Applied Ethics free essay sample

To begin with, we have to point out that under which situation is permissible to use animals for human sake. We believe we can only use animals when it exerts constructive and affirmative influence to human beings which means it might save lives and enhance the quality of living on a general basis and most importantly, when there is no existing alternative. Using animals medically for human sake is morally permissible and justified and will be illustrated in a moment. Even though we do agree that animals have moral sense and value like Frey’s view â€Å"animals have moral standing and so are members of the moral community and . . . their lives have value. † , we still think it is morally permissible to use animals for experimentation. Nowadays, human is the one that dominant and the main character in the world, therefore we agree Frey’s view â€Å"human lives, on average, have â€Å"a higher value than the lives of most animals. We will write a custom essay sample on Applied Ethics or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † Although animals also have the moral standing and value, the life of human is more important than animals in our common sense. It is impossible for human to use human in the experimentation when there is other creature similar to human body structure. Also, the reason of using animals in experimentation is to explore new medical methods to enhance the living standard of human life. It is contradictive to require human not to use animals instead of human in the experimentation. Under this circumstance, using animals for medical purpose is acceptable. However, when using animals, human must consider animals’ suffer during the experimentation, human need to do as much as possible to reduce animals’ suffer in order to respect animals’ sacrifice. Nevertheless, Frey’s view that because of human arrogance, therefore human think they are superior to animals and use animals medically for human sake is not reasonable. The reason of human using animals in experimentation is that there is no other method to do the research about gene, cell, etc. Human can only obtain results by testing animals. If there is â€Å"sense of arrogance† in human, then there should be no animal testing regulations like â€Å"3Rs principle† by William M. S. Russell in the world. In fact, for those countries which having the animals testing, they all have the regulations like controlling the number of times individual animals may be used. No matter the regulations are perfect or not, it is obvious that human is not holding the sense of arrogance when using animals. Otherwise, human would not set up those regulations to reduce the degree of suffering of animals. Although the majority of human beings hold the speciesism view, it exists in the kingdom of animals too. There is a gap between each species of animals. Animals occupy different level of morality. The â€Å"higher† animals will hunt the â€Å"lower† animals in order to survive. It is a natural phenomenon and rationale. Then, human utilize animals for experimentation not because they discriminate or look down on other species, but it comes with the sake that human want to survive, therefore they use animals. The opponents would challenge that under any situation, humans’ pain should not be built on animals’ well-being. Humans also have no reason to say that saving human life is in the priority of the live of animals. In this case, animals also should not use plants to heal wound when they are injured since animals do not have the right to use the plants in the purpose of remedy. Then, it means human can only utilize human in any case, and this principle should be also applied in animals and plants when each species do not own the right to use other species for any reason. If this assumption is wrong, then opponents cannot argue that human build their happiness on animals’ pain when there is no choice for human to study new medical method. Besides, there are only organisms and non- organisms on the planet, when human cannot use non- organism for scientific purpose, humans can merely use living organism other than human in the experimentation for medical purpose. In view of scientists, experiments involving animals use for medical purpose is unavoidable at many stages. While the possibility of arising and inventing other substitute to replace animals remains relatively low, options other than the use of animals are rather impossible. To replace animals with humans for medical use at early stage is impossible as confined by FDA( Food and Drug Association), for example, drug development. Two major steps are involved which are, firstly, the preclinical development and later one clinical trials. While preclinical development is to conduct research and laboratory tests on animals and organisms, clinical trials is collect data on safety and efficiency of a new-developed drug with health intervention for humans. The sequence of performing the aforementioned two steps cannot be reversed in order to ensure a satisfactory level of safety and effectiveness of the drug for humans. Humans possess a significantly more complex health system than animals do. An outsider does not easily comprehend how difficult it is to avoid zero mistakes for humans after taking new drugs. That’s why, in case humans substitute animals for medical tests, the development and the discovery of a new drug needs several decades to be completed as scientists potentially bear the risk to kill a person, however, not a save a person. A scientist bears the duty to avoid the animals in the laboratory tests to suffer needlessly pain, for example, to help a rabbit heal more quickly. When an animal gets involved in a test or