrary, it is in Cosby’s rights to make self- defense utterances. According to his lawyers, the defamation claim on the act of self-defense will be a set of double standards. Hobson’s Choice supports the right of publicly denying the

Construction Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Construction Marketing - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that some of the similarities between the marketing processes used by construction companies and companies selling consumer goods would be the structured process of strategic marketing followed, the approach to branding, profits and pricing strategies used, segmentation and differentiation of customers and understanding customer needs. Understanding customer needs and experiences would be related to marketing orientation and both the construction companies and consumer goods companies would be focused on providing the best services to the customer. Within the construction marketing framework and the consumer marketing framework, there is a need for delineating company vision, customer segmentation, and focus, benchmarking and identifying distribution channels. The construction and consumer goods companies also go through the process of external audit or market research and market analysis along with competitor analysis as well to understand the marketing processes and dynamics of business. Construction and consumer goods are marketed in accordance with an analysis of processes, profit margins, organizations, product life cycles, as well as strategic plans such as branding and market re-engineering. All these processes of strategic marketing, market orientation, customer focus, benchmarking, distribution and following company vision seem to be the similarities identified between construction marketing and consumer goods marketing. Strict monitoring and control, quality and customer services improvement are also some of the similar marketing objectives. This would bring us to the differences in marketing between the two types of products and the related companies. The construction companies will have to specifically focus on the economic conditions, market orientation, and business cycles as for such companies, business seems to follow a pattern. The staff recruitment and retention strategies, relationship marketing, an d budgeting methods would differ from that of companies selling consumer products. Thus even if the basic approach to marketing does not change between the two types, the elements of marketing seem to differ between construction marketing and consumer goods marketing. This is exemplified by a study in which the influence of marketing policies is seen on corporate performance. Bennett studied 119 businesses in the UK construction industry and suggested that firms that adopted a long-term approach to marketing management tended to attain superior performance. Although short-term approaches are more common. The study showed that the construction industry responds in a certain way to the market conditions. Unlike most consumer goods companies, marketing in this case is long-term whereas for consumer goods, marketing approaches are based on short-term goals and targets. Instead of mission and long-term vision followed by construction companies, consumer goods companies are focused on sho rt-term goals and objectives. Construction marketing is more directly based on the concept of relationship marketing than consumer goods marketing as building trust with long-term customers would be the primary tool for success in any construction endeavor. It has been found that the level of marketing orientation is rather low in the construction industry and in this industry, unlike the consumer goods industry, marketing strategies are developed and followed with only superficial knowledge of the marketing process. The consumer goods industry seems to be more well versed on the dynamics of marketing strategies used than the construction industry.

Mathematics Lesson Plan 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Mathematics Lesson Plan 1 - Essay Example MATHEMATICS LESSON PLAN 1 ‘5 Little Ducks’ by Wendy Straw Early Stage 1 Aim: Through this lesson, the students can learn how to solve addition problems better and quicker. This lesson will teach the children how to recognise jumbled numbers and how to add numbers. Through the lesson, the students can learn to work in groups and to reflect on their lessons. The student’s prior knowledge, as well as their ability to count up to ten has been taken into account. ... For example, background information shall be given, including the number of ducklings birds have. As a result, they will understand the topic and content more. As a whole class, the children can be asked if any of them have seen a duck in real life and also to describe how a duck looks like. The teacher will then read the book ‘Five Little Ducks’ by Wendy Straw. Reading the book also allows the students to count along. As the teacher is going through the pages, she would ask the class questions about the book. For example, how many ducks were there are at the beginning and how many ducks were left? The teacher can also ask additional questions, like if there were 2 ducks and 1 duck came back, how many ducks will there be all together? Students need to be seated on the classroom floor In reading the book to the class, use hand gestures in describing how the ducks quack. Allow the students to talk amongst each other Observe the children who are struggling to recognise the numbers and who are familiar with the questions Body (25 min) As a whole class put a video of addition and number recognition on the IWB (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLwrQBQ5JJE) Ask the class addition questions such as, 3 + 2=..... Then the students can be grouped into mixed ability groups of 4 to 5. Get an empty 12 compartment egg carton. In the egg carton, put in two duck pictures randomly and in all the other ten compartments write the numbers 0 to 9 in no specific order. Also place a button in the carton. The children are to each have a turn to shake the carton and then open the carton. Wherever the button will land they are to say the number. If the button lands on the ducks, then the children are to make the noise a duck makes or say something they know about a duck. After the

Dubai is an example of modernity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Dubai is an example of modernity - Essay Example With the discovery of oil in 1966, coupled with the vision on leadership of His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Dubai quickly expanded in the latter half of the 20th and early part of the 21st centuries to become one of the world’s foremost tourist destinations with world class hotels, entertainment, shopping, and sporting events. Dubai stands out today as a model in the Middle East for a modern, sophisticated Muslim society, steeped in tradition, but always striding forward with an eye to the future and leading the Middle East and the world in attracting businesses with a world-class cultural and economic base. It has thus become in international city with economic and cultural impact far beyond its borders. Prior to 1833, there was little that existed on the Saudi Arabian peninsula but a finger of desert separating the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. All that existed in this small peninsular area was a creek, which was settled by some 800 members of the Bani Yas tribe, led by the Maktoum Family (Government of Dubai). As a natural harbor, the creek allowed the Maktoum Family to utilize its resources for fishing, pearling, and trade. In 1835, Dubai and the rest of the small states in the region signed a â€Å"Perpetual Maritime Truce† with Great Britain, allowing it to come under the protection of the UK. (Dubai City Guide). Unlike its neighbors, Dubai stood out with its welcoming attitude and fostering of trade and commerce, led by the rulers from the founding Maktoum Family. With the vision and leadership of Shaikh Saeed Maktoum, Daubai was encouraged to expand and look forward, toward the future, in an area which had traditionally looked toward the past. In 1892 he signed an exclusive business deal with the British and in 1894 permitted a full tax exemption for foreign traders (SkiDubai). Traders from all over the world descended on Dubai to take advantage of the

