Mathway

Street, the collection of short stories by Walter Dean Myers. (From Amazon. Com review) â€Å"Walter Dean Emery's book of interconnected short stories is a sweet and sour mix of the comedy and tragedy of the human condition, played out against the backdrop of the Harlem neighborhood that is centered around 45th Street†¦ Myers frankly discusses the consequences of violence, drive-boys and gang war through his articulate characters, but tempers these episodes with such a love of his fictional community that every character shines wrought with the hope and strength off survivor.Changing his point of view from teen to adult and back again through each vignette, Myers successfully builds a bridge of understanding between adolescents and adults that will help each group better understand the problems of the other. [It] beautifully illustrates the good that can come out of a community that stands together. † Summary: An unnamed narrator tells the story of Monkey, one of the narr ator's friends and a resident of 45th Street. Monkey's bookishness sets him apart from many of his peers, as does his illnesses to interfere with the Tigris gang, which is trying to take over the neighborhood.When Monkey prevents one of the Lady Tigris from attacking his friend Peaches with a knife, the Tigris set out to get revenge. Monkey appears to accept the Tigris' challenge to fight, but when he arrives at the scene he shocks everyone, his friends included, by taking a position of non-violence. Monkey Is injured in the fight and its aftermath, but the narrator discovers that Monkey has done this to prove a point, which teaches the narrator some Important lessons about courage and community.

Business Competition Essay

Abstract   In this paper, I am discussing the relevance of the peaceful humanitarian cocept to the hard environment of business compeition. The paper will elaborate types of competition and how they exist in the global world. The paper also reveals shortly on their roles and benefits in the global world. In the final chapter, the paper discovers that the latest developmet of business practices gave birth to further tendencies toward the peaceful humaitarian concept. The increasing practice of CSR concepts is an indication that the peaceful competition atmosphere is gaining attention within the business world. Business Competition Proposition:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The nature of competition in modern business environment can co-exist with the peaceful humanitarian ideals Introduction Business and competition has always been inseparable activities in life. Furthermore, as activities of business became the most important activities of our lives, we identify our world with competition and competitive acts. In the midst of this hard and competitive world, we often forgot that we do not exist simply to do business; instead, we do business in order to maintain our existence. In the light of this logic, we should be able to comprehend the role of business as one of the facilitators of life and not becoming life itself. Life on the other hand, is depending on how we choose to live. Mother Theresa, one of the most loved humanitarian in the world, often stated that in the midst of all the hub-hubs, people tend to loose their inner peace, in the sense that they forget what they live for or what makes their life valuable. In one of the speech, she stated that this is caused by the tendencies of our environment. Mother Theresa stated that we lost of sense of peace in life because we forget how to care for each other and co-exist in peace. In this paper, I am trying to address the relevance of these humanitarian ideals to the modern business environment. Can there be peace among the competitive nature of the business environment and the peaceful ideals of the humanitarian concept? The paper will display some arguments regarding this topic (‘Competition vs Cooperation’, 2007). Overview   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the short, business understanding, competition is the act of striving against other for dominance or attainment of goals. Today, the term is familiar to us in various fields like politics, sports, business, etc. In this paper however, we are aiming to focus on business competitions rather than other types of competitions. Levels of Competitions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In business competition has slightly different definition than in other respects. It is the independent effort of two or more parties to secure business by offering the most favorable terms and business conditions to the third party. Competition in the world of business can be found right in heart of every business endeavors themselves. Experts identified three types of competition in its relevance to business. The first type is called direct competition. Direct competition is the field where products that has the same functions compete against each other. Business conditions could lead owners and managers to avoid such competition by differentiating product features, or to seek for it by offering the products with similar virtues as others (Kohn, 1986).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The second type of competition in business is called substitute competition. These means products and services that substitute for each other compete. Business competition can also lead managers to create substitution products to take away a part of the market share from their competitors. The third type of competition in business endeavors is called the budget competition. This is the general form of competition in business. It involves competing for consumer’s disposable income. This means that in the business world, any products with any feature are generally in competition with one another.   Different Forms of Competitions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Besides existing in different levels, competition in the business world also exist in different forms. For instance, competition exists whether internally or externally within most companies. Beside the external competition we are accustomed with, there is the internal competition that occurs within companies. Often, managers of the company themselves created the competitive atmosphere inside the corporate structure. Sometimes, this is done by deliberately creating overlapping areas which causes divisions to compete against each other. Furthermore, the leader of the company can also instill competition between different product managers or brand mangers. They can compete in terms of sales or growth of sales of the products or brands under their responsibility (Ryckman, 1994). Business Competition and Its Global Practices In the increasingly global atmosphere of competition, companies are now fighting not only against its neighbor companies, but also companies that headquartered thousands of miles away. The prevalence of communication and information technology has allowed this condition. Companies are creating businesses regardless of national and cultural boundaries. Some countries however, reacted by limiting the competition that might occur within their territories by restricting trade activities to certain levels. Because competition is subject to legal restrictions in most independent countries, it can be legally prohibited using monetary or fiscal tools and also trade barriers (Kohn, 1986).. However, instead of limiting competition between them, countries can compete against each other using competition policies and competition law. The competitions between countries are often varying subtle and hard to detect, however, their presence in the global economy are apparent for business observers. For instance, the United States, Japan, and The European Union are always in fierce but disguised competition to achieve economic supremacy in the global markets (Kohn, 1986). Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Despite the tension and difficulties created by competition, most have understood that competition is a natural part of life. By this, I mean that along with its good and bad effects, the human race will always need competition to survive. This is proven by researches in the biology field, where competition created adaptation and the tendency to constantly improve oneself. In the business world, competition is seen as the pillar of capitalism itself. Competition in the business world stimulates creativity and innovation, supports eficency, lowering prices and enhances product qualities. Competition is also the reason why companies develop new technologies, new products and new services, which provided us better and broader product selection.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, competition is also recognized for its negative effects. It leads to duplicated effort and in some conditions, increased costs. Competition often leads to stressful way of life and destructive behaviors. Psychologically, over-competition will create a highly stressful environment which is horrible for a human soul. Materially, competition could lead to unjust acts of economic endeavors. Frauds and similar activities ruin the image of business as they are finally revealed to the society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nevertheless, I personally believe that even the harsh competitive world of business has its compatibility with ideals of humectation concepts. For instance, recent development indicated the prevalence of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) demands and initiatives. People are starting to realize that companies are also parts of the society which contains the obligations to co-exist in harmony within its environment. Companies are now demanded that they take full responsibility for their actions in consideration of the economic, social and environmental issues. Ethical concerns and competition laws are gaining people’s attention in evaluating corporate performance. Companies are actually loosing customers for their bad social values (Leef, 1996).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Observing the latest development in the world of business, we can conclude that the humanitarian principles have taken their place in business activities. People in general have started to develop the sense that business endeavors should not be above the values of life. In a sense, the practice of business must now take account of social values and environmental concerns. Although we haven’t seen such a development that would allow Mother Theresa’s philosophy of peace to be the guiding light for global business practices, but the direction of today’s development indicated that the scenario of a peaceful competition atmosphere as suggested by Mother Theresa is gaining supporters. References Kohn, Alfie. 1986. ‘No Contest – The Case Against Competition’. Boston New York London: Houghton Mifflin Co. Ryckman, R. M., Thornton, B., Butler, J. C. 1994. ‘Personality correlates of the hypercompetitive attitude scale: Validity tests of Horney’s theory of neurosis’. Journal of Personality Assessment, 62, 84-94 ‘Competition vs Cooperation’. 2007. Retrieved February 26, 2007 from http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-spectrumfive.htm Leef, George C. 1996. ‘The Virtues of Competition’. Retrieved February 26, 2007 from   http://www.libertyhaven.com/theoreticalorphilosophicalissues/ethics/virtucomp.html      

Challenges ahead in running department store business in China A case Dissertation

Challenges ahead in running department store business in China A case study on GrandBuy how to achieve sustainable growth - Dissertation Example Technology, in the form of ERP, SCM and even CRM are tools that will enable the organization to store data. The data generated by these software then becomes an information that can be related to other information in order for it to become tangible knowledge. Knowledge is then use to become the basis or intelligence for a working action plan to achieve a particular goal. Each employee in a learning organization is tasked if not has the responsibility to share their tacit knowledge to contribute to the organization’s explicit knowledge to sustain growth. Creating a learning organization is not a walk in the park, the challenges faced by an organization in its transformation to a learning organization shall be explored in this paper. ... ing and Leading Fundamental Change in Organisations†, Richard Beckhard & Wendy Pritchard commented: "It is no longer true that organisations can (1) Control their own destiny (2) Operate in a stable and predictable society." Therefore to have competitive supremacy, increasing profits and maximum control over company's destiny it is essential to innovate, learn quickly and respond quickly. This must be done by managing change within the organisation (Beckhard & Pritchard, 1992). This paper shall discuss the possible challenges of Guanzhou GrandBuy Co. Ltd. or GrandBuy for brevity as it transform itself from an organization that did not worry about profit or its bottom line to a learning organization that will enable them to sustain their growth without government intervention. They understood that good strategic management only exists with a good knowledge base within the organization. Therefore, GrandBuy emphasized on the need to upgrade the knowledge quality of the whole organ ization from management to staff of all levels. They strive to transform GrandBuy into a Learning Organization. In short, by being aware of the environment and trends outside the organisation and working with those within the organisation who are keen to make â€Å"change† a strategic approach will eventually pay dividends. "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change". Everybody appears to understand the needs for change without too much explanation. So the next series of question are what need to be answered in order for change to set in; who needs change; where does â€Å"needs† change and then how to change. By answering all these questions, the management needs to have a robust strategic plan. The next step is about implementation in the forms of policies, guidelines,

Evolution and current status of the method Assignment

Evolution and current status of the method - Assignment Example This is mainly because there is no universal method that is appropriate and suitable for all teaching contexts. Rather, different methods will work better, or even worse, in different contexts and equally important, they are all partially valid (Prabhu 161). For instance, the choice of communicative language teaching can be viewed as an ignorant perception that what is suitable for Europe will also be appropriate for Africa simply because it is a documented method. Essentially, that only serves to develop resistance from learners. The approach of method limits the relationship between teachers and theorizers to one in which teachers are not empowered with knowledge, skill and autonomy implying that they may not devise relevant, coherent and systematic methods based on principled practicality (Kumaravadivelu 1994, p. 537). It is further observed by Brown (74) that the concept of method places all responsibility in the classroom environment upon the teacher and effectively barring stud ents from developing their own initiatives and strategies towards learning. Further, the concept also stifles the notion of self-regulation among learners, which means they cannot develop goal-oriented attempts to direct their learning. Rather, what is preferred is pedagogy of practicality that attempts to go beyond the deficiencies that characterize the dichotomies of the theories of theorists versus the theory of teachers by empowering teachers to form their own theories (Kumaravadivelu 2001, p. 541).

