(A)- Organisation Should have a means of classifying, ranking, and Essay

(A)- Organisation Should have a means of classifying, ranking, and selecting information systems development projects. Discuss - Essay Example Furthermore, potential benefits refers to the extent to the project is seen as improving profits, customer service and the duration of these benefits. Resource availability involves the amount and types of resources that the project needs based on their availability. Moreover, project size or duration may include the number of individuals and time required to ensure that the project is complete. Lastly, technical difficulty or risk involves the level of technical difficulty to complete and compile the project successfully as expected (‘Planning’ 2013, p.104). All these techniques when considered, the classification and ranking of the project will be successful. But â€Å"one should balance all these factors between short term, high benefits versus high savings costs† (Dubey 2011, p.52). Feasibility analysis simply refers to the viability of an idea (Katimuneetorn 2008, p.2). This study helps in previewing the potential outcomes to enable us continue or not (Katimu neetorn 2008, p.3) and some of the factors that are used to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed project are economic, technical, operational, schedule, legal and contractual, and political factors. Economic feasibility involves the economic viability of the proposed system and it involves cost-benefit analysis (Katimuneetorn 2008, p.1). All costs including fixed and variable costs and benefits such as cost savings, increased revenue or increased profit of the proposed project should be evaluated keenly (Katimuneetorn 2008, p.7). Intangible costs include hardware, software or labour costs, but intangible cots include operational inefficiency and loss of goodwill (Katimuneetorn 2008, p.7). Most projects are approved only if they cover their costs within a given period. On the contrary, some projects can be approved based on intangible benefits like those associated with the government regulations or image of the organization. In addition, technical feasibility is determined by th e possibility that the organization has in obtaining necessary resources. â€Å"Assessing technical feasibility is to evaluate whether the new system will perform adequately or whether the organization is able to construct a proposed system or not† (Katimuneetorn 2008, p.12). Technical feasibility is manifested when required hardware and software are available in the market place or can be developed within the required time. More so, operational feasibility refers to the ability, desire and willingness of the stakeholders to use, support, and operate the proposed information system and it is important to clarify whether the proposed system will solve the business problems, take advantage of the opportunities or not (Katimuneetorn 2008, p.13). Actually, these people are interested in those information systems, which are very easy to operate, accurate, produce the desired information, and fit with the organizational objectives. Furthermore, schedule feasibility involves assessi ng the duration of the project, that is, time covered for it to be completed and be useful (Katimuneetorn 2008, p.14). System analysts have to consider how long the system will take to develop and consider whether the deadlines are mandatory or compulsory (Katimuneetorn 2008, p.14). Legal feasibility shows whether the proposed system conflicts with the legal requirements or not since a project may face

Discuss the ways in which Jonathon Swift Essay Example for Free

Discuss the ways in which Jonathon Swift Essay He says that men wouldnt offer to beat or kick [their wives] during their time of pregnancy for fear of a miscarriage. Orwells writing is about death, a topic that would not usually have been discussed in the conversational manner he uses. The use of hyperbole in Swifts writing adds to the sense of repulsion felt by the reader. In A Modest Proposal, he doesnt simply state that we should eat babies, but goes on and on with more gruesome ideas. He suggests recipes and even recommends flaying the carcass to make admirable gloves and summer boots, all of which is simply revolting to the reader. In Gullivers Travels he goes into explicit detail about the most disgusting of bodily functions as in Lilliput where he cannot resist putting in that his faeces was carried off in wheelbarrows. Orwell doesnt exaggerate in How The Poor Die but simply emphasises and reiterates his point on the disgraceful lack of respect shown for the lives of the poor. There are several sentences and phrases that Swift uses in a casual, flippant way that provoke repulsion the reader. For example he speaks of the twenty thousand carcasses as if they were cattle and he talks of infant-flesh in the same way that someone might talk of lamb. The idea that babies should be eaten at merry-meetings, particularly weddings and christenings is especially horrifying. In Gullivers Travels the language is never coarse and the subject matter isnt as far-fetched as in A Modest Proposal, yet it is still revolting to the reader. For example, to read of how the Yahoos would outcast their leaders favourite and then discharge their excrements upon him from head to foot. Orwell is far more subtle than Swift, choosing to stay away from the scatological and simply state what he sees. He describes a box into which scraps of food and dirty dressings from the ward were flung. This naturally repels the reader, especially as it is in a hospital. He also chooses to concentrate on the upsetting the readers feelings rather than their stomach. The horrible idea of a death not even noticed till the morning disturbs me in a different way to Swifts writing. Both Swift and Orwell disgust the reader by making them confront some of peoples worst fears. Swift deals with the gruesome concept of cannibalism, and Orwell discusses two very common fears: poverty and undignified death. One of the worst, in my opinion is the violation and lack of respect for the dead. The detail with which Swift describes his idea is chilling, the accurate calculation of figures is also disturbing. As he justifies it, it seems the idea could almost be reasonable, after all, he has taken something that is completely acceptable for us to do to animals, and replaced it with babies. If it werent for the bitter, cynical tone of his writing and the sardonic humour that comes through, the reader could believe that he actually wanted to eat children. Near the end of How The Poor Die, Orwell refers to the poor having their teeth extracted with no anaesthetic. This would strike a chord with many readers as a huge number of people will have had a tooth extracted at some point in their lives and would be able to sympathise directly with the victims. In Gullivers Travels the revolting sections seem more light-hearted in a way, than the other two pieces. I find Gulliver earnestly describing unpleasant processes a little sickening, slightly funny, but not very disturbing. I think that the disgusting sections in Gullivers Travels are less important than those in A Modest Proposal and How The Poor Die. I find it difficult to choose whose approach is more effective as the two writers are quite different. They both had social consciences: Swift was a dean and Orwell an early socialist, however I get the impression that Swift is angrier about poverty and it shows in the unbelievable nature of his writing. Orwell doesnt seem as passionate as Swift, as he doesnt use such emotive language and writes in a blunt, flat way. In conclusion, I find Swift more effective. This is probably due to the outrageous, offensive nature of what he has written in A Modest Proposal. I think that by writing in this entertaining way and amusing the reader he is more effective than Orwell.