Psychology Careers Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Psychology Careers - Research Paper Example He liked that idea too. Some of the questions were: Who is a substance abuse counselor? What is the qualification for being a substance abuse counselor? In what environment is the counseling conducted? Is it different from a general psychologist? If so, how? What are the usual practices of the substance abuse counseling? What typical challenges does a substance abuse counselor normally face and what is the best way to cope with them? What is group counseling and individual counseling? What is the average salary range for a substance abuse counselor? My cousin told me that an individual at least needs to have a BSc degree in Psychology in order to be a substance abuse counselor, and the average salary for a substance abuse counselor ranges from $40,000 to $50,000. The interview was conducted in his office that was at a distance of about a kilometer from my home. I met him at around 10 o’ clock in the morning. It had been 1 hr since he had started the duty. I entered the room. W e hugged each other since we were friends as well as relatives. There was no formality at all, yet I was prudent not to waste his time in any manner since he was on the duty and I had come to him with a business matter, and not for a personal reason. As I had already forwarded him the list of questions the print out of which he had in front of him on the table, he started to explain himself without having me bother to ask the questions. He replied every single question of mine while I was taking the notes, and was writing questions that were popping up in my mind from the discussion as I wrote. In the end, when he asked me if I had something else to ask him, I put forward all of those questions to which he promptly required. I thanked him, and wished him good-bye. I learned that a substance abuse counselor is an individual that helps people come out of their addictions. The interventions made by a substance abuse counselor may be staged. In other cases, counseling is offered to peop le who have yet to realize that their addiction is the root cause of a lot of troubles in their life. However, in most of the cases, substance abuse counselors offer counseling to the people who know that they are addicted and need treatment in order to come out of their problems before it is too late. A general psychologist deals with all areas of psychology whereas a substance abuse counselor specifically deals with patients that are addicted with a wide range of products. Sometimes, patients are addicted to alcohol, yet in a vast majority of cases the product is much more harmful than alcohol like Heroin, Codeine, Cocaine and Vicodin. The environment in which substance abuse counselors work is no less varying than the substances they have to provide the counseling for. Some counselors offer treatment in the very residence of the patient, while others may conduct the counseling sessions in offices, churches, or other community outreach centers (Jones, 2011). Thus, either a patient approaches the counselor or else, the counselor approaches patient. Counseling occurs either way as convenient to both the parties. The protocol that a substance abuse counselor mostly works in is established specifically for the treatment of addicts. A 12 Step Program is often used by the substance abuse counselors. Such programs are based upon twelve stages of treatment. Some of the most important of the twelve stages are â€Å"admitting powerlessness, turning to God, and making

STI College Essay Example for Free

STI College Essay First of all, we would like to thank God for his help on our project, because without Him and His omnipotence this would be really impossible. Secondly, we would like to acknowledge the participation of the faculty and registrar. We would also like to extend their gratitude to the respondents during the data gathering. Also, the resource persons, our adviser, Mr.Bernjiber Silva who guides in terms of the development of the system documentation, and with the help of the 2nd year IT Students. 1.0 Introduction This generation is intensely attached with technology. Almost everything can be done with technology. Technology for the users provides good consolation and solace. Many await the enrollment schedule of the school they are studying in. Enrollment is an exciting day for every student in elementary, high school, or colleges. It is the most expected activity after summer vacation. But contrary to the expectations of the enrollees, enrollment has posed problems and hassles because it has become tedious and taxing. Sometimes the students’ leave it to their parents and other members of the family to enroll them. The unsystematic procedure of school during enrollment is now dreaded by them. Instead student enrollees have to stand and wait of finishing it in an hour or two, sometimes students are made to come back the next day or even after a week so that they can be officially enrolled. The latest Student Enrollment Systems include features such as computerized registration forms, enrollment forms and safer data keeping. Almost all aspect of the industry prefers computerized systems because of its greater offers and services. The system is now greatly recognized. Furthermore, the demand for better Student Enrollment Systems also increases. Enrollment is the process of entering and verifying data of student to register on particular school. Different interrelated processes build up enrollment procedures called Enrollment System (ES). ES are used particularly in recording and retrieving student’s information. Tracking student’s information is also one feature of ES, in which the school can trace the standing of a student. Verifying payments was also added to update or browse student’s billings. Enrollment System is a good example of a computer generated process. This can lessen the workload and provides accurate information needed of the school. As a result, it will benefit not only the student but the administration as a whole. Of course, Enrollment System is very essential in a school. 1.1 Background of the Study The purpose of this study is to fulfill a better system that will serve as a more reliable tool in registering and enrolling students in an institute. The study is to show the innovation of registration and enrollment systems from traditional to high-end technology. The study also serves the purpose of revealing the mechanics of the said system. Student Enrollment System includes a computerized registration and enrollment form which provides ease to clients and better management and maintenance of data in a reliable database. 1.2 Statement of Objectives 1.2.1 General Objectives 1. To come up with a functional enrollment system that will allow users to in the comforts of the in house facility and also allow the administrators to keep track and maintain information and data that was gathered from the submitted forms. 1.2.2 Specific Objectives 1. To make a system that is easy to use for the user to input information. 2. To retrieve data of the user in the Enrollment System database. 3. To update information of the user immediately. 1.3 Significance of the Study The study is significant for the innovation of manual ways of registration and enrollment to a higher-end technology. It is significant to the registrars, faculty and students of the institution that will use the system. The study is significant in many ways. It provides a clear definition of its functions. The study will define the advantages with the use of the proposed system. It will identify new possibilities that may help ease workloads. It will serve as an instrument to entice more people to recognize and use such system. This study helped the school regarding their enrollment transactions and activities. The proposed design aimed to benefit the school in their enrollment facilities such as maintaining the files, assessment of fees and especially the Enrollment System itself. 1.4 Scope and limitation of the Study The proposed computerized enrollment system design covered the major processes namely: registration of the current and incoming students, class scheduling and sectioning, assessment of fees, files maintenance and reports needed (registration form, assessment slip, student master list, and other forms and reports essential to design). In addition, requisites for new student (Birth Certificate, Good Moral Character and Form 138) will be recognized in system design database by checkbox. Since one of the specific objectives of the proponents is to improve computer literacy of the community of NSI, the design system would allow four user accounts which are the Student, Accounting, Registrar and Directress The system includes a computerized registration and enrollment form. It allows users to fill in the form and submit. It allows the administrator side to retrieve information. It can severely reduce the amount of duplicate effort required for multi-enrollees. It also allows users to view whether their information has been passed. However, the system is not web based. It cannot be altered or modified by the users. It cannot show the results instantly to users. Users may not remove or delete their information once theyve been passed. 2.0 Methodology of the Study In this chapter, we have recognized the phases needed for the implementation of the Enrollment System. The methodology was referred as the waterfall model. It describes the steps taken in the development of the enrollment system. Requirements: = We have to find a suitable algorithm to come up with an effective enrolment system. -Testing the effectiveness and accuracy of the new system. Look for the design of the proposed system. Design: We have to create a effective design for the main screen that allows the user to create an account and fill up and submit forms such as the registration and enrollment forms. Verifications: Testing-This is the part where in we have to test whether the system is accurate or not. Debugging- modification is needed if has defects of the function codes. Maintenance -keeping the system running productively for over years. 2.0 Data Gathering Procedures and Output We researchers have prepared an interview with a proponent. The interview served as the basis for the creation of the function of the system. We planned to gather enough information and skills in building and creating good databases and well-organized interface through organize interview. Through internet, we also gather some information and advices that will help our system be effective.