Aspiration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Aspiration - Essay Example Aspiration could be consequential and come with the risk of leading to a type of pneumonia known as aspiration pneumonia. Aspiration is generally being identified to be common in some people than others. For example, patients who suffer dysphagia stand a higher risk of being affected with aspiration and on a very regular basis. Dysphagia could pose a risk to patients because it is the difficulty in swallowing and such difficulty commonly leads to misplacement of food or fluid particles. It is also said that the male to female ratio of risk is 2:1 (Medscape, 2012). What this means is that there are more males who are at risk to aspiration than females. It is for this reason that the control of aspiration is an important issue to health practitioners. Symptoms of aspiration are varying and often dependent on the level of risk. Most commonly however, aspiration will be characterized by coughing, choking, fever, chills, leakage of food from mouth, shortness of breath and wet voice after swallowing (University of Wisconsin, 2012) The National Safety Council is quoted as stating that choking is the forth leading cause of unintentional injury death (Medscape, 2012). There are other critical effects that adults and other sufferers of aspiration face. Some of these include a permanent expansion of one’s lungs or trachea (Selius and Subedi, 2008). Once such permanent damages take place, the resorting long term consequence is that there could be the development of dyspahgia, which in its self is a risk factor to getting aspiration. Practitioners often want to use the term conservative management because they have a feeling that aspiration is best treated when taken care of at the initial stage. To this effect, some of the treatments prescribed include the need to place children in upright positions, not putting children in seated position after ninety minues of feeding, raising head of bed to 300,

Consumer behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Consumer behavior - Essay Example This implies that for a positive feedback from the consumer, a lot of emphasis has to be made in ensuring that all these factors put into consideration (Arnold, James, and Scherbet Oliver 1999 p.30 par.4). 3. Consumer behavior is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT thoughts. These factors are characterized by consumers’ dynamism, interactions, exchanges, and predictability. Consumer behavior must be constantly monitored by the marketer because it is usually dynamic and therefore it changes constantly resulting to short product life cycles (Arnold, James, and Scherbet 1999 p.35 par.1). 4. The marketer must constantly monitor consumer behavior because the consumer is: creating new strategies for the products. To keep in touch with this trend, innovation and value addition are of paramount importance in order for the companies to remain profitable and retain their market share. This is achieved by creating new products, newer versions of existing products, new brands and creating opportunities for increased cross holding (Wilcox, Rhoda V 2001 p.34 par.3). 5. To keep in step with shorter product life cycles, many companies are innovating constantly and creating superior value for customers and staying profitable by all of the following ways, EXCEPT constantly changing. Innovation and value addition are of paramount importance in order for the companies to remain profitable and retain their market share. This is achieved by creating new products, newer versions of existing products, new brands and creating opportunities for increased cross holding. (Wilcox, Rhoda V 2001 p.41 par.2). 6. The relationship between the elements involved in consumer behavior is BEST described as: interactive. This is due to the fact that consumer behavior is mainly interactive and profit maximization which is the primary role of marketing must be cognizant of this fact (Arnold, James, and Scherbet 1999 p. 45

Maritime Budgets Struggle Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Maritime Budgets Struggle - Article Example The implied hypothesis is that the decisions taken by the administration regarding maritime budgets in the FY 2011 budget are against the maritime industry in America and insensitive to homeland security. However, it does not throw any light on the performance of the maritime agencies in America. The hypothesis of the author appears to be skewed since it does not mention whether the budget cuts are uniform throughout various programs or specifically maritime agencies have been targeted. Also, the article glorifies the budget cuts and discounts the increase in spending on maritime agencies and programs by phrases like ‘aging academy, and ‘â€Å"difficult tradeoffs† between men and women and machine’ (Bondareff, 2010) The article does not answer the question regarding the impact of the budget cuts on maritime agencies and programs. The central argument of the article is that allocations in FY 2011 budget, to maritime agencies is reduced to make up for the budget deficit. Though it mentions the programs which have been denied funding in the FY 2011 budget, the article does not mention the importance/contribution of those programs to the maritime industry in particular and country in general. It does not mention the progress in the programs from the previous funding; is it the case that the programs were running excellently and now their growth would be stunted due to decreased funding or since the programs were not performing up to the expectations so the funding is decreased. The study undertaken is useful in a limited way in the sense that although it highlights the budgetary decisions of the administration regarding maritime agencies and programs, it does not throw any light on the implications of these decisions and the justifications given by administration for taking such decisions. The study appears to be a collection of

Question 3 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 1

Question 3 - Assignment Example The aim of this research is to review and critically evaluate secondary sources for insights into discrimination in organizational hiring practices. The following objectives will mark the scope of this study: This study will evaluate important elements and features of conducting literature reviews. To this end, the paper will examine some important secondary sources and how they work together with other aspects of research in order to define a core and a key concept. The process will involve amongst other things, the critique of literature and how these forms of literature work together to help in understanding theories and making inputs into various ideas and concepts. The analysis of the literature review will involve the critical assessment and evaluation of core concepts from recent scholarly articles. This will include peer-reviewed articles that were published over the past five years. This will involve the assessment of insights on discrimination in the workplace and how efforts have been made to deal with it. From thence, the study will propound a theory on how to develop human resource management theories and strategies for reducing discrimination in organizations. A literature review is a systematic review of scholarly sources and similar materials in order to identify important concepts and theories that are integrated into a given study (Rocco & Hatcher, 2011). A literature review is concerned with the analysis of critical points of current knowledge and substantive findings in order to draw a theoretical and methodological structure for the conduct of a given research or study (Collins, Onwuegbuzie, & Jiao, 2010). This therefore gives the framework for explaining and drawing the parameters of a given research. Concerning this study, there is the need to draw the context and framework for concepts like organizational hiring practices, discrimination practices and other elements and aspects of constructively dealing with the situation and