Equity of Access in the Australian Healthcare System

Equity of Access in the Australian Healthcare System The Concept of Equity of Access in the Australian Healthcare System The Australian health care system is founded on the concept of equity of Access. Discuss this Statement with relation to the concepts of Effectiveness and efficiency and any interrelation that may exist. Introduction: As Stated in National Health Reform Agreement-Equity of Access is the fundamental base of the Australian Health Care System (DHA. 2013a). Effectiveness, which focuses on ratio of outputs to outcomes and efficiency, which defines as achieving maximum outputs with available inputs or resources, these are other elementary component of the Australian Health Care System. Equity, effectiveness and efficiency these represents ideal health care system, which tends be effective and efficient and able to achieve the efficacy (specified outcomes) in a way that maximize access (distribution); Productivity (output) and outcomes within the resource provided (NHHRC. 2009. P.4). Responsibilities like funding, delivery regulation is shared by the national state government of Australia makes the Australian Health Care system universally accessible within the people (AIHW, 2000). Public hospitals community care funding is joined effort of common wealth (i.e. federal government), states territories where common wealth use its revenue and tax to fund most of hospital medical service health research (Common wealth Department of Health age care, 2000). Since 1990’s National State health Minister worked alongside of many health care professional to develop a certain Universal framework to assessing the Australian health system (NHPC, 2000). A new framework for measurement of Australian health performance was inspired from Canadian Health information Roadmap Initiative Indicator framework, which was commenced by NHPC (NHPC, 2001). Equity: Equity in health and health care with context of social objective can be defined in many different ways. As Amarty sen argued, when we talk equity we forget to ask on fundamental question ‘equity of what?’ (Sen, A.,1992). But for the context of our knowledge and study we base our understanding on the definition of culyer wagstaff, ‘the appropriate positive criteria for mormative judgement regarding equity in distribution of health and health care is equality of health status and health care access (Culyer, A.J., Wagstaff, A., 1993). By adding the equality in the process of equity gives the sense of clear fairness to the consumer. But equality is not equity; equality is just simply described as similarity of status, capacity and opportunity. Equity is an ethical value. A unequal opportunity of being healthy associated by people in socially less privileged groups such as poor people, different racial people to others native land, religious ethnic group, women and rural resident is reduced by equity in health ( Braverman, P. Gruskin, S., 2003). Further Braverman et.al stated that the equity in health pursued by eliminating disparities of health that are connected with certain social disadvantage or marginalized or disfranchised community and group within, but may not be limited to the poor. This definition argues for need for the health care services by individuals which is completely result of both of their medical condition and their social condition. As we know the problem of health care system is not only related to the inequity in health. According to Mathews, social, cultural and educational and more or less classical medical causes are related to the poor health of the indigenous Australian (Mathews, C., 2003). Equity of Access: Equity in health has been spoken and written frequently by many economist but they never tends to do or continue to do more consistently, clearly passionately. As Gavin Mooney stated, ‘equity means equal access to equal care for equal needs,’ (Gavin, M., 2003). Since 1960’s quest for equity in health has been major issue and concern to Australian health care system. The introduction of Medibank in 1975 and reinstatement as Medicare in 1984 was the most significant development in term of equity of access after the access of financial barrier (Scotton, R. B., Macdonald, C. R., 1993). The equity of health service and the consultation time frame for consumer of lower socio-economic status and consumer of high socio-economic status doesn’t shorten by breaking and disappearance of financial barrier (Furler, J.S., et.al 2002). The result in context of other dimension of equity is not good. Access of health care (both primary and hospital care) in term of geograp hical equity is significantly different between urban and rural area. Fewer doctors per 1000 population in rural Australia relative to urban area is the best example to describe the complex nature of geographic equity in simple. Rural communities considered access of specialist service, access to hospital service to be a problem due to traveling of significant distance to gain and access those service. Equity of Outcome: Environmental factor and the quality of health care provided equally affects the result of equity of outcomes. Major Policy attention is needed by the appalling health status of our Aboriginal Torres strait Islander population is one of the best example is equity of outcomes. By action in health sector will not remedied the factor Affecting health status, issue of dignity, identity and justice should be the strategy for the improvement of the health status of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander. Reconciliation is one of the key elements required for progress further (Jackson, L.R., Ward, J.E., 1999). Efficiency: What is efficiency? According to Farrell efficiency is production of maximum amount of outputs from given amount of input or alternatively minimum input quantities producing a given amount of output (Farrell, M.J. 1957). It is referred as to a concrete goal oriented index indicating how well socially desirable health system is achieved desirable. Health Service efficiency is also considered to be great important dimension of quality health because service affordability is affected by it with the context of limited available resources in health care. Efficient service means providing optimal service and care to patient and community rather than maximum care to patient and community; it is about providing greatest benefit with available resource (Brown, L.D., et.al 1992). One of the key criteria for evaluating the health care system is efficiency. According to the economic point of view, efficiency divided into two key elements; allocative efficiency and technical efficiency. Allocative efficiency: To provide best outcomes health care system dependent on distribution and allocation of resources; technical efficiency, effectiveness and priority are involved in the process of best outcomes. The optimized ratio of outputs to outcomes, which is also known as effectiveness is the second key element of allocative efficiency. The priority setting in term of overall ratio of inputs to outcomes is the third and last element of allocative efficiency. Technical efficiency: Flexibility and adaptability to change and innovation of health care system as a whole and as its constituent elements, is known as technical efficiency. Development of casemix measure for hospital services by palmer was a unique contribution both nationally and internationally (Palmer, G.R., et al, 1986; Palmer, G.R., 1991). Over last decades significant improvement in allocative efficiency was achieved after introduction of casemix funding in Victoria in 1993 (Duckett, S.J., 1995). There have been constantly adaptations of new technologies (like drugs, surgical instrument, surgical technique and diagnostic instrument technique) since the development of Australian Health Care system. Over the decades of increase in publication and citation, Australia has been able to build up strong and dynamic medical research system (Butler, L., 2001). Comprise of allocative efficiency technical efficiency gives ‘overall efficiency’, firm can operate on cost or revenue frontier if i t’s able to achieve overall efficiency. Effectiveness: It acts as a key dimension for achieving desirable outcomes with correct provision of evidence based health care service to all who couldn’t benefit, but not to those who would not benefit (Aran, O.A., et.al 2003; WHO, 2000). Donabedian argued then effectiveness is the extent to which attainable improvements in health are in fact attained (Donabedian, A., 2002; Donabedian, A., 1982). In same way Juran Godfrey argued effectiveness to be the degree to the process which result in desired outcomes without any error (Juran, J. Godfrey, A.B., 1999). The ratio of output to outcome is optimized by effectiveness. Out of number of elements, ‘efficacy’ act as one of key component to the certain extent of which health care sector output leads to the ideal outcomes under best ideal condition (Cochrane, A.L., 1972). The major objective is to ensure the actual effectiveness (in term of ratio of outputs to actual outcomes) which helps to move closer to objective. Effectiveness is the dimension of Australian Health Care which explicitly includes time element, so we can evaluate whether the health intervention are primarily achieve the desired and appropriate outcome within the time frame. The interventions are the care must be provided to people most needed is advocated and supported by effectiveness framework. Early detection and prevention performance within a population area is the indicators for the effectiveness. Effectiveness conceptualize framework of health care system as dimension of performance where â€Å"care/intervention/action† achieves the desired result in an appropriate time frame (NHPC, 2001). Norms and specification at central level defines effectiveness to be an important dimension of quality. Effectiveness issue should be handle in local level too, where manager implement norms and work on how to adapt them to local condition. Actual outcomes (effectiveness) for an intervention or system is affected by numerous factor like the care system design, surrounding environment of discharge patient, safety of device manufactured pharmaceuticals used and care quality. Proof of evidence of significant level of preventable adverse events occurring in hospital leading to drastic outcomes can be provided by the quality in Australian health care study (Wilson, R.M.et al., 1995). As stated by McDermott, it is suggested that large number of death related to trauma can be preventable or potentially are preventable, which is has be documented after analysis of care following trauma (McDermott, F.T.et al., 1996). These study shows that there are important effectiveness issues in Australian healthcare system with respect to quality of care and it can be described as inability to provide high-quality care. Interaction between equity, efficiency and effectiveness: The concept of equity, effectiveness and efficiency in term of health input and its outcomes are internationally tackle by WHO and OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) to reflect an economic way of thinking. Due to growing concern about safety, service delivery and quality of patient care there have been interesting trends of implicit and explicit link between the concept of equity, efficiency and effectiveness, which is understandable (Berwick, D.M., 1998). As we know second element of allocative efficiency is optimized ration of outputs to outcomes which is also known as effectiveness. Which shows that efficiency and effectiveness are linked and interacted? After the implementation of equity, sick individuals who seek help have their need meet. The value of treatment provided by health service organization is equally distributed to the people in need. With the equity you are not judge or treated and cared on the basis of your fame, fortune, you ability to p ay. When the resource is equally distributes between the need of people then equity taken an affect and when there is the equity then we can evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care service of that organization or of any country. Conclusion: Health policy where attributes and value plays prominent role, ideological driven problem related to it are inevitable as part of the policy. Perception of problem is affected by attributes and value which plays significant role in policy academics so as to attempt to shape public debate for making rational and reality based perception. There are many problem identified in the context of equity of access in the Australian healthcare system based on efficiency and effectiveness by many writers like Palmer, Wilson, McDermott, Jackson wards, Farrell and many more; even the solution to that problem have been presented by them but we haven’t yet identify the problem and adopted the solution presented by them. But important aspect is that progress are being made and hopefully health care system will experience continuous improvement in near future. References : Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2000). Australia’s Health 2000. Canberra Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2008). Australia’s Health 2008, Canberra Arah, O. A., Klazinga, N. S., Delnoij, D. M. J., Ten Asbroek, A. H. A., Custers, T. (2003). Conceptual frameworks for health systems performance: a quest for effectiveness, quality, and improvement.International Journal for Quality in Health Care,15(5), 377-398. Berwick, D. M. (1998). Developing and testing changes in delivery of care.Annals of Internal Medicine,128(8), 651-656. Braveman, P., Gruskin, S. (2003). Poverty, equity, human rights and health. Bulletin of the World Health organization,81(7), 539-545 Brown, L. D., Franco, L. M., Rafeh, N., Hatzell, T. (1992).Quality assurance of health care in developing countries. Quality assurance project. Butler, L. (2001).Monitoring Australias Scientific Research: Partial indicators of Australias research performance. Australian Academy of Science. Canberra Cochrane, A. L. (1972). Effectiveness and Efficiency (Rock Carling Fellowship, 1971).Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust. Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, (2000). Australian Health Care Agreements Annual Performance Reports 1998–1999. Canberra: Common Wealth of Australia. Culyer, A. J., Wagstaff, A. (1993). Equity and equality in health and health care.Journal of health economics,12(4), 431-457. Department of Health (DHA) (2013). National Health Reform Agreement. Donabedian, A. (1982). Explorations in quality assessment and monitoring. Vol. 2. The criteria and standards of quality.Ann Arbor, MI: Health Administration Press. Donabedian, A. (2002).An introduction to quality assurance in health care. Oxford University Press. Duckett, S. J. (1995). Hospital payment arrangements to encourage efficiency: the case of Victoria, Australia.Health Policy,34(2), 113-134. Farrell, M. J. (1957). The measurement of productive efficiency.Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General), 253-290. Furler, J. S., Harris, E., Chondros, P., Davies, P. P., Harris, M. F., Young, D. Y. (2002). The inverse care law revisited: impact of disadvantaged location on accessing longer GP consultation times.Medical Journal of Australia,177(2), 80-83. Jackson, L. R., Ward, J. E. (1999). Aboriginal health: why is reconciliation necessary?.The Medical Journal of Australia,170(9), 437-440. Juran, J., Godfrey, A. B. (1999). Quality Handbook.Republished McGraw-Hill. Matthews, C. (2003). Caught in a vicious cycle.Australian Medicine,15(12),16. McDermott, F. T., Cordner, S. M., Tremayne, A. B. (1996). Evaluation of the medical management and preventability of death in 137 road traffic fatalities in Victoria, Australia: an overview.Journal of Trauma-Injury, Infection, and Critical Care,40(4), 520-535. Mooney, G. H. (2003).Economics, medicine and health care. 3rd ed. London: Pearson Education. National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. (2009). A healthier future for all Australians: Final report of the national health and hospitals reform commission. National Health Performance Committee (NHPC) (2000). Fourth National Report on Health Sector Performance Indicators – A Report to the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference. Sydney: New South Wales Health Department National Health Performance Committee (NHPC) (2001). National Health Performance FrameWork Report. Brisbane: Queensland Health. Palmer, G. R., Aisbett, C., Reid, B., Jayawardena, Y. (1986). The validity of Diagnosis Related Groups for use in Victorian public hospitals: report to the Department of Health, and of Management and the Budget.Victoria, Kensington, University of New South Wales. Palmer, G. R. (1991). The use of DRGs in the management and planning of hospital services.Australian Economic Review,24(1), 62-70. Scotton, R. B., Macdonald, C. R. (1993).The making of Medibank(No. 76). School of Health Services Management, University of New South Wales. Sen, A. (1992).Inequality reexamined. Oxford University Press. Wilson, R. M., Runciman, W. B., Gibberd, R. W., Harrison, B. T., Newby, L., Hamilton, J. D. (1995). The quality in Australian health care study.Medical Journal of Australia,163(9), 458-471. World Health Organization. (2000).The world health report 2000: health systems: improving performance. World Health Organization.