Revolutionizing a Better Era of Technology in the Future of Medicine Essay Example for Free

Revolutionizing a Better Era of Technology in the Future of Medicine Essay Alan Kay states, â€Å"The best way to predict the future is to invent it yourself† (qtd. in Garreau 88). Many Americans ponder what the future might hold. Will technology bring a new era to mankind or will it be the end to all eternity? Ray Kurzweil, inventor of the year by MIT, argues â€Å"he is convinced that medicine is moving sufficiently fast; therefore, any person who can stay healthy for the next 20 years may so benefit from the explosion in biological technology as to be immortal† (Garreau 90-91). With the advancements of medical technology continuing to climb, this quote illustrates that the future will make for a better world. Organizations such as The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency known as DARPA, The Continuous Assisted Performance known as CAP, and The National Science Foundation fund studies that demonstrate how genetic engineering will impact America’s future by developing a bigger, better, stronger individual (Garreau 19-35). Each day as the advancements of technology doubles, the world will soon not worry about diseases and health; everyday gene technology will better our minds, bodies, and most future generations, thus making the â€Å"Heaven Scenario†. In the Article â€Å"Gene Technology and Tissue Engineering† Andree, department of Plastic and Surgery, Freiburg University Hospital, states â€Å"Gene therapy is based on the concept for certain proteins or polypeptides into a cell and, thus, may be used for potential modulation of t issue. Genes can be delivered using either an in vitro approach, and with viral or non-viral vectors. Genes may therefore be stable, or transiently expressed by the cells† (93). This fact illustrates the concept of genetic manipulation and how each cell is expressed. Both Rob DeSalle, Ph.D. in Division of Invertebrates, and Michael Yudell, MPH in Molecular Laboratories, summarize that the study of Genomics will have a major impact in medical services. If doctors knew how to discover someone’s exact diseases, then they can transform and improve those cells to stop in in its act (117-118). With the help from DARPA and CAP and the study and treatments  of Gene therapy, Americans’ will soon find themselves living longer and healthier lives. DARPA funded by Michael Goldbatt, is one of the world’s foremost drivers of human enhancement (Garreau 19). Their vision is to â€Å"accelerate the future into being† (Garreau 21). DARPA help fund the computer mouse, graphics, weather satellites, and many other technologies (Garreau 25). One independent agency that works strongly with DARPA is CAP managed by John Carney (Garreau 28). CAPs advanta ge over DARPA is the laboratory. One idea that they are studying is â€Å"finding an enzyme that appears only in bacteria but not in us. It might exist only for a brief time in the bacteria, but without it, that life form cannot exist. Then you attack it† (Garreau 28-30). Organizations such as DARPA and CAP strive to make unstoppable human beings. For instance, take the well-developed movie Gattaca which came to theaters in 2010 and was about a man that manipulates his DNA to hide his identity to be a more advanced, genetically engineered, human being. No one is capable of stopping him from becoming a better meaningful species to society. Most Americans strive to build themselves up to become the best they can be. Americans study the use of DNA manipulation in bodies and cells to help fight off diseases and illnesses such as the common cold or flu. Goldblatt proclaims, â€Å"We do not fear the unknown, and we relish exploring the unknowable† (Garreau 19). Americans should be more like this quote and strive to become the best species that has ever existed. DARPA is studying a vaccine that will help in pain management. Such vaccines will make milestones in terms of medicine. If someone is hurt they will feel the first trigger of pain but the pain will soon subside (Garreau 19-28). This pain vaccine will have many benefits to Americans dealing with diseases and to society. The National Science Foundation believed in the â€Å"Heaven Scenario†: They predicted in 10-20 years the world will evolve much better. Wearable sensors will enhance every person’s awareness of his or her health condition, environ ment, chemical pollutants, potential hazards, and information of interest about local business, natural resources, and the like. The human body will be more durable, healthy, energetic, easier to repair, and resistant to many kinds of stress, biological threats, and aging process, and technologies will compensated for many physical and mental disabilities and will eradicate altogether some handicaps that have plagues the lives of millions of people. (qtd. in Garreau 112-113) This statement  unveiled a world where technology advancements will mature in a way that Americans are capable of being healthier and happier individuals. The effects of genetic engineering impacts the future by manipulating genes to help Americans live longer. Enzo Russo and David Cove, authors of Genetic Engineering: Dreams and Nightmares, tell a brief story about a little girl that was suffering from a disease called Severe Combined Immune Deficiency. â€Å"She was the first known human being to be treated using gene therapy†¦After two years of therapy, this young girl was able to attend school normally, to swim, dance, ice skate with her family and friends† (117-118). With this example it substantially shows the achievements of Gene Therapy and how Americans greatly benefit from them. Children will have the privilege to go out and play or do whatever else their little imagination wants to do so they can be just like every other child. If doctors had a way to catch or see a disease before it overtakes someone’s body then they would be able to do something about it. Jacobs, consultant genetic counsellor Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, believes â€Å"Early identification of individuals with, or at risk of, hereditary disease can make a difference to patients and families in terms of accessing genetic services, early detection and risk-reducing measures. Several clinical guidelines recomm end undertaking family history assessment in clinical setting† (Jacobs, Chris, Christine 38). Jacobs also states that â€Å"Recognizing when off spring may be at risk of genetic condition such as cystic fibrosis, Duschenne muscular dystrophy or Huntington’s disease, can help couples to make choices about prenatal testing and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. These procedures increase the possibility of a healthy baby and reduce the risk of passing the mutation to future generations† (Jacobs, Chris, Christine 38). With this possibility, think of how it will make a new era to mankind. Parents no longer have to worry about unborn babies and whether they will have the same disease as their ancestors. Another person that was influenced by Gene Therapy is Gregory Stock. Stock, director on Medicine, Technology, and society at the school of medicine of California, proclaims â€Å"In the future Americans will benefit from using ‘Artificial Chromosomes’. Future generations will be able to switch out one or two chromosomes that may be transferring diseases with a stronger chromosome† (qtd. in Garreau 116-117). There are many believers of the â€Å"Heaven Scenario† although all the outcomes  might not be the same. Ray Kurzweil, who was granted the national medal of technology, was the inventor of the â€Å"Heaven Scenario.† He stated â€Å"is there is no problem or challenge that there [is not] an idea to overcome that problem† (qtd. in Garreau 115). This statement argues that no matter how difficult something might proclaim to be, there will always be a new improved way to get thru. In terms of medicine, there will always be new inventions of t echnology and drugs that will make a better advancement then the former. No matter what the statistics say technology will always have an astonishing outcome. If Americans’ had the opportunity to formulate themselves at a higher level of humanity then why not go for it? (Garreau 115) Most Americans’ dream that one day the world will be a heavenly place for all humanity. With the advancements of new medical technology doubling and continuing to climb up this progressive ladder, Americans’ soon will be bigger, stronger, and healthier individuals. The inventions of new drugs, either injected or manipulated into genes, will influence making the outcome of the â€Å"Heaven Scenario† true. If more organizations like previously stated DARPA and CAP continue to find new ways of implementing and then attacking infections and disease: Americans’ will live much longer non-stressful lives. Imagine the outcome of waking up clear headed and pain free with no worries in sight. Future generations will have the knowledge and ability to know when a bad enzyme links on and attacks cells; furthermore, being able to stop the infection before it explodes and travels thru DNA. It will be a new era to mankind. Americans will be able to determine and choose ho w their children turn out. Children will be healthier and live longer lambent lives. Like my opening quote â€Å"the best way to predict the future is to invent it yourself.† Negative controversies about technology being the end of mankind should not influence Americans into not believing in the â€Å"Heaven Scenario,† thus sit back and watch the never ending achievements and outcomes of Gene therapy transmute the world into a better brighter norm. Works Cited Andree, C., et al. â€Å"Gene Technology and Tissue Engineering.† Minimally Therapy Allied Technologies 11.3 (2002): 93-99. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 March 2014. DeSalle and Michael Yudell. Welcome To The Genome: A User’s Guide to Genetic Past, Present, and Future. Canada: John Wiley Sons. Inc., 2005. Print. Garreau, Joel. Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies- and What It Means to Be Human. New York: Random House, 2005. Print. Jacobs, Chris, and Christine Patch. â€Å"Identifying Individuals Who Might Benefit From Genetic Services And Information.† Nursing Standard. 28.9 (2013): 37-42. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 March 2014. Russo and David Cove. Genetic Engineering: Dreams and Nightmares. Oxford New York Tokyo: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print.

