Choice Theories and How They Relate To Crime Essay

Choice Theories are a rational choice that actors act upon because of the thoughts and feelings they have. It is an immediate instinct to do what’s needed for your immediate survival at the time. Also Known as a personal conscious choice. Rational people think that the act will benefit them more than cause harm to themselves. They do not know if it will cause harm to anyone else around them but honestly they normally do not care. Criminals are a great group of people whom commit these acts. They feel that they are restrained and that their choices are constricted. They use this as a last and sometimes only resort. Criminals are seen as inherently anit-social. This gives the criminals a sense of control, power, and in their minds gives them an alternative career. For example look at drug dealers. They live their lives selling drugs not because they enjoy doing it and disobeying the law but because they can work for two hours and they can make more money than I do in two weeks working 40+ hours. They love quick easy money and over look the consequences. The only way to stop this major crime rate and help keep our justice system a little more organized and not so stressful is to make the cost of crime so high that no rational human will commit the crime. All of this does not go for a criminal whom sits down and thinks of the cost/benefit portion of things. A choice theory to some is simply nothing other than a resort.

The Twilight Saga 2: New Moon Chapter 17 VISITOR

UNNATURALLY STILL AND WHITE, WITH LARGE BLACK EYES intent on my face, my visitor waited perfectly motionless in the center of the halt, beautiful beyond imagining. My knees trembled for a second, and I nearly fell. Then I hurled myself at her. â€Å"Alice, oh, Alice!† I cried, as I slammed into her. I'd forgotten how hard she was; it was like running headlong into a wall of cement. â€Å"Bella?† There was a strange mingling of relief and confusion in her voice. I locked my arms around her, gasping to inhale as much of the scent of her skin as possible. It wasn't like anything elsenot floral or spice, citrus or musk. No perfume in the world could compare. My memory hadn't done it justice. I didn't notice when the gasping turned into something elseI only realized I was sobbing when Alice dragged me to the living room couch and pulled me into her lap. It was like curling up into a cool stone, but a stone that was contoured comfortingly to the shape of my body. She rubbed my back in a gentle rhythm, waiting for me to get control of myself. â€Å"I'm sorry,† I blubbered. â€Å"I'm just so happy to see you!† â€Å"It's okay, Bella. Everything's okay.† â€Å"Yes,† I bawled. And, for once, it seemed that way. Alice sighed. â€Å"I'd forgotten how exuberant you are,† she said, and her tone was disapproving. I looked up at her through my streaming eyes. Alice's neck was tight, straining away from me, her lips pressed together firmly. Her eyes were black as pitch. â€Å"Oh,† I puffed, as I realized the problem. She was thirsty. And I smelled appetizing. It had been a while since I'd had to think about that kind of thing. â€Å"Sorry.† â€Å"It's my own fault. It's been too long since I hunted. I shouldn't let myself get so thirsty. But I was in a hurry today.† The look she directed at me then was a glare. â€Å"Speaking of which, would you like to explain to me how you're alive?† That brought me up short and stopped the sobs. I realized what must have happened immediately, and why Alice was here. I swallowed loudly. â€Å"You saw me fall.† â€Å"No,† she disagreed, her eyes narrowing. â€Å"I saw you jump.† I pursed my lips as I tried to think of an explanation that wouldn't sound nuts. Alice shook her head. â€Å"I told him this would happen, but he didn't believe me. ‘Bella promised,'† her voice imitated his so perfectly that I iroze in shock while the pain ripped through my torso. â€Å"‘Don't be looking for her future, either,'† she continued to quote him. ‘†We've done enough damage.† â€Å"But just because I'm not looking, doesn't mean I don't see† she went on. â€Å"I wasn't keeping tabs on you, I swear, Bella. It's just that I'm alreacy attuned to you when I saw you jumping, I didn't think, I just got on a plane. I knew I would be too late, but I couldn't do nothing. And then I get here, thinking maybe I could help Charlie somehow, and you drive up.† She shook her head, this time in confusion. Her voice was strained. â€Å"I saw you go into the water and I waited and waited for you to come up, but you didn't. What happened? And how could you do that to Charlie? Did you stop to think what this would do to him? And my brother? Do you have any idea what Edward† I cut her off then, as soon as she said his name. I'd let her go on, even after I realized the misunderstanding she was under, just to hear the perfect bell tone of her voice. But it was time to interrupt. â€Å"Alice, I wasn't committing suicide.† She eyed me dubiously. â€Å"Are you saying you didn't jump off a cliff?† â€Å"No, but† I grimaced. â€Å"It was for recreational purposes only.† Her expression hardened. â€Å"I'd seen some of Jacob's friends cliff diving,† I insisted. â€Å"It looked like fun, and I was bored† She waited. â€Å"I didn't think about how the storm would affect the currents. Actually, I didn't think about the water much at all.† Alice didn't buy it. I could see that she still thought I had been trying to kill myself. I decided to redirect. â€Å"So if you saw me go in, why didn't you see Jacob?† She cocked her head to the side, distracted. I continued. â€Å"It's true that I probably would have drowned if Jacob hadn't jumped in after me. Well, okay, there's no probably about it. But he did, and he pulled me out, and I guess he towed me back to shore, though I was kind of out for that part. It couldn't have been more than a minute that I was under before he grabbed me. How come you didn't see that?† She frowned in perplexity. â€Å"Someone pulled you out?† â€Å"Yes. Jacob saved me.† I watched curiously as an enigmatic range of emotions flitted across her face. Something was bothering herher imperfect vision? But I wasn't sure. Then she deliberately leaned in and sniffed my shoulder. I froze. â€Å"Don't be ridiculous,† she muttered, sniffing at me some more. â€Å"What are you doing?† She ignored my question. â€Å"Who was with you out there just now? It sounded like you were arguing.† â€Å"Jacob Black. He's sort of my best friend, I guess. At least, he was† I thought of Jacob's angry, betrayed face, and wondered what he was to me now. Alice nodded, seeming preoccupied. â€Å"What?† â€Å"I don't know,† she said. â€Å"I'm not sure what it means.† â€Å"Well, I'm not dead, at least.† She rolled her eyes. â€Å"He was a fool to think you could survive alone. I've never seen anyone so prone to life-threatening idiocy.† â€Å"I survived,† I pointed out. She was thinking of something else. â€Å"So, if the currents were too much for you, how did this Jacob manage?† â€Å"Jacob is strong.† She heard the reluctance in my voice, and her eyebrows rose. I gnawed on my lip for a second. Was this a secret, or not? And if it was, then who was my greatest allegiance to? Jacob, or Alice? It was too hard to keep secrets, I decided. Jacob knew everything, why not Alice, too? â€Å"See, well, he's sort of a werewolf,† I admitted in a rush. â€Å"The Quileutes turn into wolves when there are vampires around. They know Carlisle from a long time ago. Were you with Carlisle back then?† Alice gawked at me for a moment, and then recovered herself, blinking rapidly. â€Å"Well, I guess that explains the smell,† she muttered. â€Å"But does it explain what I didn't see?† She frowned, her porcelain forehead creasing. â€Å"The smell?† I repeated. â€Å"You smell awful,† she said absently, still frowning. â€Å"A werewolf? Are you sure about that?† â€Å"Very sure,† I promised, wincing as I remembered Paul and Jacob fighting in the road. â€Å"I guess you weren't with Carlisle the last time there were werewolves here in Forks?† â€Å"No. I hadn't found him yet.† Alice was still lost in thought. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she turned to stare at me with a shocked expression. â€Å"Your best friend is a werewolf?† I nodded sheepishly. â€Å"How long has this been going on?† â€Å"Not long,† I said, my voice sounding defensive. â€Å"He's only been a werewolf for just a few weeks.† She glowered at me. â€Å"A young werewolf? Even worse! Edward was rightyou're a magnet for danger. Weren't you supposed to be staying out of trouble?† â€Å"There's nothing wrong with werewolves,† I grumbled, stung by her critical tone. â€Å"Until they lose their tempers.† She shook her head sharply from side to side. â€Å"Leave it to you, Bella. Anyone else would be better off when the vampires left town. But you have to start hanging out with the first monsters you can find.† I didn't want to argue with AliceI was still trembling with joy that she was really, truly here, that I could touch her marble skin and hear her wind-chime voicebut she had it all wrong. â€Å"No, Alice, the vampires didn't really leavenot all of them, anyway. That's the whole trouble. If it weren't for the werewolves, Victoria would have gotten me by now. Well, if it weren't for Jake and his friends, Laurent would have gotten me before she could, I guess, so† â€Å"Victoria?† she hissed. â€Å"Laurent?† I nodded, a teensy bit alarmed by the expression in her black eyes. I pointed at my chest. â€Å"Danger magnet, remember?† She shook her head again. â€Å"Tell me everythingstart at the beginning.† I glossed over the beginning, skipping the motorcycles and the voices, but telling her everything else right up to today's misadventure. Alice didn't like my thin explanation about boredom and the cliffs, so I hurried on to the strange flame I'd seen on the water and what I thought it meant. Her eyes narrowed almost to slits at that part. It was strange to see her look so so dangerouslike a vampire. I swallowed hard and went on with the rest about Harry. She listened to my story without interrupting. Occasionally, she would shake her head, and the crease in her forehead deepened until it looked like it was carved permanently into the marble of her skin. She didn't speak and, finally, I fell quiet, struck again by the borrowed grief at Harry's passing. I thought of Charlie; he would be home soon. What condition would he be in? â€Å"Our leaving didn't do you any good at all, did it?† Alice murmured. I laughed onceit was a slightly hysterical sound. â€Å"That was never the point, though, was it? It's not like you left for my benefit.† Alice scowled at the floor for a moment. â€Å"Well I guess I acted impulsively today. I probably shouldn't have intruded.† I could feel the blood draining from my face. My stomach dropped. â€Å"Don't go, Alice,† I whispered. My fingers locked around the collar of her white shirt and I began to hyperventilate. â€Å"Please don't leave me.† Her eyes opened wider. â€Å"All right,† she said, enunciating each word with slow precision. â€Å"I'm not going anywhere tonight. Take a deep breath.† I tried to obey, though I couldn't quite locate my lungs. She watched my face while I concentrated on my breathing. She waited till I was calmer to comment. â€Å"You look like hell, Bella.† â€Å"I drowned today,† I reminded her. â€Å"It goes deeper than that. You're a mess.† I flinched. â€Å"Look, I'm doing my best.† â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"It hasn't been easy. I'm working on it.† She frowned. â€Å"I told him,† she said to herself. â€Å"Alice,† I sighed. â€Å"What did you think you were going to find? I mean, besides me dead? Did you expect to find me skipping around and whistling show tunes? You know me better than that.† â€Å"I do. But I hoped.† â€Å"Then I guess I don't have the corner on the idiocy market.† The phone rang. â€Å"That has to be Charlie,† I said, staggering to my feet. I grabbed Alice's stone hand and dragged her with me to the kitchen. I wasn't about to let her out of my sight. â€Å"Charlie?† I answered the phone. â€Å"No, it's me,† Jacob said. â€Å"Jake!† Alice scrutinized my expression. â€Å"Just making sure you were still alive,† Jacob said sourly. â€Å"I'm fine. I told you that it wasn't† â€Å"Yeah. I got it. ‘Bye.† Jacob hung up on me. I sighed and let my head hang back, staring at the ceiling. â€Å"That's going to be a problem.† Alice squeezed my hand. â€Å"They aren't excited I'm here.† â€Å"Not especially. But it's none of their business anyway.† Alice put her arm around me. â€Å"So what do we do now?† she mused. She seemed to talk to herself for a moment. â€Å"Things to do. Loose ends to tie.† â€Å"What things to do?† Her face was suddenly careful. â€Å"I don't know for sure I need to see Carlisle.† Would she leave so soon? My stomach dropped. â€Å"Could you stay?† I begged. â€Å"Please? For just a little while. I've missed you so much.† My voice broke. â€Å"If you think that's a good idea.† Her eyes were unhappy. â€Å"I do. You can stay hereCharlie would love that.† â€Å"I have a house, Bella.† I nodded, disappointed but resigned. She hesitated, studying me. â€Å"Well, I need to go get a suitcase of clothes, at the very least.† I threw my arms around her. â€Å"Alice, you're the best!† â€Å"And I think I'll need to hunt. Immediately,† she added in a strained voice. â€Å"Oops.† I took a step back. â€Å"Can you stay out of trouble for one hour?† she asked skeptically. Then, before I could answer, she held up one finger and closed her eyes. Her face went smooth and blank for a few seconds. And then her eyes opened and she answered her own question. â€Å"Yes, you'll be fine. For tonight, anyway.† She grimaced. Even making faces, she looked like an angel. â€Å"You'll come back?† I asked in a small voice. â€Å"I promiseone hour.† I glanced at the clock over the kitchen table. She laughed and leaned in quickly to kiss me on the cheek. Then she was gone. I took a deep breath. Alice would be back. I suddenly felt so much better. I had plenty to do to keep myself busy while I waited. A shower was definitely first on the agenda. I sniffed my shoulders as I undressed, but I couldn't smell anything but the brine and seaweed scent of the ocean. I wondered what Alice had meant about me smelling bad. When I was cleaned up, I went back to the kitchen. I couldn't see any signs that Charlie ‘lad eaten recently, and he would probably be hungry when he got back. I hummed tunelessly to myself as I moved around the kitchen. While Thursday's casserole rotated in the microwave, I made up the couch with sheets and an old pillow. Alice wouldn't need it, but Charlie would need to see it. I was careful not to watch the clock. There was no reason to start myself panicking; Alice had promised. I hurried through my dinner, not tasting itjust feeling the ache as it slid down my raw throat. Mostly I was thirsty; I must have drunk a half gallon of water by the time I was finished. All the salt in my system had dehydrated me. I went to go try to watch TV while I waited. Alice was already there, sitting on her improvised bed. Her eyes were a liquid butterscotch. She smiled and patted the pillow. â€Å"Thanks.† â€Å"You're early,† I said, elated. I sat down next to her and leaned my head on her shoulder. She put her cold arms around me and sighed. â€Å"Bella. What are we going to do with you?