Changing Family Values Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Changing Family Values "Imagine that, one day in 1960, all radio and television transmissions had been interrupted by a special message from some Cosmic Census Bureau forecaster: 'Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts and hang on to your hats. Over the next twenty-five years, all standard demographic indicators will rise or fall steeply. Divorce rates, rates of mothers' participation in the labor force, and rates of birth outside marriage will double. Birth rates overall will drop. By the end of the 1980s, more than half of your future citizens will be spending at last part of their childhood in a single-parent home. Oh, and by the way, there will be a sexual revolution, to which all are cordially invited.' Who would have believed it?" Imagine that... Imagine a world where people who are completely miserable within the confines of a bad marriage have the freedom to leave. Imagine a world where women -- WOMEN -- women with children -- dare to enjoy a career that gives their life meaning, that reinforces their sense of self-worth and independence. Imagine a world where sex isn't a taboo to be hidden behind bedroom doors in suburban houses where meek wives greet misogynistic husbands at 5 pm with a turkey dinner and a smile. Who could have believed it? Who could have believed it in a world where women had, in all reality, just recently gained the right to vote for their leaders in this country. Who could have believed it in a 1960s America where women stayed home and raised children and when the children were done being raised they just kept on staying home. Who could have believed it in a culture, that even so far ahead of so many others in the world, expected females to serve, and to do so quiet... ...ice. While we're at it, why don't we just re-institute racial segregation in schools and can affirmative action altogether and strengthen immigration laws and ban girls from attending universities. Let's just take a giant step, or two or three or four or a hundred, back and see how much better life is. Let's do it and see how much better our kids turn out. Let's do it and see how long it takes for people to get fed up and want things back the way they used to be. Change is hard, and in a relatively short time, the economic system of this country and the dynamic of the American family has changed drastically. This is bound to produce some negative effects. That is no reason to be up in arms against feminism and against mothers in the workforce. Do your best with your own children, that's all our parents could do, and that's all we can really ask of anyone.

Historical Allegory and Symbolism in Animal Farm

Haley Pruitt Mrs. Blount AP Literature and Composition 12 November 2012 Symbolism and Allegory in Animal Farm When George Orwell wrote his literary masterpiece that has been acclaimed for many years by critics everywhere, Animal Farm, there were many world events shaping the future of all of Europe and the world that impacted his views, which therefore influenced his writing and opinions. His background and values help to shape the glasses through which he views these events.George Orwell is put into positions of warfare and diplomacy and handles both eloquently as he allows them to mold him into the person that writes the masterpieces that he goes on to produce. Animals are implemented to retell the story of Marxism, the Russian Revolution, and the downfall of utopian views and societies. George Orwell uses symbolism and allegory in his novel Animal Farm to show the social issues of the Soviet Union in the time period of 1917 through 1943.The background of George Orwell must be unde rstood before one can go deeper into his literary works. George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair who was born on June 25, 1903 in Motihari, Bihar, India. He was born into an upper middle class family and went to Catholic school. He moved to Burma where his grandmother lived, and this is where he later wrote Burmese Days, â€Å"A Hanging†, and â€Å"Shooting an Elephant†. â€Å"In Burmese Days, he resigned to ‘escape not merely from imperialism but from every form of man’s dominion over man’† (â€Å"Orwell† 748).When George Orwell moved to London, he began to explore the slums and the poorer parts of the city so that he could learn to understand them and the context of the many books that were written about them. Orwell became interested in the Spanish Civil War and decided to take part in it; because of this, he was asked to be a part of the Spanish Embassy in Paris and he wanted to eliminate fascism throughout the world. G eorge Orwell was married to and adopted a son with Eileen O’Shaughnessy. She died in 1945 during a surgical procedure. Right before he died, he married Sonia Brownell in 1949. Orwell died at 46 years old from tuberculosis.He was in and out of many hospitals for the last three years that he was alive. The author was buried according to Anglican Rite in the All Saints’ Churchyard. At the outbreak of World War II, George Orwell was deemed unfit for service so he began to write for newspapers. Orwell wrote a column of the Tribune and he was a major contributor/writer of The Observer. â€Å"By this stage, Orwell saw himself primarily as a political writer, a democratic socialist who hated party labels, hated totalitarianism, and was to become more and more disillusioned with the methods of Communism† (â€Å"Orwell† 748).Orwell wanted to expose Communism and eliminate it from Europe. Through his writing for various newspapers, he saw himself as making a differe nce, but not quite as much as he would have liked so he began a novel to show the ugly truth of Communism once and for all. Before the end of 1944, Animal Farm was ready for publication, but a publisher could not be found as it was considered an attack on the Soviets. No one wanted to accept that kind of responsibility and punishment if something where to reach the Soviet Union regarding his use of allegory and symbolism using animals against them and their ideas.Eventually Jonathon Cape agreed to tackle the controversies that Orwell discussed and he published it. Jonathon Cape founded Jonathon Cape Ltd. with Wren Howard in 1921. It was one of the leading literary publishers in London during the time period. Jonathon Cape also published works such as T. E. Lawrence’s The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons, and the first of the James Bond books. Another historical issue that must be dealt with before a further understanding of Animal Farm can be reached is what exactly happened in the Soviet Union with the Russian Revolution and Marxism.Two German philosophers, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles, coined Marxism. â€Å"The  Communist Manifesto  (1848) of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels provided a theoretical basis for the revolutionary movements springing up in Europe in the latter part of the nineteenth century,† (Meyers). Marxism is a way to look at socioeconomics that is based on a more materialistic view of the development of history, a view of social change that has a lot to do with location, and an examination of the relationships of social classes within society and the way that capitalism is wrong and should be looked down upon.It fights for the self-discovery and freeing of the working class and making everyone equal to a certain degree. The Bolsheviks adopted these ideals of Marxism when they took over Russia in the Russian Revolution. World War I did not make things any easier on the peasants. Now they w ere forced to fight for a country they did not like in the first place and they were being simply slaughtered because they were not trained soldiers. Originally, it served to quiet the peasants because everyone was united against one enemy, but it wore off once the initial benefits were gone.Russia’s first major battle of World War I ended in over thirty thousand Russian troops were killed or wounded and the revolutions began. Tsar Nicholas began to make poor military choices and the Russians, particularly the lower class people as they had to fight and send their family and friends off to fight, began to think that there could be something better out there if they could find the right type of government to suit them. The February Revolt was the first of these revolts in the city of Petrograd.The tsar abdicated the throne because he was frightened and knew that he did not possess enough military power to defeat the revolts. After this, there was a period of dual power where t here was a provisional government that was loyal to the Soviet Socialists. The Bolsheviks were a group in Russia that began to revolt when the provisional government chose to continue to fight in Germany. Vladimir Lenin and the workers’ Soviets led the Bolsheviks. They quickly removed Russia from World War I with the Treat of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918.This resulted in a civil war between the Bolshevik (red) and anti-Bolshevik (white) factions of the government, lasting for several years, with the Bolsheviks eventually pulling out a victory. The way that this happened, it allowed for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to rule later. The way that the Bolsheviks ruled the Soviet Union can be compared to the way that the Catholic Church was run (Frye 11). These are comparable because both were totalitarian and rigid with little thought into the people that followed them.People followed long sets of rules and did not really know why and there was no reward for them e xcept to keep their lives/not be excommunicated from the church. The Russian Revolution describes the mini revolutions that happened in Russia in 1917 that rose up against the monarchy of Russia of which tsar Nicholas was the head. The causes of the Russian Revolution pertaining to society came from the oppression felt by the lower classes in the autocracy of the tsar. They had been emancipated, but life was no better for them.The industrialization of Russia led to overcrowding and very bad conditions in the cities for the urban industrial workers. This made the peasants more likely to go on protest and go on strike than in previous years. Some critics view the literary work of George Orwell to be creating a utopian society and to praise that idea of the â€Å"perfect society†. â€Å"Orwell particularly valued the vigorous, colorful and concrete style of pamphlets and wanted to revive the genre,† says Valerie Meyers of Orwell’s Animal Farm (Meyers).This is not w ell thought-out because he was making fun of the way that people thought of utopias and he made the utopian society of the farm animals in Animal Farm fail miserably. If he had been praising the utopian societies and genre, then he would have written things differently and not had the society end in failure and death which is ultimately where he believed it would end. â€Å"Orwell's  Animal Farm, like Swift's Lilliput and Blefuscu, is a coded satiric portrait of a real society, an anti-utopia which, by castigating real evils, suggests what society ought to be like† (Meyers).George Orwell uses satire and allegory to show an intended utopia failing and Meyers puts it well when she says that he â€Å"castigates real evils† because Orwell legitimately shows the evils of what was happening in Russia and tries to simplify them into something of a â€Å"fairytale† that the normal person could digest and understand. . It is written as a fable though with the moral bei ng to â€Å"teach a political lesson† (Meyers). He is trying to show the common person the effects on the people and the seriousness of the controversies that he chose to write about.The ultimate goal of writing Animal Farm was to destroy the Soviet myth (Patai). Orwell wanted the myth that everything was going great in the Soviet Union to be dismissed because people were not taking things seriously. The rest of the world did not think anything of the terrorism that was taking place because they simply did not even know that it was happening. Concerning Russian Communism, George Orwell did not take into account the â€Å"underlying reasons for its transformation from a proletarian dictatorship into a kind of parody of the Catholic Church,† (Frye 11).Orwell simply went through the process of what happened and didn’t ask the questions like â€Å"Why did Old Major feel the way he did? † or â€Å"Why did the animals blindly believe the pigs and not question them? † The characters that are used in the literary work of Animal Farm are animals. Some critics say this is because it is written in a fable-style and some, like Daphne Patai say that this is because, â€Å"It was apparently easier for Orwell to identify with the animal kingdom, exploited at the hands of ‘humans,’ than to note that buried in class and race divisions in the human orld lay the issue of gender oppression,† (Patai). Orwell could more easily wrap his mind around the cruelty shown to animals because then he wouldn’t have to relate it back to himself and his responsibility and role in the cruelty of human treatment to other humans. Also, it allowed him to disregard race and gender in the characterization of the animals that lived on Manor Farm. When he wrote about the pigs taking over and all the other animals numbly following them he tried to show that â€Å"the class struggle among humans is ‘pure illusion’—which i s itself an illusion,† (Patai).George Orwell was trying to show that we don’t have to blindly follow authority and that it is not in our best interest, but in the same respect, he proved that it can be dangerous if you do not, therefore contradicting himself. â€Å"Orwell’s concern is that no matter what viewpoint rulers adopt it is no guarantee that they can solve the ‘central problem’ of revolution—indeed, of life—namely, the abuse of power† (Slater 241). George Orwell believed that whether it was Communism, Fascism, or Marxism, the leaders failed to do what they took over to do in the first place.His philosophy was that it doesn’t matter the type of government, government cannot fix the problem of revolution no matter the strength. The characters that exemplify the symbolism and allegory make up the main plot of the masterpiece that is Animal Farm. The pigs represent the upper class Bolsheviks that took power, Boxer is the common man, the dogs are the secret police, and so on. Also, the symbols used throughout the book such as the hoof and horn flag, the Order of the Green Banner, and the part song entitled â€Å"The Beasts of England† directly parallel symbols common in Russian society at the time.Even the battles have their own parallels of historical revolutions taking place in Russia (Meyers). Orwell wanted to blatantly make a point and leave no room for question as to what this was specifically allegorizing. â€Å"He says that he will not attempt to speak for the work: Either it speaks for itself or it is a failure† (Quinn). Orwell made everything so clear because he felt strongly about this issue of Marxism and the totalitarianism happening in Russia. If a critic had a question about what this was about, it would have defeated the purpose that it was meant to serve and so he wrote it in a way as to leave nothing to assumption.The character that most of the people struggling in this time feel that they can relate to is the character of Boxer, a workhorse. He buys into the lies that are fed to him by the pigs and believes all of the propaganda. Boxer truly believes that the pigs are doing what is best for him and even is found encouraging other animals to go along with their decisions. â€Å"I will work harder† and â€Å"Napoleon is always right† are the mantras that he developed to help himself keep going and accomplish the work he was assigned by the pigs.Eventually, the pigs decide that he cannot work any harder and Boxer is deemed useless; he is sent to the glue factory much to the chagrin of the other animals that looked up to and admired him for his work ethics and motivation. The fact that he was sold for alcohol and food for the pigs shows just how the system of totalitarianism works. It shows the way that people blindly follow orders, and even those who follow orders are not rewarded. As for the pigs, Napoleon represents Stalin and Sn owball represents Trotsky; they supervise and keep the best of everything, including food such as apples and milk.Napoleon prefers a harsher take on everything: defensive buildup of armaments, increased food production/work, and finally, eliminating Snowball from the equation altogether. Snowball is mellower, wanting destabilization by propaganda, building of the windmill (reducing work hours), and an eloquent way to run things. Because they come to a head on all of these governmental matters, the more brutal animal, Napoleon, finally wins by driving Snowball off with the pack of dogs being used as secret police.Napoleon, like Stalin, turns Snowball, like Trotsky, into a criminal and an enemy of the animals; his victory and bravery at the Battle of the Cowshed is diminished piece by piece and his memory is degraded. The dogs are tricked into acting against their fellow â€Å"comrades† with offers of food and other treats. They mirror the KGB in that they do the bidding of tho se in power and even turn against their leader when they see a reward for themselves (Gardner 103-104). Orwell’s Animal Farm is taught in schools all over the country, though the immediate need for the piece of literature is now gone because there is no more Russian Communism.Many critics say that it was written as a fable or a fairy tale, and though Blair agrees, he also says: â€Å"Still, the narrative of Animal Farm is ingenious, and its twists retain a certain charm† (Blair). Though the author is in the opinion that Animal Farm is simply a children’s book, there is a simple agreement that it was written â€Å"ingeniously†. The teaching of this literary masterpiece will continue throughout the years because of its use of historical allegory and symbolism to teach the reader simply what happened in the world events of the time period that George Orwell lived in.