Autonomy, Capacity and Dignified Death

Autonomy, Capacity and Dignified Death Summary: The Council of Europe protects the right of people in terminal phase or dying, to self-determination. But only if the patient is competent, you can make independent decisions about their health. The capacity will be assessed by doctors to consider as valid informed consent. Keywords: Personal Autonomy; Mental Competency; Right to Die; Decision making; Bioethics; Informed consent; Validation Studies. Manuscript The doctor-patient relationship, nowadays, follows the clinical method â€Å"focused on the patient† where the physician has a double task, understand the patient and understand the disease, in this context are key exploring the experience of illness, shared decision making and the search for agreements to which the patient is able to take responsibility for their own salud1. In this manner, it could be considered the patient medical encounter as a meeting of experts, Doctors are experts in medical science and patients are experts in their lives. And this is because modern ethics has transformed the maximum standard Hippocratic â€Å"aegroti salud suprema lex† in â€Å"aegroti voluntas suprema lex†, that is, now is not the health of the sick the supreme law because it is his will (Sass)2. The emergence of the value of personal autonomy has profoundly changed the values of the clinical setting, it must now adapt to the individuality of the sick person. In a democr atic society, respect for the freedom and autonomy of the person must be kept during the illness and fully achieve the process of death3. Ten years ago, on October 19, 2005, the General Conference of UNESCO adopted the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights4, which states, in Article 5, it must respect the autonomy of the individual in relation to the power to make decisions. The exercise of this right leads us to define and protect the ideal of a dignified death, and that is if all human beings aspire to live with dignity, die with dignity is also part of a dignified life. Among the fundamental contents of the ideal of death with dignity that enjoy consensus, is the right of patients to receive comprehensive high-quality palliative care. Recommendation 1418/1999 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 5 Protection of human rights and dignity of the terminally ill and dying in Article 9, paragraph B, protects the right of the terminally ill or dying to s elf-determination, and also recommends taking steps to ensure that health decision, which elects the patient or their family may be respected, including the rejection of a specific treatment measures. It also recognizes that a death wish of a terminally ill or dying person cannot in itself constitute a legal justification for actions to end his life. In Spain is not authorized euthanasia or assisted suicide and other actions are considered good practice to record the living will to make decisions about the refusal of treatment, the limitation of life support and palliative sedation. With this in mind, we asked if a sick person is able to make a decision about their health, sick people are able to make that decision and at that particular moment? If we believe in informed consent as an ongoing process, communicative, dialogic (spoken), deliberative and conservative, we need a patient with capacity made (competition) to make decisions about the nature of his illness, the effects of it and the risks and benefits of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, requesting approval to undergo any them6. Thus the purpose of informed consent is obtained; We talk about guaranteeing the rights of patients, empower, protect the patient from unwanted treatment and help you make the right decisions about health care, so that they are correlated with their personal values. The capacity to which we refer is the competition that the doctor can and should evaluate in the clinical practice and is what we call capacity of made or natural7. It is a psychological and clinical concept, defining the psychological skills needed to take, here and now, a certain decisià ³n8. Only if the patient is competent, you can make independent decisions about their health9, therefore, assess the ability of the patient is in fact a fundamental requirement in the process of informed consent. Capacity is the ability of the person to understand the situation it faces, the values that are at stake, the pos sible courses of actions and expected consequences for, then take express and defend a decision that is consistent with their own values. It varies over time, if mental status changes, also capacity10. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the application of biology and medicine, the Council of Europe, commonly called the Oviedo Convention, in force since 1 January 200011, in articles 6, 7, 17 and 20 deal with the problem of lack of capacity to consent freely. Thus, the most important ethical argument of the obligation to assess the competence or ability of a patient is the principle of nonmaleficence, for those actions that may cause physical or moral harm to persons should be avoided. And so maleficent will allow the patient natural inability to take decisions, which can cause health damage, such as preventing the patient able to exercise its autonomy to decide. There is also the obligation of beneficence, optimize the part icipation of the incompetent patient in decision-making, by all possible means, to reverse, if possible, your disability, or provide information so that you can participate in the decision the extent possible9. Evaluating and determining the ability to make a medical decision a patient is a task that involves an enormous ethical and legal responsibility. Codes of ethics widely collected an ethical obligation to professionals for consider the patients competence. Historically, the doctors has enjoyed considerable social recognition, for determine the capacity. However, the use of standardized tools for assessment of competence is vital, given that informal evaluations by doctors depend on the idiosyncrasies of each and therefore would be little fiables12. This is the same problem that arose in the United States in the late seventies, when American