† â€Å"I don't know,† I admitted. â€Å"I really have been trying my hardest.† â€Å"I believe you.† It was silent. â€Å"Doesdoes he† I took a deep breath. It was harder to say his name out loud, even though I was able to think it now. â€Å"Does Edward know you're here?† I couldn't help asking. It was my pain, after all. I'd deal with it when she was gone, I promised myself, and felt sick at the thought. â€Å"No.† There was only one way that could be true. â€Å"He's not with Carlisle and Esme?† â€Å"He checks in every few months.† â€Å"Oh.† He must still be out enjoying his distractions. I focused my curiosity on a safer topic. â€Å"You said you flew here Where did you come from?† â€Å"I was in Denali. Visiting Tanya's family.† â€Å"Is Jasper here? Did he come with your'† She shook her head. â€Å"He didn't approve of my interfering. We promised† she trailed off, and then her tone changed. â€Å"And you think Charlie won't mind my being here?† she asked, sounding worried. â€Å"Charlie thinks you're wonderful, Alice.† â€Å"Well, we're about to find out.† Sure enough, a few seconds later I heard the cruiser pull into the driveway. I jumped up and hurried to open the door. Charlie trudged slowly up the walk, his eyes on the ground and his shoulders slumped. I walked forward to meet him; he didn't even see me until I hugged him around the waist. He embraced me back fiercely. â€Å"I'm so sorry about Harry, Dad.† â€Å"I'm really going to miss him,† Charlie mumbled. â€Å"How's Sue doing?† â€Å"She seems dazed, like she hasn't grasped it yet. Sam's staying with her† The volume of his voice faded in and out. â€Å"Those poor kids. Leah's just a year older than you, and Seth is only fourteen† He shook his head. He kept his arms tight around me as he started toward the door again. â€Å"Um, Dad?† I figured I'd better warn him. â€Å"You'll never guess who's here.† He looked at me blankly. His head swiveled around, and he spied the Mercedes across the street, the porch light reflecting off the glossy black paint. Before he could react, Alice was in the doorway. â€Å"Hi, Charlie,† she said in a subdued voice. â€Å"I'm sorry I came at such a bad time.† â€Å"Alice Cullen?† he peered at the slight figure in front of him as if he doubted what his eyes were telling him. â€Å"Alice, is that you?† â€Å"It's me,† she confirmed. â€Å"I was in the neighborhood.† â€Å"Is Carlisle† â€Å"No, I'm alone.† Both Alice and I knew he wasn't really asking about Carlisle. His arm tightened over my shoulder. â€Å"She can stay here, can't she?† I pleaded. â€Å"I already asked her.† â€Å"Of course,† Charlie said mechanically. â€Å"We'd love to have you, Alice.† â€Å"Thank you, Charlie. I know it's horrid timing.† â€Å"No, it's fine, really. I'm going to be really busy doing what I can for Harry's family; it will be nice for Bella to have some company.† â€Å"There's dinner for you on the table, Dad,† I told him. â€Å"Thanks, Bell.† He gave me one more squeeze before he shuffled toward the kitchen. Alice went back to the couch, and I followed her. This time, she was the one to pull me against her shoulder. â€Å"You look tired.† â€Å"Yeah,† I agreed, and shrugged. â€Å"Near-death experiences do that to me So, what does Carlisle think of you being here?† â€Å"He doesn't know. He and Esme were on a hunting trip. I'll hear from him in a few days, when he gets back.† â€Å"You won't tell him, though when he checks in again?† I asked. She knew I didn't mean Carlisle now. â€Å"No. He'd bite my head off,† Alice said grimly. I laughed once, and then sighed. I didn't want to sleep. I wanted to stay up all night talking to Alice. And it didn't make sense for me to be tired, what with crashing on Jacob's couch all day. But drowning really had taken a lot out of me, and my eyes wouldn't stay open. I rested my head on her stone shoulder, and drifted into a more peaceful oblivion than I had any hope of. I woke early, from a deep and dreamless sleep, feeling well-rested, but stiff. I was on the couch tucked under the blankets I'd laid out for Alice, and I could hear her and Charlie talking in the kitchen. It sounded like Charlie was fixing her breakfast. â€Å"How bad was it, Charlie?† Alice asked softly, and at first I thought they were talking about the Clearwaters. Charlie sighed. â€Å"Real bad.† â€Å"Tell me about it. I want to know exactly what happened when we left.† There was a pause while a cupboard door was closed and a dial on the stove was clicked off. I waited, cringing. â€Å"I've never felt so helpless,† Charlie began slowly. â€Å"I didn't know what to do. That first weekI thought I was going to have to hospitalize her. She wouldn't eat or drink, she wouldn't move. Dr. Gerandy was throwing around words like ‘catatonic,' but I didn't let him up to see her. I was afraid it would scare her.† â€Å"She snapped out of it though?† â€Å"I had Renee come to take her to Florida. I just didn't want to be the one if she had to go to a hospital or something. I hoped being with her mother would help. But when we started packing her clothes, she woke up with a vengeance. I've never seen Bella throw a fit like that. She was never one for the tantrums, but, boy, did she fly into a fury. She threw her clothes everywhere and screamed that we couldn't make her leaveand then she finally started crying. I thought that would be the turning point. I didn't argue when she insisted on staying here and she did seem to get better at first† Charlie trailed off. It was hard listening to this, knowing how much pain I'd caused him. â€Å"But?† Alice prompted. â€Å"She went back to school and work, she ate and slept and did her homework. She answered when someone asked her a direct question. But she was empty. Her eyes were blank. There were lots of little thingsshe wouldn't listen to music anymore; I found a bunch of CDs broken in the trash. She didn't read; she wouldn't be in the same room when the TV was on, not that she watched it so much before. I finally figured it outshe was avoiding everything that might remind her of him. â€Å"We could hardly talk; I was so worried about saying something that would upset herthe littlest things would make her flinchand she never volunteered anything. She would just answer if I asked her something. â€Å"She was alone all the time. She didn't call her friends back, and after a while, they stopped calling. â€Å"It was night of the living dead around here. I still hear her screaming in her sleep† I could almost see him shuddering. I shuddered, too, remembering. And then I sighed. I hadn't fooled him at all, not for one second. â€Å"I'm so sorry, Charlie,† Alice said, voice glum. â€Å"It's not your fault.† The way he said it made it perfectly clear that he was holding someone responsible. â€Å"You were always a good friend to her.† â€Å"She seems better now, though.† â€Å"Yeah. Ever since she started hanging out with Jacob Black, I've noticed a real improvement. She has some color in her cheeks when she comes home, some light in her eyes. She's happier.† He paused, and his voice was different when he spoke again. â€Å"He's a year or so younger than her, and I know she used to think of him as a friend, but I think maybe it's something more now, or headed that direction, anyway.† Charlie said this in a tone that was almost belligerent. It was a warning, not for Alice, but for her to pass along. â€Å"Jake's old for his years,† he continued, still sounding defensive. â€Å"He's taken care of his father physically the way Bella took care of her mother emotionally. It matured him. He's a good-looking kid, tootakes after his mom's side. He's good for Bella, you know,† Charlie insisted. â€Å"Then it's good she has him,† Alice agreed. Charlie sighed out a big gust of air, folding quickly to the lack of opposition. â€Å"Okay, so I guess that's overstating things. I don't know even with Jacob, now and then I see something in her eyes, and I wonder if I've ever grasped how much pain she's really in It's not normal, Alice, and it it frightens me. Not normal at all. Not like someone left her, but like someone died.† His voice cracked. It was like someone had diedlike I had died. Because it had been more than just losing the truest of true loves, as if that were not enough to kill anyone. It was also losing a whole future, a whole familythe whole life that I'd chosen Charlie went on in a hopeless tone. â€Å"I don't know if she's going to get over itI'm not sure if it's in her nature to heal from something like this. She's always been such a constant little thing. She doesn't get past things, change her mind.† â€Å"She's one of a kind,† Alice agreed in a dry voice. â€Å"And Alice† Charlie hesitated. â€Å"Now, you know how fond I am of you, and I can tell that she's happy to see you, but I'm a little worried about what your visit will do to her.† â€Å"So am I, Charlie, so am I. I wouldn't have come if I'd had any idea. I'm sorry.† â€Å"Don't apologize, honey. Who knows? Maybe it will be good for her.† â€Å"I hope you're right.† There was a long break while forks scraped plates and Charlie chewed. I wondered where Alice was hiding the food. â€Å"Alice, I have to ask you something,† Charlie said awkwardly. Alice was calm. â€Å"Go ahead.† â€Å"He's not coming back to visit, too, is he?† I could hear the suppressed anger in Charlie's voice. Alice answered in a soft, reassuring tone. â€Å"He doesn't even know I'm here. The last time I spoke with him, he was in South America.† I stiffened as I heard this new information, and listened harder. â€Å"That's something, at least.† Charlie snorted. â€Å"Well, I hope he's enjoying himself.† For the first time, Alice's voice had a bit of steel in it. â€Å"I wouldn't make assumptions, Charlie.† I knew how her eyes would flash when she used that tone. A chair scooted from the table, scraping loudly across the floor. I pictured Charlie getting up; there was no way Alice would make that kind of noise. The faucet ran, splashing against a dish. It didn't sound like they were going to say anything more about Edward, so I decided it was time to wake up. I turned over, bouncing against the springs to make them squeak. Then I yawned loudly. All was quiet in the kitchen. I stretched and groaned. â€Å"Alice?† I asked innocently; the soreness rasping in my throat added nicely to the charade. â€Å"I'm in the kitchen, Bella,† Alice called, no hint in her voice that she suspected my eavesdropping. But she was good at hiding things like that. Charlie had to leave thenhe was helping Sue Clearwater with the funeral arrangements. It would have been a very long day without Alice. She never spoke about leaving, and I didn't ask her. I knew it was inevitable, but I put it out of my mind. Instead, we talked about her familyall but one. Carlisle was working nights in Ithaca and teaching part time at Cornell. Esme was restoring a seventeenth century house, a historical monument, in the forest north of the city. Emmett and Rosalie had gone to Europe for a few months on another honeymoon, but they were back now. Jasper was at Cornell, too, studying philosophy this time. And Alice had been doing some personal research, concerning the information I'd accidentally uncovered for her last spring. She'd successfully tracked down the asylum where she'd spent the last years of her human life. The life she had no memory of. â€Å"My name was Mary Alice Brandon,† she told me quietly. â€Å"I had a little sister named Cynthia. Her daughtermy nieceis still alive in Biloxi.† â€Å"Did you find out why they put you in that place?† What would drive parents to that extreme? Even if their daughter saw visions of the future She just shook her head, her topaz eyes thoughtful. â€Å"I couldn't find much about them. I went through all the old newspapers on microfiche. My family wasn't mentioned often; they weren't part of the social circle that made the papers. My parents' engagement was there, and Cynthia's.† The name fell uncertainly from her tongue. â€Å"My birth was announced and my death. I found my grave. I also filched my admissions sheet from the old asylum archives. The date on the admission and the date on my tombstone are the same.† I didn't know what to say, and, after a short pause, Alice moved on to lighter topics. The Cullens were reassembled now, with the one exception, spending Cornell's spring break in Denali with Tanya and her family. I listened too eagerly to even the most trivial news. She never mentioned the one I was most interested in, and for that I was grateful. It was enough to listen to the stories of the family I'd once dreamed of belonging to. Charlie didn't get back until after dark, and he looked more worn than he had the night before. He would be headed back to the reservation first thing in the morning for Harry's funeral, so he turned in early. I stayed on the couch with Alice again. Charlie was almost a stranger when he came down the stairs before the sun was up, wearing an old suit I'd never seen him in before. The jacket hung open; I guessed it was too tight to fasten the buttons. His tie was a bit wide for the current style. He tiptoed to the door, trying not to wake us up. I let him go, pretending to sleep, as Alice did on the recliner. As soon as he was out the door, Alice sat up. Under the quilt, she was fully dressed. â€Å"So, what are we doing today?† she asked. â€Å"I don't knowdo you see anything interesting happening?† She smiled and shook her head. â€Å"But it's still early.† All the time I'd been spending in La Push meant a pile of things I'd been neglecting at home, and I decided to catch up on my chores. I wanted to do something, anything that might make life easier for Charliemaybe it would make him feel just a little better to come home to a clean, organized house. I started with the bathroomit showed the most signs of neglect. While I worked, Alice leaned against the doorjamb and asked nonchalant questions about my, well, our high school friends and what they been up to since she'd left. Her face stayed casual and emotionless, but I sensed her disapproval when she realized how little I could tell her. Or maybe I just had a guilty conscience after eavesdropping on her conversation with Charlie yesterday morning. I was literally up to my elbows in Comet, scrubbing the floor of the bathtub, when the doorbell rang. I looked to Alice at once, and her expression was perplexed, almost worried, which was strange; Alice was never taken by surprise. â€Å"Hold on!† I shouted in the general direction of the front door, getting up and hurrying to the sink to rinse my arms off. â€Å"Bella,† Alice said with a trace of frustration in her voice, â€Å"I have a fairly good guess who that might be, and I think I'd better step out.† â€Å"Guess?† I echoed. Since when did Alice have to guess anything? â€Å"If this is a repeat of my egregious lapse in foresight yesterday, then it's most likely Jacob Black or one of his friends.† I stared at her, putting it together. â€Å"You can't see werewolves?† She grimaced. â€Å"So it would seem.† She was obviously annoyed by this factvery annoyed. The doorbell rang againbuzzing twice quickly and impatiently. â€Å"You don't have go anywhere, Alice. You were here first.† She laughed her silvery little laughit had a dark edge. â€Å"Trust meit wouldn't be a good idea to have me and Jacob Black in a room together.† She kissed my cheek swiftly before she vanished through Charlie's doorand out his back window, no doubt. The doorbell rang again.