The Source of Creativity in Writers Essay Example for Free

The Source of Creativity in Writers Essay We laymen have always been intensely curious to know like the Cardinal who put a similar question to Ariosto from what sources that strange being, the creative writer, draws his material, and how he manages to make such an impression on us with it and to arouse in us emotions of which, perhaps, we had not even thought ourselves capable. Our interest is only heightened the more by the fact that, if we ask him, the writer himself gives us no explanation, or none that is satisfactory; and it is not at all weakened by our knowledge that not even the clearest insight into the determinants of his choice of material and into the nature of the art of creating imaginative form will ever help to make creative writers of us. If we could at least discover in ourselves or in people like ourselves an activity which was in some way akin to creative writing! An examination of it would then give us a hope of obtaining the beginnings of an explanation of the creative work of writers. And, indeed, there is some prospect of this being possible. After all, creative writers themselves like to lessen the distance between their kind and the common run of humanity; they so often assure us that every man is a poet at heart and that the last poet will not perish till the last man does. Should we not look for the first traces of imaginative activity as early as in childhood The child’s best-loved and most intense occupation is with his play or games. Might we not say that every child at play behaves like a creative writer, in that he creates a world of his own, or, rather, re-arranges the things of his world in a new way which pleases him? It would be wrong to think he does not take that world seriously; on the contrary, he takes his play very seriously and he expends large amounts of emotion on it. The opposite of play is not what is serious but what is real. In spite of all the emotion with which he cathects his world of play, the child distinguishes it quite well from reality; and he likes to link his imagined objects and situations to the tangible and visible things of the real world. This linking is all that differentiates the child’s ‘play’ from ‘phantasying’. The creative writer does the same as the child at play. He creates a world of phantasy which he takes very seriously that is, which he invests with large amounts of emotion while separating it sharply from reality. Language has preserved this relationship between children’s play and poetic creation. It gives [in German] the name of ‘Spiel’ [‘play’] to those forms of imaginative writing which require to be linked to tangible objects and which are capable of representation. It speaks of a ‘Lustspiel’ or ‘Trauerspiel’ [‘comedy’ or ‘tragedy’: literally, ‘pleasure play’ or ‘mourning play’] and describes those who carry out the representation as ‘Schauspieler’ [‘players’: literally ‘show-players’]. The unreality of the writer’s imaginative world, however, has very important consequences for the technique of his art; for many things which, if they were real, could give no enjoyment, can do so in the play of phantasy, and many excitements which, in themselves, are actually distressing, can become a source of pleasure for the hearers and spectators at the performance of a writer’s work. There is another consideration for the sake of which we will dwell a moment longer on this contrast between reality and play. When the child has grown up and has ceased to play, and after he has been labouring for decades to envisage the realities of life with proper seriousness, he may one day find himself in a mental situation which once more undoes the contrast between play and reality. As an adult he can look back on the intense seriousness with which he once carried on his games in childhood; and, by equating his ostensibly serious occupations of to-day with his childhood games, he can throw off the too heavy burden imposed on him by life and win the high yield of pleasure afforded by humour. As people grow up, then, they cease to play, and they seem to give up the yield of pleasure which they gained from playing. But whoever understands the human mind knows that hardly anything is harder for a man than to give up a pleasure which he has once experienced. Actually, we can never give anything up; we only exchange one thing for another. What appears to be a renunciation is really the formation of a substitute or surrogate. In the same way, the growing child, when he stops playing, gives up nothing but the link with real objects; instead playing, he now phantasies. He builds castles in the air and creates what are called day- dreams. I believe that most people construct phantasies at times in their lives. This is a fact which has long been overlooked and whose importance has therefore not been sufficiently appreciated. People’s phantasies are less easy to observe than the play of children. The child, it is true, plays by himself or forms a closed psychical system with other children for the purposes of a game; but even though he may not play his game in front of the grown-ups, he does not, on the other hand, conceal it from them. The adult, on the contrary, is ashamed of his phantasies and hides them from other people. He cherishes his phantasies as his most intimate possessions, and as a rule he would rather confess his misdeeds than tell anyone his phantasies. It may come about that for that reason he believes he is the only person who invents such phantasies and has no idea that creations of this kind are widespread among other people. This difference in the behaviour of a person who plays and a person who phantasies is accounted for by the motives of these two activities, which are nevertheless adjuncts to each other. A child’s play is determined by wishes: in point of fact by a single wish-one that helps in his upbringing the wish to be big and grown up. He is always playing at being ‘grown up’, and in his games he imitates what he knows about the lives of his elders. He has no reason to conceal this wish. With the adult, the case is different. On the one hand, he knows that he is expected not to go on playing or phantasying any longer, but to act in the real world; on the other hand, some of the wishes which give rise to his phantasies are of a kind which it is essential to conceal. Thus he is ashamed of his phantasies as being childish and as being unpermissible. But, you will ask, if people make such a mystery of their phantasying, how is it that we know such a lot about it? Well, there is a class of human beings upon whom, not a god, indeed, but a stern goddess Necessity has allotted the task of telling what they suffer and what things give them happiness. These are the victims of nervous illness, who are obliged to tell their phantasies, among other things, to the doctor by whom they expect to be cured by mental treatment. This is our best source of knowledge, and we have since found good reason to suppose that our patients tell us nothing that we might not also hear from healthy people. Let us now make ourselves acquainted with a few of the characteristics of phantasying. We may lay it down that a happy person never phantasies, only an unsatisfied one. The motive forces of phantasies are unsatisfied wishes, and every single phantasy is the fulfilment of a wish, a correction of unsatisfying reality. These motivating wishes vary according to the sex, character and circumstances of the person who is having the phantasy; but they fall naturally into two main groups. They are either ambitious wishes, which serve to elevate the subject’s personality; or they are erotic ones. In young women the erotic wishes predominate almost exclusively, for their ambition is as a rule absorbed by erotic trends. In young men egoistic and ambitious wishes come to the fore clearly enough alongside of erotic ones. But we will not lay stress on the opposition between the two trends; we would rather emphasize the fact that they are often united. Just as, in many altar- pieces, the portrait of the donor is to be seen in a corner of the picture, so, in the majority of ambitious phantasies, we can discover in some corner or other the lady for whom the creator of the phantasy performs all his heroic deeds and at whose feet all his triumphs are laid. Here, as you see, there are strong enough motives for concealment; the well-brought-up young woman is only allowed a minimum of erotic desire, and the young man has to learn to suppress the excess of self-regard which he brings with him from the spoilt days of his childhood, so that he may find his place in a society which is full of other individuals making equally strong demands. We must not suppose that the products of this imaginative activity the various phantasies, castles in the air and day-dreams are stereotyped or unalterable. On the contrary, they fit themselves in to the subject’s shifting impressions of life, change with every change in his situation, and receive from every fresh active impression what might be called a ‘date-mark’. The relation of a phantasy to time is in general very important. We may say that it hovers, as it were, between three times the three moments of time which our ideation involves. Mental work is linked to some current impression, some provoking occasion in the present which has been able to arouse one of the subject’s major wishes. From there it harks back to a memory of an earlier experience (usually an infantile one) in which this wish was fulfilled; and it now creates a situation relating to the future which represents a fulfilment of the wish. What it thus creates is a day-dream or phantasy, which carries about it traces of its origin from the occasion which provoked it and from the memory. Thus past, present and future are strung together, as it were, on the thread of the wish that runs through them. A very ordinary example may serve to make what I have said clear. Let us take the case of a poor orphan boy to whom you have given the address of some employer where he may perhaps find a job. On his way there he may indulge in a day-dream appropriate to the situation from which it arises. The content of his phantasy will perhaps be something like this. He is given a job, finds favour with his new employer, makes himself indispensable in the business, is taken into his employer’s family, marries the charming young daughter of the house, and then himself becomes a director of the business, first as his employer’s partner and then as his successor. In this phantasy, the dreamer has regained what he possessed in his happy childhood the protecting house, the loving parents and the first objects of his affectionate feelings. You will see from this example the way in which the wish makes use of an occasion in the present to construct, on the pattern of the past, a picture of the future. There is a great deal more that could be said about phantasies; but I will only allude as briefly as possible to certain points. If phantasies become over-luxuriant and over-powerful, the conditions are laid for an onset of neurosis or psychosis. Phantasies, moreover, are the immediate mental precursors of the distressing symptoms complained of by our patients. Here a broad by-path branches off into pathology. I cannot pass over the relation of phantasies to dreams. Our dreams at night are nothing else than phantasies like these, as we can demonstrate from the interpretation of dreams.? Language, in its unrivalled wisdom, long ago decided the question of the essential nature of dreams by giving the name of ‘day-dreams’ to the airy creations of phantasy. If the meaning of our dreams usually remains obscure to us in spite of this pointer, it is because of the circumstance that at night there also arise in us wishes of which we are ashamed; these we must conceal from ourselves, and they have consequently been repressed, pushed into the unconscious. Repressed wishes of this sort and their derivatives are only allowed to come to expression in a very distorted form. When scientific work had succeeded in elucidating this factor of dream-distortion, it was no longer difficult to recognize that night-dreams are wish-fulfilments in just the same way as day-dreams the phantasies which we all know so well. ? Cf. Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (1900a). So much for phantasies. And now for the creative writer. May we really attempt to compare the imaginative writer with the ‘dreamer in broad daylight’, and his creations with day-dreams? Here we must begin by making an initial distinction. We must separate writers who, like the ancient authors of epics and tragedies, take over their material ready-made, from writers who seem to originate their own material. We will keep to the latter kind, and, for the purposes of our comparison, we will choose not the writers most highly esteemed by the critics, but the less pretentious authors of novels, romances and short stories, who nevertheless have the widest and most eager circle of readers of both sexes. One feature above all cannot fail to strike us about the creations of these story-writers: each of them has a hero who is the centre of interest, for whom the writer tries to win our sympathy by every possible means and whom he seems to place under the protection of a special Providence. If, at the end of one chapter of my story, I leave the hero unconscious and bleeding from severe wounds, I am sure to find him at the beginning of the next being carefully nursed and on the way to recovery; and if the first volume closes with the ship he is in going down in a storm at sea, I am certain, at the opening of the second volume, to read of his miraculous rescue a rescue without which the story could not proceed. The feeling of security with which I follow the hero through his perilous adventures is the same as the feeling with which a hero in real life throws himself into the water to save a drowning man or exposes himself to the enemy’s fire in order to storm a battery. It is the true heroic feeling, which one of our best writers has expressed in an inimitable phrase: ‘Nothing can happen to me! ’ It seems to me, however, that through this revealing characteristic of invulnerability we can immediately recognize His Majesty the Ego, the hero alike of every day-dream and of every story. Other typical features of these egocentric stories point to the same kinship. The fact that all the women in the novel invariably fall in love with the hero can hardly be looked on as a portrayal of reality, but it is easily understood as a necessary constituent of a day-dream. The same is true of the fact that the other characters in the story are sharply divided into good and bad, in defiance of the variety of human characters that are to be observed in real life. The ‘good’ ones are the helpers, while the ‘bad’ ones are the enemies and rivals, of the ego which has become the hero of the story. We are perfectly aware that very many imaginative writings are far removed from the model of the naive day-dream; and yet I cannot suppress the suspicion that even the most extreme deviations from that model could be linked with it through an uninterrupted series of transitional cases. It has struck me that in many of what are known as ‘psychological’ novels only one person once again the hero is described from within. The author sits inside his mind, as it were, and looks at the other characters from outside. The psychological novel in general no doubt owes its special nature to the inclination of the modern writer to split up his ego, by self- observation, into many part-egos, and, in consequence, to personify the conflicting currents of his own mental life in several heroes. Certain novels, which might be described as ‘eccentric’, seem to stand in quite special contrast to the type of the day-dream. In these, the person who is introduced as the hero plays only a very small active part; he sees the actions and sufferings of other people pass before him like a spectator. Many of Zola’s later works belong to this category. But I must point out that the psychological analysis of individuals who are not creative writers, and who diverge in some respects from the so-called norm, has shown us analogous variations of the day-dream, in which the ego contents itself with the role of spectator. If our comparison of the imaginative writer with the day-dreamer, and of poetical creation with the day-dream, is to be of any value, it must, above all, show itself in some way or other fruitful. Let us, for instance, try to apply to these authors’ works the thesis we laid down earlier concerning the relation between phantasy and the three periods of time and the wish which runs through them; and, with its help, let us try to study the connections that exist between the life of the writer and his works. No one has known, as a rule, what expectations to frame in approaching this problem; and often the connection has been thought of in much too simple terms. In the light of the insight we have gained from phantasies, we ought to expect the following state of affairs. A strong experience in the present awakens in the creative writer a memory of an earlier experience (usually belonging to his childhood) from which there now proceeds a wish which finds its fulfilment in the creative work. The work itself exhibits elements of the recent provoking occasion as well as of the old memory. Do not be alarmed at the complexity of this formula. I suspect that in fact it will prove to be too exiguous a pattern. Nevertheless, it may contain a first approach to the true state of affairs; and, from some experiments I have made, I am inclined to think that this way of looking at creative writings may turn out not unfruitful. You will not forget that the stress it lays on childhood memories in the writer’s life a stress which may perhaps seem puzzling is ultimately derived from the assumption that a piece of creative writing, like a day-dream, is a continuation of, and a substitute for, what was once the play of childhood. We must not neglect, however, to go back to the kind of imaginative works which we have to recognize, not as original creations, but as the re-fashioning of ready- made and familiar material. Even here, the writer keeps a certain amount of independence, which can express itself in the choice of material and in changes in it which are often quite extensive. In so far as the material is already at hand, however, it is derived from the popular treasure-house of myths, legends and fairy tales. The study of constructions of folk-psychology such as these is far from being complete, but it is extremely probable that myths, for instance, are distorted vestiges of the wishful phantasies of whole nations, the secular dreams of youthful humanity. You will say that, although I have put the creative writer first in the title of my paper, I have told you far less about him than about phantasies. I am aware of that, and I must try to excuse it by pointing to the present state of our knowledge. All I have been able to do is to throw out some encouragements and suggestions which, starting from the study of phantasies, lead on to the problem of the writer’s choice of his literary material. As for the other problem by what means the creative writer achieves the emotional effects in us that are aroused by his creations we have as yet not touched on it at all. But I should like at least to point out to you the path that leads from our discussion of phantasies to the problems of poetical effects. You will remember how I have said that the day-dreamer carefully conceals his phantasies from other people because he feels he has reasons for being ashamed of them. I should now add that even if he were to communicate them to us he could give us no pleasure by his disclosures. Such phantasies, when we learn them, repel us or at least leave us cold. But when a creative writer presents his plays to us or tells us what we are inclined to take to be his personal day dreams, we experience a great pleasure, and one which probably arises from the confluence of many sources. How the writer accomplishes this is his innermost secret; the essential ars poetica lies in the technique of overcoming the feeling of repulsion in us which is undoubtedly connected with the barriers that rise  between each single ego and the others. We can guess two of the methods used by this technique. The writer softens the character of his egoistic day-dreams by altering and disguising it, and he bribes us by the purely formal that is, aesthetic yield of pleasure which he offers us in the presentation of his phantasies. We give the name of an incentive bonus, or a fore-pleasure, to a yield of pleasure such as this, which is offered to us so as to make possible the release of still greater pleasure arising from deeper psychical sources. In my opinion, all the aesthetic pleasure which a creative writer affords us has the character of a fore-pleasure of this kind, and our actual enjoyment of an imaginative work proceeds from a liberation of tensions in our minds. It may even be that not a little of this effect is due to the writer’s enabling us thenceforward to enjoy our own day-dreams without self-reproach or shame. This brings us to the threshold of new, interesting and complicated enquiries; but also, at least for the moment, to the end of our discussion.