physicians began systematically applied in clinical practice informed consent. After more than thirty years in this line, it is considered what the best tool available, in health care, for the assessment of the ability to make medical decisions is the Aid to capacity evaluation (ACE)13. Its literal translation would help to assess capacity. Understood the term capacity, from the perspective of bioethics, as a synonym for competence in decision-making. For this, the ACE evaluates the understanding of information, and the ability of the patient to say and communicate a particular medical decision. The ACE is validated in the initial work of Etchells et al, in adult patients who needed to make an informed consent treatments or diagnostic procedures, such as endoscopies performing, transfusion, etc. The ACE evaluates recognition the disorder of convivence and the understanding of informed consent (Etchells at al., 1999)14. It was developed in Ontario, Canada, where these two standards are relevant to the current legislation. Recently, it has been adapted and validated to Spanish (Moraleda et al15), both diagnostic and tre atment processes to make decisions about their disease. The ACE is a semi-structured interview assessment that addresses seven facets of the capacity for real and concrete medical decision assesses the ability to understand (1) the medical condition, (2) treatment, (3) and treatment alternatives (4) the option of refusing treatment; the ability to perceive the consequences of (5) to accept treatment and (6) deny treatment; and (7) the possibility that the patient is in a context of hallucinations, delusions or depression, which can significantly interfere in their decision making. The questions in the first four areas assessed the capacity of understanding. Questions 5 and 6 explore the reasoning. And in the seventh area of mental pathology situations which clearly affect the ability clarified. See Table 1. This tool is considered highly reliable and has a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 90%, comparing the judgment of expert medical interview conducted with ACE. Some of the advantages of ACE are its realization in a short time and that is adapted to the clinical case and the specific treatment of each patient. The health professional provides all the information as possible to the patient, and values its ability asking open-ended questions about the decision to take, alternatives, possible consequences, and the possibility of rejecting the offer option. Scores are not added together, to interview the patient about his decision, aspects of understanding of information and the ability of the patient to decide and communicate a particular medical decision are evaluated. This type of semi-structured interview requires a basic training by the professional and helps to classify the patient into one of the following four categories: capable, probably capable, probably incapable or incompetent. And in turn, these four results are divided into two: the incapable of making that decision would be unable and the others are capable. The cut is made according to the criteria of patient autonomy. The principle of respect for persons, of Kantian origin, is based on the dignity of the person, is its moral autonomy, and therefore freedom. It requires that every human being are regarded autonomous and free, imposing respect for their dignity and self determination. Therefore they must be respected their decisions if a person is able, competent and adequately informed. And likewise, this principle requires the development of legal mechanisms for the protection of individuals where these attributes were limited, as in the case of patients classified as permanently incapable. Traditionally, the principle of autonomy is expressed in all its value, it must be considered that an autonomous action must meet three conditions: intent, knowledge and absence of external control. Diego Gracia16 added a fourth condition: authenticity. If an act is intentional, if it has been made with full understanding and without control or external undue influence, but is not consistent with the value system and attitude toward life, typical of who performs it, is not an authentic act, and therefore, it is not t ruly autonomous. The interview with the ACE is a very useful tool, but to doubtful cases or more complex decisions are recommended to complete the interview with other evaluation measures that will help us reduce uncertainty in determining the ability of a patient to a medical decision. In case of incapacity consent is granted of representation. It is considered that an individual is unable if it is not able to make a particular decision at a particular time, at the discretion of the physician responsible for the care, or physical or mental condition and does not allow him to take charge of their situation. Moreover, it is considered that a patient is disabled when a judge has determined this, as stated in Article 199 of the Civil Code, in Spain. And in the case of minors, the consent of the representation will be required when the minor patient (over 12 or 16 years, depending on the decision and under 18 years of age), it is not intellectually or emotionally capable of understand t he scope. With minors, the mission is to demonstrate the maturity, unlike what happens with adults. With the adults is necessary evaluate the clinical disability as it is supposed to be able. Diego Gracia17 recommended that the assessment of mental capacity must be reasonable and reasoned, assessing the circumstances, previous medical history, current psychopathological assessment, family and social support, patient values, and the foreseeable consequences of the decision to take. In certain cases it may be useful the use of a semi-structured interview (ACE) to review the decision-making skills. In case of failure, the use of deliberative method can be helpful to assess each case. Determining the ability of fact (capacity), before taking a decision, in the processes of decision making, it is a habit that all doctor should include in their daily work, is an improvement in the organization and management of resources because it means improving the principles of bioethics with our most fragile patients.