Biblical Character Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Biblical Character Review - Essay Example It is the work of a good leader to give instructions to his subjects so that there can be order and progress. Without proper instructions, things are bound to go wrong even in the smallest of organizations. Job has been giving instructions to large numbers of people while working as a steward. Job was known to uplift those who were down with words of wisdom, encouragement and always being just in all that he did. He portrayed not only good leadership qualities but also enviable personal moral behavior that should be emulated by leaders of today, those in power and those aspiring to get into power. Job’s qualities like humility, love for other people, and caring for others can be applied in real life in that people should seek for leadership positions because they care about the problems that the community is straggling with and also because they love their subjects and have genuine compassion for them. A good leader should also encourage those below him in difficult times just like Job did. This is because when people are faced with tough situations they need a strong leader who will lead them through the hard times without fear, intimidation and emotional breakdown. In the beginning of the book (Job 1:4), the Bible says that Job was â€Å"blameless and upright, feared God, shunned evil†. We also learn that Job had many possessions. However, Job was not perfect, for he was self-righteousness and he had to overcome this weakness. After he had succeeded overcoming this self-righteousness, God blessed him and doubled his possessions. (Job 42:12) â€Å"The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys†. We... It is hard to find a book that is based on God’s formulas for leadership. Many people have said that the men of the Bible are fanatics, because of their common appearance of semi-long hair and a generally unkempt appearance. They have reduced the bible characters to mere characters used in the development of a story. But these men of God were not mare fanatics. Their lives and experiences serve as examples to us as. People should concentrate more on the Bible when seeking to learn about leadership. The Bible provides a variety of leaders who have faced different challenges and have successfully overcome them, and these experiences could be used by leaders today to help them deal with challenges, difficulties and hard decisions that they may be faced with in their work. One thing that is common to all Biblical leaders is their trust in God. The leaders had a frequent communication to God, and they trusted him in all that happened to them and also trusted that God will make them victorious in their endeavors. Today’s leaders should also put God first and trust in him during the good and the bad times. They should also keep God close through constant prayer and consult him in whatever they do so as to get God’s guidance and protection just like Job and the other Biblical leaders.