Progress Essays - Copernican Revolution, Anglican Saints

Progress Essays - Copernican Revolution, Anglican Saints Progress Progress It started with pureness, then became sin. It didnt matter to people, they didnt follow. Ignorance, immorality, we just got worse. Until, one day He made a rainbow. It started all over again. Now people had to care. If they kept up their bad habits, they knew their future. So onward we went, our intelligence grew. Aristotle to Copernicus, I thought we were the center!? Then Kepler wrote Harmony of the Spheres. I didnt read it. Did you? But Newton it was who discovered Keplers three laws. How are things put in orbit? No one really cares. We keep getting smarter but does anyone notice? Its taken for granted, I think Ill live. Einstein arrived with his crazy ideas. I forgot, what are they again? Humans progressed to things they could never imagine. We landed on the moon, but do your remember when? Now were here with electronics and computers. Everything is digital. No one seems to care. Not many appreciate the progress that has led us here. But when will it start all over again? -James Hanson (Please use this poem only as a reference. Thanks.)

The Second Battle of Fallujah

The Second Battle of Fallujah Introduction The Second Battle of Fallujah was the deadliest war that took place during the Iraq War, which occurred in 2004. What led to the Second Battle of Fallujah was the unsuccessful First Battle of Fallujah, which strengthened the insurgents who sought refuge in Fallujah and made it their stronghold during the Iraq War. The insurgents had dominated the city and started attacking American soldiers.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Second Battle of Fallujah specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Brutal killings of Blackwater soldiers prompted the United States military to launch an offensive attack on Fallujah city. According to the United States secretary of defense, the brutal killings provided an opportunity for the United States army â€Å"†¦to push the Sunnis on the Governing Council to step forward and condemn this attack, and we will remember those who do not. It is time for them to choose. Th ey are either with us or against us.†1 To capture the city of Fallujah, the combined forces of the United States, British, and Iraqi soldiers employed an effective battle command. Therefore, this essay analyzes the battle command that General Natonski employed when he mobilized soldiers to conquer the insurgents and capture the city of Fallujah during the Second Battle of Fallujah. Leading Leading a great army is a huge task that requires advanced leadership skills of commanders. What made the Second Battle of Fallujah successful was the ability of General Natonski to lead his troops throughout the offensive attack. Since the insurgents had taken over Fallujah, they used it as their fortified base where they could launch attacks against the American soldiers and their allies from Iraq and Britain. Hence, combined leadership of British, Iraqi, and American armies was significant as it contributed to the successfulness of the Second Battle of Fallujah. Under General Natonski, â €Å"Sergeant Pennell displayed unyielding personal courage while leading his attacking squad through sustained high intensity combat in southern Fallujah.†2 Effective leadership of different troops enabled the United States, British, and Iraqi soldiers to conquer the insurgents in Fallujah. Applications of the same strategies on different troops of soldiers who attacked Fallujah from different points involved great leadership skills. When the insurgents dominated Fallujah and started attacking American soldiers, it was difficult for American soldiers alone to conduct the offensive battle. The combined force of Iraqi, British and the United States army provided a strong army that the insurgents could not conquer.Advertising Looking for research paper on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Since diverse troops of soldiers had a common enemy, they shared combat strategies. Leadership enhances organization am ong soldiers as it causes feelings, values, attitudes, and behaviors to integrate, and thus â€Å"create a system of processes facilitated by tools.†3 Thus, the organization that the combined forces displayed at the Second Battle of Fallujah weakened the insurgents and eventually led to their utter defeat. Understanding Before embarking on the offensive battle, commanders and soldiers need to have an understanding of the environment under which they operate. American and British soldiers were unfamiliar with the Fallujah and its environment, and thus they took ample time trying to understand the operational environment. To understand the operation environment, General Natonski drew maps that aided in location of the insurgents in the city. Additionally, understanding of the terrain was also necessary so that soldiers could plan on how to navigate through as they advanced to Fallujah. â€Å"Through collaboration and dialogue, knowledge sharing enables an understanding of the operational environment, problems to be solved, and approaches to solving them.†4 Collaboration that existed among different troops of soldiers indicated that they had an understanding of their roles and environment. Understanding the nature of the enemy is an important role of a commander and soldiers. Prior to the commencement of the Second Battle of Fallujah, General Natonski ensured that he understood the number of insurgents and their advancement in weaponry. The combined armies had estimated that insurgents in the city were about 5000. The figure enabled the commanders and soldiers to determine the effective force that could overcome the insurgents. According to the United States Army, â€Å"nearly one million tons of arms and ammunition had been stockpiled around the country, in mostly unguarded facilities, free for taking.†5 Such knowledge enhanced understanding of the enemy and promoted effective preparation for the combat.Advertising We will write a cu stom research paper sample on The Second Battle of Fallujah specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Visualizing Commanders should have a visualizing ability when designing operation process. As different processes of operation exist, commanders should visualize and determine an effective process. â€Å"Army forces combine offensive, defensive, and stability or civil-support operations simultaneously as part of an interdependent joint force to seize, retain, and exploit the initiative, accepting prudent risk to create opportunities to achieve decisive results.†6 In the Second Battle of Fallujah, General Natonski mainly employed offensive battle as the insurgents became defensive in the city. Since the insurgents terrorized Americans and their allies, General Natonski saw that offensive battle was essential to exterminate the insurgents in Fallujah and across Iraq. Before embarking on offensive battle, General Natonski visualized the impact of the battle on the civilians. The insurgents were using civilians as their shield, and thus making it hard for General Natonski to launch an offensive attack without killing innocent civilians. The combined forces conducted civil support where they assisted civilians to move out of the combat zone to safer places while leaving the insurgents alone in the city.7 General Natonski also visualized that he needed to prevent the insurgents from escaping. Hence, the combined forces created strategic checkpoints where they could only allow innocent civilians to move out of Fallujah and its surroundings. Describing The preliminary task of the commanders in leading soldier is to understand and visualize the problems and their potential solutions, and then describe them to the soldiers. For soldiers to accomplish a given offensive attack, they need to comprehend the magnitude of the problems and estimate the efforts that they require to resolve them.Advertising Looking for research paper on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In Fallujah, the insurgents had prepared well to counter the offensive attack by the combined forces by building bankers, setting obstacles, putting roadblocks, burying mines, and acquiring sophisticated weapons.8 In this view, General Natonski had to describe the impending challenges that the combined soldiers were to face during the ambush so that they could take necessary precautions and reduce the occurrence of unnecessary deaths. Given the impending dangers, General Natonski had to describe how the offensive attack would take place. General Natonski described coordinated attacks by providing extensive description of the plan and command line that soldiers followed without undue confusion. Before commencing a battle, commanders need to describe resources, space, and time, which are necessary for the battle to be successful.9 Underestimation of resources and time is quite dangerous because it increases the vulnerability of soldiers. Given the successfulness of the Second Battle o f Fallujah, General Natonski was able to provide an effective description of the battle, which enabled soldiers to take their critical roles effectively. Directing Directing soldiers to undertake an offensive battle is quite challenging because enemies usually take offensive positions. The ability of a commander to direct armies to follow a given plan of attack and a command line is an integral part of an offensive battle. Since insurgents were ready for the offensive battle, they took a defensive stance. In directing armies, General Natonski designed a way of approaching the city. Different troops of soldiers approached Fallujah from different directions while communicating amongst themselves regarding their advancement into the city.10 General Natonski planned such a coordinated movement to prevent the insurgents from escaping, and thus enhanced their extermination within the city. Additionally, General Natonski employed intelligence in directing his troops as they advanced into t he city. Continued supply of intelligent information enabled soldiers to update their offensive strategies according to the tactics that the insurgents used. The intelligence â€Å"created a loop in which the information gathered during one operation led to a new operation, and the information provided new intelligence for the next one.