experiment, it is highlighted that that animal must not necessarily to be killed. Sometimes, animals were needed to extract vaccine for further culture or even for observations only. That’s why it is stressed that the severity of using animals for experiment might not be as bad as others suggested. The possibility of technological assimilation remained very low. While the current medical technology is advancing at an unanticipated level, a complete substitution of animals test with computers software is infeasible. A human biological system is extremely sophisticated with altogether 12 complex body systems cooperating with each other. It is unworkable to utilize computer software, equations and formulas to assimilate the respond of real human beings. Another critical reason to use animals for laboratory test is the significantly shorter life cycle of animals. Humans usually share the similar life cycle duration of approximately 80 years of time, varying between races, thus it is not difficult to come up with an easy question: how long we need to wait to obtain the satisfactory level of influence of drugs? On a general basis, scientists need at least or around ten years of time to develop a new drug with assistance of animals laboratory tests. Perhaps a scientist need to develop the drug or technique with the rest of his/her life in case the animals use is forbidden. To further illustrate above reasoning, preclinical tests can be taken on living objects which means dead object like computers are not included. Living objects are required for observation and collecting real data. Their esponse towards a drug or treatment‘s influence will be explored and studied to further manipulate the dose or to ameliorate the formula. Without such crucial information, further steps in developing a new drug will be enormously hindered. It has been argued that animals and humans possess a vast degree of dissimilarity, as a result, the use of animals for medical research may lead to inaccuracy and doubtful reliability. The later stages of development might even cause irreversible tragedies, such as toxicity and complications in humans. However, scientists and laboratory technicians, at this stage of biotechnology, already possess the knowledge to differentiate what kinds of animals to use for particular aim of a medical research, for example, invertebrates should not be used for developing drugs for human as diseases in invertebrates are very different from humans. Hence, concerns for misusing animals for lab tests and inaccuracy should be eliminated. Reduction in numbers involving animals’ tests, however, should be highlighted. The refinement and alleviation of suffering of animals brought by lab tests are being endorsed and advocated. It is generally agreed that the needlessly pain experienced by animals should be completely avoided as human’s medical advancement should not be built on animals’ suffering. For a human to ensure a animal test being carried out justifiably, extra considerations should be given to alleviate one’s pain during the test, for instance, after the extraction of vaccine from rabbit, medicine could be dispensed for the sake of quick healing and avoid infection. To conclude, sacrificing animals for medically reason is unavoidable at this stage of technology. Focus should be shifted to enhancing the quality of living and preserving the dignity of animals as a whole. Striking a balance will be a lesson to explore in the future. In light of a foreseeable medical advancement, using animals for human sake is ethically permissible and warranted.

Language Maintenance, Language Death Essay

Language Maintenance, Language Death Essay Language Maintenance, Shift, and Death Sociology Essay Language Maintenance, Shift, and Death Sociology Essay Language is a complex phenomenon, which unites all human beings and impacts their cognitive and communication processes. The ability to communicate with complex signals, which are incorporated in various languages, significantly differentiates humans from other types of living beings on the planet. Apparently, language factor is one of the most important features for any civilization. The reason for this assumption is that language fosters cognitive processes and enables operation with complex and abstract notions. Moreover, the ability to communicate with the help of advanced language systems allows transforming abstract notions into more concrete objects. Thus, enhanced abstract and concrete thinking together with communication enables to create such societies and conditions for their living as cities. Consequently, numerous sciences study the phenomenon of language aiming at defining its basic concepts, systemic features, and other aspects. Currently, it is the object of interest for psychology, linguistics, sociology, history, and other branches of science including their broad range of narrower sub-branches. Furthermore, current reality and history of languages show that they undergo different processes, which include changes in their lexis and systemic structure. Among the most significant aspects demonstrating these processes are language maintenance, language shift, and language death. Thus, this paper investigates these phenomena characterizing them and giving specific examples for them. It is evident that language maintenance, language shift, and language death are the most significant aspects for sociolinguistics. Their analysis would enhance the general understanding of their role for sociolinguistics as well as for such branches as cognitive psychology and history of languages. The Phenomenon of Language Before characterizing the processes, which influence the development and the decay of language systems, one has to characterize the language phenomenon generally and from the position of sociolinguistics. Thus, the language is a systemic phenomenon, which involves the usage of different signs in terms of social agreement. Malathi (2015) defines language as â€Å"the communicative means of man, which plays a great part in our life and distinguishes man from the animals.