Gambling among Adolescents in North America Essay Example for Free

Gambling among Adolescents in North America Essay Lottery, card games, sports betting and money wagers. These are a few kinds of gambling that adults engage in; however, the youth of today are also found to be gambling more than adults (Derevensky Gupta, 2002; Huang Boyer, 2007). According to Derevensky Gupta (2002), there is an alarmingly high percentage of children and adolescents engaged in gambling activities. In a long-term analysis between 1984 to 1999, it was found that the prevalence of youth gambling in North America increased from 45% to 66% and that the proportion of the youth who have serious gambling-related problems have increased as well from 10% to 15% in the same time period (Huang Boyer, 2007). In the past 25 years in the United States and Canada, it has been found that the youth is significantly associated with gambling-related problems; the percentage of youth classified under the Sub-clinical or problem gambling (Level 2) and the pathological gambling (Level 3) were at 14. 6% and 4. 8% respectively in 2006, which is more than twice of the adults who only have a percentage of 2. 5% and 1. 5% each (ibid). Among the youth, it has also been found that more young men gamble more than women and they are also identified to be problem gamblers than young women and even among adults (Huang Boyer, 2007). In North America today, approximately 80% of adolescents have participated in some form of gambling for money within in their lifetime (Felsher, Derevensky Gupta, 2003; Messerlian Derevensky, 2005). This is an alarming rate. The number of youth who are engaged in adolescent gambling is higher today more than ever before and it is starting to become a serious public health issue that many nations, especially the United States and Canada, are trying to address (Messerlian Derevensky, 2005). Considerable research by psychologist and sociologists are being conducted regarding this problem. This paper will identify the causes of adolescent gambling, its consequences and what psychologists and the government are doing to treat this issue. Causes of Adolescent Gambling The availability and accessibility of gambling increased progressively in the United States and Canada from 1984-1999, which was also the time that an increase in youth gambling also occurred (Derevensky Gupta, 2002). This increase in youth gambling has been attributed to the support of the two governments in the lucrative gambling industry. Political economy theories of Sauer maintain that this is due to the need for revenue generation of the large governments (Messerlian Derevensky, 2005). The youth have become exposed to numerous gambling establishments, directly and indirectly (Felsher et al, 2003). The widespread legalization of the different kinds of gambling in North America has greatly exposed the youth to the addictive game (ibid; Huang Boyer, 2007). Gambling has already become a â€Å"well-established recreational form of entertainment† (Felsher et al, 2003) and there is already an estimated 15. 3million adolescents in North America who have engaged in gambling activities and 2. 2 million of these are problem or pathological gamblers (Huang Boyer, 2007). Among 12-17 year old Americans, 4%–8% of them are already pathological gamblers and another 10%–15% of the youth are at risk of developing a serious problem (Felsher et al. , 2003; Messerlian Derevensky, 2005). Adolescents gamble because they are tempted by the â€Å"lure of excitement, entertainment, and potential financial gain associated with gambling† (Messerlian Derevensky, 2005). Increased exposure to gambling will teach the kids to gamble, and the social learning theory of Albert Bandura points out the role of observation and imitation in the acquisition and maintenance of socially desirable and undesirable characteristics (Felsher et al. , 2003). The increased exposure they have in gambling influences them to do the same. Family and friends are the primary reference groups, but it is the parents who have a stronger influence since they occur earlier than the peer group (ibid). The parents are observed to be having fun and adolescents surveyed said they gamble because their parents play for enjoyment and excitement, and it is the parents who play their children and engage them in gambling (ibid). In the social learning theory, there are six mechanisms identified that is involved in the development of gambling and these are: 1) affective states such as anxiety or depression; 2) cognitive distortions about gambling; 3) behavioral reinforcement schedules; 4) social and institutional determinants such as opportunity to gamble; 5) sub-cultural conditions like prevailing attitude towards gambling and values of the adolescent’s social context and reference groups (as seen in the preceding paragraph); and 6) internal fantasy relationships with personifications like the parents or â€Å"lady luck† (Upfold, 2007). Lottery is the most favored form of gambling by adolescents because of its ease of accessibility and the minimal amount of money required to participate in the draw (Felsher et al. , 2003). Parents purchase the lottery tickets and they include their children in their gambling activity by asking for their advice, such as what number/s they should pick, let them carry the money, fill in the lottery stubs, scratching the numbers, etc. (ibid). This observation and direct participation of gambling from significant reference groups, such as the parents, influences the youth’s participation in gambling activities (Messerlian Derevensky, 2005). The parental acceptance of gambling as a recreational activity further encourages the youth to partake in it (Felsher et al. , 2003). Adolescents who gamble say that they have learned it from their parents. 15% of children made first bet with their parents and another 20% with other family members (Messerlian Derevensky, 2005). Parents gamble in close proximity to their children and they have a poor understanding of the negative consequences that this will have on their child (ibid). The Cognitive-Behavioral Model, which is part of the social-learning theory, may explain this cause. The model is based on the principles of learning from imitation, observation, schedules of enforcement and cognition or how the youth would interpret and draw conclusions about the events around him or her (Upfold, 2007). They are enforced to gamble since the adolescents report that their parents are aware of their gambling and that they do not object to it; 50% of parents are aware and are not worried, disregarding the age of the child (Felsher et al. , 2003). 58. 5% of children in the study of Felsher et al. (2003) also say that they wager money with their parents, hence they are taught to gamble; some parents even purchase lottery tickets for their child’s behalf and it has been found that the more severe gambling a child is doing, the more tickets there are purchased by parents. Also, adolescents who were found to be regularly gambling report that they gamble with their family members and 40% say they do it with their parents (Messerlian Derevensky, 2005). â€Å"Problem gambling is governed by a complex set of interrelating factors, causes, and determinants: biological, familial, behavioral, social, and environmental† (ibid). Under environmental, ease of access of online-gambling sites on the Internet is a new problem since the youth can easily access it and can be enticed by the visual appeals of Internet gambling (ibid). Another important reference point and part of the environmental factor which indirectly teaches gambling to children and reinforces it is the school. There are schools who promote gambling through fundraising activities including lottery, raffle draws, bingo, casino nights, and by permitting card playing within schools (ibid). Another explanation for causes of gambling is the Psychodynamic Model, which proposes that personal problems â€Å"lie within the psyche and are an attempt at self-healing or a strategy of resolving unconscious psychic conflicts†¦beyond voluntary control,† (Upfold, 2007), hence the individual continues to engage in gambling. There are three main components in this model and they are: 1) Gambling is an unconscious substitute for aggressive outlets; 2) Gambling involves an unconscious desire to lose- a wish to be punished in reaction to guilt; and 3) Gambling is a medium for continued enactment of psychological conflict (ibid). Adolescents do not engage in gambling for money but for excitement and enjoyment; through video lottery terminals, sports betting, cards, lotteries, bingo and other forms of gambling, adolescents with a gambling problem exhibit a number of dissociative behaviors such as escape into another world where they have altered egos (Derevensky Gupta, 2002). Their personality traits that are correlated with risk-taking behavior such as excitable, extroverted, anxious and lower self-discipline show that they have poor coping and adaptive skills, so when they cannot cope with many hardships in their life or the stress of being a teenager, they gamble to â€Å"escape from the realities of daily life† (ibid). Gambling has been a way for adolescents who experience negative life events and use emotional-coping strategies to escape their problems, even if they have claimed to have social support from their peers (ibid; Bergevin, Gupta Derevensky, 2006). The Trait Theory of Gambling is also part of the psychodynamic model and it show that there are certain personalities that is related to the problem of gambling such as depression, anti-social personality disorder- particularly for pathological gamblers, and narcissism- as seen in the compulsive gamblers (Upfold, 2007). Other identified risk factors that may lead to adolescent gambling include male gender, alcohol and drug use, deviant peers, family history of gambling, and impulsive behavior (Pietrzak, Ladd Petry, 2003). Consequences of Adolescent Gambling The consequences of adolescent gambling are somewhat similar to that of adult gamblers; they not only affect themselves but society as a whole. Adolescent gambling does not only affect the individual adolescent but their families, peers, communities and health services (Messerlian Derevensky, 2005). The consequences the adolescent gamblers face are widespread and affects their psychological, behavioral, legal, academic, family and interpersonal domains- they become delinquent, have poor academic performance, impair their academic performance or even drop out from school, disrupt their relationship with family and friends, and display criminal behavior (ibid). They face negative health, psychological, social, personal and financial consequences that is why gambling is becoming a public health issue (ibid). It has been found that there is a strong correlation between adolescent gambling and the increased likelihood to drink alcohol, smoke tobacco and use drugs (Hardoon, Gupta Derevensky, 2004). Huang Boyer (2007) also says that adolescent gamblers are more likely to experience psychiatric problems, especially substance use disorders. The common factors that lead to this among adolescents are low self-esteem, depression, suicidal thoughts, victim of abuse, poor school performance, history of delinquency, poor impulse control, being male, early onset of gambling, parental history of gambling, and community/family acceptance of gambling (ibid). This will greatly affect the future of the youth since all that they indulge in is gambling. They become dissociated from the real world and spend much of their time gambling that they do not get to develop themselves as individuals anymore. They become more susceptible to suicide ideation and attempts, they replace their old friends with their gambling associates and they have a higher risk to develop an addiction or poly addictions (Gupta Derevensky, 2002). In the study of Felsher et al. (2003), they found that 94% of young male gamblers and 93% of young female gamblers are not afraid to get caught. This shows their lack of concern on what may happen to them if they are caught and this may also show the acceptance of their parents. Since parents and most institutions fail to recognize gambling as a serious problem or certain activities to be gambling (Derevensky and Gupta, 2002), the adolescents are at a higher risk to further develop their gambling addiction. The course of gambling varies from one individual to another; however, the social learning theory shows that since gambling behavior is acquired it can be thought of as a continuum or stages from problem-free gambling all the way to pathological gambling (Messerlian Derevensky, 2005; Upfold, 2007). Messerlian Derevensky (2005) states that â€Å"as gambling escalates and one moves along the continuum of gambling risk, the negative outcomes begin to outweigh any potential benefits† and this is when they would start experiencing different kinds of impaired personal, health, financial and social consequences. Treatments to Adolescent Gambling The numerous psychosocial costs of gambling to the individual, his/her family and to the community shows that this is a problem that must be addressed and treated (Derevensky and Gupta, 2002). Some adolescents do not know that they have a gambling addiction or disorder and this prevents them from getting proper treatment (ibid) however, with the intervention of family, friends or event the school, the adolescent may get treated. There are several kinds of treatment for adolescents who are already problem or pathological gamblers. Before these are discussed, prevention models for gambling will be discussed first since prevention is better than cure. Government policies should be stricter regarding gambling, particularly On-line gambling since that is readily accessible to the youth. Public policies that can influence the social environment and minimize unhealthy gambling behavior such as â€Å"legislation on advertising and promotion, laws regulating minimum age-requirements and their enforcement, provision of programs for harm minimization, fiscal measures, and regulation of the availability of products† should be balanced with the economic gains of the gambling industry (Messerlian Derevensky 2005). Other prevention models suggested by Derevensky Gupta (2002) include the need for awareness of the problem; activities that increase knowledge on adolescent gambling; programs to help modify and change attitude that gambling is not harmless; teaching of effective coping and adaptive skills to prevent problematic gambling; changing inappropriate conceptions about skill and luck, the illusion of control and independence in gambling activities; and identification, assessment and referral of students who are indicative of being at risk to gambling problems. Psychosocial approaches are one of the methods used to treat pathological gambling and this for adults this includes Gamblers Anonymous (Pietrzak et al. , 2006). For the adolescents several youth groups have been formed such as youthbet. net in Canada and wannabet. org in the United States; these website are managed by youths and non-governmental organizations to offer assistance and collaboration to adolescents (Messerlian Derevensky, 2005). Piertzak et al. (2006) found that cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) and eclectic therapy have been helpful in reducing problematic gambling behaviors. CBT involves altering the inaccurate perceptions, beliefs and attitudes of adolescents about gambling. The eclectic therapy is the individual approach to treating gambling problems and consists of: detailed assessment, acceptance of the problem, development of effective coping skills, restructuring of free time, involvement of family and social supports, cognitive restructuring, establishment of debt payment plans and relapse prevention (ibid). The motivational enhancement therapy (MET) is also used and is based on the concept that behavior change occurs through identifiable stages: pre-contemplation, contemplation, action and maintenance (ibid). In this approach, the therapist is non-confrontational and elicits the adolescent’s understanding of the consequences of gambling and strengthens the commitment to change the ways of the individual; since it has a shorter duration that CBT and other therapies, MET is recommended for onset problems (ibid). A disease model is also sometimes used to treat gambling problems. In this approach, the compulsive gambler is made to embrace abstinence from gambling, to participate in self-help groups and to maintain abstinence by going through therapy to deal with previous or latent psychological problems (Upfold, 2007). There is also the Ecological Approach wherein gambling behavior is viewed from multiple perspectives and addresses the behavior from an individual and socio-environmental level where interventions are made at five levels that affects an individual to gamble: biological, familial, behavioral, social and environmental (Messerlian Derevesnky, 2005). Internal and external factors cause an adolescent to gamble. Occasional gambling is harmless but once exposed to gambling especially at a young age, gambling problems may occur and develop into an addiction, which may affect the social, academic and personal life of the adolescent. Treatments vary such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, eclectic therapy, motivational-enhancement therapy and ecological approach; however, prevention of adolescent gambling is still the best and this can be done through increased awareness about the public health problem and stricter government policies regarding access of adolescents to gambling venues, especially online gambling. Bibliography Bergevin, T. , Gupta, R. and Derevensky, J. (2006). Adolescent gambling: Understanding the role of stress and coping. Journal of Gambling Studies, (22), 195-208. Derevensky, J. L. and Gupta, R. (2002). Youth gambling: A clinical and research perspective. The Electronic Journal of Gambling Issues. Retrieved April 9, 2008 from http://www. camh. net/egambling/issue2/feature/index. html Felsher, J. R. , Derevensky, J. L. , Gupta, R. (2003). Parental influences and social modelling of youth lottery participation. Journal of Community Applied Social Psychology, 13: 361-377. Hardoon, K. K. , Gupta, R. and Derevensky, J. L. (2004). Psychosocial variables associated with adolescent gambling. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18 (2), 170 – 179. Huang, J. H. and Boyer, R.. (2007). Epidemiology of youth gambling problems in Canada: A national prevalence study. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 52 (10). Messerlian, C. and Derevensky, M. (2005). Youth gambling: A public health perspective. Journal of Gambling Issues (14). Pietrzak, R. H. , Ladd, G. T. and Petry, N. M. (2003). Disordered gambling in adolescents: Epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment. Pediatr Drugs, 5 (9), 583 – 592. Upfold, Darryl. (2007). An introduction to conceptual models of problem gambling. Center for Addiction and Mental Health. Retrieved April 13, 2008, from http://www. problemgambling. ca/EN/ResourcesForProfessionals/Pages/AnIntroductiontoConceptualModelsofProblemGambling. aspx