†11 Whenever the combined forces got the intelligent information, they acted on it promptly, and thus advanced their attacks towards the city without giving the insurgents ample time to counteract their attacks. Assessing Assessing the progression of an offensive battle helps in overcoming new challenges that usually emerge in the course of the battle. To determine if a battle command is effective, commanders should continually perform an assessment of various conditions in an operation. â€Å"Assessment is continuous because it includes monitoring the current situation and progress towards accomplishing those objectives† of an operation .12 The assessment of the battle enables commanders to modify their orders and plans to suit the prevailing conditions of war and overcome tactics that enemies employ. In the Second Battle of Fallujah, it is evident that General Natonski performed continuous assessment of the offensive attack. Every step that the forces took involved operational planning and caution because the insurgents had taken an offensive stance where they prevented the combined forces from entering into the city. â€Å"Commanders achieve decisive results through the effective combination and balance of offensive, defensive, and stability operations across the entire width and depth of their operations.† Whenever they experienced attacks, General Natonski redesigned his operation and issued different orders with a view of balancing offensive and defensive attacks, as well as stabilizing operations. Conclusion Although the Second Battle of Fallujah was the deadliest battle in the Iraq War, the combined f orces of British, Iraqi, and the United States troops managed to defeat the insurgents. The defeat was possible because the battle command that General Natonski applied in the battle was effective since he used various strategies in launching an offensive battle. Hence, the Second Battle of Fallujah provides valuable lessons that soldiers need to apply in undertaking any offensive battles. Bibliography Camp, Dick. Operations Fury: The Assault and Capture of Fallujah, Iraq. New York: Zenith Imprint, 2009. Department of the Army. â€Å"Knowledge Management Operations.† Field Manual (16 July 2012): 1-82. Accessed from https://armypubs.army.mil/ Lowry, Richard. New Dawn: The battles for Fallujah. New York: Casemate Publishers, 2007. Williams, Wallace. â€Å"FM-0 Operations: The Army’s Blueprint.† Military Review 88, no. 2 (2008): 2-17. Endnotes 1 Dick Camp. Operations Fury: The Assault and Capture of Fallujah, Iraq (New York: Zenith Imprint, 2009), 6. 2 Richard Lowr y. New Dawn: The battles for Fallujah (New York: Casemate Publishers, 2007), 321. 3 Department of the Army. â€Å"Knowledge Management Operations.† Field Manual (16 July 2012):1-82. 4 Department of the Army. (16 July 2012), 11 5 Richard Lowry. (2009), 20. 6 Wallace Williams. â€Å"FM-0 Operations: The Army’s Blueprint.† Military Review 88, no. 2 (2008): 4. 7 Dick Camp. (2009), 170. 8 Richard Lowry. (2009), 20. 9 Wallace Williams. (2008), 5 10 Dick Camp. (2009), 123. 11 Richard Lowry. (2009), 60. 12 Department of the Army. (16 July 2012), 31.

Biography of Mother Jones, Labor Organizer and Agitator

Biography of Mother Jones, Labor Organizer and Agitator Mother Jones (born Mary Harris; 1837–November 30, 1930) was a key radical figure in United States labor history. She was a fiery orator, a union agitator for mine workers, and a co-founder of the International Workers of the World (IWW). The current-day political magazine Mother Jones was named for her and maintains her legacy of left-wing politics. Fast Facts: Mother Jones Known For:  Radical political activist, orator, organizer of mine worker union, co-founder of the International Workers of the WorldAlso Known As:  Mother of All Agitators. the Miners Angel, Mary Harris, Mary Harris JonesBorn:  c. August 1, 1837 (although she claimed May 1, 1830 as her birth date) in County Cork, IrelandParents: Mary Harris and Robert HarrisDied:  November 30, 1930 in Adelphi, MarylandEducation: Toronto Normal SchoolPublished Works:  The New Right, Letter of Love and Labor, Autobiography of Mother JonesSpouse: George JonesChildren: Four children (all of whom died in a yellow fever epidemic)Notable Quote: In spite of oppressors, in spite of false leaders, in spite of labor’s own lack of understanding of its needs, the cause of the worker continues onward. Slowly his hours are shortened, giving him leisure to read and to think. Slowly, his standard of living rises to include some of the good and beautiful things of the world. Slowly the cause of his ch ildren becomes the cause of all....Slowly those who create wealth of the world are permitted to share it.  The future is in labor’s strong, rough hands. Early Life Born Mary Harris in 1837 in County Cork, Ireland, young Mary Harris was the daughter of Mary Harris and Robert Harris.  Her father worked as a hired hand and the family lived on the estate where he worked. The family followed Robert Harris to America, where he had fled after taking part in a revolt against the landowners. The family then moved to Canada, where Mary went to public school. Work and Family Harris became a schoolteacher first in Canada, where, as a Roman Catholic, she could only teach in the parochial schools. She moved to Maine to teach as a private tutor and then to Michigan, where she got a teaching job in a convent. Harris then moved to Chicago and worked as a dressmaker. After two years, she moved to Memphis to teach and met George Jones in 1861. They married and had four  children.  George was an iron moulder and also worked as a union organizer. During their marriage, he began working full-time in his union job. George Jones and all four children died in a yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, Tennessee, in September and October 1867. Begins Organizing After the death of her family, Mary Harris Jones moved to Chicago, where she returned to work as a dressmaker. Mary claimed that her pull to the labor movement increased when she sewed for wealthy Chicago families. I would look out of the plate glass windows and see the poor, shivering wretches, jobless and hungry, walking alongside the frozen lake front....The tropical contrast of their condition with that of the tropical comfort of the people for whom I sewed was painful to me. My employers seemed neither to notice nor to care. Tragedy struck Jones life again in 1871. She lost her home, shop, and belongings in the Great Chicago Fire. She had already connected with the secretive workers organization Knights of Labor and was active in speaking for the group and organizing. After the fire, she left her dressmaking to take up full-time organizing with the Knights. Increasingly Radical By the mid-1880s, Mary Jones had left the Knights of Labor, finding them too conservative. She became involved in more radical organizing by 1890. A fiery orator, she spoke at the location of strikes around the country. She helped coordinate hundreds of strikes, including those with coal miners in Pennsylvania in 1873 and railroad workers in 1877. She was named often in newspapers as Mother Jones, a white-haired radical labor organizer in her signature black dress, lace collar, and plain head covering. Mother Jones was a loving moniker given her by workers, grateful for her care of and devotion to working people. United Mine Workers and Wobblies Mother Jones principally worked with the United Mine Workers, although her role was unofficial. Among other activist actions, she helped organize strikers wives.  Often ordered to stay away from miners, she refused to do so and frequently challenged the armed guards to shoot her. Mother Jones focused on the issue of child labor as well. In 1903, Mother Jones led a childrens march from Kensington, Pennsylvania, to New York to protest child labor to President Roosevelt. In 1905, Mother Jones was among the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, the Wobblies). She worked within the political system as well, and was a founder of the Social Democratic Party in 1898. Later Years In the 1920s, as rheumatism made it more difficult for her to get around, Mother Jones wrote her Autobiography of Mother Jones. Famed lawyer Clarence Darrow wrote an introduction to the book. Mother Jones became less active as her health failed. She moved to Maryland and lived with a retired couple. Death One of her last public appearances was at a birthday celebration on May 1, 1930, when she claimed to be 100. (May 1 is the international labor holiday in most of the world.) This birthday was celebrated at workers events around the country. Mother Jones died on November 30 of that year. She was buried at the Miners Cemetery at Mount Olive, Illinois, at her request: It was the only cemetery owned by a union. Legacy Mother Jones was once labeled the most dangerous woman in America by a U.S. district attorney. Her activism left a strong mark on U.S. labor history. The 2001 biography by Elliott Gorn has added significantly to the details known of Mother Jones life and work. The radical political magazine Mother Jones is named for her and she remains a symbol for passionate labor activism. Sources Gorn, Elliott J. Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America. Hill and Wang, 2001.Josephson, Judith P. Mother Jones: Fierce Fighter for Workers Rights. Lerner Publications, 1997.