the enforcement of EU law :: essays research papers

To answer this question I will firstly explain how EU law became incorporated within the member states I will then explain the various types of EU legislation's in circulation. This is important to define as the various types of methods will involve different enforcement procedures. Finally I will explain how EU law is enforced and the ways EU law will effect the member state and individual businesses. I will summarise my findings at the end of the essay, this will give details of all the key ideas I have ut across. The Schuman proposal began various European countries setting up the European Coal and Steal Community (ECSC), this was signed in 1951 by six countries. The countries that initially set up the ECSC were France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. The idea behind the ECSC was the first serious institutional committee in Europe and was the start of integration, the aim was to provide a common market of coal and steel trade. This meant that each of the states would be able to have access to the various qualities of coal and steel that the members had with no tariff of importing and exporting to the various countries. This let the countries concentrate on their more efficient areas leading to specialisation. The ECSC began the beginning of supranational power because the "High Authority could adopt binding decisions" (1) as elements of decision making were carried out by ECSC committees. A supranational power is where the member state has to abide by the de cisions made of the community, as they have power above the national level. When the EC makes a law it is up to the individual state to implement the legislation. An example of EU law which has been passed which has been adopted in the UK is that of the directive 75/117 which states that men and women should receive equal pay. The UK government adopted this directive with the 1975 Sex discrimination Act. There are a number of methods EU legislation is formed for instance regulations, directives and decisions are three different types of EU legislation. I am going to briefly explain these three as the way they will be enforced are different. Regulations have general application that means that all the member states have to adopt the regulation; the member state is expected to adopt the whole regulation. Regulations are directly applicable which means that the "individuals have rights that they can enforce in their own name through national courts"(2).

Free Great Gatsby Essays: Social Attitudes :: Great Gatsby Essays

Social Attitudes Represented in The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This novel is in general about middle and upper class American citizens and their lives a few years after the first world war had concluded.   The author, a World War I veteran himself, shows insight into the lives and minds of American soldiers who fought in Europe during the conflict and the interesting experiences some may have had in the years following their return.   Through written conversation, the novel deals with many of the social attitudes and ideas that prevailed during the early 20's.   Historical facts are cleverly infused into the body of the novel that gives the reader an authentic and classic impression of the story.   A clear view of the discrimination that existed in that time period against non-whites and women was evident by the time the conclusion of the book was reached.   For instance, a conversation takes place between characters in the novel in which civilization is said to be going to pieces as a result of "The Rise of the Coloured Empires".   Women are also constantly referred to as "girls".   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Also incorporated, was an interesting but sometimes uneventful sub-plot of a man's extreme love for a woman and the catastrophic events that take place as a result.   This was indicative of many people of the day who had a spouse but also maintained a relationship outside of the marrage.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The plot centres on a fictional World War I army veteran named Nick Carraway.   After his involvement in the war on the allied side with a machine gun battalion, he returned to his home in Chicago. With no clear direction of what he wanted to do with his life, he decided to move to New York to enter into the business of selling bonds.   He settled down on an area of Long Island called West Egg, directly beside a more fashionable area of Long Island called West Egg.   Across from him lived a rich man named Jay Gatsby who also was a World War I vet.   Not far away lived a married couple Daisy and Tom Buchanan which he knew relatively well.   It was at their residence that he met a woman, Jordan Baker, who was to become his good friend and later his girl friend.   Carraway soon became a good friend with his rich neighbour next door, Gatsby, and soon was exposed to many rumours about this man which caused him to question his relationship with him.

Questions Frequently Asked Concerning the Purchase of a Website :: Sell Websites Buy Websites

Questions Frequently Asked Concerning the Purchase of a Website Reprinted with permission of VotanWeb.com What are the key motivators for people to buy a website? Before making a decision to purchase a website, a buyer should understand his or her objectives to make sure those objectives can be met by purchasing a particular website. Surveys of people purchasing websites reveal similar responses. Surprisingly, making money is not at the top of the list. Here is a list of the typical answers, in their order of importance: I want to control my own destiny. I would be happier if I worked for myself. My current work does not take advantage of my skills and abilities. I want to make a lot of money. Should I start my own website or buy an existing website? An existing website has a historical track record (good or bad) which can be used to evaluate the website. An existing website has usually shown there is demand for its products or services, and it should have, among other things, detailed financial records. Sometimes, a seller of a website will agree to help to train a new owner. These are important factors because many websites tend to fail during the early stage of their development. On the other hand, there can also be disadvantages to buying an existing website. A buyer will be assuming an established website culture and infrastructure which may make implementing changes more difficult. Also buyers will generally have to pay a premium for an existing website. What should I be looking for in a website? A buyer should only consider a website he or she will feel comfortable owning and operating. The time and effort which will be required is an important consideration as is how much the buyer can afford to pay for the website. The amount of cash the buyer needs to regularly take out of the website is very important, especially if the website is to be the buyer's only source of income. Because many experts believe you should not purchase a website unless you can make it better, it is helpful if a buyer has some definite ideas on how to improve the purchased website. Can I obtain financing to help me buy a website? The availability of outside financing will depend upon the asset base of the website, its operating history, collateral availability and projected cash flow - the same issues considered in all business lending.

