Plato’s View of Justice in the Republic Essay

Having lived an extraordinarily long life (for his time), with no consistent doctrine of belief, it has become customary to divide Plato’s writings chronologically into three periods, Early, Middle and Late. The Republic, a collection of ten books, is thought to have been written after Phaedo during the ‘middle-period’ of Plato’s life. It is during this period that Plato’s philosophy becomes his own rather than a commentary on Socrates beliefs and sayings. It is important to remember that Plato’s time was an age of constant upheaval and it is this air of upheaval and constant change that led him to focus on his societies’ failings and to put forward a structured society that puts his view of justice into practice. The main theme of The Republic is to define justice and other virtues and to put forward an idea for a Utopian city-state based on his beliefs on justice and virtue to show how these ideals could be implemented. The text takes the form of a dramatised discourse between certain characters of differing backgrounds and beliefs. The use of a dramatised debate is a useful way to demonstrate the way Plato (whose ideas are represented by the character of Socrates) would handle his sceptics. It also serves to show the development of his thought through discussion and to sceptic-proof his argument by foreseeing potential counter arguments. Plato starts demonstrating his definition by taking some popular conceptions of what justice means and whether it is better to live a just life. In book one the debate starts with a statement made by Cephalus, an old, retired self-made manufacturer. Cephalus puts forward the view that as people grow older they become more aware of religious teachings regarding retribution in the afterlife for living an unjust life and therefore monitor they’re own behaviour, in the past and present: ‘And when he finds that the sum of his transgressions is great he will many a time like a child start up in his sleep for fear, and he is filled with dark forebodings.’ He is saying that idea of justice is something that is merely a doctrine enforced by the unproven premise of damnation. If fear of an unproven afterlife is the reasoning for living a just life then the argument for justice is weak and reliant on blind faith. If an individual does not believe in ‘Hades’ or Hell then what stops him from acting unjustly? Continuing on Cephalus states ‘Wealth can do a lot to save from having to cheat or deceive someone against our will and from having to depart for that other place in fear because we owe a sacrifice to a god or money to a person’. By this Cephalus means that by having ample wealth he never had the need to be unjust to anyone. He could afford to appease the Gods with sacrifice and to keep his debts paid. This first presented description of justice is flawed. Socrates gives the following example to prove this: Suppose that a friend when in his right mind has deposited arms with me and he asks for them when he is not in his right mind, ought I to give them back to him? No one would say that I ought or that I should be right in doing so, any more than they would say that I ought always to speak the truth to one who is in his condition.’ Socrates, by Cephalus’s definition just living, was acting in a just way when he returned weapons to a maniacal friend (paying his debts). The modern day equivalent of this scenario is the United Nations returning a previously confiscated nuclear weapon to an insane and potentially violent state in full knowledge that it will be used to wreak havoc (injustice). This demonstrates that Cephalus’s popular description of justice is weak and potentially unjust! Later in book 1, When Socrates criticizes Polemarchus’ idea that man should spite his enemies, Thrasymachus puts his view forward; ‘Since the established rule is surely stronger, anyone who reasons correctly will conclude that the just is the same everywhere, namely the advantage of the  stronger’ . Using this idea Thrasymachus has declared that justice is the preserve of the strong and powerful. Justice is whatever the powerful dictate to the masses. He then goes on to state that it is the duty of the poor to rise up and take what they can from the rich. Socrates refutes all these ideas. He believes that the poor should accept the true justice that is imposed on them by the government. This is an idea that is crucial to the utopia he will later describe. Thrasymachus demonstrates a sophistic belief that injustice is more profitable to the individual than justice. By restating his belief that only the powerful have control over justice and successfully canvassing for a general consensus that rulers are fallible he shows that justice (as administered by the powerful) is ‘harmful to the one who obeys and serves’ . This in itself makes a certain degree of sense since in our own modern times we consistently see examples of ‘justice’ (as administered by the powerful) being non-beneficial to the weak and subservient. The most recently highlighted example would be the recent focus on Taliban-governed Afghanistan. Justice to the population of a Taliban controlled region meant harsh punishments and draconian, puritanical laws. This is what by European standards would be called unjust. If Thrasymachus had stopped his argument at this point then he would have contributed an important element to the definition of justice that we assume in our use of the word today, that which is morally correct. However as Thrasymachus is from a sophistic background (i.e. teacher of economics and rhetoric with especially capitalistic, profit driven motivations) he continues into a less popular (by modern standards) potential consequence of his argument, injustice is more profitable than justice. Through clever debate and reasoning with Thrasymachus, Plato (through his ‘mouthpiece’ character, Socrates) arises at the following conclusion: ‘Apparently, then, injustice has the power, first, to make whatever it arises in-whether it is a city, a family, an army, or anything else-incapable of achieving anything as a unit, because of civil wars and differences it  creates, and second, it makes that unit an enemy to itself and to what is in every way its opposite, namely justice.’ This statement shows the Sophist’s argument to be a contradiction. It is impossible for a belief to be profitable if it simply leads to dissent amongst the parties seeking profit. It is impossible for injustice to serve anyone if it is an enemy to itself. Plato points out that for a collective of individuals to act out injustice and all profit from the act there must originally be some sort of justice present to prevent them all betraying each other, an ‘honour amongst thieves’ of sorts. The argument for injustice does not end with book one and returns briefly early in book two. At the end of book one Plato is no longer refuting suggestions on the nature of justice and is no speaking in a pro-active, positive manner. He begins to start to build his own ideas of justice. He believes justice to be more profitable than injustice describing the comparison like so; ‘a just person is happy and an unjust one is wretched’ . This conclusion is reached in the p receding lines when Thrasymachus to agrees that justice is a virtue of the soul and therefore that a soul cannot perform well if its particular virtue is faulty. There is another important argument that Plato addresses in book two, where Glaucon, the youth, returns to Thrasymachus’s argument with an amendment. Glaucon asserts that it is profitable for the individual to pretend to be just but live their life in an unjust manner. The idea behind this being that the individual can appear to have the virtue of justice to others without having to be burdened with the responsibilities and constraints of living a just life. To consider all of these arguments and how they are presented would take many theses and, although relevant to this essay topic, I must move on to Plato’s own decisions of what justice is and their implementation in his polis due to space and time constraints. Plato has argued that living justly is much more superior to living unjustly because justice breeds happiness and contentment. The next step for Plato, to state and demonstrate his own positive views on justice and why it is ‘profitable’, is to describe a city-state, a polis, which is an ideal Utopia where all citizens live in harmonious eudemonia. By using the macrocosm of  the state he will show how justice can be implemented in the individual. Plato believes in the immortality of the soul (a consequence of nous ) and its division into three parts, which in turn are affected by ordering powers. The three parts of the soul are the spiritual, dedicated to the devotion of honour, the rational, dedicated to reason and logical thought and the appetitive, the basic appetites of the human soul such as sex, acquisitions, praise etc. which must be controlled. This is a fiercely rational and, I would argue, flawed break down of the human character. It takes no account for the emotional aspect of mankind and it is this inhuman and extremely rational view of humanity that would lead to the immediate failure of the polis if it wherever established due to some of the constraints placed on the citizens of the polis as will be seen later on. The virtues (aretai) of the soul that Plato describes in book four are wisdom (sophia), courage (andreia), temperance (sophrosyne) and justice (dikaiosyne). It is this idea of the soul that Plato will use in to socially structure the polis . The aim of this city is to make the soul is happy because all three parts of it are moderated, doing their own jobs and nothing else. This relates to Plato’s view of justice in the following manner. To Plato justice and injustice where to the body what health and disease are in the body. This is a beautiful analogy and is very similar to basic facets of Chinese medicine were disturbance in the mind is viewed as a pivotal cause for ill physical health, one wonders were oriental factors an influence on Plato or vice versa at this time. This correlation of classical Greek and ancient Chinese science is especially apparent in 444d of The Republic when ‘Health is defined as the establishment of an order by nature among the parts of the body; disease as a disturbance of the natural order of rule and subordination among the parts (444d)’ . This reading of Plato by Voeglin makes more sense in the context of the polis, as the disease of injustice is the divisor of peoples and the cause of discontent in society. The polis must be designed in such away that contentment is valued at a premium and corruption and vice made unnecessary and irrelevant. This has parallels with the medieval belief in The Great Chain Of Being. The Great Chain Of Being was a description of the balance of power and harmony in the world that probably was inspired by Augustinian and Platonic thought. At the  top of the chain was God who was linked to the King who was linked to his Aristocracy. If any part of a the chain was broken then the natural order of the world was disrupted. An example of how this was believed to manifest would be the mysterious change of calm weather to storms and supernatural occurrences in Shakespeare’s Macbeth following the usurping of Duncan. By usurping the legitimate ruler the chain was broken and chaos and disorder in the natural world ensued. Such is the occurrence of injustice in the Polis that the natural harmony will fall apart. I will now summarise the structure of the polis and hopefully answer how the distinctive roles of State and the individual maintain a just society. The state is divided into three classes, a producer class, a guardian (military/police) class and a ruling class. Later, Plato creates a new ruling class out of the guardians and calls the military/police class auxiliaries and this new ruling class guardians. The main point of this is to have each class fulfilling a need in the city and not ‘usurping’ any other person/classes role. Again there are similarities with the great chain of being. Everybody minds their own business and keeps to the plan and eudemonia will be intact. The city is based on various natural needs and recognises that harmony starts with the satisfying of life requirements. This idea is a nearly to a throw back to Cephalus who does not act in an unjust way because he wants for nothing. The development of a citizen starts with education. Students are thought a wide range of subjects from the academic to physical. Children are taught philosophy so that there ‘will be established within them, as in a polis, a politea’ . In other words they will have the same balanced wisdom and discipline governing their souls in life with the eudemonia of the state as a living example for the individual. The education also decided what class and profession the child would fit into. Classes could be transcended as children showed an aptitude for different and subjects abilities. Once an individual was placed in his/her class they remained in it for the duration of their lives. This has distinct parallels with the education system of Ireland were an aptitude in school for the academic can raise points for a place in a college that would further train you for a position of relatively  more power than the ‘producer class’. The most apt at philosophy and reason were sidelined for the upper two classes and had their education furthered accordingly. This begs the question of what would happen if the polis were sacked and all the ruling class slain. How could the polis recover from such an event if the lower classes are conditioned and brain-washed into believing that all they can ever be or do is be the sheep at the bottom of the chain of command? Procreation was also a stage-mannered affair. Parents deemed fit to ‘marry’ (or mate) were coupled off by what they believed to be random selection. In fact, the couples were selected for their eugenic qualities and paired off like horses on a stud. Children are taken from their parents at birth. The knowledge of their parent’s identity is never revealed to them nor is the child’s identity revealed to their parents. This anonymity was meant to promote equality between young and older generations. The child, being in full knowledge that it is from a foster family, would not be subject to family pride and would have no particular loyalties to any family as its siblings and parents would be unknown. Every elder could be addressed as father or mother as every peer could be addressed as brother or sister. With no bias towards any particular individual the harmony of the polis is further maintained. As mentioned earlier, Plato’s great failure from a modern standpoint is his inability to account for emotional aspects in the polis. The idea of splitting families was doomed to failure in that likenesses between siblings and parents would be impossible to disguise and some people could find out their relatives in this way. However, it could be argued that the psychological effect of not knowing ones natural family could be a non-issue after generations of people living in this way. The eugenic selection of partners makes a sense of sorts as families with undesirable inherited characteristics could be prevented from passing them on and those with desirable ones could be encouraged to mate. This is reminiscent of a quasi-nazi formula for the Aryan race of Third Reich. If one looks closer  one can see Plato using injustice to keep justice by lying about the random selection of couples. Due to the constraints of time and space I will have to conclude at this point by summarising the above. Plato essentially defines justice in the state as the three classes staying strictly to their individual roles in order to maintain a balance of responsibilities for the greater good of all. The state does this by ruling of over every aspect of an individual’s life from birth and plotting their destiny with the greater good of the polis to mind. It does this through education, censorship and rigorous controls. Only those with a high knowledge of wisdom (philosophy) are fit to rule as they have enough knowledge to know that justice is best for all as it is an essential virtue of the soul (dikaiosyne). Injustice is considered ignorance, as someone with a lot of wisdom could not possibly see injustice as profitable to anyone. The justice in the soul is described as the virtues (aretai) controlling the appetitive parts of the soul. In this post world war two and post ‘Brave New World’ time, it is easy to take The Republic as a strange Nazi/Taliban-esque tyrannical state on a first glance. As a state the polis would most definitely have failed. As macrocosm for justice in the individual it is unsurpassed. Its influence to this day was evident recently when it was voted best philosophical work ever by readers of the web page http://www.philosophers.co.uk. Whilst it has certain ideas that maybe questioned against the standards of modern western Europeans, it will certainly provide insight and debate on many philosophical issues for many years.