Degradation of glass fibre Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7000 words

Degradation of glass fibre - Coursework Example Much of the research that has been conducted lacks longevity data. It is therefore difficult to determine the utmost life of the GFRP rebars in use currently in marine structures. Alkalinity and acidity effects have been analysed as having minimal influence on the GFRP composites with the control conditions being fresh water. Chemical properties of GFRP composites are not highly affected by harsh marine environment therefore withstand aggressive conditions. More research needs to be undertaken on the durability or degradability of the already established marine structures to have conclusive evidence of GFRP composite preference over other fibers composite and other tradition materials like timber and steel. The use of Glass Reinforced Polyester was not common until after World War II which saw the initial commercial use of the material/ composite being established (Telang, et al, 2006). Its use in the civil infrastructure including the marine environment has occurred over the past 15 years. The emergence of fiber reinforcement composite is replacing the traditional materials like steel. The fiber reinforced polymers are the highly recommended in civil engineering structures due to their durability in comparison to steel, cost effectiveness and with their enhanced properties. These fiber reinforcements are able to withstand the harsh and aggressive environments like the marine exposure (Balendran, 2002, 62) GFRP has two major components i.e. the matrix and the reinforcing glass.

Nursing Philosophy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nursing Philosophy - Assignment Example At the core of nursing is patient outcomes to the extent that the wellbeing of the patient, and indeed the general public, should be at the centre of the heart of every nurse. The practice of nursing should be based on continuous professional development, respect for culture and personal views, and high ethical standards. In this respect, the nurse should be accountable, compassionate, and professional as noted by Kutin (2013). Like Florence Nightingale, I believe that nursing goes beyond profession and is, in fact, a calling. As a calling, nursing is dedicated to helping those in need with humility to the extent that the nurse must be willing to devote long hours toward work and endure stressful situations. Given that people experience different issues, are influenced by different factors (spiritual, developmental, economic, ethic, and social among others) and hold different views, patience centered care should be practiced by the nurse. In line with my values, I believe that nursing is concerned with the preservation of life. In this respect, nursing involves working as an individual and as part of a team to provide the highest possible quality of care, achieve optimal patient outcomes, and improve patient safety as noted by St. Mary’s

Transformation of work Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Transformation of work - Assignment Example Focus groups in both hotels were interviewed and, using the results of the survey, for each hotel there was made a conclusion concerning soft skill environment. Notwithstanding the awaited expectations, the results appeared to be completely different. All in all, the authors of the article agree that the traditional conception of â€Å"skill† has somehow changed and it is now associated not only with technical knowledge, but also with interpersonal communication abilities. They have brought a new notion and â€Å"strengthened the conceptual understanding of soft skills† (2013: 176) by showing how these skills perform in two cases. This is a considerable contribution to traditional sociology, service economy and even trade industry. The issue of skill nature is the subject of ongoing discussions in sociology of work in particular. This phenomenon was investigated and studied by a number of scientists. Traditional notion of skill was with the course of time complemented with additional shades, thus social or soft skills become recognized (Grugulis et al., 2004). They are treated in different ways. For instance, Bolton (2004) argues that emotion work can be skilled. According to her, soft skilled workers have enough scope for discretion and are able to deal with a variety of tasks. However, there is another point of view. Lloyd and Payne (2009) consider the idea of promoting soft skills inadequate and even dangerous. They argue that it is impossible to train the skills of social interaction, so soft skills cannot be regarded equal to technical ones. It is worthy of note that both aforementioned approaches have their drawbacks. The first, positive view has its exceptions. Being emotional or communicative is not enough for a work to be regarded as skilled. And on the other hand, the negative approach has its weak point. Technical skills which imply specific knowledge are simply

Virtual Personality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Virtual Personality - Essay Example It will informatively explain how each author develops this theme. To achieve this, the essay will briefly explain the similarities and differences therein. The essay will also denote the importance the defined similarities and differences to the common theme in the three chapters. The theme, online personality is common and generally runs through all the three articles. Online personality is how people behave, present, are seen, communicate, or generally how people interact with others via the internet. The three articles on concern have informatively presented this theme through how people connect and communicate in the social networks like Facebook and MySpace, how online created persons like avatar have represented real people, and how young people are using email and short hand messaging to communicate. In the article, â€Å"Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism,† Christine Rosen has considerably developed the theme, â€Å"online personality† by reasonably addr essing the connection and communication modes as exhibited in the social networks like MySpace and Facebook. In her input, Christine has argued that the self-portrait, the profile, and the friends enlisted in great way reveal what we are, and present our personality to the world as we share it publicly.

Assign4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Assign4 - Assignment Example With the last appearance on the Milky Way was the Supernova 1604 that happened in the year 1604 years ago. This is one of the latest appearances by the naked eyes of human beings. It is also discovered that the Supernova that happens occurs five times in a whole century. There is a question why this does not occur as the past for the last century of over 1000 years. This has made the galaxy to be deficient in a manner that the five occurrences are just an average whereby one century had more appearances of the supernovas than the others. Another reason for this is that the clouds sometimes blocked the occurrences of the Supernovas. The water originated from the Big Band theory where by the energy found on earth which made the outside of the earth to be hot causing particles which led to the particles. All this particles combined with the environment particles and formed the atomic nuclei that led to the water falls. Another way discussed is the mathematical description whereby the cosmic abundances are well explained. This is where there is unlimited amount of the helium and lithium left with more of the hydrogen. This is a mystery of the earth being covered by the ice for a long time from one pole of it to another. The snowball idea covers the coldest part of the earth having the climate that is imaginable. This is done by the sun being covered by the icy surface making it not to provide the required sun rays. With all the cold that moderates the weather by the oceans, making the climate of the atmosphere to be like that of mars. The evidence for the survival is that there were the distribution of the deposits in the Sturtian and Marinoan. The Marine and the thick carbonate are also interacting causing the deposits at the warmest parts in the ocean surface. On the contrary the deposits have different years of age and there are no extensions on the same deposits. For the use of the SETI experiments human beings are able to

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 37

Marketing - Essay Example The service encounter at the bank was extensively unsatisfactory and below expectations. I have a savings account with the bank and which was opened recently. From the inception, I mentioned that I needed an ATM card that is rather a guarantee and a chequebook to help in transactions of huge amounts of money. The bank sent the ATM card and the Pin for two weeks while the chequebook was not released. When the customer care was contacted, they kept on admitting the mistake yet could not take any appropriate action to resolve the matter. The delay in receiving the check prompted a visit to my branch, and the response was one that was not characteristic of a good customer care service. The branch asked me to write an application formally to request for the chequebook, a process I felt was a fundamental breach of good service delivery. After the application, the bank gave a surety that the cheque book would be sent after seven days and one month has passed and the product has not yet been delivered. The bank has no respect for its customers and does not take into consideration the concerns and predicaments of its customers. Consequently, the bank has proven to be clueless concerning the needs of its customers. It is incumbent upon banks to identify and predict the things that customers are most likely to recur. Even after physically going to the branch, the bank failed to listen to my predicaments hence the disenfranchisement. The bank has the poorest services and treats its customers with contempt. Banks should understand that individuals have other obligations and duties that are bound to attend to on a daily basis. It is their responsibility to simplify service delivery to make it relatively easy for customers to access services. Going to the bank every time to withdraw huge amounts of cash has a number of disadvantages; for instance, having huge sums of money at a given point is dangerous due to security purposes. It is easy for

Organizational Strategic Human Resource Plan Essay

Organizational Strategic Human Resource Plan - Essay Example 5 Star Consulting has been in business for over 5 years and has worked with some of the most prestigious public relations firms in the United States. At the heart of the company is the Human Resources department which handles all aspects of staffing and employee development. By focusing on the core elements of the company which is employee development, the human resource department is largely responsible for turning 5 Star Consulting into the premier public relations consulting firm in the United States. 5 Star Consulting’s Human Resource departments main responsibility is the acquisition of new talent. By generating a pool of qualified applicants(Mathis & Jackson, 2010) 5 Star Consulting’s HRO (Head Recruitment Officer) can properly select amongst a list of qualified candidates to handle the duties that come along with being a member of the team. At 5 Star Consulting the HR Departments main job is to hire public relations professionals to enter a corporate situation an d resolve any public relation needs our client requests. Here at 5 Star Consulting our companies strength lies in the ability of our HR Departments recruiting skills. Currently our HRO’s main responsibility is to recruit the right candidates for the appropriate position. As soon as a employee enters our office, everything from signing their contract to paying their wages and catering for their need is facilitated by the HRO(Page ). 5 Star Consulting’s internal Human Resource dept. consists of 10 employees who are dedicated to the continued development of our employees. Currently each member has a specific task they are responsible for. As we touched on earlier 5 Star Consulting has a Head Recruitment Officer, 2 employees that focus on improvement of compensation packages, we have one employee who’s sole responsibility is planning within the organization, the rest of the team focuses on website design and employee retention. Because of the specialized staff the H R department can properly staff the company to help make it the most successful PR consulting agency in the Southeast. Human Resource placement is integral in producing a productive company. 5 Star Consulting takes a blended approach to the roles of the HR dept. By incorporating administrative, operational, and strategic roles within one department, 5 Star Consulting allows the sales and marketing team to focus on the tasks they were hired for. To expand a little on the break down we touched on earlier the HRO’s main responsibility within the HR department is strategic. 5 Star Consulting’s HRO is responsible for recruitment, and having a proactive approach to addressing business realities and focusing on future business needs(Mathis & Jackson, 2010). Within the Human Resource department there are two employees who focus on the operational actions of the company. 5 Star Consulting’s operational actions team focuses on employee relationship issues, and acts as an employee advocate to upper management. The rest of the Human Resource department focuses on the administrative aspects of the company. The team of six employees create personal practice procedures, and handle all legal compliance forms and paperwork(Mathis & Jackson, 2010). This section of the department also handles some strategic aspects in the form of employee retention, and website design and management. The key to 5 Star Consulting is employee retentio