The Design Argument – as Level

Outline the Key Concepts of the Design Argument [21 marks] The design argument is also referred to at the Teleological Argument stemmed from the Greek work ‘Telos’ meaning end or purpose. It is an ‘A posterior’ argument (from experience) based on our empirical senses and it is synthetic meaning that it is from observation. The argument is also inductive meaning there a number of possible conclusions. The main basis of the Teleological argument is based on a designer commonly known as ‘the classical God of theism’ (hereafter referred to as God)The outline of the design argument is that the universe has order and purpose and is regular, the complexities of the universe demonstrate some form of design, a design requires a designer, and this designer is God. This however is an inductive leap meaning that the Design argument is valid but not sound. The key concepts of the argument are that the universe has order, there are laws and regularities, the universe has purpose, and therefore the objects in the universe appear to work towards and end or purpose.The universe has benefit, meaning that it provides all that is necessary for life and more and finally, the suitability for human life, as the Universe provides ideal environments and conditions for human life to exist and flourish. Like the cosmological argument, the design argument goes back to Plato, who stated that the human body, with all its particles and elements, must owe its origin to ‘the royal mind soul and mind in the nature of Zeus’.The theory of the Design argument was first put forward by Socrates who was a Greek Philosopher who lived in 400 BC, one of the main strengths of Socrates proposing this theory is this means it is a Pre Christian idea and also that it has withstood the test of time. Socrates said ‘With such signs of forethought in the design of living creatures how can there be any doubt that they are the work of choice or design. â₠¬â„¢ Thomas Aquinas who lived in the 13th century furthered the idea of Socrates Design Argument; he wrote a book called the ‘Summa Theologica’ and was strongly influenced by Aristotle.Aquinas rejected the possibility of an infinite regress of movers and causes to explain the existence of movers and causes to explain the existence of mutable beings. Aquinas proposed 5 ways to prove the existence of God, the unmoved mover, the uncaused case, Possibility and Necessity, Goodness Truth and Nobility and the Teleological Argument. He called these the fifth way and is ‘’from the governance of things’’. Aquinas also proposed the theory of design qua regularity, ‘That we call God’.Aquinas maintained that since such behaviour patterns rarely change, and their end result is beneficial, there must be a purpose to them, and if non-rational beings can work towards such a goal, something must be directing them to do so. ‘Now whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless directed, and this being we call God. ’ He also championed the Analogy of the arrow directed by the archer showing that in order for something to end somewhere, there must be someone causing the movement, the arrow could not have ended us on the board on its own.William Paley, an 18th Century Philosopher continued to develop the principles of the Design argument, showing many more extended features to Socrates original concept. Paley championed the theory of design qua purpose and that a design requires a designer. ‘’The world is too complex and well-designed to have come about by chance. It seems to have been planned by an intelligent mind for a special purpose. ’’ For Paley, the world is like a machine made up of intricate parts, all of which worked towards an end for the benefit of the whole. Paley proposed the analogy of the watch and the watch maker. ’Suppose you had never seen a watch before . One day when you are out walking, you find one on the ground. You would instantly see how complex it is. ’’ His theory was that if you came across a watch then it is so intricate therefore it must have been designed. Therefore the universe is so fine-tuned that there must have been a designer for this too. It is obvious that both are not there by chance. Another analogy for this is the eye is designed so well for the purpose of seeing. A designer gave each part of the universe a special purpose. Paley makes the inductive leap to say that this designer is God.The Anthropic principle is a key feature of the Design argument and suits the theory of Design qua Regularity proposed by F. R. Tennant showing that science and religion are one in the same. He argues that human life flourishes on earth, therefore there must have been a supreme designer, that designer being God. Tennant accepts the scientific reasoning of evolution as a fine balance of ‘’fine tuningà ¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and God’s chosen way to support life. Tennant also argues that ‘’the world could so easily have been chaotic’’ and that ‘’the universe is not chaotic, nature is the outcome of intelligent design. ’ Others argue that the earth runs so smoothly and everything works together therefore ‘’The world is compatible with a single throw of a dice and common sense is not foolish in suspecting the dice has been loaded’’ cited by Vardy. James Lovelock of the 20th century furthered the anthropic principle in ways of the Gaia Hypothesis, ‘’engineering on a planetary scale’’ cited by Vardy. He suggests that the oxygen content in the air, the salt content in the sea and the temperature of the earth are all precise in order for human life to flourish.If the oxygen content in the air were to be 12% less no fire would be able to burn, if the oxygen content were 25% more, then no f ire would ever go out, however over the last 25 million years, the oxygen content has remained at 21% which is perfect to sustain human life. One other person who championed the idea of the Anthropic principle is Arthur Brown from the 20th century, he says that science shows the way in which a designer chose to design, †The ozone gas layer is mighty proof of the creators forethought†¦ Just the right thickness and exactly the correct defence, gives evidence of a plan. ‘ However there are two type of Anthropic principle, the weak Anthropic principle states that conditions on the earth were such that human life adapted to the conditions, for example evolution. The strong anthropic principle revolves around conditions being set up for human life to be introduced, for example a Baby's nursery being all ready for the baby to be introduced into it. In 1986 Freeman Dyson said â€Å"in the universe there are many accidents of physics and astronomy that have worked together for our benefit, it almost seems as if the universe knew we were coming. The weak anthropic principle however states that human life adapted to the conditions of the earth, for example, by way of evolution. This does not eliminate that Evolution means that there was no divine power involved, in the 19th century Archbishop Temple stated â€Å"The doctrine of evolution leaves the argument for an intelligent creator†¦ stronger than it was before. † In the 20th century, Tennant worked alongside Taylor in proposing the aesthetic principle which observes that the universe possess a natural beauty that goes beyond that which is necessary to live.For example art, literature, music all contribute in making the world a nicer place for us to live, we would be able to live without these things however F. R Tennant observes that ‘Nature is not just beautiful in places it is saturated with beauty†¦ from an intelligent point of view beauty seems to be superfluous to have lit tle survival value. ‘ Another example of the aesthetic principle is shown within people and the example of Weary Dunlop, cited by Vardy. Weary Dunlop was an Australian Doctor during World War II who cared for thousands of injured soldiers who showed endless compassion and love.This example shows that humans are not selfish, leading to an intelligent designer creating some humans to have beauty beyond what is necessary. Franciscan Theology also supports the aesthetic principle and stresses the idea of beauty and the beauty within creation; this therefore leads to a direct pointer of God's nature, showing an omnibenevolent and numinous experience. In the 20th century Richard Swinburne furthered the argument of God due to that of Design, by developing the argument of probability as a key concept.He furthered a statement made by Socrates, ‘with such signs of forethought in the design of living creature, how can there be doubt that they are the work of choice or design. †™ Swinburne suggested that the evidence of design and the order in the universe increases the probability of the existence of God. He states that a belief in God is compatible with science. This is due to the theory that without a designer the universe could have been chaotic, the universe seems to be governed therefore order is present, order is more probable and the probability for design is