Assignment On Unilever Bangladesh Ltd Essay

Introduction Unilever is a multinational corporation, formed of British and Dutch parentage, that owns many of the world’s consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever employed 174,000 people and had worldwide revenue of â‚ ¬40.5 billion in 2008.[1] Unilever is a dual-listed company consisting of Unilever NV in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Unilever PLC in London, United Kingdom. This arrangement is similar to that of Reed Elsevier, and that of Royal Dutch Shell prior to their unified structure. Both Unilever companies have the same directors and effectively operate as a single business. The current non-executive Chairman of Unilever N.V. and PLC is Michael Treschow while Paul Polman is Group Chief Executive. History of Unilever Unilever was created in 1930 by the amalgamation of the operations of British soapmaker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie, a merger as palm oil was a major raw material for both margarines and soaps and could be imported more efficiently in larger quantities. In the 1930s the business of Unilever grew and new ventures were launched in Latin America. In 1972 Unilever purchased A&W Restaurants’ Canadian division but sold its shares through a management buyout to former A&W Food Services of Canada CEO Jeffrey Mooney in July 1996. By 1980 soap and edible fats contributed just 40% of profits, compared with an original 90%. In 1984 the company bought the brand Brooke Bond (maker of PG Tips tea). In 1987 Unilever strengthened its position in the world skin care market by acquiring Chesebrough-Ponds, the maker of Ragu, Pond’s, Aqua-Net, Cutex Nail Polish, and Vaseline. In 1989 Unilever bought Calvin Klein Cosmetics, Faberge, and Elizabeth Arden, but the latter was later sold (in 2000) to FFI Fragrances. In 1996 Unilever purchased Helene Curtis Industries, giving the company â€Å"a powerful new presence in the United States shampoo and deodorant market†. The purchase brought Unilever the Suave and Finesse hair-care product brands and Degree deodorant brand. Mission of Unilever Our Vitality mission commits us to growing our business by addressing health and nutrition issues. We focus on priorities including children and family nutrition, cardiovascular health and weight management. The growing demand for more Vitality in life provides us with a huge opportunity for growth. The way we work and the products we develop are shaped by consumer trends, along with the need to help raise health and hygiene standards in both the developing and industrialised regions of the world. Mission Statement of Unilever is: â€Å"feel good, look good/and get more out of life† Purpose of Unilever At the heart of the corporate purpose, which guides us in our approach to doing business, is the drive to serve consumers in a unique and effective way. This purpose has been communicated to all employees worldwide. Values of Unilever As a responsible corporate entity, Unilever Bangladesh aims to play its part in addressing environmental and social concerns through local actions and in partnership with local government and organizations Range of Unilever Our work with academic groups and other third-parties ensures that we are connected with the very best and most up-to-date scientific thinking. Using the synergies across R&D, we define and design technology that brings vitality to life, delivering a continuous stream of innovation to our business. This map shows our six principal R&D sites.