British Legal Framework For Construction Health and Safety

British Legal Framework For Construction Health and Safety In 1974 in Great Britain, the parliament adopted the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA) which became the major piece of legislation at work for health and safety matters in the country. This Act was adopted for all industries including construction. Its aims were to provide the main principles and duties to employers, employees and all the participant of the work activity in general (St John Holt, 2005). Then, the European Union (EU) imposed new directives to its members on health and safety issues. The legal framework in Great Britain changed and new acts and directive had been adopted by the parliament setting up a hierarchy of component in the legal system (Howarth Watson, 2009): European Union regulations and directives: all the members of EU are subject to European legislation UK statutory law: acts of parliament HSWA 1974 is the principal act in the UK Statutory instrument: regulations to develop and detail specific duties and requirement concerning health and safety law in the UK Approved Codes of Practice: practical guidance for compliance with health and safety regulations Since 1974, the HSWA had been supported and supplemented by several statutory instruments and regulations (Joyston-Bechal Grice, 2004). Following the framework directives of the EU aiming to improve health and safety for workers at work, the Management of the Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 and then 1999 (MHSW) came to provide additional elements to the HSWA. Other daughter regulations had been adopted to implement this act on specific construction related areas (Fewings, 2005). Some examples of these new regulations (St John Holt, 2005; Fewings, 2005): MHSW Management of the Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992/1999 CHSW Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996/2000 PUWER Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 LOLER Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 CSHHR Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1999 MHOR Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 CDM Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994/2007 The HSWA first objectives were to impose duties on the stakeholders involved in the work activity related to the safeguarding of health and safety standards. The key duties were places on employers toward employees, on employers towards people other than employees, on people in control of premises, on designer, manufacturers, suppliers and plant installer for the safety of their products, on every employees and more generally on everybody concerned by work activity (Howarth Watson, 2009). The responsibility for enforcing these act and regulations is taken by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) which is appointed by the government to develop policies on its behalf. Its executive arm, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is in charge of the enforcement. It controls and advise the companies in the applications of the regulations (St John Holt, 2005). The HSC and HSE are also responsible of recording and monitoring construction industry health and safety statistics in Great Britain. Injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences are then considered with numbers and corrective actions can be made (Howarth Watson, 2009). Construction design and management (CDM) On 6 April 2007 came into force in Great Britain the new Construction Design and Management Regulations 2007 written by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and approved by the Secretary of State and the Parliament. These regulations update, combine and replace the former Construction Design and Management Regulations 1994 (CDM94) and the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 (CHSW) which both needed to be reviewed and updated accordingly with the recent evolutions of the considerations towards health and safety issues in construction and after consultations of the main stakeholders of the construction industry (HSC, 2007). The CDM2007 Regulations aim to reduce construction accidents and ill health in Great Britain by encouraging the various stakeholders of the construction industry to improve in planning and managing their projects taking into consideration matters of safety and health early on in the project definition. By starting focusing on these essential points at the beginning of a project, risks can be identified and managers are able to make good decisions ahead of difficulties (Howarth Watson, 2009). In this new version of the regulations, the HSC focuses on communication and co-ordination between all the parties involved in the construction project and set up several duties for each of the different stakeholders. It also highlights that the amount of paperwork and all the bureaucracy caused by the previous version of the regulations should be reduced and the focus put on the planning and management. (HSE Website) The CDM set up obligations for clients and designers. The main obligation imposed to the client is to appoint the main stakeholders for the planning and the realisation of construction work (St John Holt, 2005). By construction work, the CDM broadly refers to the carrying out of building, civil engineering or engineering construction word (HSC, 2007). The regulations also impose duties to the central figures then appointed which are related to health, safety and occupational safety on construction project and which will be summarised later in this paper. Among the dutyholders which participate to the carrying out of the project are the Client, the Designer, the CDM-Coordinator, the Principal Contractor and the Contractors (St John Holt, 2005). The Client The Client is defined as any person for whom construction work is being carried out, whether done by external labour or in-house (Joyston-Bechal Grice, 2004). It can be an individual as well as a company. By this definition of the investigator of the work, the Client is the one who provides adequate funds to design and realise the work in respect of safety and health regulations imposed by the CDM and thus has a certain influence on what happens on site (St John Holt, 2005). The CDM Regulations 2007 submit the Client to several duties (Howarth Watson, 2009) (Joyston-Bechal Grice, 2004) (HSE, 2006): Appoint a CDM-Coordinator and a Principal Contractor Make sure that these two stakeholders and all the other the client could directly appoint are competent and have the adequate resources to mange health and safety problem associated with the project Ensure that the construction does not start until suitable welfare facilities have been provided as well as an agreeable health and safety plan Provide the CDM-Coordinator and the Designers with all the relevant information about health and safety matters related to the project Retain and make the health and safety file available to anyone who asks for it The CDM-Coordinator should be appointed as soon as possible so the Client can receive advice from him in order to appoint the other stakeholders (St John Holt, 2005). One of the important duty of the Client is to make sure that all the main figures he (it?) has to appoint are competent and have the adequate resources to deal with health and safety issues. That means the Client has to ensure that these stakeholders understand well the project, are familiar with construction techniques, are well aware of health and safety matters their risks and consequences but also that they allocate enough money and persons to do the job (Joyston-Bechal Grice, 2004). Maybe what they are not required ? Fraser The CDM-Coordinator The CDM-Coordinator is a person or a company appointed as early as possible by the Client in the preparation of the project. He is a key element for the prevention of risks related to health and safety as he is the main advisor of the Client and he is the guarantor of coordination and co-operation between the main figures involved in the construction process (HSC, 2007). The duties of the CDM-Coordinator imposed by the Regulations 2007 are (HSC, 2007) (Semple Fraser, 2007) (Howarth Watson, 2009): Advise the Client and other stakeholders on appointments: competence and resource availability Notify HSE about the project Coordinate planning and design work on health and safety matters Cooperate with the Principal Contractor and facilitate good communication between the stakeholders involved in the project Collect pre-construction information and prepare a pre-tender health and safety plan Prepare and update the health and safety file Supervise designers and ensure the design is prepared adequately The CDM-Coordinator is appointed only in the case of notifiable projects. That covers all the construction works which are scheduled to last more than 30 days or involve more than 500 person-days of work. A person-day is defined as one individual carrying out construction work during one normal working day (St John Holt, 2005). An important part of the CDM-Coordinators duties is to work close to designers in order to ensure they get the right information are the good moment and to supervise their work in order to figure out if they consider hazard, risks and control (WS Atkins Consultants, rev A. Gilbertson, 2004). The Designer Designers have a key role in managing health and safety on site. They are the persons or companies who can prevent risks at the source (Semple Fraser, 2007). The designer is the one who analyse site information and prepare drawings and specifications for the project. He can be an architect, a land surveyor or an engineer (HSE, 2006). For complex projects, several designers can be appointed to split the design and ensure to identify and examine all the health and safety factors that need to be addressed (WS Atkins Consultants, rev A. Gilbertson, 2004). The main duties of a designers are Eliminate hazards and reduce health and safety risks Provide all the stakeholders with information about the remaining risks that could be eliminated Ensure the client is aware of duties and that he (it?) appointed a CDM-Coordinator Update the health and safety file with all the new information concerning health and safety matters Cooperate with the CDM-Coordinator and the other designers and supply the relevant information Designers have the duty of indentifying and eliminating hazards and reduce the risks of those which cannot be eliminated (HSC, 2007) by using risk assessment methods to detect foreseeable risk and ensure the safety of workers by tackling the problem at the source. For this purpose they have to reduce de likelihood of harmful occurrences and the potential severity of harm resultant from it, limit the number of people exposed the these occurrences on site as well as and the duration and frequency of exposition (Howarth Watson, 2009). The Principal Contractor The Principal Contractor is an individual or a company appointed early in the construction process by the Client and is responsible for planning, managing and controlling health and safety on site during the construction phase of the project (HSE, 2006). The Principal Contractor is usually the main Contractor of the project. He (it?) has to ensure a good cooperation and coordination of work between the Contractors involved in the construction because of the fact they may work on the same site at the same time and then interaction between then can create unexpected hazards (HSC, 2007). The duties imposed to the Principal Contractor are (Howarth Watson, 2009) (Joyston-Bechal Grice, 2004) (HSE, 2006): Plan, manage and control construction phases and provide a good communication with Contractors Create and implement the health and safety plan on the base of the pre-construction plan Set up site rules Provide Contractors with all the information available concerning health and safety matters to ensure safety of their workers Ensure the availability of suitable welfare facilities at the beginning of the work and maintain it during the duration of the construction phase Check the resource availability and the competence of its (his?) appointed stakeholders Provide the workers with an induction when they arrive on site and further training and information for specific work Make the site a safe place and restrict access to people involved in the construction Consult with the workers and liaise with the CDM-Coordinator The Principal Contractor has a significant health implication when designs change or decisions are modified. The consultation process with the workers and the CDM-Coordinator permits to make everyone aware of the new updates in the construction phase plan and of the changing in managing health and safety (Semple Fraser, 2007). The Contractor The Contractor is any person or company who is in charge of the carrying out or the management of the construction work. The Contractor can also organise the work of other stakeholders who carry out the work on his (it ?) behalf (Joyston-Bechal Grice, 2004). The duties of the Contractor are (Howarth Watson, 2009) (HSC, 2007): Plan, manage and control own work and that of workers Check competence of workers and sub-contractors Specific training for workers Provide health and safety information to workers Make sure workers beneficiate of suitable welfare facilities Check the project is notified before starting the work Cooperate with other Contractors and with the Principal Contractor Provide any information to update the health and safety file Report any accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences to the Principal Contractor as well as problems with the health and safety plan. Most of the time on large projects, several contractors work at the same time on the same site. In this case it is essential they cooperate with each other and follow the instructions of the Principal Contractor not to interact and create new hazards on site. The contractors should ask for the health and safety construction phase plan produced by the Principal Contractor to get all the information they need to ensure safety of their employees (HSE, 2006).

Life Before the Pharaohs :: Ancient Egypt Egyptian History

Life Before the Pharaohs For more than half of the twentieth century, much like the pyramids, the predynastic Egypt was a mystery to archeologists. The little discoveries that had been made from the period preceding the pharaohs were not enough to either prove or disprove the various theories circulating at the time. One of the first artifacts dated at the time of the unification to be unearthed was Narmer's palette, discovered by the English archeologist James Edward Quibell at the end of the nineteenth century. The discovery was made at Hierakonpolis, about four hundred and fifty miles outside of Cairo. The object depicted the unification of the Lower and Upper Egypt, the event being attributed to Narmer; he also found a macehead that carried the insignia of Scorpion, a king which was believed to have ruled Upper Egypt just before the unification. Not far from the spot where Quibell had found the palette, his colleague, Frederick W. Green, discovered an extremely decorated tomb that had been built for a ruler who dominated the surrounding region almost two centuries before Narmer. Their discoveries were the first ones to document this moment of extreme importance in history: a time of political and cultural change and evolution. Unfortunately they were not nearly enough to explain that evolutio n. The little evidence available led several archeologists to come up with more or less "believable" theories about the predynastic Egypt. Some sustained that the society before the pharaohs was a primitive and one that could not have evolved into the great Egyptian state without any outside help. Walter Brian Emory was one of the supporters of this theory. Only three years before this amazing discovery, another English archeologist, William Fliders Petrie, had unearthed at Naqada about twenty-one hundred graves containing such objects as fired-clay pots, palettes, and amulets made of stone, bone, and ivory. The latest graves were dated to about 3100 BC, while the earliest were dated to the predynastic period. Petrie assigned the objects found in the "predynastic graves" to three major periods: the Amratian (3800-3500 BC), the Gerzean (3500-3200 BC), and the Protodynastic (3200-3100 BC) periods; a fourth period, the Badarian (before 4000-3800 BC), is added in the 1920's. Using the scarce evidence they had, Petrie and other archeologists concluded that life before the pharaohs was quite a primitive one and it wasn't until very short before the dynastic era that the culture would evolve.