Does the rotation of auditors improve the quality of auditing Essay - 1

Does the rotation of auditors improve the quality of auditing - Essay Example Australia is collecting more empirical data on the subject to make a decision to make it mandatory or not. India recently envisaged that audit partner should be rotated compulsorily and there should be atleast 50% rotation of the audit team compulsorily. For listed companies, auditor rotation is made compulsory in Portugal on an explain or comply basis. Public companies in Slovenia are given a choice to choose either to rotate partner or audit firm rotation once in five years. Audit partner rotation instead of audit firm rotation is made mandatory by countries like Netherlands, Germany and UK. Administrators in Germany, US and UK are of the view that possible advantages of compulsory rotation of auditors do not overshadow its perils and costs. (Ewelt-Knauer, Gold & Pott 2012:5) The research study will analyse in detail whether the rotation of auditors improves the quality of auditing or not with available literature evidence on the subject. What is the problem? The main issue is whet her mandatory auditor rotation will result in enhancing the auditor’s independence or not and does the rotation of auditors improve the quality of auditing? How are you going to answer it? For answering the research question, this research essay will make use of secondary research evidence available on the subject like information available in the books, journals, previous empirical studies, etc. Coherent development of arguments: According to Lee Metcalf report, it was a great concern that big audit firms lacked independence, which has created doubt about their certification of financial data to public and investors. Further, long association of an auditor and a company may result in aligning with company’s management and hence, the independence of such an auditor has become really doubtful. Thus, Metcalf report recommended to the Congress of USA to introduce mandatory auditor rotation to minimise the corporate frauds. (PCAOB 2011:10). What is audit quality? Some stud y suggests that there is a direct association between audit quality and audit tenure. According to Simon & France (1988), long run audit tenures enhance the audit quality, mainly because of auditee-specific knowledge benefited by the auditors over the time. Daly, Hamilton and Strokes (2003) investigated whether audit partner rotation is linked with transformation in audit quality and found that a partner change or rotation is not poignantly linked with a change in the audit opinion released. Further, rotation of a partner does not result in more chances to issue a qualified audit report. Thus, this study report suggests either the rotation of the firm or a partner does not have required audit quality advantages that supporters vehemently argue. (Campbell & Houghton 2005:78). Vanstraelen (2000) found that long-term audit tenures resulted in high audit quality. Deis & Giroux (1992) found that long run audit tenure lessens the adherence with GAAS. Copley & Doucet (1993) found the audit tenure, and the audit firm association has a direct effect on audit quality. Knapp (1991) exposed that audit committee members observed that long audit tenure erodes audit report quality and their independence. Dopuch, King and

Reflections on Food Solution in My Neighborhood Coursework

Reflections on Food Solution in My Neighborhood - Coursework Example Encourage schools to purchase healthy food for the students from local growers that are known to be sustainable farmers †¢ Good food offerings are unaffordable †¢ National school meal program to supply healthy meals to children †¢ Teach people about how they can preserve, cook, and share food for the benefit of those that cannot afford. †¢ Food wastage †¢ Create food awareness through environmental studies and community Arts movements that advocate for social change regarding food conservation †¢ Unhealthy, poorly cooked and cold lunch program †¢ Encourage the Good Food Cafà © that offers a healthy hot lunch program for school kids †¢ Malnutrition and hunger is rampant due to inadequate food supplies and poverty. †¢ The government should create school meal programs to provide children with constant food supply. †¢ Encourage diverse culinary tastes for multicultural population to honor the different cultural rituals †¢ Kinderga rten children change their attitude towards fresh fruits and vegetables †¢ Encourage children to eat fresh fruits and vegetables more than processed and canned food. †¢ Collaborate with food scholars and non profit private and public organizations to exhume, document and link people with their food practices to determine where health deficiency occurs. †¢ Form organizations such as Food-share that supplies fresh, nutritious, and affordable fruits and vegetables to children and adults every month.

Issues in Global Business and Strategic Concepts Essay - 2

Issues in Global Business and Strategic Concepts - Essay Example Being a major contributor to the economic growth process, Australian mineral extraction sector supports a better quality and standard lifestyle of the citizens. Nevertheless, the research also revealed that there are also few noteworthy negative consequences caused by the increasingly expanding functioning of this sector, affecting especially the indigenous people and the environmental stability of the continent. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Contribution of Mineral Extraction in Australian Economy 4 Benefits and Advantages of Mineral Extraction to Australian Economy 8 Domestic and International Issues in Australian Mining 10 Conclusion 12 References 13 Introduction Australia is world renowned for its rich and unique natural vegetation, cultural diversity and democratic stability in comparison to other developed nations, which makes it one of the strongest economies in the world (The Associated Press, 2013). Apart from these characteristics, Australia is also appreciated in the global realm for its abundant and diverse natural resources, which has since long been attracting the foreign investors. It includes an extensive collection of copper, gold, uranium, coal, iron ore, natural gas and renewable energy sources (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Australia, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of AUS$ 1.57 trillion and a wealth of AUS$ 6.4 trillion, can be considered as one of the world’s biggest capitalist economies (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). In rewarding the economy with its leadership position in the global platform, on the basis of its GDP growth, its mineral extraction sector can be regarded to have a major role. For instance, the mining sector in Australia signified approximately 19% of its total GDP as on the fiscal year 2011-2012 (Colebatch, 2012). In Australia, mining ores have a major contribution in boosting up the economy’s growth prospects in comparison to other mineral extraction functions. Based on the above facts it can be affirmed that having low inflation, low government debts, low unemployment rate, highly skilled workforce and a high quality education system, Australia has emerged as the fastest growing regions in the world (McHugh, 2010). Contribution of Mineral Extraction in Australian Economy Major active mines in Australia include the Olympic Dam and Super Pit Gold Mine. Large quantities of minerals are extracted here, which includes iron ore, nickel, aluminium/bauxite, diamond, uranium, silver, gold, copper, zinc, coal, petroleum and natural gas among others. For instance, in 2008, Australia was counted as the world’s third largest supplier of iron ore after China and Brazil, with a supply of 332 million metric tonnes (Jorgenso, 2010). Additionally, Australia was also attributed as the world’s 2nd largest producer of Nickel in 2006 after Russia (Louthean, 2007) and world’s largest producer of Bauxite/Aluminium in 2011 (Bray, 2012). In case of gold, Australia is referred as the 2nd largest producer in the world, after China (McHugh, 2010). Similarly, like gold, Australia is also the 2nd largest producer of Zinc, after China contributing 14% of the total world production of the Zinc (Tolcin, 2010). Correspondingly,

Analyze the effect of the management accounting practice that you Essay

Analyze the effect of the management accounting practice that you identified on the firms activities and financial performance - Essay Example In this accounting practice, raw materials and the finished products are at minimum. A firm that adopts this practice applies total direct labor to overhead. Moreover, continuous production, high-quality product, minimum labor utilization, and batch size, flexible and effective systems characterize just-in-time accounting practice. The practice is very popular and effective in the manufacturing industry (Investopedia, LLC 1). Just-in-time accounting practice has both positive and negative impacts on firm’s activities and financial performance. The practice reduces inventory costs but firms incur costs in inventory management. The firm can invest its savings derived from inventory costs in other ventures that will boost the firm’s growth and development in the accounting and finance sector (Kokemuller 1). A firm experiences continuous development and growth in its production process. Just-in-time accounting practice enhances quality in a company. For a firm to succeed in its production process with minimum costs, it must focus on quality. After customers order their goods and get receipts, a firm that adopts this accounting practice investigates any case of defective goods in a given sample size. In case the number of defects is more than a given range, the whole sample size is not accepted to maintain quality. In a just-in-time accounting practice, a firm should buy raw materials from a spe cific supplier and not several suppliers that promotes confidence in their suppliers and ensures that what they offer is of good quality. Just-in-time accounting practice aims at improving the productivity of a firm. The system eliminates any equipment that is not operating in the firm or the production process. The firm reduces waste by promoting the conversion of all the raw materials into finished products. A reduction in inventory errors minimizes reworks and time wastage that enhances efficiency. Low