much greater than that of chance.Swinburne uses the parable of the card shuffling machine to show that if a man was locked in a room with 10 card shuffling machines and unless the ten machines all chose an ace of hearts from each of the packs, he would die, however the machine chooses an ace of hearts from each pack. Swinburne says it would not be adequate for the victim to claim that no explanation of the draw is required here. You would have expected the card machines to have been designed that way as the chances of this happening are seemingly almost impossible.Swinburne uses this parable to even say that ‘’the very succession of science is showing us how deeply ordered the natural world is’’ and that ‘’science provides strong grounds for believing that there is a deeper cause in that order. ’’ Harold Morowitz thought that the chances of the universe being ordered in such a way would be the equivalent of throwing four billion penny pieces into the air and all of them landing ‘heads up’. William Ockham developed the theory of Ockham’s razor, and even though not specifically to do with the design argument, he states that ‘’the simplest explanation is usually the best explanation’.Fred Hoyle continued Swinburne’s probability as a way of explaining a need for a designer by proposing that the probability that the universe developed by chance is much the same as if a whirlwind flew threw and junkyard and assembling a Boeing 747. Even though Kant rejects the idea of the des ign argument he even states that ‘it is the oldest, the clearest and most accordant with the common reason of mankind’ and that ‘this proof always deserves to be mentioned with respect’. b. Comment on the view that the strengths outweigh the weaknesses [9 marks]The teleological argument contains many opponents who have found weaknesses within its theory. Epicurus, a Greek Philosopher devised the Epicuran Hypothesis, stating that the universe has come about only by chance and that a number of particles floating around in space, at some point these particles formed together to create a universe, due to there being enough time for the combination of particles to make a universe. He rejects Swinburne’s theory of probability and believes that the chaotic state, by chance, led to order.Sarah Tyler explains this theory in ways of monkeys and typewriters in saying that if an ‘infinite number of monkeys’ were to be given an ‘infinite amount of typewriters’, in time they would eventually ‘produce the entire works of Shakespeare’. However, in my opinion, judging by Epicuran Hypothesis and then Swinburne’s theory of probability, I believe that the strength of Swinburne’s argument outweighs that of Epicurus. Neither can be proven however with what humans know today, Swinburne’s development somewhat seems more probable in explaining how the universe began.I believe that the strengths in this case outweigh the weaknesses of the design argument. The main critic of the Design argument was David Hume in the 18th century, who was an empiricist, therefore based all his arguments of proof. He does not reject the idea of God, however fails to make the inductive leap from having a designer to that designer being God. He says that ‘the world was only the first rude essay of some infant deity who abandoned it afterwards. ’ Hume believes that if there is a God that this God is not necessarily what humans assume him to be, if he is even still in existence.Hume also believes that there could have been a ‘co-operative of lesser god. ’ For example a man who claims he builds his own house does not actually build it but requires others to do the work for him, e. g. a carpenter, electrician. Hume states that humans ‘assume’ what is going on outside the world and beyond, yet we cannot know. Another rejection of the design argument from Hume is that he says the world around us is not perfect yet religious believers claim that God is perfect and unlimited in every way, therefore if a perfect God designed the world, why isn’t it perfect?Hume then furthered his rejection of the Design argument by refuting the use of analogies by saying that they are unsound because God is beyond human understanding therefore anyone who uses Analogies is supporting anthropomorphism and likening God to a human or object, therefore making God less divine. Hu me also says that the world is natural like an animal or vegetables, it is organic and it grows changes and moves. Hume continues to say ‘the world is more organic than mechanic’, likening the world to a carrot. Hume does have many more criticisms on the Design Argument however his main problem with it is due to the inductive leap.Other criticisms of his include not assuming the laws of cause and effect. In my opinion, Hume’s argument for the weaknesses of the design argument is a very strong argument as he considers the theory of God when proposing his ideas. No other person has been able to challenge Hume’s criticism that if the world is not perfect then God cannot be omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient, leading to a gap in the inconsistent triad of God. In my opinion I think that this weakness does have an impact on all other strengths as it is the only one hat I can definitely say is a valid argument and makes sense to me. Another person who oppo ses the Design argument is J. S. Mill in the 19th century, who furthered the work of Hume and goes contrary to the idea of the world being an ordered, beautiful and harmonious place. He looks at the problem of suffering and that as there is so much in the world, this goes against the idea of an all loving, all powerful God. He states that if there were a designer God, he would have control over cosmic forces. ‘’Go straight to their end without regarding whom or what they crush in their road. ’ In my opinion, this weakness is fairly strong as the problem of evil demonstrates a limited God. A God that is wholly good or wholly powerful would not have created evil therefore it has to be one or the other. JS Mill personally believes that this God is good but not all powerful. Charles Darwin of the 19th century, wrote the book ‘Origin of Species’ is another person who refutes the design argument and provided an alternative explanation for the design of wor ld without reference to God, this is the theory of evolution and natural selection, ‘the survival of the fittest. However, I believe that Darwin’s theory of evolution is a weak argument against the existence of a God as it can also be placed into the category of the weak anthropic principle as the way God chose to introduce human beings; however we adapted to the conditions over time. Therefore I believe that Paley as a proponent of the design argument, his theory of there being a designer to design the universe is a much stronger argument than Charles Darwin’s theory of Evolution as there is no explanation as to where evolution began in the first place, so ultimately no conclusion.Richard Dawkins of the 20th century argues that Natural Selection give the appearance of design however we are mistaken into believing that this shows there must be a designer. He opposes Swinburne and Tennant and Taylor and says that nature is random, meaning the world was formed by c hance. He says that ‘’Biology is God’’ and people are lazy therefore made up this ‘’God of the Gaps’’. He says there is ‘’no more evidence for God then there is the Easter Bunny’ and that ‘life has no purpose’ and ‘God is a superfluous hypothesis’.I believe that this weakness to disprove the Design argument is weak as there is no evidence and is trying to disprove one of the earliest theories by comparing it to the Easter Bunny, therefore I feel that this weakness does not outweigh any of the strengths. A. J Ayre as another opponent said ‘unless we can say what the world is like without design we cannot conclude design’. Kant furthered this by saying the world could be chaotic but we perceive it as being ordered.To conclude this argument, the design argument is a religiously ambiguous and Paul Davies makes this clear by stating ‘’this is really a question of your threshold of conviction. It has to be a matter of personal taste whether you regard the accumulated evidence as compelling enough to want to make that inductive leap. ’’ The design argument is eschatologically verifiable. Many people however still are not convinced yet do not reject the argument fully, for example John Wisdom’s parable of the Gardener showing that everyone has different opinions on how the world was designed and has been maintained.John Lesley also says that ‘’if rocks had made by God stamped on them we would know it is made by God – they don’t’ therefore we can’t know for sure. In conclusion to the question of strengths and weaknesses I feel that for me, the strengths, even, though there may be fewer than weaknesses, their principles outweigh the number of weaknesses. I personally think that the design argument cannot thoroughly prove the existence of God; however it gives a clear indicator to a des igner.