Phencyclidine: The Dawn Of A New Age Essays -- essays research papers

Phencyclidine: The Dawn of a New Age April, 1956 : The pharmaceutical company Parke & Davis first synthesize what they believe to be the perfect anesthetic (Souza, 1995). When administered to patients, it causes a completely dissociative state, with no significant respiratory or cardiovascular depression. Patients appear to be awake, eyes open, breathing normally.but are unaware of their surroundings or the procedures being performed upon them (Souza, 1995). Indeed, this is the perfect drug. Unfortunately, like all good things, this one has a darker side. 15% of patients awake from their slumber with what appeared to be an acute case of paranoid schizophrenia (Peterson; Stillman, 1978). The drug is PCP, and to this day it is the scourge of the underground drug community, and the focal point of intense scientific research. Parke Davis and Company did not know how terrible, and wonderful, a discovery they made that day; but our world has been changed forever because of it.quite possibly for the better. The Dust of Angels Phencyclidine, more commonly known as PCP, is a polycyclic compound belonging to the arylcyclohexylamine class of chemicals [figure 1.0] (Souza 1993). In pure form, it is a white powder which readily dissolves in water. The cyclohexamines are known for their the potent neurological effects, with PCP being the most potent. Almost every variation has been administered to, or abused by, humans at some time (Nintey Fifth Congress, 1978). All these compounds have similar pharmacological effects, which vary considerably according to the amount administered. Small doses produce a `drunken' state, in which subjects report a numbness in the extremities, while some species (like dogs and cats) become quite excited (Halberstadt, 1995). Intermediate doses have anesthetic and analgesic effects , with the psychic state resembling sensory isolation with one important exception: the sensory impulses (when tested electrophysiologically) reach the neocortex but "the neuronal signals are grossly distorted" (Halberstadt, 1995). Large doses, especially of PCP, may produce convulsions. Any dose produces cataleptoid muscle effects (Halberstadt, 1995). All the chemicals in this class produce a range a physiological effects, including tachydardia and hypertension (Halberstadt, 1995). Unlike the other cyclohexamines, however, PCP causes severe "e... ...phy - dont forget this! Carroll, Marilyn. (1992). Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs. New York, N.Y: Chelsea House Publishers. Halberstadt, A.L. (1995). The phencyclidine-glutamate model of schizophrenia. Clinical Neuropharmacology. (Vol. 18) 237-249. Nintey Fifth Congress. (1978). Abuse of dangerous and illicit drugs - psychotropics, phencyclidine (PCP), and talwin; Hearings before the select committee on narcotics abuse and control house of representatives. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. Okuyama, Shigeru. (1994). NE-100, a novel sigma receptor ligand: Effect on phencyclidine-induced behaviors in rats, dogs, and monkeys. Life Sciences. (Vol. 55) PL133-138 Peterson, R.C, & Stillman, R.C. (1978). PCP-Phencylidine Abuse: An appraisal. New York, NY: National Institute on Drug Abuse. Restak, R.M. (1994). Receptors. New York, N.Y: Bantam Books. Souza, Errol B., & Clouet, D., & London, E.D. (1993). Sigma, PCP, and NMDA Receptors. New York, NY: National Institute on Drug Abuse. Svensson, T.H. (1995). Mode of action of atypical neuroleptics in relation to the phencyclidine model of schizophrenia. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. (Vol. 15) 11S-18S