Construction of Hong Kong International Airport Assignment

Construction of Hong Kong International Airport - Assignment Example The 1984 Declaration also stated that British rule over Hong Kong was to end in July 1, 1997. Meanwhile, firstly, Hong Kong Airport was under pressure as it became smaller and difficult to handle the increasing number of people and cargo (Perren, 2005: 1). Secondly, the rapid increase of Hong Kong’s population made it a dense city, and thirdly, residential houses were constructed next to the Kai Tak airport, which was very risky to the population. The above issues instigated the need of constructing a new airport in Hong Kong. David Wilson, Hong Kong’s British governor, came up with an idea of building an airport before the 99-year land lease ended in 1997. The new Hong Kong International Airport, at Chep Lap Kok, was to be constructed on an artificial island after the flattening of Chep Lap Kok and Lam Chau Islands. The construction of this airport called for support from the UK and Chinese governments as both governments signed a memorandum of understanding that estab lished the parameters of control of the construction of the airport. The airport came into existence after the investment of more than $20 billion USD in the construction. In overall, the whole project comprised constructing large tunnels, a high-speed rail system, new superhighways, suspension bridges, cargo and freight terminals and the airport. The construction of the airport started in 1991, and it was officially opened in 1998 (Craig, 1998: 98). The stakeholders and their success The major stakeholders during the construction of the new Hong Kong International Airport were the governments of Britain, China and Hong Kong. Firstly, the British government was involved because Hong Kong was a British territory. Secondly, the Chinese government was involved because Hong Kong was to fall under the authority of the Chinese government after the expiry of the lease, and thirdly, Hong Kong was involved since it was the local government. Conflict of interest ensued among the stakeholders because of future social, political and economic benefits. However, tension among the stakeholders was cooled down after the signing of the memorandum of understanding in 1991 by the British and Chinese governments. The bodies that were charged with the task of supervising the construction of the new airport were: The Sino-British Airport Committee Board and the Provisional Airport Authority. In essence, the airport’s financial and policy framework was negotiated by the Sino-British Airport Committee Board while the design and development of the whole project was overseen by the Provisional Airport Authority. Additionally, the Provisional Airport Authority had the objective of financing and delivering the following complete infrastructures: the tunnels, bridges, cargo and freight terminals, railway connection and the airport (Annual Report 2009/10, 2009: 47). The stakeholders who were involved in the construction of the new Hong Kong International Airport managed to drive the project into a major success. Firstly, the success of the project was seen when the two governments of UK and China signed a memorandum of understanding that ensured the construction of the airport. Secondly, the memorandum of understanding by the two governments ensured a smooth transition of Hong Kong after the 99-year lease expired in 1997. Thirdly, the

Safety Training Program Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Safety Training Program - Assignment Example The goals will be to educate workers on handling procedures; hazards associated with chemicals, how to read safety, and were they are stored. The Hazard Communication Act or Hazcom was developed after The Right-To-Know Act of 1986. Its goals are to boost employee awareness, evaluate job safety, design safe work procedures, assign personal protective equipment where needed. Employees need to know about this activity so they will not be afraid to speak up and ask questions about their working conditions (Lang 2010). After internship experiences from questions that I asked from employees that worked out in energy plants, I began to realize a lack of training on knowledge of safety for working around chemicals, handling chemicals, and the storage of chemicals. Training is one of the best methods because it gives the employee the knowledge needed to understand the subject. It can also give examples of what can go wrong if they are not handled properly. This will give a great picture of what is expected of them. The employees of any work location that handles any kind of chemicals in their daily work setting. It can even be someone that works with them every day or someone that only handles them once a week. The employees that do not handle any chemicals should have training on the subject as well so they are a clear understanding of safety as well. The delivery I would like to give would be in a multitude of ways. Like classroom time with PowerPoint slides, visual pictures of what can go wrong, in the field training, and some testing to see if the employees were getting the material.

Analyze the effect of the management accounting practice that you Essay

Analyze the effect of the management accounting practice that you identified on the firms activities and financial performance - Essay Example In this accounting practice, raw materials and the finished products are at minimum. A firm that adopts this practice applies total direct labor to overhead. Moreover, continuous production, high-quality product, minimum labor utilization, and batch size, flexible and effective systems characterize just-in-time accounting practice. The practice is very popular and effective in the manufacturing industry (Investopedia, LLC 1). Just-in-time accounting practice has both positive and negative impacts on firm’s activities and financial performance. The practice reduces inventory costs but firms incur costs in inventory management. The firm can invest its savings derived from inventory costs in other ventures that will boost the firm’s growth and development in the accounting and finance sector (Kokemuller 1). A firm experiences continuous development and growth in its production process. Just-in-time accounting practice enhances quality in a company. For a firm to succeed in its production process with minimum costs, it must focus on quality. After customers order their goods and get receipts, a firm that adopts this accounting practice investigates any case of defective goods in a given sample size. In case the number of defects is more than a given range, the whole sample size is not accepted to maintain quality. In a just-in-time accounting practice, a firm should buy raw materials from a spe cific supplier and not several suppliers that promotes confidence in their suppliers and ensures that what they offer is of good quality. Just-in-time accounting practice aims at improving the productivity of a firm. The system eliminates any equipment that is not operating in the firm or the production process. The firm reduces waste by promoting the conversion of all the raw materials into finished products. A reduction in inventory errors minimizes reworks and time wastage that enhances efficiency. Low

Safety Training Program Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Safety Training Program - Assignment Example The goals will be to educate workers on handling procedures; hazards associated with chemicals, how to read safety, and were they are stored. The Hazard Communication Act or Hazcom was developed after The Right-To-Know Act of 1986. Its goals are to boost employee awareness, evaluate job safety, design safe work procedures, assign personal protective equipment where needed. Employees need to know about this activity so they will not be afraid to speak up and ask questions about their working conditions (Lang 2010). After internship experiences from questions that I asked from employees that worked out in energy plants, I began to realize a lack of training on knowledge of safety for working around chemicals, handling chemicals, and the storage of chemicals. Training is one of the best methods because it gives the employee the knowledge needed to understand the subject. It can also give examples of what can go wrong if they are not handled properly. This will give a great picture of what is expected of them. The employees of any work location that handles any kind of chemicals in their daily work setting. It can even be someone that works with them every day or someone that only handles them once a week. The employees that do not handle any chemicals should have training on the subject as well so they are a clear understanding of safety as well. The delivery I would like to give would be in a multitude of ways. Like classroom time with PowerPoint slides, visual pictures of what can go wrong, in the field training, and some testing to see if the employees were getting the material.

I Forget That I Have Alzheimer’s disease Essay Example for Free

I Forget That I Have Alzheimer’s disease Essay Alzheimers disease is a familiar sight to me. I had a sad experience during my work as a nurse in my country Colombia and Spain with Alzheimer disease patients. Day by day I came to know each patient’s story because every day they were living the moment without remember the last minute. This is also what happened to Lisa Genova’s novel Still Alice. The protagonists is a 50 year old woman, a very well organized, efficient, highly-educated, and smart Harvard professor, wife of a successful man, and the mother of three grown children, who has diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. People have learned about the progression of Alice’s disease through her reactions, so feeling what she feels- a slowly building terror, the big changes with her family, professional life, and her identity, but we also have started to understand how Alice finds positive aspects in all this, she started to enjoy more of her family, she also began to take more time for her, about how she can remember the things without help. When a patient is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, the relation between the patient and his/her family suffers big changes. With Alice, is the negative aspects start when she becomes dependent on her family members and in need of certain care. The impact on Alice’s home is visible in the new habits, routines, roles and functions within the family dynamics. All of her family members suffer as a result of the disease to a lesser or greater extent. Her husband’s life is affected because he has less time to do his work and other activities, as he needs to take care of her. He also loses his patience because Alice behaves out of the ordinary, and that can become annoying in some ways. An example, when Alice forgets her cell phone at home and he said: â€Å"Then duct tape it to your head, I don’t care, I’m not going through this every time you forget you’re supposed to show up somewhere. † (Genova 99). On the other hand, her children feel anxiety, fear, and rejection with regard what is happening with their mother. All the members of her family in some way want to take care of her. While helping her looks like an obligation, the positive aspect is that Alice has more attention from her husband and children. She and her husband try to renew their affection to each other. Her husband and children are supporting her at some moments, especially the youngest daughter, who feels love, compassion, and empathy for her mother. The second important aspect of Alice is life that is affected her professional life as an important professor. â€Å"Today, I have the honor of introducing you to our first colloquium speaker of the year. Dr. Alice Howland is the eminent William James Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. † (Genova 9). In spite of her achievements and all the important and recognized things about her profession, the career is coming to an end. She gradually loses the ability to follow a conversation thread, the story line of a book, or to recall information she heard just moment before. She is losing her respect of her students because they cannot trust in someone who is sick. She is unable to do the work because every day she loses the capacity to remember everything she needs to know at the moment. She loses prestige because she cannot represent any more in her life as a professional. The positive point is that she cannot want to give up all years of work in a second. She wants to be a supported at any moment by any person who needs her. She continues to attend meetings and seminars. She is trying to leave a positive impression on each person who has met her. The third and the most important aspect with Alice and her Alzheimer’s disease is a big change in her identity. At the beginning she is angry and depressed with herself because she is forgetting everything that she needs to remember every day, such as a simple and common word. Her emotional changes also affect her relationships with others and her own feelings, because she has a negative behavior with others when she yells or says a word of anger. I think is the way how she shows that she is trying to avoid what is happening in her life with an incurable disease that changes the direction of her life. She feels frustration about her memory problems because gradually she has a restriction of freedom that means she loses privacy and independence in each activity she wants to do. We cannot imagine what she is feeling when she is losing everything she learned, all the way back to basic activities such as the skill to walk, eat, or even use the bathroom. Alice feels frustrated about what she is living, because it is a way to say she is stigmatized with this disease as though she were already dead. On the other hand, and in a positive way, she begins to enjoy her life when she shares more time with her family. She feels curiosity about a future of her children and grandchild, and then she wants to live to enjoy everything, despite she would â€Å"be incapable of remembering and executing this kind of plan. † (Genova 118). She creates a simple test and games to remember simple things of her life, and she can self-administer every day. She also tries to create a support group with people who have the same conditions as her, sharing experiences and to know that she does not alone in all this. This is a story where a woman forgets that have Alzheimer’s disease because she continues to do her life normally, she forgets that the things that she makes normally, now she does not make. Alice can find in her husband and children some way of support of each one of them, and then she can understand the positive things about her disease. The surprising is how the Alzheimers disease can advance very quickly, as affect relationships, families, professional jobs, and the identities of each patient. â€Å"Unfortunately, this is a progressive, degenerative disease with no cure. It gets worse, despite any medication we have right now. † (Genova 245). This is a sad end for each person who had a wonderful and successful life. In my experience, I only knew and lived with my patients their final phase of the disease. I also admire anyone going through this disease, their family, friends, those who care for them and those who continue to research for this cause. The hope is the patients and the people who live around them can find the positive aspects during the disease, they can enjoy more time together and help each patient try to find a good way to endure their disease. Work Cited Genova, Lisa. Still Alice. New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney: Gallery Books, 2009.