The Special Economic Zone Act of 1995: How Special Is It?

Cabatos 1 Lawdemhar T. Cabatos Ms. Louyzza Maria Victoria H. Vasquez English 10 21 March 2013 The Special Economic Zone Act of 1995: How Special Is It? Approved on February 24, 1995, the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995, the â€Å"act providing for the legal framework and mechanisms for the creation, operation, administration, and coordination of special economic zones in the Philippines, creating for this purpose, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), and for other purposes,† took effect on the very day President Fidel Valdez Ramos imprinted his signature on the bill (â€Å"Republic Act No. 7916).It is the government? s declared policy to materialize state policies and provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Section 20, Article II of the 1987 Constitution states, â€Å"The State recognizes the indispensable role of the private sector, encourages private enterprise, and provides incentives to needed investments† and Section 12 of Article XII declares that â€Å"The State shall promote the preferential use of Filipino labor, domestic materials and locally produced goods, and adopt measures that help make them competitive,† (â€Å"The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines†). By virtue of Republic Act No. 916, the Philippine government hopes to fulfill the mandates of its constitution. Before we deal on how special Republic Act No. 7916 really is, what are special economic zones (SEZs)? Defined in Republic Act No. 7916, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) or ECOZONES are â€Å"selected areas with highly developed or which have the potential to be Cabatos 2 developed into agro-industrial, industrial, tourist/recreational, commercial, banking, investment and financial centers. An ECOZONE may contain any or all of the following: industrial estates (IEs), export processing zones (EPZs), free trade zones, and tourist/recreational centers. The law defines an industrial estate (IE) as â€Å"a tract of land subdivi ded and developed according to a comprehensive plan under a unified continuous management and with provisions for basic infrastructure and utilities, with or without pre-built standard factory buildings and community facilities for the use of the community of industries. † An export processing zone (EPZ) is â€Å"a specialized industrial estate located physically and/or administratively outside customs territory, predominantly oriented to export production. A free trade zone is â€Å"an isolated policed area adjacent to a port of entry (as a seaport) and/or airport where imported goods may be unloaded for immediate transshipment or stored, repacked, sorted, mixed, or otherwise manipulated without being subject to import duties† (â€Å"Republic Act No. 7916†). For years, industrialization has been centered in key cities – the National Capital Region for Luzon, Cebu for Visayas and Davao and Cagayan de Oro for Mindanao – leaving other regions trailin g behind the Philippine industrialization scheme.Thus, special economic zones, as stated in the objectives of the law, are created to promote rural industrialization by transforming selected areas in the country into highly developed industrial, commercial and financial centers thereby promoting flow of both foreign and local investors and generating employment opportunities for the area? s labor force and ultimately supporting the government? s effort to reduce unemployment (â€Å"Republic Act No. 7916†). Economic zones are also thought to promote balanced growth by providing jobs especially to rural areas.Employment generation by special economic zones, in theory, bridges the poverty gap among social classes and balances the regional income inequality among regions (Clarete and Veron). Cabatos 3 To promote the flow of local and foreign investors into special economic zones, the law provides special incentives to enterprises located in special economic zones, including exemp tions from taxes under the National Internal Revenue Code. The law states that no taxes, local or national, shall be imposed on business enterprises operating within the ECOZONES.Instead, five percent (5%) of the gross income within the ECOZONE shall be remitted to the national government. Incentives are also given to enterprises located in export processing zones (EPZs) and free trade zones. Special permits for the importation of capital equipment and raw materials that are not subject to duties, taxes and other import restrictions are given to these businesses (â€Å"Republic Act No. 7916†). Through giving prospective investors tax incentives, the government aims to reel in foreign investors and urge local investors to establish businesses in special economic zones.Prior to the establishment of special economic zones in the Philippines, other Asian countries have already created special economic zones with the goal of attracting foreign direct investment, easing extensive u nemployment, supporting a wider economic improvement policy, and as experimental laboratories and test economies for the application of new policies and approaches (Farole and Akinci). Studies have been conducted in recent years to look into the cost-to-benefit ratio and economic and social impacts of policies enacted for the creation of special economic zones in these countries.In China, for example, the Third Plenum of the 11th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party adopted the Open Door Policy in 1978 and in 1980, four municipalities in two provinces were designated as special economic zones, opening China to global contact and influences. Almost immediately, the four special economic zones accounted for 59. 8% of the total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in China. Since then, the SEZs continued to result in high rates of Cabatos 4 economic growth in China (Yeung, Lee and Kee).Analysis on the economic statistics of Chinese municipalities from 1978 to 2007 showed how special econ omic zones benefit the economy of China. Special economic zones increase per capita municipal foreign direct investment by 58% in foreign-invested and export-oriented industrial enterprises. Further analysis on the statistics also showed that the special economic zones increased municipal foreign owned capital stock while keeping the domestic capital and investment at a competitive level.Special economic zones also bring more advanced technology and increased total factor productivity by 0. 6% (Wang). Despite the economic benefits special economic zones have brought to China, several cases have turned up showing unsuccessful implementation of special economic zones in several countries. Quite a number of zones have become „white elephants? , zones that resulted in an industry taking advantage of tax breaks and incentives but are unable to generate substantial employment or export returns (Farole and Akinci).Similar to the SEZs, Industrial Development Zones (IDZs) have been est ablished in South Africa. However, unlike the impressive performance of special economic zones in other countries which transformed their economies into tiger economies, IDZs in South Africa have failed to sufficiently attract foreign investments or compete internationally (Altbeker, McKeown and Bernstein). In India, the designation of special economic zones has generated and constantly increased employment in regions where special economic zones are established. Figures may seem large, but when employment enerated by special economic zones in India is analyzed on a national level, special economic zones in India accounted for only less than one percent (1%) of the total manufacturing employment since their establishment in 1966 (Aggarwal). Cabatos 5 In the Philippines, special economic zones have already been established even before the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995 became a law. It was in 1923 that the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines first conceptualized the creation of export processing zones or special economic zones.By 1967 the first export processing zone, the Bataan Export Processing Zone (BEPZ) was established by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 66 of then-President Ferdinand Marcos. Since then, several others have been established including two of the country? s major special economic zones – the Clark Special Economic Zone and the Subic Bay Freeport Zone (Mallari and Padilla). The Special Economic Zone Act of 1995 was the government? s response to the call of rural industrialization of the 1993-1998 Medium Term Philippine Development Plan.In pursuit for the aim of dispersing the industrialization scheme outside the National Capital Region, the government developed special economic zones through its Philippines 2000 program (Mallari and Padilla). With the SEZs? goal of promoting the flow of investments and generation of employment, studies have been conducted focusing on three of the major special economic zones in the country, the Bataan Export Processing Zone (BEPZ), the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) and the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, to look into the benefits and drawbacks of creating these special economic zones to Philippine economy and society.Looking into the working conditions of the Bataan Export Processing Zone, survey results have shown that majority of the labor force was composed of female workers, accounting for seventy-four percent (74%) of the total workforce, 67% of which are young or are 24 years old and below. Moreover, workers have been found to be well-educated relative to the job they have been hired for in the Bataan Export Processing Zone. Sixty percent (60%) had finished high school education and 16% pursued a post-secondary education (Mallari and Padilla). Cabatos 6 Significant difference in the wage of male and female workers was lso observed. Female workers were given a lower basic wage relative to that of male workers. Furthermore, one-third of the employees were paid below the minimum wage for the Bataan region. Despite the uneven and insufficient wages of workers, laborers sill work six days per week. A quarter of the labor force worked for 60 hours and 5% worked for more than 70 hours per week, where 46% worked overtime. The study reported that the working hours of workers per week in the Bataan Export Processing Zone were greater than the standard working hours of 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week (Mallari and Padilla).In conclusion, the Bataan Export Processing Zone was observed to have failed in creating sufficient opportunities of employment for the labor force in Mariveles, Bataan because of the limited capacity of enterprises to absorb the ever-increasing supply of labor in the area. The BEPZ, despite being momentarily able to generate adequate employment opportunities, has not catalyzed the growth of other economic activities in the region (Mallari and Padilla). The Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) and the Subic Bay Freeport Zone were creat ed by virtue of Republic Act No. 227, otherwise known as the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992. The act aimed to convert Clark and Subic U. S. military bases, together with their extensions and substations, into productive civilian and economic use of lands through the establishment of special economic zones (â€Å"Republic Act No. 7227). Similar to the performance of the Bataan Export Processing Zone, the Clark Special Economic Zone, despite having been able to continuously expand employment opportunities in Pampanga and increased the value of exports, has not proven to have generated substantial employment.The thousands of job opportunities provided for the labor supply in Pampanga is not significant in proportion with total employment of Pampanga (Mallari and Padilla). Cabatos 7 A study on the decisive factors in establishing enterprises in Subic concludes that investors opt to create businesses in Subic because of competitively-priced raw materials and the abundance of skilled and literate labor force (Go and Tatad). Add the incentives given to these enterprises and you get a multi-million dollar business enterprise booming in profit while compromising the benefits and quality of their labor force.How special then is the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995 and its SEZs? We recall that the goal for the enactment of this law and the creation of special economic zones is to take the Philippine industrialization scheme outside of Metro Manila, promote rural industrialization and the spur of economic activity in less urbanized regions, generate employment and ease the regional income inequality and the poverty gap among social classes. However, there seems to be a mishap, not on the law but on the implementation of the law.In policy, special economic zones promote balanced growth by spreading the industrialization in rural regions and SEZs are indisputably effective in promoting foreign and local investments in areas where they are located. Although S EZs have been established outside the National Capital Region, it is evident that a large number of these SEZs, especially the largest and most dynamic ones have been established in areas proximate to NCR and still leaving behind Visayas and Mindanao in the economic progress of Luzon.There have been improvements in the national regional income inequality but are largely due to changes in inequality between top ranking regions in Luzon (Clarete and Veron). Just how special is it then? Cabatos 8 China and other Asian countries have done it. Why haven? t we? Is it because of the law? No. It is because of the poor system that we have, a system driven by money and stained by corruption. And unless we start the change to a cleaner, more efficient and a better system, „special? would only be in the name of Republic Act No. 7916, not on Philippine society. Cabatos 9 Works Cited Aggarwal, Aradhna. Impact of Special Economic Zones on Employment, Poverty and Human Development. † Wo rking Paper. Indian Council for Reserch on International Economic Relations. May 2007. Web. 15 March 2013 Alejandro, Ethel P. and Roselie B. Tubeo. Clark Special Economic Zone: An Assessment of Costs and Benefits. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Diliman – School of Economics, October 1998. Print. Altbeker, Antony, Katie McKeown and Ann Bernstein. â€Å"Special Economic Zones: Lessons for South Africa from international evidence and local. † Centre for Development and Enterprise Round Table.Johannesburg, South Africa: The Centre for Development and Enterprise, June 2012. Web. 15 March 2013 Anderson, Eric Moltzau. Economic Implications of Clark and Subic. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Diliman – School of Economics, September 1996. Print. Beltran, Barbara and Ma. Lumen B. Isleta. The Establishment of Industrial Estates in the Philippines: an Inquiry into the Impact of Bataan Export Processing Zone on the Philippine Economy. Quezon City: Univ ersity of the Philippines Diliman – School of Economics, 18 March 1981. Print. Clarete, Kenneth Jordan M. nd Alvin F. Veron. Economic Zones and the Regional Income Inequality in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Diliman School of Economics, April 2009. Print. Cabatos 10 Farole, Thomas and Gokhan Akinci. Special Economic Zones: Progress, Emerging Challenges and Future Directions. Washington DC: The World Bank. 2011. Web. 16 March 2013 Go, Marie Fleurdeliz Uy and Maria Raissa Cantero Tatad. A Case Study on Foreign Investment in Philippine Special Economic Zones: The Analysis of the Factors Significant to Foreign Firms Investing in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.Quezon City: University of the Philippines Diliman – School of Economics, March 1995. Print. Inciong, Leslie M. and Ma. Joy Kathleen U. Rabago. An Evaluation of the Economic Performance of Two Hybrid Ecozones: Subic Bay Freeport and Calabarzon Growth Network. Quezon City: University of the P hilippines Diliman – School of Economics, 16 October 1998. Print. Mallari, Christine Mae G. and Mary Prudence H. Padilla. Employment Generation and Working Condition at Clark Special Economic Zone. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Diliman – School of Economics, 2000. Print. â€Å"Republic Act No. 7227. † 13 March 1992.Philippine Bases Conversion and Development Authority. 20 March 2013. Web. 20 March 2013 â€Å"Republic Act No. 7916. † 24 February 1995. Official Gazette. Web. 11 March 2013. â€Å"The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines . † 11 February 1987. Official Gazette. Web. 11 March 2013 Cabatos 11 Wang, Jin. â€Å"The Economic Impact of Special Economic Zones: Evidence from Chinese Municipalities. † Job Market Paper. London School of Economics. November 2009. Web. 13 March 2013 Yeung, Yue-man, Joanna Lee and Gordon Kee. China's Special Economic Zones at 30. The Chinese University of Hong Kong. 2009. Web. 19 March 2013.