Manager Roles Essay Example for Free

Manager Roles Essay 1. â€Å"A Manager’s role is dynamic and complex.† Discuss this statement, supporting your answer with reference to appropriate theory and practice. Manager’s role is to allocate resources and directs the operations, by making the best use of human and financial and material resources to the organization. Managers are required to do planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Fayol’s theory of a management function which is the POCCC allows the organization to have more effective and efficient in goods and services than other competitors. The dynamic and complex work of a manager is based on interpersonal, informational and decisional roles. Given the above roles according to Henry Mintzberg, the managers are placed in different areas to perform individual task or multiple tasks. Interpersonal roles require a manager to deal outside business like as figurehead who represent as a representative of the company to attend outside meetings and gathering. Commanding is required in manager to direct the department to meet its requirement and coordinating the events to ensure the process of the movement. A good manager spends more time outside his office than in his office, allowing himself to liaise to outside and deemed helpful to the organization. A manager monitors his/her own department by understanding the people involving him/herself to the conversation and receiving the information. Being a the head person, allow the first-hand news or information to receive and screen, hence given the choice of disseminating down to the people in the organization. A good manager will decide whether is appropriate to share and distribute information which is useful to others. Company spokesperson can be a manager to relate official company information to inside and outside of the organization like publicity and benefits of the company. Mainly managers are in this role which is the decisional role; allow him/her decision to plan the changes in th e good and services. Restructuring of the entrepreneurial maybe heavily depends on the managers which refer to the top management. Managers must have the power to control the internal factor like strikes, which company cannot afford stoppage of work. Important factor of dealing customer is required to ensure satisfaction of the customers. Manager must be reasonable to determine the pricing of their products sold to the customers and negotiating with them in a professional way. A good manager take cares of their people by allocating sufficient time and personnel in the organization. Pay has to be determined accordingly to individual’s work and ensuring the fairness among the fellow workers.