† Moreover, the scholar claims that any current language is the result of the historical movement, and it changes throughout thousands of years (Malathi, 2015). The amount of languages in the world is constantly changing because of social and other interactive reasons. In the contemporary world, it is estimated that there are about 7,000 different languages with 90% of them used by less than 100,000 people (â€Å"Languages of the world – Interesting facts about languages†, 2014). What is more, schol ars indicate that about 46 languages have only one speaker whereas the majority of humanity speaks about 150-200 languages. The reasons for such statistics vary, but they are inevitably connected with the phenomena of language maintenance, shift, and death. Each language is characterized by structure and its vocabulary filling. Studies indicate that the most part of languages have similar grammatical structure even if they significantly differ in terms of vocabulary and are spoken on different continents (â€Å"Languages of the world – Interesting facts about languages†, 2014). One of the critical aspects of any language is its ability to change depending on various internal and external factors. Language changes occure constantly and involve its every level, which may include phonetic, graphic, lexical, grammatical, and other issues (Malathi, 2015). In their turn, language studies can be performed by means of comparing related but different languages existing at the s ame period of time. Likewise, language studies may focus on historical context comparing one language to another throughout their different stages of historical development. It is evident that many changes in languages reflect their general tendency for the development of more abstract and universal systems (Malathi, 2015). Thus, language maintenance, shift, and even death are the results of this tendency aiming at reaching versatility of the peculiar language system. Language Maintenance and Language Shift First, there is a need for the characteristics of language maintenance and language shift, as they are one of the basic aspects, which characterize any language system. Thus, the studying of these issues is connected with the relationship between the change of stability in habitual language use and ongoing psychological, social, and cultural processes (Fishman, 2013). Subsequently, language maintenance is the factor, which preserves a system of a particular language in its stable state and restrains the influence of exterior factors. Despite the fact it is impossible to completely bypass any of the exterior changes, it preserves the core of the language system allowing it to function without significant transformations. A peculiar feature of contemporary linguistics is that is puts particular stress on the social, political, cultural, and linguistic phenomena of heritage language maintenance and loss (Gonzalez, 2015). The reason for this is that the modern world has a variety of comm unities, which are characterized by the coexistence of the speakers of different languages. Therefore, there is a danger of losing identity of any particular language because of such active interaction. As characterized by the scholars, the exposure of the discussed phenomena may be observed in the case of coexistence of two linguistically distinguishable populations in contact (Malathi, 2015). Consequently, constant interaction causes the speakers to adopt peculiar grammar structures or lexemes, thus shifting the identity of their language. One of the examples studying the phenomena of language maintenance and shift explores the existence of the Slovenian minority group in one of the regions in northern Italy. Thus, as it was explored by the study of Jagodic (2011), the investigated processes among the Slovenian speakers revealed a persistent degree of language shift. As it was reported by the author, â€Å"the analysis of the language use patterns among the Slovenian community me mbers, presented in the first section, has clearly revealed a slow, yet progressive advancing of the processes of the shift towards the use of the Italian language.† The implications of this study advise the community members about establishing activities aimed at language maintenance within the targeted community. Moreover, it is evident that similar investigations addressing the issues of language maintenance and language shift indicate the fact that minor language communities are endangered by the bigger neighbors. The reason for the fears associated with this phenomenon is that any language is regarded as the core of culture and the basic cultural value (Bradley, Bradley, 2013). Therefore, analyzed issues are relevant for the communities having bilingualism and coexistence of minor and major language populations. Likewise, similar shifts may be observed if minor cultures experience difficulties with mastering their own languages whereas the neighboring language of a major culture is easier to learn. Moreover, such relations can be noticed in case the society supports, tolerates, or represses language minorities for their languages (Bradley, Bradley, 2013). Thus, the tendencies of language shift are observed in the case of Italians’ and Catalonians’ coexisting. The result of th is coexistence is that despite former historical opposition between Catalan and Italic communities, the