Designing and Developing an e-Learning Course Research Paper

Designing and Developing an e-Learning Course - Research Paper Example Since the world is becoming a global community, a new world order has forced educational institutions to focus the curricula to meet the expectations of a heightened educational system. Based on these pressures, wise and thoughtful leadership is crucial to ensure curriculum decisions made are responsive to the changing demands of the education sector. Educators need a wide knowledge base regarding curriculum theory, inquiry, and development. Educators also need to understand the change processes that are set to meet the high requirements of education. Therefore, this course is designed to develop a foundation of decision making that blends the origins of education and curriculum with the currents needs and expectations in education. EDU 577 is designed to help students view, analyze and interpret the curriculum and related instructions of education institutions and develop relevant skills that may help bring change in society. EDU 577 is an e-learning course that will be taught fully online. Learners will be expected to complete assigned text readings from the main text and other online readings related to the course sequence of the selected curriculum topics. The course will be very participatory in nature. Teaching of the course will be in the form of curriculum topics in which the students will complete assigned activities under each topic. Students will conduct independent research and write paper or report at the end of the course. Students should interact, participate and contribute towards the success of the course. I. This course aims at helping the students explore the writings and arguments of various scholars and theorists in education. Such understanding will help examine the curricula from various perspectives III. The course aims at ensuring that the students refine their knowledge and analytical skills in understanding how the various components of instruction - curriculum, teacher, students

Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Project - Assignment Example The best possible ways to turn profit is by expanding their income streams and implement innovative tactics to enhance their businesses1.The competitive advantage of Australian Football League can be identified by sustainable competitive advantage and value chain method. Price- some of the successful football clubs from Australian Football League are West Coast Eagles, Essendon and Collingwood Football club. The application of effective pricing strategy is vital for successful sporting club2. According to AFL Premiership, the ticket prices for season 2013 were 2.50 Australian Dollars for junior, 12 Australian Dollars for concession and 20 dollars for adults. The Collingwood Football club is one of the biggest sporting clubs in Australian Football League. The club has innovative legends packaging system which costs around 2366 dollars for family and 864 dollars for adults. This pricing strategy of the club is based on providing supporters with guarantee access to all home and away games. Features- there are several features entertained by Australian Football League. The continuation of improvement in the education program of football players, revamped online video with conferences and highlights, upgrade of facilities and introduction of several memberships options such as three game per season membership and one game membership. Quality- the quality of facilities and weekly broadcasting of live Australian Football League on Fox Footy and Fox Sports has enhanced. The Australian Football League has acknowledged the backing from Swisse Quality Club Program. This program is designed to enhance operations of every club in the league at bronze, silver and gold level. Furthermore, the clubs has increased their focus on quality of training facilities. Image- the Australian Football League is viewed as one of the largest structured sporting associations in Australia. This league reaches diverse and large number of stakeholders, spectators and