Landfill And Material Recycling In Malaysia

Landfill And Material Recycling In Malaysia The generation of solid waste, and particularly Municipal Solid Waste, is a consequence of modem living and an increasingly urbanized society. Solid waste prevention and management is one of the keys to sustainable environment and development. Waste is defined as an object the holder discards, intends to discard or is required to discard [1-2]. Something becomes waste when it loses its primary function for the user. Waste is therefore relative to this primary function. However, and this is the second perspective, what is considered waste with regard to this primary function may be useful for a secondary function. In other words, somebodys waste is often somebody elses (secondary) raw material [1]. Solid waste can be typically classified as: municipal solid waste including plastic waste (MSW), construction and demolition waste (CD), hazardous solid wastes (HW), bio-medical waste (BMW), and electronic waste (e-waste) [3]. Municipal solid waste (MSW) management comprises of practices ra nging from waste collection to final disposal which is connected in numerous ways to many other environmental, economic, and social issues with most of the answers having broader implications. Sustainable waste management is about using resources more efficiently both at the raw and finished state [4-7]. Looking from the perspective of sustainable waste management practices and the environment, the technologies or policies on MSW management should embody a reasonable balance of feasible, cost-effective, environmentally beneficial, and socially sensitive solutions to the problems. It means that a sustainable waste management practice does not only achieve a specific goal in MSW management, it takes into account the demands of the specific situations where the proposed solution is to be implemented [8]. Solid waste management is a major challenge for Malaysia to address in the light of her Vision 2020 which lays out the direction for Malaysia in becoming a fully developed nation. The National Vision Policy (NVP), developed to meet the challenges posed by Vision 2020, incorporates key strategies of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and the National Development Policy (NDP). A key thrust of the NVP is pursuing environmentally sustainable development to reinforce long-term growth, which presents challenges to established policies and practices in the rapidly expanding area of solid waste management [9]. Waste Management Concepts There are a number of concepts about waste management which vary in their usage between countries or regions. The following are some of the most general, widely used concepts: Waste hierarchy: The waste hierarchy is the 3R concept where the R stands for reduce, reuse and recycle, it classify waste management strategies according to their desirability to achieving waste minimization. The waste hierarchy remains the cornerstone of most waste minimization strategies. The aim of the waste hierarchy is to extract as much as possible the maximum practical benefits from products and to generate the minimum amount of waste [10-12]. Polluter Pays Principle: the polluter pays principle is a principle where the polluting party pays for the impact caused to the environment. With respect to waste management, this generally refers to the requirement for a waste generator to pay for appropriate disposal of the unrecoverable material [10-13]. In Malaysia context, the waste hierarchy is the practice adopted for municipal solid waste management [14-19]. It is a major focus of the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Act 2007. OVERVIEW OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE GENERATION IN MALAYSIA Municipal solid waste MSW management is a major challenge in urban areas throughout the world with greater effect in the rapidly growing cities and towns of developing countries [20]. Globally, municipal solid waste generation was about 0.49 billion tons in 1997 with an estimated annual growth rate of 3.2-4.5% in developed nations and 2-3% in developing nations [21]. In Asia region, MSW generation has been increasing at a rate of 3 to 7% per year as a result of population growth, changing consumption patterns, and the expansion of trade and industry in urban centres. The generation of municipal solid waste by the public is a function of socio-economic background (buying power), cultural background, locality (urban or rural setting) and the environment awareness. The generation and the composition of solid wastes vary according to size/population and income level [22-24]. Malaysian population has been in the increase at a rate of about 2.4% per annum since 1994 [25] due to industriali zation, urban migration, affluence, population growth, tourism and high influx of foreign workforce/students which has lead to massive developmental projects such as building the latest designs of residential and business buildings, construction of spacious highways, tourist resorts and so on [7, 22, 26-27]. The growing population comes with increased generation of municipal solid waste (MSW), which requires proper management to protect the people and the environment. As the solid waste generation increases in Malaysia, it puts a pressure on and shortens the duration time of, the existing landfill [28]. In Malaysia, waste collection varies from city to city with about 80% generated waste collection in Kuala Lumpur while a general average estimate of about 70% of waste generated in Malaysia is collected and 1-5% of waste is recycled (from the collected waste) while the remaining is taken to the disposal sites [29-30]. The major MSW management practice in Malaysia is waste disposal to landfill with approximately 80-95% of the total collected waste sent to landfills [31-34]. Current waste disposal method of landfill needs improvements to prolong the landfill life and to minimize the problem of land scarcity [31]. In 2007 about 26 million tonnes of waste were produced in Malaysia of which 30% were municipal solid waste (MSW), 34% from construction, industrial waste 23%, Hazardous waste 9% and 1% waste generation from public places [35]. The average amount of MSW generated ranges between 0.5 and 0.8 kg/cap/day for rural areas and smaller towns [22, 27, 36] while households of major cities and the capital Kuala Lumpur produce about 1.7 kg/cap/day 1.9 kg/cap/day [9, 14, 22, 37]. The daily MSW quantity was 17,000 tonnes per day in 2002 and by year 2020, the quantity of MSW generated is estimated to increase to over 30,000 tonnes per day [14, 23, 26, 32, 36, 38-39]. MSW management operations absorb large portions of municipal operating budgets, of which as much as 6 0% are for collection and transfer of the wastes for disposal [8, 29]. For a better understanding and planning of solid waste management, information on the quantity of solid waste generated in an area is fundamental to almost all aspects of solid waste management [40]. Malaysia Waste Characterization The municipal solid waste (MSW) in Malaysia is made up of waste from households, commercial, institutes, landscape conservation, street cleansing, and industry construction and even tourist activities [14, 30, 32-33, 38]. Characteristics of MSW vary from city to city and season to season [8]. The solid wastes of rural towns in Malaysia are significantly different from those of large cities, having more organics (food wastes) but few plastics. In industrialized cities MSW is quantified and characterized by municipal authorities at regular intervals. Malaysian municipal solid waste (MSW) generated consists of different constituents such as biodegradable materials (food waste, Garden waste, Animal waste and Material contaminated by such waste) which has high moisture content and a bulk density above 200 kg/m3, resistant polymers, paper, Wood, Textiles, Leather, Plastic, Rubber, Paint, oil, grease, chemical, organic sludge, glass, ceramic, mineral soil, concrete, and masonry (constructio n debris) [7, 14]. In the MSW waste analysis by Saeed [22], it shows that about 48% of municipal solid waste generated are from residential, 24% commercial generated waste, 11% from street cleaning, 7% from landscape conservation, 6% from institutional waste and 4% from industry and construction [32]. A waste characterization study for the city of Kuala Lumpur shows that the main components of Malaysian waste were food, paper, and plastic which comprise 80% of overall weight [22, 24, 38] with high moisture content ranging from 52.6% to 66.2% [22-23, 29, 41-43]. High moisture content in waste reduces energy value of waste and creates extra cost in the use of the waste as refuse derived fuel (RDF) or even incineration because the waste might need to be dried before incinerating. Similarly increasing pressure and temperature in the pile of solid waste or landfill favours the growth of leachate from solid waste which if not controlled might enter into the ground and surface water and can be dangerous for human health [22, 24, 44]. From literature, the waste composition seems to be variable. However, the main part of Malaysia MSW is organic waste; according to data from the ninth Malaysia Plan, Malaysia MSW composition is estimated about 45% of food waste, 24% of plastic, 7% paper mate rials, 6% of iron and glass while others made up the remaining percentage [32-33, 45]. Table 1 shows the average composition by weight percentage of components of MSW generated by various sources in Kuala Lumpur [22] while Table 2 depicts the daily generation of Municipal solid waste by states in Malaysia from year 2000 to year 2010 [46]. The current generation indicates 60% increase over the past 10 years. The larger amount of Malaysian MSW is recyclables which include paper, plastic, glass, metal and aluminum [46-47]. Recyclable items represent over 40% of the total waste volume which without retrieval activity, these valuable materials will be disposed off into landfill. The implications of this practice are the lost of these resources and the rapid utilization of the landfill space. Thus, it will reduce the length of the life-span of landfills in the country. The existing waste disposal habit among Malaysians sees a very high potential of diverting waste via recycling. One obstacle in material recovery practice is that Malaysian MSW is highly commingled. As a result, the waste contains high moisture content and reduces the value of the recyclable items. Sorting at waste generation source will help in reducing the difficulty of high moisture content and improve recycling and resource recovery, thus extending and ma intaining low level of pollution from landfill. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN MALAYSIA Solid waste management in Malaysia is the responsibility of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (MHLG) with a regulatory body known as National Solid Waste Management Department under this ministry (MHLG) which was established in 2007 [36, 45, 48]. Local authorities are responsible for public cleansing and have to dispose all collected waste in a sanitary way[36]. MSW management involves waste collection, transportation, disposal and monitoring of the disposed waste to protect the environment. It was found from literature that waste collection in Malaysia is more effective and efficient in the richer communities than poorer ones [36]. In view of achieving an improved system for all local authorities and realizing that the lack of appropriate policy is a factor that averts sustainable waste management in the country, the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Bill (SWPCM) was approved in 2007 [14-15, 26, 36, 45, 48-49]. Solid waste management is one element of the ninth Malaysia plan. This plan implies the upgrading of existing unsanitary landfills, the construction of new sanitary landfills and the construction of transfer stations with material recovery facilities with aim of strengthening the institutional capacity of respective agencies as well as creating a society that is committed towards waste minimisation and achieving a recycling target of 22% by 2020 [29, 36, 50]. The Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Act 2007 was gazette on 30 August 2007 with the focus to pave away for federal take-over of solid waste management and privatization of solid waste handling. Consequential amendments were also made to three other policies [14]. Challenges in Solid Waste Management Lack of appropriate policy is the main constraint to sustainable waste management in Malaysia [46]. As a result, the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Bill (SWPCM) was approved in 2007 with the aims of providing an act and regulate the management of solid waste and public cleansing in order to maintain proper sanitation in the country [26]. The following are the commonly identified problems which affect the proper handling of solid waste on the side of the management authorities: Inadequate service coverage and operational inefficiencies of services, Limited utilization of recycling activities, Inadequate landfill disposal, and Inadequate management of hazardous and healthcare waste. Waste Management Process and Practices Waste Collection, Transportation and Disposal Service in Malaysia Municipal solid waste collection schemes of cities in the developing world generally serve only a limited part of the urban population [4, 21, 39, 51-57]. The people facing more problem of poor waste-collection services are usually the low-income population living in peri-urban areas [58-59]. In Kuala Lumpur, 80-90% of the generated MSW is collected; however over 60% of the rural population in Malaysia does not have any waste collection service and this has lead to many illegal small dumping sites [9]. The most common waste collection process in Malaysia is the door-to-door collection system where trash bins are collected from every household. Inhabitants of high-rise buildings or of informal settlements have to bring the waste to communal waste containers [36]. Waste separation has not been a common practice in Malaysia and this leads to the collection of all types of waste in one bin [36]. The solid management responsibility (collection, transportation and disposal) of 48 Local Aut horities has been privatized since 1st January 1997. Idaman Bersih Sdn Bhd manages the waste for northern region of Peninsular Malaysis, Alam Flora Sdn. Bhd manages the waste generated in the Central and Eastern Region of Peninsular Malaysia while Southern Waste Management Sdn. Bhd manages the waste in the Southern Region of the peninsular [14, 45]. The frequency of household waste collections is normally three times a week whereas waste from shops and commercial premises are collected daily [9]. From [60], about 50% of the overall national waste amount collected is open dumped, 30% is landfilled, 10% is composted, 5% is recycled and 5% percent is incinerated. There are about 7 mini-incinerators with capacity between 5 to 20 tones per day owned by the government (located in Pulau Pangkor, Pulau Langkawi, Pulau Tioman and Cameron Highlands) [61] and a private operated incinerator by Recycle Energy Sdn Bhd at Semenyi with a capacity of 1000 Metrics tones per day [23]. Waste Recycling and Composting Waste minimisation is the bed rock of sustainable and sound waste management with global focus on realising a Material Cycle Society. It is the desire to reduce waste generation at source, minimise the amount of waste disposed at landfills and to maximise the efficiency of resource utilisation. Recycling is a practice that utilises raw and finished products more efficiently and effectively. Recycling of inorganic materials from Malaysia municipal solid waste has been a practice by informal sector although such activities are seldom recognised, supported, or promoted by the municipal authorities [8]. Recycling in Malaysia became a government programs in the early 1990s and the first official recycling campaign was launched in October 1991 in Shah Alam, Selangor by the Minister of Housing and Local Government [5]. Twenty local