Domestic Terrorism In The United States Essay

To varying degrees, domestic terrorism has survived and affected the social and political structure of the United States. As defined by the country’s Department of Justice, these words connote â€Å"the unlawful use of force or violence, committed by a group(s) of two or more individuals, against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives† (U. S. Department of Justice, 1994, p. 26). Though such characterization is considerably clear in its meaning, oftentimes a case-by-case interpretation is necessary to ascertain where extremism ends and terrorism begins. Terrorism vs. Extremism A more concise demarcation between extremism and terrorism is evident in the recognition that extremism is not unusual in any political environment, and is more often than not directed by societal pressures, civil discourse, education and the law. On the other hand, in terrorism, the violence is far beyond control by civil, educational or societal elements and must be tracked down, penalized and castigated by law enforcement agencies. The Dictionary of Political Thought defines extremism as â€Å"a vague term, that can mean a) the taking of a political idea to its limits, regardless of unfortunate repercussions, impracticalities, arguments and feelings to the contrary and with the intention not only to confront but also to eliminate opposition; b) intolerance towards all views other than one’s own; and c) the adoption of means to political ends which show disregard for the life, liberty and human rights of others† (Scronton, 1982). The complexity of separating terrorism and extremism is that in various situations, domestic groups which are seemingly law-abiding at present, may be contemplating of violent actions in the future. As it is, many violent groups started as non-violent discussion or protest movements with very lofty ideals; however, as time elapsed they evolved into something else. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, provides a suitable and a more fitting characterization of terrorism when he described it as â€Å"the deliberate and systematic murder, maiming and menacing of the innocent to inspire fear for political ends. † USA Patriot Act Section 802 of the USA PATRIOT Act stretched the definition of terrorism to include domestic in contrast to international terrorism. An individual is said to be involved in domestic terrorism if he/she does an act that is dangerous to human life, that is a violation of the criminal laws of a state or the United States, and if the act appears to be intended to a) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; b) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or c) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping. Further, the acts have to take place chiefly within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States and if they do not, then these acts can already be regarded as international terrorism. Clearly, Section 802 does not create a new crime of domestic terrorism. Nonetheless, it does extend the kinds or the nature of actions that the government can examine and probe into when it is investigating terrorism. The USA Patriot Act stretched out the powers of the government when they do their investigations and some of these powers are applicable to domestic terrorism. Such definition of domestic terrorism is expansive enough to cover the actions and activities of many known activist campaigns and organizations. Greenpeace, Operation Rescue, Vieques Island and WTO protesters and the Environmental Liberation Front have all recently engaged in activities that could make them subject to investigations as engaging in domestic terrorism. Contemporary Domestic Terrorism Though governments, private and public institutions have been beleaguered and weighed down by terrorism for hundreds of years in one form or another, the strategies and the application associated with it have changed and progressed as surely as the societies upon which it is imposed. Technological advances in the transportation, communication and in the area of weaponry have permitted the capacities of current domestic terrorist groups to get their message out and have enhanced their ability to take aggressive and sadistic action to achieve their objectives. President Clinton launched a counter-terrorism bill to the Senate and House of Representatives in February of 1995. One exceedingly contentious proposal in the bill is the assigning of the Department of Defense a dominant role in assisting the investigation of domestic terrorism incidents in which chemical and biological agents are utilized. Currently, the military can be used in cases of terrorist activities where there is an alleged employment of nuclear weapons or devices and much more if such allegation has been established (Hall, 1995, Sec A). Though the amplified role of the military would be limited, necessitating a further amendment to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, civil liberties experts cautioned that it would infringe the tenets of civil supremacy over the military and would only rekindle the hostilities and anti-government sentiments of the citizen-militias and conspiracy theorists (Landay, 1995). Furthermore, several Congressmen, law-enforcement officials and some military advisers concur that such employment of the military would be an exceedingly precarious approach in combating domestic terrorism. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat from New York, responded to questions as to whether the use of the military, in an expanded role, should be a part of the counterterrorism package, said, â€Å". . . the military defends the nation and does not involve itself in internal affairs† (Minzesheimer, 1995, Sec A). Incidents and Implications There has been an evident and persistent decline in the number of terrorist incidents in the United States during the past twenty years. To further delineate the trend of decline over time, a comparison of the average number of incidents per year during each of three, six-year periods would be useful. During the six year period from 1977 through 1982, there was an average of 59. 0 incidents/year; from 1983 through 1988 an average of 15. 7 incidents/year were recorded; this compared to an average of 5. 3 incidents/year investigated during the period from 1989 through 1994 (FBI, 1994). *** ACTIVE GROUPS OPERATING WITHIN THE UNITED STATES CLASSIFIED AS TERRORISTS African National Prison Organization (ANPO). An arm of the African Peoples Socialist Party. Animal Rights. Principally against use of animals for any purpose beyond their natural existence. Armed Resistance Group (ARG) aka Revolutionary Fighting Group, Red Guerrilla Faction. This group has been characterized in 1988 as â€Å"tired and aging revolutionaries. † Greenpeace Principally environmental-use extremists. Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Reorganized and relocated several arms of its group in 1989. Macheteros. Puerto Rican nationalists. Ohio Seven. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Very public-relations oriented. Radical Feminist Organizing Committee (RFOC). Driven-out of the feminist movement in 1989, operating independently. RAMBOC (Restore a More Benevolent Order Coalition). Targets and actively pursues the US assets and people of foreign groups with terrorist links, such as the PLO, SWAPO, ANC, etc†¦ Rolling Thunder aka American Foundation for Accountability; primary focus is to draw attention to the POW/MIA issue from Vietnam War. Satanic Cult. Associated with attempted bombing of churches and kidnapping, and animal sacrifices, tombstone vandalism, and miscellaneous actions. Skinheads (SKA). Groups consist of both racist and anti-racist factions. SS Action Group. Principally anti-Semitic. Apparent Motivation There are principally four classifications into which groups that are regarded as domestic terrorists can be distinguished currently existing in the United States. These groups can be generically delineated as being either motivated by religious convictions, racial prejudice and supremacist goals, anarchistic/anti-government/politically motivated, or in pursuit of unique special interests. These classifications have been extracted from a collection of the categorization and delineation of extremist and terrorist groups by two respected subject-authorities, Stephen Segaller and FBI’s Department of Justice. Segaller, in his book Invisible Armies, classified domestic terrorism in the United States into four groups as well, but lists them as being: a) Cuban infighting (political), b) â€Å"backwoods terrorism† (a combination of religious, racist and anarchistic), c) violent Puerto Rican independence groups (political), and d) a handful of domestic revolutionary Marxist groups (anarchistic/anti-government and racist) (Segaller, 1987, pp. 221-225). Theoretically speaking, the stimulus for the creation and sustained existence of extremist and terrorist groups can unequivocally be associated in many circumstances to ethnic, cultural, religious, and racial feelings of superiority. An accurate depiction of the continuum formed by these supremacist attitudes, and how they promote further tension is succinctly articulated by Frank G. McGuire, when he said that as long as Christians feel superior to Jews (or vice-versa) and Catholics feel superior to Protestants and Ashkenazic Jews feel superior to Sephardic Jews, men feel superior to women and whites feel superior to blacks/browns/yellows/reds and so on, such phenomenon will be with us (McGuire, 1990, p. 10). These cultural, racial, gender, and a myriad of other differences that are present among people in society, particularly one as diverse as the United States of America, must be acknowledged and respected, but shouldn’t be seen or considered as a encumbrance to peace and harmony within society. Nor should these diversities be seen as wholly benign in their impact on the functioning of society as a whole. Tibor Machan, a social and political commentator, showed a well-timed dissertation on the myths and erroneous beliefs associated with viewing multiculturalism as simply a difference in dress, music, dance, and customs. Dr. Machan asserted that cultural differences, whether a result of race, gender, religion, or whatever, impacts both negatively and positively on other cultures within the society (Machan, 1996, pp. 134-135) and further opined that attitudes of cultural-superiority and intolerance are directly related and incorporated into many of the extremist views and motivations that are plaguing America today. The period from 1982 through 1994 showed that the targets of domestic terrorism were predominately commercial establishments. The majority of incidents directed against commercial establishments were conducted by animal-rights and/or anti-abortion extremists, either attacking stores that sold fur, or clinics that performed abortions or provided abortion advice, respectively (FBI, 1994; McGuire, 1990). Religious & Racial Supremacy/Intolerance Religious intolerance founded upon fundamentalist standpoints has been the stimulus for acts of terrorism all throughout history and such as involved Orthodox Jews, Moslems, Catholics, and Protestants. Perhaps, there is no issue or idea among human beings that is as provocative and as seditious as that of religious beliefs. Auspiciously, at least as far as the United States is concerned, terror stimulated by religious intolerance has not been as significant a threat as in other parts of the world like in Africa, the Middle East or Bosnia. â€Å"America is a unique nation in that it guarantees the freedom of religion with the First Amendment and the right to [keep and] bear arms with the Second Amendment. This means that people can believe whatever they want, and they can buy the guns to protect that belief† (LeBaron, n. d). The statement was made in direct reference to Mormon fundamentalism and summarizes the very ideology upon which this country was founded which also provides an insight into the potential dangers that exist with religious extremist groups. Recently however, there has been rhetoric and open threats of aggression from different extremist groups that describe themselves as being inspired by religion, nonetheless, have undisputedly displayed racial supremacist and hate-mongering views. The leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, advocates sundry rhetoric of black supremacist views and religious fervor. He professes to have the faith and devotion of some four million people (Fletcher, 1996). In addition, several white-supremacist clusters, including some of the many Christian militia splinter groups, advocate exceptionally caustic and hate-filled threats as well, apparently an endless, ages-old game of â€Å"I call you a name, you call me a name. † Oddly enough, two racial supremacist groups representing opposite extremes, the Nation of Islam and the Posse Comitatus, have concurred to an ultimate end-state segregation of the United States into regions of pure racial integrity. Another group operating within the United States that has historically merged a racist agenda with religious rhetoric, and was truly very sadistic in its actions and objectives, is the Ku Klux Klan. They have, however, considerably lessened in both their membership numbers and invisible power-base in recent years, and though there are still very strident individuals appearing from time to time, the danger posed by the Klan nowadays is essentially restricted to local regions, and their activities are in the form of parades and rallies. As the Klan has faded in its activities and numbers, it has been replaced by the tremendously vicious and rapidly growing racist movement known as the Aryan Nations, which is strongly associated with the Identity Church that proclaims Anglo-Saxons as God’s chosen people. The fundamentalist Mormons are another religiously-motivated cluster within the United States that are catching the attention and concern of law enforcement and other government officials. This group has been at odds, to a certain degree, with the government since its creation in the early 1800s. Many of these fundamentalist Mormons are well-armed conspiracy-minded survivalists, who have retreated to the mountains of central Utah to await Armageddon, which they believe will occur on April 6, 2000. Believing in their gifts of prophecy and revelation, and fired-up by heavenly visions and doctrines of blood atonement and oaths of vengeance, they have isolated themselves awaiting the end of the world and fearing that the government is about to take away their freedoms (LeBaron, n. d. ). A specifically insightful yet explosive issue to a huge section of the American people, despite individual beliefs, is the classification of particular abortion clinic-related hostility as domestic terrorism. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act of 1994 in concurrence with the Attorney General Guidelines (AGG) on General Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Domestic Security/Terrorism Investigations, instigated and directed the creation of the Department of Justice Task Force on Violence Against Abortion Providers to look into conspiratorial acts of violence against abortion clinics and personnel as domestic terrorism (FBI, 1994). Although personal opinions on the ethical aspects associated with abortion, whether for or against, are not wholly confined to religious beliefs, the most articulate, open and visible anti-abortion advocates are directly allied with religious organizations. As it is, abortion rights and issues persist to be one of the most contentious and conflict-ridden questions among Americans and motivate exceedingly passionate and rousing rhetoric and reactions from people from both sides of the matter. In the period between 1982 and the end of 1984, there were a total of 220 separate acts of violence, including 89 cases of bombing, arson and other serious incidents, conducted against clinics where abortions were performed or abortion-advice offered (Segaller, 1987, pp. 222-223). Ethnically and racially stimulated bias, extreme loathing and carnage are as much a part of human history as any other characteristics of mankind, and have at least to some extent have a bearing on the cultural and social identities of essentially all civilizations to date. From the subjugation of Hebrews by ancient Egyptians, to present-day current situation in the Balkans, racial and ethnic differences have triggered incalculable suffering and death. The history of racial and ethnic turmoil in the United States is no different, and is seemingly experiencing an increase in such activity recently. Racially-motivated extremist and terrorist groups in the United States, especially those of today, seem to employ religious rationalizations and teachings for their sadistic tendencies and aggressive actions, and all indications point to the fact that such trend will continue at an accelerating rate into the foreseeable future. Anarchistic/Anti-government /Political Terrorist clusters of today that are actually anarchist, anti-government or political in their motivations are mostly associated with the growing self-determination, radical citizen-militia movements, or have been around a relatively long time, such as the Puerto Rican freedom fighters. The former has drawn considerable attention, and extracted wary concern from law-enforcement and civil-rights groups due to the bombing in Oklahoma City, and their rapid and continuing growth in numbers and visibility. A few of the more extreme citizen-militia groups, often motivated by New World Order conspiracy theorists and anger over a belief that government has become too large and repressive in everyday life, are openly soliciting and calling for the overthrow of the United States government. These groups, when linked with the self-described â€Å"Constitutionalists,† are being considered as extremely dangerous by many law-enforcement and watchdog groups (Knickerbocker, 1995). The Puerto Rican terrorist groups have been almost exclusively limited in their actions to operating within Puerto Rico against local and federal targets of opportunity. Unique Special Interests Within this designation of domestic terrorist groups are those of relatively recent creation, or at least they have relatively recently gained high public visibility through their actions. Groups such as the extremist animal-rights groups, environmental extremist groups and homosexual-rights groups, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Earth Night Action Group, and Act Up, respectively, have emerged within the past two decades and have actively used violence, destruction and intimidation to gain recognition, and to further their respective political agendas. References *** McGuire, Frank. 1990. Security intelligence sourcebook: Who’s Who in terrorism. Silver Spring, MD. : Interests, Ltd. U. S. Department of Justice. 1994. Terrorism in the United States, 1994. Washington, DC. : National Security Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Terrorist Research and Analytical Center Scronton, R. 1982. Dictionary of Political Thought. New York: Hill and Wang Hall, M. 1995. â€Å"Clinton’s Military Police Plan Under Fire. † USA Today, 11 May Sec. 5A. Landay, J. S. 1995. â€Å"Tempering Terrorism. † The Christian Science Monitor, 8 May Sec. US. Minzesheimer, B. 1995. â€Å"Terrorism Bill Warning: Go Slow. † USA Today, 1 May Sec. 5A. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 1994. Terrorism in the United States 1982 – 1992; Terrorism in the United States 1994. Segaller, S. 1987. Invisible armies, terrorism into the 1990s. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Machan, T. 1996. â€Å"Fallacies of Uncritical Multiculturalism. † The Freeman, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 134-135. LeBaron, G. Jr. â€Å"Mormon Fundamentalism and Violence: A Historical Analysis available at http://www. tcd. net/~garn/ polygamy. html>. Fletcher, M. A. 1996. â€Å"Farrakhan Vows to Take Libya’s Aid. † Washington Post, 26 February, Sec. A1. Knickerbocker, B. 1995. â€Å"US Militias: The Dark Side of Frontier Independence. † The Christian Science Monitor, 24 April, Sec. NATIONAL.