Educational Web Portal's Use in the Study of Environmental Sciences Essay

Educational Web Portal's Use in the Study of Environmental Sciences - Essay Example While environmental science has gained a lot of attention of people in general and the educationalists in particular in the advanced economies, it remains a relatively neglected area of education in the third world countries primarily because there are several issues of much greater importance like poverty, hunger, violence, and terrorism that need to be solved before the people can pay attention towards the environment. Reduced emphasis of the government and the people in power on environmental sciences as an area of research and education restrains people’s access to the potential sources of information related to environmental sciences in the third world countries. In such circumstances, there is dire need of an online network that encapsulates all the required information about environmental sciences and one that is constantly upgraded and updated to make the latest findings and knowledge generated from the ongoing research and surveys in the advanced countries accessible to the interested learners in the third world countries. An educational web portal is a very effective tool to inculcate knowledge about the environmental science. People can connect with one another to form a learning community using the educational web portals. ... Educational web portals host research, lesson plans, and online course work, provides parents with a means to access the grades, monitor student outcomes, and satisfy the reporting standards established by the state. Educational web portals develop a common gateway to all the services and data that people need to share knowledge and jointly work on the environmental science projects. Educational web portals can be developed using such basic technologies as Windows Server and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. Rapid availability of these technologies and expertise in their use extends the investment’s value in the Microsoft technologies. Educational web portals help the people achieve different kinds of goals and tasks that include but are not limited to the development of online communities for collaboration among the learners, administrators and the subject experts. â€Å"Portals, when properly designed, increase both effectiveness and efficiency of an institution†¦[an d] can be used as an effective communication tool† (Popovic et al., 2005, p. 322). People can use the educational web portals to improve the sharing of best practices in the industry among the members of the community. Users of the educational web portals can access the institution’s resources whenever required. The online document libraries available on the educational web portals are constantly updated with latest research findings and important documents like conference proceedings. When educational web portals are implemented in schools, it provides several kinds of services including lunch ordering, and online class registration. Educational web portals use dashboards to display updated performance data of the students. Students can share information with the community members, school

International Marketing Plan ( The Argos entering the China market) Coursework

International Marketing Plan ( The Argos entering the China market) - Coursework Example One of such notable is the introduction of one child policy by the government in 1979. Another, significant change noted in 1997, when Hong Kong returned to the control of China. This has lead to a significant impact in the economy as well as in the culture of the region. However, through all the changes from the history of the nation, presently the nation has commanded as the second largest economy in the world. With regard to geographical scenario, the location of China is highly favourable to most of the foreign as it is located near to most of the nations. The nation is located in the South East Asia and along the costal lines of the Pacific Ocean. Thus, shipping from China is highly convenient to the international traders. As China is the largest nation in the world and having a vast land area the climate greatly differs throughout the nation. This enables China to have a varied temperature and rainfall throughout the nation. However, majority of the land area of the nation possess continental monsoon. Additionally, the winter season of the nation is mostly observed to be cold and dry while the summer is hot and rainy. Moreover, it is also important to note that China do not possess extreme climatic condition that discourages the investors. Topographically, China has higher altitudes in the western part while it has lower altitudes in the eastern region. It is observed that two third of the nation possess plateaus and mountains. However, it is also important to note that topographically the nation is not unfavourable that would discourage the investors. The topographical image of China is shown underneath. With the change in the economical structure of China, the nation has also undergone a significant change in the family structure. It is observed that majority of the people of the nation possess a nuclear family structure. This comprises of

Matrix Organisation Structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Matrix Organisation Structure - Essay Example Davis and Lawrence (1977) had defined matrix as, ‘any organisation that employs a multiple command system that includes not only a multiple command structure but also related support mechanisms and an associated organisational culture and behaviour patterns’ (qtd. by Miner, 2007; p.254). Such structure is adopted by organisations involved in complex nature of business or operations. For example, armed forces, construction industries, management consulting firms etc adopt matrix organisational structures. Matrix organisational structures are said to have evolved many decades ago; and the most quotable example is the result of President John F Kennedy demand that stated, ‘a man on the moon within ten years’ (Norton, 2007; p.82). As shown in the figure, under each function, managers responsible for various functions simultaneously report to the functional head as well as a project manager. Each project manager is responsible for similar or specific activities c arried out in each function. So, this is two-dimensional role for project managers as well as managers of specific function. It is generally opined that matrix structures are easier to be implemented in smaller organisations, but many large organisations have successfully adopted matrix organisational structures across the globe; few examples include Microsoft, Intel, BMW, Procter & Gamble (Galbraith, 2008). Galbraith asserts that matrix runs on social capital, personal networks and reasonable levels of trust (2008; p.209). Factors that impact success of matrix structure include organisational culture, leadership, communication, planning and coordination, and even HR practices. Huffmire and Holmes (2006) quote Intel as a perfect example stating, ‘Intel has a matrix organisation structure on top of a divisional on top of a functional organisation structure, yet it works, because Intel has a culture of excellent team work (p.64). Secondly, strong leadership at the top of matrix structure is extremely important because the most common issue that surfaces matrix structure include conflicting interests and approaches by equally competent and expert personnel. Leaders should be able to build trust and gain acceptance by all team members. Leaders’ knowledge and expertise are required for providing training and infrastructure to sustain the matrix. Leaders’ role is crucial in managing power distribution and goal and role clarity. Role of communication in matrix structure is at various levels such as formal and informal communication as well as cross-functional coordination. For example, BMW adopts cross-functional career development practices that facilitate movement of people upwards and lateral in order to improve their interpersonal network and informal communication (Galbraith, 2008). From planning and coordination perspective, matrix structures require alignment of goals of different functions with organisational goals. To achieve this, matrix organisations follow a joint goal setting processes and effective joint planning activities. In matrix organisations, all human resource practices foster team working culture, as seen in Goldman Sachs (Galbraith, 2008). Matrix organisation

No topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 11

No topic - Essay Example The terminals are strapped on as belt packs connected to a headset during voice operations, while also scanning bar codes and carrying out applications on the screen. Products are moved to carts from shelving and flow racks. There are about 20 totes in the carts that are utilized for the gathering of particular orders. The workers are guided to the specific location that the product is stored by the Jennifer system. The worker then communicates a check digit in order to confirm that this is the right location. The Jennifer system then advices the worker on the number of items to be picked and their specific loading tote position on the cart. This ensures picking accuracy that is accurate. The SI system provides software, which increases profitability, accuracy, and productivity via the optimization of distribution operations. It allows companies to maximize on efficiency for all the distribution centre’s picking systems. It does this via real time analysis of the storage and system for picking up in the building. It also determines each product’s proper technology and its optimal placing that will ensure the greatest productivity and efficiency. The system decreases walk time, eliminates bottlenecks, allows for increased labour effectiveness, and creates flexibility in operations and increases throughput. The slotting strategy reduces up to 50% of walk time, translating into increased savings on labour. DC Xcellerator is not only operated by a warehouse management system (Laudon & Carol 46). The system requires; the product information, the characteristics of the order, and the system for storage and picking available in the company building. A list is then generated that shows the moves to be made for slot products to reach the peak efficiency. A major advantage for the program is the minimal capital investment and dedication from the staff at the IT