authorities were identified as the lead agencies to promote recycling. This recycling campaign is to be part of the Clean and Beautiful Program launched by the m inistry earlier. In 1992, the minister announced that all city and municipal councils would be required to launch recycling programs. On December 2000 the government re-launched the national recycling campaign with 29 local authorities participating. The second phase of the new recycling program was launched on 11 November 2002 with 95 local authorities participating. The target was to reduce waste generation to a minimum rate of 22% by the year 2020 [5, 23, 62-63]. The present recycling program also involves waste management companies, waste recycling firms, Non-Governmental Organizations, shopping mall management companies, schools, hospitals, and religious organizations. During 2001-2003, the government spent MYR25 million on awareness campaigns and another MYR11 million purchasing and building an infrastructure to support the program [5]. Recycling campaigns were also carried out by the local authorities such as printing flyers and brochures and holding public briefings. They al so provide recycling bins for paper, glass, and aluminium in strategic places, such as shopping centres, schools, and transport terminals. After more than ten years, the official recycling figure is just 5%, although there are reports of higher than 5% recycling. For example, in 2003 Penang Islands recycling rate was 9.8%, up from 3% in 2000 [5, 9]. Many Malaysians seem to treat recycling bins as an ordinary waste-disposal bin. Indeed, it was so bad that the Penang State government has taken back most of the bins as almost all the recycling bins contain all sorts of waste [5]. Although a large amount of Malaysian wastes could be recycled, less than 5% of the total (almost 10,000 tonnes per day) is actually separated and recycled. There is a good demand for waste plastics, paper and glass, with resale prices of about US$60 per tonne, US$44 per tonne and US$32 per tone, respectively. Recovery of only 5% of the available waste plastics, paper and glass is estimated to yield a total of about US$3.4 million per year. Recommendations to increase recycling are discussed in the paper [64]. More priority is given to recycling in Malaysia than composting. Composting is defined as the biological decomposition of organic matter under controlled aerobic conditions to form a stable, humus-like end product. The process is facilitated by a diverse population of microbes, whose population dynamics vary greatly both temporally and spatially, and generally involves the development of thermophilic temperatures as a result of biologically produced heat [65-66]. Composting is applicable to MSW or separately collected leaves, yard, and food waste in Malaysia. The benefits of recycling and composting are: the processes cut down the need for disposal capacity and lowers emissions from landfills and incinerators as well as reducing litter. Secondly, the use of recycled materials in industry reduces energy use and emission; lessens impact when raw material is extracted or manufactured, and conserves raw materials [67]. Recycling also provides a supplementary income source for the lower income group while compost product are used to improve the soil qu ality [68]. Malaysia Waste Potential for Recycling: Recycling in the context of solid waste may be defined as the reclamation of material and its reuse which could include repair, remanufacture and conversion of materials, parts and products. Reclamation of materials from solid waste is not something new [69]. It is the beneficial-reuse of products that would otherwise be disposed off. It diverts waste from overloaded landfills besides providing raw materials that consume less fuel during the manufacturing process. It is an important aspect of an efficient and effective solid waste management system [61]. To understand the composition of MSW in Malaysia, an assessment of the waste generated and recyclable potential of Malaysia municipal solid waste conducted for Kuala Lumpur city by Saeed et al [32] shows from their prediction from the current trend of waste generation in Kuala Lumpur city that the MSW has a good potential of recyclables. Table 1 shows the recyclable components and their percentage share and recycling rate in tons per year. The results indicate that, food (organic) waste is the major component followed by mix paper and plastics. But unfortunately the attention paid by the authority towards this direction is not sufficient enough to tackle this issue. The Agenda 21 [70], defined environmentally sound technologies as a technology that protect the environment; moreover, recycling most of the wastes and handle residual wastes in more acceptable manner. Since 1993 a major effort of recycling was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government but unfortunately limited recycling activities taken place [67]. Though recycling activity in Malaysia is rising up, the recycling industry still needs to be enhanced. The Malaysians attitude towards recycling is higher, but only few practice it [71]. Attitude to the Environmental and Level of Waste Management Awareness in Malaysia Environmental problems are caused directly or indirectly by the patterns of production by industries, patterns of consumption and behaviour of the consumers [72]. Attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, which exerts a directing, influence upon the individuals response to all objects and situations with which it is related [73]. Attitudes to the environment are rooted in a persons concept of self and the degree to which an individual perceives himself or herself to be an integral part of the natural environment [74]. The shaping of attitude and values, commitment and skills needed to preserve and protect the environment begins at an early age of which educators play an influential role in developing new patterns of behaviours for individuals [72]. In Malaysia, recycling program has been widely initiated since 1993. However, to date the recycling rate in Malaysia is only five percent [75]. A survey by Said et al. [72] using drop and collect method was conducted for 285 scho ol teachers who were randomly selected from ten regular government schools in the state of Selangor, Malaysia to determine the level of knowledge, environmental concern and ecologically conscious consumer behavior and identify the extent of involvement in nature-related activities of school teachers. The result if the survey illustrated the presence of high level of environmental concern among the teachers, fair environmental knowledge but generally poor in understanding of the underlying causes of environmental problems. The practices of environmentally responsible behavior were not in concert with the level of concern and knowledge and the respondents were not actively involved in nature-related activities [72]. Another assessment of the level of environmental knowledge among households in Selangor, Malaysia was conducted by Haron et al [76]. The study examine the sources of their environmental knowledge, determine factors that lead to different levels of knowledge and analyse the relationship between knowledge and environmental attitude, behaviour and participation. The results of the study indicate that, in general, respondents basic or general environmental knowledge was high. However, when questioned on various scientific environmental terms, the majority of the respondents were not familiar with most of them. Respondents indicated that their main sources of environmental knowledge and information were newspapers, television and radio. Lower levels of education were reflected in the level of environmental knowledge. Participation in environmental activities had a positive influence on knowledge. The study also found that knowledge correlated positively with environmental attitudes, behaviours and participation [76]. An investigation/comparison of gender with attitudes towards the environment and green products was conducted by Chen and Chai [77] and the result of their investigation shows that there were no significant differences between gender in their environmental attitudes and attitudes on green products. The second part of the study investigated the relationship between attitude towards the environment and green products. Result revealed that consumer attitudes on the governments role and their personal norm towards the environment contributed significantly to their attitude on green product. Further investigation revealed that personal norm was the most important contributor to the attitude towards green product. However, environmental protection did not contribute significantly to consumers attitudes on green product [77]. The media in Malaysia has played a major role in communicating ideas and information on environmental issues but quite unfortunate, at the national level, people are still reluctant to adopt certain measures to reduce their waste disposal impact on the environment [78]. Studying the effectiveness of media messages towards pro-environmental behavior of Malaysians, Besar and Hassan [78] explain the relation ship between message response and peoples recycling knowledge, attitudes and recycling practice in the workplace context. The analysis inferred that both external motivational (exposure and attention) and internal motivational (involvement and interest) factors are the message response determinant variables that influence message effectiveness. They identified that one area which requires immediate public voluntary participation is in waste management, especially the 3Rs practices. The work suggests that there is poor public participation in environmentally friendly behaviors, namely recycling, as people do not response accordingly to the intended message. They noted that communication and proper enforcement of the law will help boost the recycling rates among the public. An investigation was conducted on the antecedents of recycling intention behaviour among secondary school students using Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) by Mahmud [75]. The sample consists of 400 randomly selecte d Form Four students. Three factors that influenced the intention behaviour as hypothesised by the author include specific attitude, subjective norms and perceived behaviour control. The result shows that perceived behaviour control was the strongest predictor of intention behaviour. Subjective norms are the second strongest predictor of intention to recycle. Specific attitudes were indirect predictor of intention behaviour, via the mediation of subjective norms and perceived behaviour control. The researcher suggested that environmental education in Malaysia school system should focus on elements that can effectively inculcate a pro-environmental behaviour among students [75]. A model to determine and analyze the factors that could affect knowledge, attitude and behavior of the urban poor concerning solid waste management was developed by Murad et aj [79]. They collected primary data residents of low-cost flats of Kuala Lumpur city, Malaysia. The empirical results of the study prov ide evidence to the effect that knowledge, attitude and behavior of the urban poor communities concerning solid waste management are adequate and satisfactory and the low socio-economic profile of the urban poor has not been proven as causal to environmental degradation [79]. In a review on the image and environmental disclosure, challenges in environmental information management and some of the strategic implications of environmental reporting as an important tool for improved environmental management with a short case study was presented by Sumiani et al [80]. In the case study of 50 companies in Malaysia, 36 reported some kind of environmental information in their corporate annual reports where most of the companies that gave environment report where ISO certified companies. The study concluded that ISO certification has some level of influence towards voluntary environmental reporting behaviour amongst the sampled Malaysian companies, specifically on pollution abatement and on o ther environmentally related information categories of environmental information. Making reference to Saeed et al [32], It is obvious that the Malaysia cities are still lacking in terms of efficient waste treatment technology, sufficient fund, public awareness, maintaining the established norms of industrial waste treatment, etc. Recycling is a relatively new exercise in Malaysia. Even though recycling has been introduced years back, lack of public awareness caused a slowdown in the progress of the recycling exercise. Lack of sufficient recycling facilities or the inappropriateness of the facilities location contributed further to the slowdown. Over 20,000 tonnes of solid waste is being discarded daily. The Ministry of Housing and Local Government sets a recycling goal to be 22% by 2020. A study on the success of recycling exercise in Subang Jaya, Malaysia was conducted by Chenaya et al [81]. The collection rate of recyclables in Subang Jaya is estimated to be 0.43% in 2004 which shows poor recycling activities and was traced to poor awareness of the residents of the area. The study formulates and analyzes various strategies to increase the awareness among the residents and to increase the existing facilities. They employ the outranking analysis and use a new exploitation procedure based on eigenvector using the weighted in- and out- preference flows of each alternative from outranking relation in a PROMETHEE context [81]. It was found that environmental education should be made a part of the education and civil system. Waste-Energy Recovery and Incineration Municipal solid waste resource recovery is a practice where waste with good heating values are derived from the waste by mechanical or manual process and used as fuel (RDF Refuse Derived Fuel). Solid waste resource recovery is not a common practice in Malaysia. Malaysia waste if properly sorted will create a good opportunity for resource recovery considering the percentage of paper, plastic, wood and textile materials. Promoting waste sorting from source and composting of organic waste will reduce the moisture content of Malaysia solid waste and enhancing the opportunity of resource recovery. RDF can be used as fuel to plants for electricity generation in the country, thus decreasing the greenhouse gas emission from energy utilization by changing from fossil fuels to a partly renewable fuel or incinerated to generate heat for industrial purpose. Incineration is a controlled burning of wastes at a high temperature, sterilizes, stabilizes and reduces waste volume which may be used as disposal option, when the waste composition is highly combustible. It is one of the most effective means of dealing with many wastes, to reduce their harmful potential and often to convert them to an energy form. It reduces volume up to ten-fold and thus is becoming particularly attractive in metropolitan areas. Some of the municipal managers are looking to the development of municipal incinerators around the periphery of their cities as a first solution in many countries [82]. Incineration requires appropriate technology, infrastructure, and skilled workforce to operate and maintain the plant [83]. Waste incineration is thermal treatment of waste mainly employed for hazardous waste treatment as a standard. MSW incineration in Malaysia is until now only realized as small-scale incinerators on islands, namely Langkawi, Pankor, Tioman and Labuan. The installed seven mini-incineration plants have a capacity of 5-20 tons per day and are operated only once per week due to high operation costs. For Kuala Lumpur one waste gasification plant with a capacity of 1,500 tones per day was planed but never realized because of social protests [14, 36]. The energy potentials of municipal solid waste in Malaysia was assessed by Kathirvale et al. [22] and found that The calorific value of the Malaysian MSW ranged between 1500 and 2600 kcal/kg. From their evaluation of the amount of energy t