Online Media Has Become A Very Useful Tool Media Essay

Online Media Has Become A Very Useful Tool Media Essay The online media or the New Media has also been a consequence of dynamic communications technology developments and the need of a universal platform that emerges traditional media with the interactive power of computers and the participative aspect of the Internet. I strongly believe that online media has indeed become a very useful tool for citizens to play their role in political and social participation. The reasons are various: Internet is very popular and user-friendly, it give people the opportunity of engaging in civic discussion and there is a common lack of time, interest and proximity issues hinder their willingness in participating, As Margaret Scammell also pointed out in her paper The Internet and Civic Engagement: the Age of the Citizen-Consumer, (anul) the Internet, we hear constantly, will change everything. Thus far, however, the evidence for politics is rather small. We see vastly expanded information sources for citizens, new delivery systems for political institutions, greater opportunities for politics at the margins. But mostly we see the same old electoral and institutional politics with no evidence of huge new communities of participating citizens. What is actually emphasized here is the fact that we expect a greater involvement of citizens in political and social aspects on online media platforms, whereas new media online only endows us with brand new instruments of citizenship performance. Internet, as one of the 20th centurys most important developments, facilitates old and new functions of media, by orientating traditional media, like newspapers and television towards more participation, interactivity, flexibility, real time interaction, experiences and information sharing at a low cost. Politics and political participation of citizens is one of the topics of discussion over the Internet. The basic function of media informing people, is clearly seen in the huge World Wide Web community. Politicians have recently started to be aware of the impact that the Internet has, especially on young generations and therefore have moved online, where they have their own blogs, participate in online political forums, and get in direct contact with their electors. A very good example in this sense is Barack Obamas famous online campaign which helped him engage more with his voters and actually gave them the opportunity of integrating and even creating a political campaign. I think it helped us to access a lot of people by giving them to tools to organize, to create events, to connect with each others and giving them everything that they needed, so that when they had talking points to pass onto their families, videos, events in their area that were happening, community outreach pro grams in their state. Everything that we did was to connect people, because it was a movement that was fundamentally about people. (http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/12/04/felesky-rahaf.html Rahaf Harfoush interview) Moreover, even in 2000 American elections, American Online reported that seven of the all-time top ten live online chats were political, suggesting an increase in interest and involvement in the political process (Marlin 1999: 12 in CAROLINE J. TOLBERT AND RAMONA S. MCNEAL, KENT STATE UNIVERSITY). Another essential aspect of online citizenship is the civic engagement. One might argue that civic engagement online is one of the pioneer activities promoted online and which had a tremendous success among both nongovernmental organizations and participants to different online campaigns, petitions, manifestations. Its mobilizing character has had a very good outcome in community volunteer work, environmental causes and protest behavior, as it has engaged people in various discussions on social media platforms or in sharing experiences and thoughts about problems of common interest on YouTube, Blogs, MySpace, Facebook and websites. A very good example of a civic engagement campaign that has attracted many participants is the Greenpeace campaign. Promoting their activities in environmental causes and simultaneously asking for peoples direct involvement online has ensured the success of their campaign. Online medias main advantage that of offering great opportunities of sharing information and experiences to its users can sometimes turn into a disadvantage, because normal people are becoming journalists. This facilitates subjectivism and might sometimes lead to misinforming the other users. Moreover, many organizations, politicians or public figures have sensed the potential impact and success of online campaigns and therefore tend to control certain information flows for their own interest and even manipulate the content of forums, blogging, etc. The Web community facilitates the achievement of different types of citizenship, whether they are political, cultural, social or national. Citizens have often declared themselves dissatisfied with traditional media coverage; due to media concentration, the information and knowledge they get seems most of the times to be influenced by particular view that media moguls try to impose indirectly. Therefore the online media give them the opportunity of expressing themselves without restrictions and engage actively in different knowledge sharing activities and even direct participation to political decisions. Taken all this arguments into consideration, I believe that the new media indeed contribute to a better citizenship by means of more interaction, delivering own experiences and thoughts towards different political topics, being informed and having access to a greater range of knowledge sources. Online media, creates opportunities for all the Internet users to contribute to the main attribute of democracy and that is, being able to take part at political and social decision making process.

How Will Genetic Engineering Impact Our Lives? :: Expository Essays Research Papers

How will our lives change in the future? Are we as a society going to live longer because we have better medical treatments? The answer is most likely, yes, but will our genetic manipulation/sequencing take us to a new level. Instead of living to one hundred, will we be able to live to two hundred? More importantly, is this ethically correct to create a â€Å"fountain of youth† through genetic correction? An article I read recently helped me to draw some understanding. Thus far, researchers have had minimal success in using gene therapy to correct most genetic conditions and no researcher has used gene therapy to correct genetic impairments in a fetus (Parens). Although it is impossible to correct genetic flaws, we have discovered how to test for over 400 conditions, from those viewed as severe, such as Tay Sachs, to those that many might describe as relatively minor, such as polydactyly (a trait involving an extra little finger) (Parens). As it gets easier to test for these genetic disorders, so does the perception within both the medical and broader communities that prenatal testing is a logical extension of good prenatal care. On the other hand, as long as in-utero interventions remain relatively rare, and as long as the number or people seeking prenatal genetic information to prepare for the birth of a child with a disability remains small, prospective parents will use positive prenatal test results primarily as the basis of a decision to abort fetuses that carry mutations associated with disease or disability (Parens). â€Å"†¦There is a sense in which prenatal testing is simply a logical extension of the idea of good prenatal care† (Parens). Whether it is a logical extension or not, using prenatal tests to prevent the birth of babies with disabilities seems to be a good decision to many people (Parens). Even if the testing will not help bring a healthy baby to term this time, it gives prospective parents a chance to try and conceive again (Parens). â€Å"To others, however, prenatal testing looks rather different. If one thinks to appreciate why people identified with the disability rights movement might regard such testing as dangerous. For the members of this movement, including people with and without disabilities and both issue-focused and disability-focused groups, living with disabling traits need not be detrimental either to an individual's prospects of leading a worthwhile life, or to the families in which they grow up, or to society at large† (Parens). How Will Genetic Engineering Impact Our Lives? :: Expository Essays Research Papers How will our lives change in the future? Are we as a society going to live longer because we have better medical treatments? The answer is most likely, yes, but will our genetic manipulation/sequencing take us to a new level. Instead of living to one hundred, will we be able to live to two hundred? More importantly, is this ethically correct to create a â€Å"fountain of youth† through genetic correction? An article I read recently helped me to draw some understanding. Thus far, researchers have had minimal success in using gene therapy to correct most genetic conditions and no researcher has used gene therapy to correct genetic impairments in a fetus (Parens). Although it is impossible to correct genetic flaws, we have discovered how to test for over 400 conditions, from those viewed as severe, such as Tay Sachs, to those that many might describe as relatively minor, such as polydactyly (a trait involving an extra little finger) (Parens). As it gets easier to test for these genetic disorders, so does the perception within both the medical and broader communities that prenatal testing is a logical extension of good prenatal care. On the other hand, as long as in-utero interventions remain relatively rare, and as long as the number or people seeking prenatal genetic information to prepare for the birth of a child with a disability remains small, prospective parents will use positive prenatal test results primarily as the basis of a decision to abort fetuses that carry mutations associated with disease or disability (Parens). â€Å"†¦There is a sense in which prenatal testing is simply a logical extension of the idea of good prenatal care† (Parens). Whether it is a logical extension or not, using prenatal tests to prevent the birth of babies with disabilities seems to be a good decision to many people (Parens). Even if the testing will not help bring a healthy baby to term this time, it gives prospective parents a chance to try and conceive again (Parens). â€Å"To others, however, prenatal testing looks rather different. If one thinks to appreciate why people identified with the disability rights movement might regard such testing as dangerous. For the members of this movement, including people with and without disabilities and both issue-focused and disability-focused groups, living with disabling traits need not be detrimental either to an individual's prospects of leading a worthwhile life, or to the families in which they grow up, or to society at large† (Parens).