Saddams rule in Iraq Essay Example for Free

Saddams rule in Iraq Essay In text A, the war is represented as having to have exploited Iraq by the Americans; also the reader accuses Britain of having the same mentality as America and Britain are both allies. This is particularly evident in the same oil companies that used to exploit Iraq when it was a British colony are now returning the Iraq war was all about oil. The modal auxiliary verb was in the past tense makes the writer sound knowledgeable and certain that this was the case and also implies that it was not unexpected from the two super powers, commenting on how they are now returning. The verb exploited and the adverbial of manner used to creates sympathy towards Iraq showing how it has already suffered and been taken advantage of by the allies before. The writer then quotes that a US Federal Chairman, recently admitted. The verbal process verb admitted shows that even parties who are amongst the USA government acknowledge their greedy reasons behind the war on Iraq. The writer used this point to further more persuade that the war was a pointless decision. All three texts refer to Saddams rule in Iraq in correlation to the cause of war in Iraq. Text A expresses how Saddams rule in Iraq was for the benefit of his people and the writer does not blame Saddams dictatorship for Americas invasion of Iraq. Text B, shows a strong opinion against Saddams sadistic regime. Whereas, Text C refers to Saddams regime to be the main cause of war against Iraq. Eric Margolis in Text A, refers to Saddams rule as the benefit of Iraqs national development. The abstract noun benefit ties in with the larger theme of the article Iraq was in a well and stationary position before it was invaded, representing the war on Iraq in a negative way as it almost proves how there was no humane reason for war. However this shows the narrow-mindedness of the writer as Text A offers no criticism of how Saddam tortured his people under his dictatorship, or even explain in what way it increased Iraqs national development. Text B uses the evaluative adjectives tyrannical and sadistic to describe Saddams regime in Iraq. By representing it in this way, the article makes the American forces almost heroic because of their efforts to eliminate him. In Text C, it states how the main goal of the invasion of Iraq was to undermine Saddam Husseins ability to wage war, again using Saddams dictatorship of Iraq as a main reason to war, emphasising the importance and positives of the war. In this simple sentence the word war is first used, as the subject of the sentence is Saddam Hussein, showing how war is only associated with him and not the Americans. To make Saddams actions sound more aggressive the dynamic verb is used to create the alliteration wage war. The three texts use similar methods to represent the war on Iraq in the way that they want to. All three articles are heavily biased, which means one could argue that there could be lack of reasoning behind some of their points. They are also all trying to challenge the representations of the war, both positive and negative. Text A, portrays the war as having no backbone other than greed for oil by the Americans, persuading the reader that this is the ugly truth. Text B, tries to gain some sympathy towards American troops instead of the real victims of the American war against Iraq; however emphasising the good aspects the war on Iraq will bring such as liberating people from Saddams sadistic regime. Text B, uses rhetorical persuasive linguistic features to change the minds of people who are against the war on Iraq by convincing the audience that war on Iraq only has advantages.

Differences between Internet and World Wide Web

Differences between Internet and World Wide Web The general belief is that Internet and World Wide Web in one and the same thing and in common parlance these two terms are being used interchangeably. However, in reality these two are totally different matters though they are intimately and irrevocably interdependent. In every establishment like banks, commercial offices, educational and research institutions and any other organisation employing multiple computers, they have a network among their computers so that data and information can be exchanged within the computers hooked up with that network. Such situations are said to be a networked one and the computers can be interchangeably used. Internet is a network of many such networks all over the globe. They enable networks to â€Å"talk† within themselves and benefit from one another. It is actually one massive network spread all across the world where people can access other networks. It transmits data in packets all over to its constituent sub-networks which is available almost everywhere now. It is governed by a definite set of rules and laws which is known as Internet Protocol (IP) which enables the internet to provide information and services in the form of e-mail, file transfers, chat programs to name a few. Fig: Internet and WWW process. Now internet essentially is a huge network and therefore consists of a big collection of hardware items like many networking devices, copper wires, fibre optic cables and in some cases wireless connectivity. On the other hand World Wide Web is to be understood as the software part. In a PC there are the hardware components like key board, RAM, ROM, Hard Disk etc and there is also an Operating System which keeps the computer operational by enforcing some definite discipline for coordinating the activities. The World Wide Web is a collection of various web pages connected through hyperlinks and URLs. Thus World Wide Web is one of the services provided by the internet. Another way to distinguish between Internet and World Wide Web is the use of protocol system or suite. This is a collection of strict rules and regulations followed by both. As stated earlier internet uses IP which handles transmission in packets; the World Wide Web follows the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (known popularly as HTTP) which handles the linking of documents, files and many other resources of the World Wide Web. Thus in World Wide Web there is no hardware coming into play and it is all software, internet is a combination of hardware and software over which the World Wide Web is positioned. Actually as the figure depicts the internet is meant to connect networks and computers but the World Wide Web is meant to connect people i.e. the users. Difference between E-business and the traditional business: E-business is essentially business conducted with the help of the internet. It is also called E Commerce since many commercial transactions of yesteryear which were being done manually is now handled through the computer which not only makes the working more efficient but also more effective. Ituses the application of information and communication technologies for conducting the various activities ofbusiness like calling for tenders, receiving bids, making contacts with specific and targeted customer groups and the list is unending. Any business involves the exchange of products and services between individual businesses or simple between customers and suppliers. In the process extensive use of the internet is made and all actions which were previously being done by humans are now conducted electronically over the internet. In the traditional business the customer needed to execute most of the jobs by a variety of complicated but interlinked manual actions. Take the case of procurement. In order to procure any item the purchaser had to first short list the probable vendors and send out enquiries to them asking them to bid their best price and terms for executing the supply. After getting the offers the purchaser would have to see if the supplier was offering the correct material and at what price. A comparative chart of the offered prices had to be made manually and there after the best and most suitable offer would be selected for placement of order. Under E-Business the entire process boiled down to just sending out mails to intending suppliers asking them to give their best rates within a specified time. After the specific time got past the bid gets closed and the software makes out the comparative statement within a moment. There is no scope for deviation in the specification and even if the vendor is offering a better product at a higher price then too, that gets bypassed. The decision making is much faster and accurate since the computer cannot be bribed into making a faulty comparative statement which was a menace in the traditional method. On the flip side there is another story to tell. Since the internet is extensively used in e-business the chance of unscrupulous people – hackers – coming in to disturb the process. Hence precaution needs to be taken to ensure that the offers are from genuine suppliers and that too is free of all malicious intentions. E-Business involves much greater security hazards and risks compared to traditional methods of doing business and hence e-business users need to take adequate protection against these risks and hazards. Since, comparatively a much larger number of people (who have internet facility) have access to e-businesses the confidentiality of the transactions which was possible under the traditional manual system is lost in e-business. The major security concerns for e-businesses are in the areas of confidentiality and authenticity of data together with data integrity. E-marketplaces: E-marketplaces came into being after the internet became a very efficient and well developed platform for exchange of information. E-marketplace is a VIRTUAL marketplace where, like any other market, buyers and sellers can ‘meet’ and discuss, bargain and eventually settle a deal. The users are not aware where the actual hub is located but they know that this web based market is easily accessible to any serious seller or buyer. As just mentioned the E-marketplace is a web based information system which enables the buyer to interact with multiple suppliers and at the same time a suppliers can approach multiple prospective buyers for business. The E-marketplace takes the help of Internet technologies, its protocols and standards to disseminate data on goods and services and at the same time facilitate online transactions. No market is complete without its most visible group of people called ‘middlemen’. These people – usually called ‘brokers’ – call themselves ‘intermediaries’ in the e-marketplace and match the buyers with sellers to enable them to negotiate further and settle the deal. Usually they maintain a neutral position which ensures the building up of trust among the participants. They also lend support during some difficult transaction phases which facilitates the operations of such marketplace. They are ever trying to increase the number of users i.e. buyers and sellers in the e-marketplace. The most significant part of e-marketplace is the net benefit coming to both the buyers and the sellers. Seen by the transaction cost economics view, information technology helps to reduce transaction costs, risks, and coordinating costs of e-marketplaces. The cost of locating a suitable and competent supplier is negligible since the hunting is done on the internet. In traditional method the process is not only lengthy but also highly complicated and prone to errors. E-marketplaces can be seen either as a horizontal or a vertical marketplace. The horizontal marketplace handles a specific function (e.g. recruitment, tax advisory, auto-spares) and serves multiple customers in various industries, and a vertical marketplace concentrates on a spectrum of functions for any specific industry, e.g. chemicals, pharmaceuticals or steel. The strategic implications of the e-marketplace is that such a system is capable of reducing the costs required to be incurred by the customer for obtaining information about the quality, price, terms of payments and delivery schedules of product offers of a number of suppliers. Similarly the costs to be incurred by the supplier for communicating or transmitting information about their quality, prices and delivery schedules together with terms of payments etc. to additional prospective customers is also minimised. It is evident that the benefits enjoyed by buyer or seller in an e-marketplace increase exponentially as larger number of organizations come and join the system. It offers significant economies of scale to the participants. With all the aforesaid benefits there are some areas of concern. It requires large capital investments, participants face substantial uncertainty and above all the exit process is often very costly.