Rousseaus Successful Responds Towards Machiavellis Arguments Philosophy Essay

Rousseaus Successful Responds Towards Machiavellis Arguments Philosophy Essay The Qualities of the Prince, the most notable treatise written by Niccolo Machiavelli in 1513, instructs the Medicis, the rulers of Italy, to save Italy from the rapacious invasion of France and Spain. In The Qualities of the Prince, Machiavelli proposes qualities that princes should acquire in order to sustain authority such as to have a balance between being feared and loved, assuming that a prince righteously possesses the power to control the people. Along with these qualities, Machiavelli also exerts his views on the properties of human nature, power, war, and the responsibilities of the leaders towards their followers. On the other hand, The Origin of Civil Society, an essay written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a significant modern philosopher, in 1762, focuses on the issue of the nature and right of man both in a natural and civilized society and thus conveys the ideas of Rousseau about what a legitimate government with a stable basis should be based on. In contrast to the belief of Machiavelli that a prince, his decisions unalterable, functions as the only commander, Rousseau claims that a government, concerning the general will (68) of the people and is elected by the people, should rule as the leader. Rousseau also asserts views opposing Machiavellis stances on war, power, human rights, and duties of the government towards its followers. Machiavelli and Rousseau formulate their ideas at different time in history with different purposes and under various social and cultural influences. Thus even though they both discuss the relationship between leaders and followers and share a few similar ideas on government, Rousseau disagrees most Machiavellis views based on war, human nature and rights, power, society, and responsibilities of the leaders. However, while Machiavelli mostly quotes historical contents to support his arguments, Rousseau uses convincing rhetorical approaches like aphorism and analogy and analyzes as well as examines closely the concepts of both the other thinkers as well as his own before coming to a reasonable conclusion. By using these methods, readers are provoked to think critically, and consequently, they accepts the ideas of Rousseau more readily than those of Machiavelli, indicating that Rousseau expresses more successful arguments than Machiavelli. To begin with, Rousseau agrees with Machiavelli that a strong government is needed in a society, but he has reservations about Machiavelli advising the prince to go to war. Machiavelli implies that a society requires a strong government through urging a prince not to take anything as his profession but war, its institutions, and its discipline (39), as Machiavelli believes that by focusing on the art of war, a strong government may be created. Rousseau approves this idea, believing that a strong government is necessary for the well-being of the people in a society. He believes that a society needs a strong government because a strong regime, guiding people to act in concert, directly leads to a powerful and cohesive association that can effectively assist people within the society in [withstanding] any resistance exerted upon them from without (67); thus, when one weaker member of the association is attacked, due to both duty and interest, the stronger individuals within the associat ion can be united to provide mutual assistance (69) against the attackers. Such actions defending members of a society against the outside powers under the guide of a strong government provides great advantage to the members of the association. Yet Rousseau does not assent that a leader should take war as his only profession (Machiavelli 39). Rousseau claims that going to war is never righteous especially when most of the times the despot is actually trying to satisfy his insatiable greed, and the vexatious demands of his Ministers instead of keeping his promise of providing civil peace to his subjects (63). As an alternative, Rousseau holds that rulers should take the common will of his people as his top priority and work to make decisions that benefit everyone in the community. While Machiavelli uses specific historical figures like Francesco Sforza and Philopoemon to support his idea that war is the most important part of a princes career, Rousseau convincingly suggests the benefit member of a society can get when a government considers the common will as its chief considerations. Rousseau maintains that if the government makes decisions according to common will, the weaker members of the society will greatly benefit fro m this action as they will receive mutual assistance (62) when being attacked from the mightier individuals with the support and guidance of the government, assuming that the common will is to defend themselves against the foreign forces for their own well-beings. This argument is more convincing than that of Machiavellis as the readers being part of the society is more closely related to the situation proposed by Rousseau but not to the historical contents Machiavelli mentions, and thus readers sympathize with Rousseaus argument more. In addition, while Machiavelli asserts that the Prince, acting as the only commander, has absolute authority over his people, and his decisions [must therefore] be irrevocable (50), Rousseau argues that being a member of a civil government that concerns the common will, every person of this association has the right to alter the decisions made by the governors or even to overthrow the existing government and establish a new one. Due to the cultural influences, Machiavelli presumes from the very beginning that every person in the country would summit themselves fully to the prince and obey his orders without questioning, thus, this leads Machiavelli to assume that people do not have the right to either choose who to rule them or decide how they are to be governed. However, Rousseau, using aphorism and analogy, makes a powerful and convincing contention against Machiavellis assumptions of common people having no say in what the ruler would do. Rousseau states at the very beginning that man is born free (59), a widely accepted aphorism increasing the persuasiveness of the argument, and later suggests that as soon as a man attains the age of reason he becomes his own master (60) given that every man deserves a condition of equal independence (59). After constituting a strong basis for his argument, Rousseau then goes on to compare the political associations to a typical family (60) with, by analogy, the ruler as the father and the people as the children. Rousseau claims that since the children are, by the law of nature, free to make decisions that will best assure [their] continued existence (60), they are vindicated to choose whether or not to keep stay at home and be controlled by their father as soon as they are independent. Consequently, Rous seau comes to a conclusion that people in a society should similarly have the right to choose whether to summit themselves to the government or to establish a new one themselves. By using the analogy of comparing the structure of a family to the political associations (60), an analogy that relates the personal lives of the readers to the government, Rousseau effectively guides the readers to thoroughly understand and agree with his points of view. This argument of Rousseau saying that the people has the right to choose who to govern is made even more convincing when Thomas Jefferson, a former Virginia governor, backs Rousseaus idea by claiming in The Declaration of Independence that it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish [any Form of Government], and to institute new Government (80). Additionally, regarding the matter of power, Rousseau rebuts Machiavellis idea that people will submit themselves fully to those who are physically mightiest. Machiavelli strongly believes that only by being armed, equivalent to be might, people would willingly summit themselves to the rulers (40). On the contrary, Rousseau maintains that yielding to physical power is a necessity but not of will (63) and therefore asserts that the act of forcing people to obey through the use of violence is not very practical as people will not surrender themselves to the mightiest person if they had the ability to get away with the orders. Rousseau successfully incites the readers to agree that might does not sustain right by presenting a hypothetical scenario and then asking the readers a provoking rhetorical question. Rousseau supposes that he is being waylaid by a footpad at the corner of a wood and is forced to give him his purse; he then asks the readers: But if I can manage to keep [my purse] from him, is it my duty to hand it over? (62) As a result, readers are actively engaged to the reading and would agree that since Rousseau is being forced in the scenario to hand over his purse, he will very likely to keep his purse away from the footpad (62) if he has the ability. Thus, the readers can conclude that Rousseau is logical when suggesting that Might does not make Right since people are most likely to find ways to escape from obeying orders when they are forced to do so with violence. In addition, by putting forward and examining closely the arguments others might present before proposing his own ideas on the issue, a convincing rhetoric approach, Rousseau has made a successful case in arguing that Might does not create Right (62). Rousseau is aware that people may claim that all power comes from God and no case will ever be found of the violation (62), suggesting that the belief of all power comes from God is generally accepted by the society at that time and no one should be allowed to go against those powers such as the mightiness of people. He therefore associates power with ailments which is also thought to have given by God, proposing that the power given by God can sometimes be faulty and disruptive, and thus encourages readers to think by asking the rhetorical questions: Are we to conclude from such an argument that we are never to call in the doctor?(62) Therefore, what Rousseau is trying to say here is that if people are able to fight against the ailment s given by God through calling in a doctor, they will also be able to rebel against the orders from the mightiest individuals, their physical power given by God, if they are forced to obey with violence. By using this clever rhetorical device, Rousseau has effectively brought out his own idea that Might does not create Right as well as drawing the readers to sympathize with him. To conclude, Machiavelli and Rousseau possess a few similar but mostly dissimilar views on the issue of government. Yet, even though they both have very distinct views on this issue, their ideas are greatly influential and are still affecting the thoughts of many modern politicians as well as inspiring many philosophers and leaders like Tomas Jefferson throughout history. By looking closely at the successful, logical and convincing arguments Rousseau made against those of Machiavellis, a clear understanding of why the society and government today behaves as Rousseau suggests can be easily obtained.

gender roles in marie claire Essay -- essays research papers

One of the most prevalent forms of invisible social control is the creation and perpetuation of stereotypes. Today’s society is filled with stereotypes and the media has proven to be an excellent breeding ground. Research in the stereotype domain indicates that the media can prime stereotypes, and these primed stereotypes do influence how people are later perceived. Also the research on media priming of stereotypes generally increases confidence in the generality of the media as a prime. Television, movies, newspapers and magazines contain millions of images that feature individuals portrayed in stereotypical ways. This paper will examine the February issue of Marie Claire and the gender and racial stereotypes that are evident within the advertisements and articles. For many years society has embraced the idea that the differences between men and women are biologically determined and certain roles, behaviors and attitudes constructed by society assign and control how men and women behave and are perceived. Sex is determined by genetics while our gender is programmed by social customs. Some theories interpret that a women is tender and a loving mother while on the other hand men are aggressive hunters and are the dominant one of the family. Gender roles prescribe norms, which instruct people to pursue specific careers and lifestyles. Marie Claire, a typical trashy magazine geared towards women, regularly features stories focused on how to make women beautiful, thin, and desirable to men. Its pages are also full of advice regarding who your Prince Charming will be and how he should and shouldn’t treat you. The writers and editors lure women by strategically placing beautiful images on glossy covers amongst articles that focus on body image, style, and relationships. The advertisements and articles in Marie Claire help fuel assumptions made about the specific roles and abilities of men and women. Simply glancing at the magazine section, while waiting in the checkout line, any individual, man or woman, is able to make their own assumptions about how they are perceived and how they are supposed to behave from article headlines, such as those in February’s Marie Claire which included: â€Å"Fire up His Desire†, â€Å"Sexy or Skanky?†, â€Å"Best Beauty Bargains Ever†, â€Å"What his Cell Phone Style says about him†, and more advice related to fashion and health. These headlines give... ...â€Å"the glam goddess,† and â€Å"the classic cutie.† However, the black woman was labeled â€Å"the tropical temptress† and was dressed in very exotic clothing and jewelry. This article appeared to be drawing some kind of division between the African-American and the rest of the women by making her stand out in her clothes and makeup. One of the African-American males in the magazine was featured as â€Å"this month’s half-naked hunk.† It shows him without a shirt and includes a couple trivial facts, such as his age, height, hometown, and zodiac sign. There is nothing that gives any evidence of him as being anything more than a sex symbol, as opposed to when some of the white males were shown there was information about their occupation or they were portrayed doing some kind of positive act. Although, there was not much racial stereotyping in the issue of Marie Claire; there was not much representation of racial minorities. This magazine is full of white middle class women, because that’s what society says is right. Society creates these stereotypes and we fall into them. The media spreads these memes and they multiply. Society must rise above these petty differences and expel these stereotypes.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is a Safe Treatment for Mental Disorder

A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thesis Statement Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment for severe mental illness in which the brain is stimulated with a strong electrical current which induces a seizure. The seizure rearranges the brain's neurochemistry and results in an elevation of mood. This essay asks: Is ECT any safer and more effective in treating mood disorders than drug therapies? This treatment has a controversial history ever since it was first introduced in 1938. I intend to argue that electroconvulsive therapy is indeed a safe treatment of mental disorders when other treatments have failed. Due to the development of safer and less traumatic ways of administering ECT, the treatment has made a comeback, is greatly used, and proves to be effective. B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Historical Context The original use of electricity as a cure for â€Å"insanity† dates back to the beginning of the 16th century when electric fish were used to treat headaches. Electroconvulsive therapy on humans originates from research in the 1930’s into the effects of camphor-induced seizures in people with schizophrenia (Guttmacher, 1994). In 1938, two Italian researchers, Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bini, were the first to use an electric current to induce a seizure in a delusional, hallucinating, schizophrenic man. The man fully recovered after eleven treatments. This led to a rapid spread of the use of ECT as a way to induce therapeutic convulsions in the mentally ill. Lothar Kalinowsky, Renato Almansi, and Victor Gonda are further responsible in spreading ECT from Italy to North America (Endler, 1988). Although there is some confusion as to who exactly is credited for administering the first ECT in America, it is known that it occurred in the early 1940. When ECT was first introduced, it was a terrifying and hazardous procedure: patients suffered serious side effects, even breaking a bone from convulsions (Nairne, Smith & Lindsay, 2001). It has been criticized since its beginnings, and only recently it has begun to be seen more positively. The major reason for this is the fact that the treatment went through significant changes over the years – it is now much safer than before. Nowadays, patients are given a general anaesthetic and medications that relax the muscles to prevent injuries from occur. However, most professionals still consider it to be a treatment of last resort. It is used when people have shown... ...epressive disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet, 361(9360), 799-808. Gerard G. G., Furman, M. J., Carpenter, L. L., et al. (December 2000). Efficacy of continuation ECT and antidepressant drugs compared to long-term antidepressants alone in depressed patients. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1960-1965. Guttmacher, L. B. (1994). Concise Guide to Psychopharmacology and Electroconvulsive Therapy. Washington: American Psychiatric Press Inc. Nairne, J. S., Smith, M. S., and Lindsay, D. S. (2001). Psychology: The Adaptive Mind. Scarborough: Nelson Thomson Learning. Reisner, A D. (2003). The electroconvulsive therapy controversy: evidence and ethics. Neuropsychology Review, 13(4), 199-219. Vothknecht, S., Kho, K. H., van Schaick, H. W., et al. (September 2004). Effects of maintenance electroconvulsive therapy on cognitive functions. Journal of ECT, 19(3), 151-157. Weiner R. D., & Krystal, A.D. (February 1994). The present use of electroconvulsive therapy. Annual Review of Medicine, 45, 273-281. (2001). The Practice of Electroconvulsive Therapy: Recommendations for Treatment, Training, and privileging (2nd Ed). American Psychiatric Association.