Etiology of Substance Abuse

Etiology of Substance Abuse â€Å"Drugs are a bet with your mind.† (Jim Morrison). People start taking drugs by their own choice. In early stages they feel stress-free and euphoric but as life goes on they start getting dependent on it and face difficulty to depart it from their lives. A true feelings and perceptions which abuser has for them are â€Å"I am sick and tired of being known as an addict.† (Arun et al.2004). To live with these perceptions are challenging but to abandon drugs is even more challenging for them. According to (DSM-IV), â€Å"Substance use disorders are now defined as maladaptive patterns of substance use leading to inability to control, use despite significant consequences†. According to National Institute of Drug Abuse (2014), Substance abuse has a lot of effects on society and cause deaths. Use of substance abuse in adolescent, adults and elderly people is creating problem to fulfill their responsibilities and its consequence are very much destructive. According to Annual prevalence of drug use in Pakistan (2012) as cited in UNODC (2013), an expected 5.8 percent of the people in Pakistan utilized illicit substances in the previous 12 months. 11 % of substance utilization was present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 6.5 % of substances used in Sindh and 8.5 % of illicit substances used in Punjab. Substance abuse is referred as terrible deed as it violets societal standards and values by accelerating savage acts. This topic has a huge impact on individual lives, socioeconomic status, health care system and their psychology. Moreover in my clinical rotation, I encounter 25 years old lady being hospitalized for attempt to suicide. During our discussion, she confesse s that her husband is a substance abuser since 2 years and despite the fact she was pregnant, her husband beats him so badly that her baby abort. As this incident touches my heart which endorse me to write about this topic. This paper would profit the readers in a manner especially to those individuals who are indulge in substance abuse so they will know what elements cause substance abuse and how its perilous impacts effects on their lives. It will also talk about, what therapies individuals can approach to depart illicit substances from their lives. Some individuals are at higher risk of substance enslavement. No single variable can anticipate dependence on substance abuse. According to the recent Drug Use in Pakistan Technical Summary Report (2013), â€Å"an estimated 6 ·45 million (5 ·8%) people aged15–64 years in Pakistan used plant-based or synthetic drugs, or prescription drugs for non-medical purposes in the past 12 months†. (pp.2153). Alternately, there are a few causes that make an individual more inclined to it. The etiology of substance abuse in youth is divided into three classes i.e. Familial, Social, and Individual. Familial factors include childhood mal-treatment in which children could have physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect by parents so they grope dismissed and end into substance abusive behavior. According to Whitesell et al. (2013), â€Å"29% of children who experienced maltreatment participating in some level of substance†. (p.3). Additionally if any family member is abusin g drugs in front of child so they imitate same behavior as they perceive parents their role model. Research shown that parental substance abuse increases genetic predisposition for substance use disorder (Dunn et al. 2002). In my opinion parental training plays an essential part in guiding child about substance abuse matters and lack of education can incline a child for substance abuse. Other factors are marital status of parents, child perception that parents approve of their substance use. (Whitesell et al, 2013). Social elements that may include deviant peer relationship in which adolescence joins those gatherings who uses illicit substances. Teenagers who experience childhood in unsteady community conditions are really less vulnerable to deviant peer relationship. (Whitesell et al, 2013). In my opinion individuals affiliate themselves with distinctive gatherings and they imagine that utilizing substances make them popular. Research also supports that youths who classify themselves as famous have indicated to have expanded predominance of substance utilization when contrasted with those who dont recognize themselves† (Whitesell et al, 2013). According to Taylor et al. (2009), bulling is related to substance abuse behavior. 12 % individuals who suffered from bulling experienced life time use of alcohol. (Taylor et al, 2009). There are many individual factors that end up in substance abuse. One of them is depression; it encompasses feelings of sadness, pain, despair, or anger. In my opini on people use to abuse substances to cope from depression but it is also as vice versa because after usage of drugs depression cans occur. According to shafiq et al. (2006), In Pakistan 65% can lead depression I have seen many people in my community who are using illicit drugs because they feel that drugs can alleviate their stressful feelings. Transition of individual from adolescence to young, middle and older adult hood has increases burden in everyday life. Life stressors like financial burden, loss of job and poverty may trigger the use of illicit substances. According to Drug Abuse Master Plan (2010-2014), â€Å"In Pakistan 32 % of the opioid users were unemployed in the past six months† (p.7). People with mental problems also suffered from substance abuse problems. Research suggests that about 50 % of the individuals with psychiatric issues likewise experience the substance abuse problem. (chrome et al., 2009). Substance abuse has a lot of devasting impacts on abusers lives. They can be divided in to three domains i.e. physically, socially and psychologically. Physical impacts are, as abusers use syringes for administration of drugs and due to lack of syringes they apply contaminated syringes on each other which make them vulnerable to blood borne diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. As study also supported that, In Pakistan73% people uses same syringes as there more syringes are not available. (UNODC, 2013). High risk sexual behaviors are observed among drug abusers i.e. un- protected sex which leads to further sexually transmitted disease i.e. In Pakistan â€Å"36% reported having sex with those clients who are HIV positive†. (UNODC, 2013). As drugs impact our central nervous system so it causes different psychological impacts like anxiety in which people have feeling of uneasiness and disturbance in sleep is also common. Substance abuser can suffer from different mood disorders like bipolar disorder. According to moal et al. (2007), Study has revealed that more or less 35% of addicts met lifetime criteria for a mood issue and 45% for an anxiety issue. Substance abuser also suffers from aggression. (Moal et al. 2007). There are many social impacts of substance abuse. In my opinion Isolation can be one of them and on the other hand, absence of acknowledgement from society additionally makes them evade social collaborations. As I have observe in my community that couples fighting is very common and it can further cause separation. Usually people indulge themselves in so much addicted behaviors so they lose their jobs and financial burden increases. According to Angres et al. (2008), Substance abuse negatively impacts public safety, reduces workers, productivity, and contributes to higher healthcare costs, premature deaths, and disability. (pp.696).Abusers have risky behaviors which also detoriate their health. Prendergast (2009) affirms that substance abusers are involved in different criminal acts. Generally individuals crave for drugs and to satisfy their need they involved in criminal acts like robbery so they can purchase their drugs. Leisure et al, (2007) affirms that drug abusers are usually involve in gambling which increases financial burden. In substance abuse relapse is commonest among individuals. According to yaqub (2013), â€Å"Studies have revealed that the relapse rate in Pakistan is around 90%†. In theory brain reward mechanism in which addictive substances trigger brain reward circuit which in turn initiate certain behaviors. The effects of these abusive drugs on mesolimbic dopaminergic system are very serious and associated with creating rewarding effects. If this system does not work properly so it may create certain addictive properties. Dopamine expands extracellular; focus overriding the control of motivated and objective regulated behavior, which motivates them to take drugs. Certain medications are known to alter dopamine discharge and reuptake which modify reward system and increases uptake and relapse. (Eps et al. 2012). The congnitive behavior model of relapse tells about the high risk situations in which person is prone to have relapsed. He describe eight categories like how person interact with different people (â€Å"affect, coping, self-efficacy, outcome expectancies†) and certain environmental factors like (â€Å"asses to drugs, cue exposure and society influence†). It depend on individual that how he cope with these situations and it depend on him whether he uses substances or not. If individual decided and involve in substance abuse so they may suffer from AVE (Abstinence violation effect). AVE includes two things one affective response, in which person feels embarrassed and disgrace because he thinks he is responsible for this and second is cognitive domain which is based on attributional therapy, in which person perceived that this lapse is due to my personal factor and I cannot control them so he may have greater chances of relapse and if he thinks that it happens because of external factor and I can control it so relapse chances are deceased. (Marlatt and Witkiewitz, 2007). On my clinical I have encounter patient 15 years old with relapse of substance abuse. He verbalized me that he had left substance abuse for 3 months but because it was easily available and my friends influenced him so he took drugs and end up in relapse. If we related it to cognitive therapy of relapse environmental factors influence him to end up in relapse which created feeling of guilt and embarrassment It is recommended that government should arrange certain awareness programs on substance abuse. Not only have that media played vital role in substances promotion so government should band those advertisement. Government should create certain institutions and build certain rehabilitation centers in community which are in reasonable cost. More over certain therapies can help patient to quit substance abuse .These therapies are : In Motivational enhancement therapy, counseling approach is used and attempts to modify the behavior of substance abusers. MET is derived from Trans theoretical Model of Change. In this model counselor tend to change person behavior by five levels. In first level of Precontemplation individual does not consider his/her behavior problematic and don’t try to change it. In level two Contemplation people consider his challenging and think to modify it. In third level Preparation, person in this stage plans for a particular change. They assess and select measures for behavioral change. Another level is Action; in which individual is modify his behavior. The last level is maintenance in which individual try to maintain his new behavior and try to adjust new behavior in his surroundings. (Prochaska et al, 1992). Contingency Management Therapies is based on operant conditioning which was proposed by skinners in which desire behavior is achieved by reward and punishment. The positive behavior which have given reward will be more likely to repeat for example when client has positive behavior so we can provide different gifts and voucher and if undesirable behavior exist so punishment should be there. (Carroll onken, 2005). Moreover with therapies we can likewise provide certain interventions. Substance abuse is a problem which cant drive away instantly and it requires significant time for individual to recuperate from it. At community level we can take some measures to prevent substance abuse. According to National Institute of Drug Abuse, you have to develop a community plan in which the first step is â€Å"Assessment†. In assessment we will identify the population who are abusers and who are at risk for becoming abusers like people with low- economic status. In second step is â€Å"Build† we will try to identify resources for example we need for different awareness programs in community. Than third we will build â€Å"Short term goals† than after achieving short term goals we will run projects and simultaneously observe efficacy of preventive plan. According to National Institute of Drug Abuse affirms that Family-based preventive projects ought to strong family attachment and con nections examining and uses different family approaches to alleviate on substance abuse. In conclusion substance abuse is tremendously common issue among individuals. There are numerous reasons which are responsible for substance abuses in youth are familial, social and individual factors. As Age progresses, the risk of consumption of substances in adults also increases. The reasons behind substance abuse in adults are unemployment, poverty, traumatic events and any psychiatric problem. Substance abuse has a considerable amount of negative impacts physically, socially and psychologically. Even after treatment, some individuals again end up with state of relapse. Cognitive behavior therapy of relapse tells us about the risk factors that lead relapse. Some more therapies like motivational enhancement therapy and contingency Management Therapies help us to modify behavior of substance abusers. In my opinion we can develop insight in abusers and can modify their behavior. I would like to end up with quotation â€Å"Addiction should never be treated as a crime. It has to be treated as a health problem†. (Ralph Nader).

play review :: essays research papers

Play Review   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"COPS† When I found out that I had to attend theater Play’s [plays] for class I was looking forward to attending them. I told my wife that I had to attend and she had to go with me. Since I was not too excited about going to a play I let my wife pick out the play.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We decided to see â€Å"COPS† at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood. The two main characters are undercover Chicago police officers. They would always come to the diner early in the morning and tell stories of there experiences in the police department. But this particular night was going to be different from any other night. As we proceeded to enter the theater we walked up a flight of stairs to the second floor of the theater. As I entered the theater I was surprised how small it was. The stage was set up as a diner in City of Chicago in the 1970’s at approximately two in the morning. The diner consisted of a working stove, frying area, and all the working restaurant equipment. As I walked into the theater I noticed one of the actors standing by the stove cooking what appeared to be bacon. The smell of bacon filled the air. The cook, was also playing the part of the owner of the diner, was interacting with the waitress like we did not even exist. As I was seating and waiting for the performance to begin I was looking at the stage area and was very impressed to the detail they put into the set. The set was a small area with about five tables, 4 bar stools, and wood panel walls. I noticed their [there] where [were] three actors on stage: the waitress, the cook, and a customer reading a newspaper and eating his omelet. The lighting was art deco design with fluorescent round balls that hung below the ceiling. The door opened in the diner, an actor walked into the diner drenched in water. I could hear the sound effects of the rain. The actor sat on one of the bar stools in the counter. The door opened again and there was one of the main characters of the play. This character was one of the undercover police officer’s [officers] that was a regular at the diner. This actor gave a great performance. His interaction with the other actors was, as they really were not acting at all.

Changing Views of The Chorus in Sophocles Antigone :: Antigone essays

Changing Views of The Chorus in Antigone    The chorus, a group of common people who follow the actions of the play Antigone, waver in their support of either Antigone or Creon, depending on their actions during a particular part of the story-line.   Early in the play it is evident that they are extremely pro-Creon, but a short time later they seem to sway into the direction of Antigone and support her actions.   This incongruency about the them, however, was an extremely interesting feature of this Sophocles drama, causing the reader to question the reliability of the chorus.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The opening lines from the chorus merely inform the reader about the war which had just taken place between Thebes and Argos.   Their last lines of this opening choral passage, however, introduced king Creon, making him seem quite noble yet mysterious to his loyal subjects.   They state such questions as:   " what new plan will he launch?" and "Why this sudden call to the old men summoned at one command?" (Lines 175-178) These lines are utilized by Sophocles as   a suspenseful introduction to Creon's orders concerning the body of Polynices.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The chorus's next appearance blatantly shows their biased attitudes against Antigone and her exiled father Oedipus.   At this point they still sing praise for King Creon and his unwavering decisions concerning the law which was placed upon the city regarding the body of Polynices:   "When he weaves in the laws of the land, and the justice of the gods that binds his oaths together, he and his city rise high--but the city casts out that man who weds himself to inhumanity thanks to reckless daring.   Never share my hearth never think my thoughts, whoever does such things." (Lines 409-416)   In my opinion the man laying down the law here is Creon and Antigone is the "man" wedding herself to inhumanity.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The next major choral address is a turning point regarding their attitude towards Antigone.   At this point they are actually feeling pity towards the rebellious young woman:   "But now, even I'd rebel against the king. I'd break all bounds when I see this-- I fill with tears, can't hold them back not any more. . . I see Antigone make her way to the bridal vault where all are