Catalan society has become mostly Spanish-speaking (Newman, Trenchs-Parera, 2015). Likewise, similar historical processes can be detected in the case of the English language history. Thus, Knooihuizen (2015) claims that despite the coexistence of Cornish English, Manx English, and Shetland Scots in Early Modern English period, they had an overall tendency towards unification. The result of this process was becoming of some grammatical forms and lexemes more common, whereas the others were substituted actualizing the scenario of standardization through language shift. Therefore, gradually, various dialects coexisting in Early Modern English period lost their varieties when facing the reality of the predominant language standard. On the contrary, there are cases in history when English was driven out from certain communities since it was the feature of minor social groups. Such case is described in the study of Perez (2015), who investigates the reasons for social rejection of the English language by the inhabitants of Paraguays New Australia. The scholar argues about the fact that at the end of the 20th century, almost 600 colonizers from the UK and Australia settled in Paraguay (Perez, 2015). Their initial goal was setting up the society of pure English-speakers. However, the sociolinguistic history of the community in Paraguay indicates that it was divided into speakers of Spanish and English. As a result of the domination of Spanish language in the country, the English community was underrepresented, which caused English language’s disap pearance from Paraguay (Perez, 2015). Thus, even if language may have a majority of speakers worldwide, it may disappear from particular countries with no community support. Furthermore, there is a need for the discussion of language maintenance and language shift in the time of globalization. Thus, it is evident that the world speakers favor a small list of mostly spoken languages. Among the top five spoken languages in the world are Mandarin, English, Hindustani, Spanish, and Russian with over 1 billion, 508, 497, 392, and 277 million speakers respectively (â€Å"Top 10 most spoken languages in the world†, 2008). This fact means that in case there is a community of minor language speakers, its language may be exposed to danger of extinction or language death. Therefore, there is a need for the characteristics of the reasons and factors causing language disappearance Language Death A peculiar value of any language lies in the fact that it represents the vision of the world depicted through the perception of the speakers. Thus, the language death is a significant negative event, which causes a loss of cultural individuality represented by it. The existence of any language is supported by a broad range of political, economic, demographic, and social factors (Crystal, 2012). Therefore, these factors may also cause or stimulate the loss of a language. Furthermore, since language cannot be separated from its speakers, one may presume that the first languages appeared with the first humans and their organized communities. Scholars assume that if humans started speaking 200,000 years ago and the first language appeared 100,000 years ago, there might be between 64,000 and 140,000 languages ever existing (Brons, 2014). It is evident that some part of them is already dead, whereas approximately 2,500 of the existing ones are considered endangered (Kornai, 2013). Moreover , there are scientists, who estimate that the total number of languages may be higher up to the proportion of 50-90% of the assumed world’s 6,900 languages (Romaine, 2013). According to various claims, the result of this may be not only social, economic, or political factors but, additionally, the language environment. For instance, Romaine (2013) indicates that environmental changes of the past, which caused hunger and diseases, changed the ecosystems of the existing societies. As a result, their migration and assimilation led to the death of various language groups. However, developing the concept of the ecology of language, Romaine (2013) blends it with other features such as sociological and psychological conditions of each language along with their impact. Furthermore, some linguists mix sociolinguistic and biological theories in order to find the adequate explanation of the processes of the languages extinction. Thus, Ritchie (2014) refers to the study of Claude Hagege who traces the analogy between the existence of language and theories of evolution. Additionally, the author stresses that certain linguists explored this phenomenon through the prism of Darwinian concepts of natural selection, speciation, and extinction (Ritchie, 2014). A peculiar feature of his views is that he considered that a language may live even though it has no speakers but only written texts. In this sense, texts were regarded as autonomous reproductions of an extinct language. At the same time, Ritchie (2014) argues that the dying languages experience the processes of lexical, phonological, and grammatical erosion. As it is viewed by the scholar, these events are the result of the absence of intergenerational communication and the absence of younger speakers. Additionally, one should note that language death is a natural phenomenon, which is caused by the ignorance of a language towards social resistance and its assimilation into the dominant language (Canagarajah, 2015). Thus, despite scholar claims that psycholinguistic aspects of language assimilation require additional sociolinguistic research (Canagarajah, 2015), he discusses the phenomenon of linguistic emancipation. The example of the result of language death may be the Maliseet language, the only speaker of which has lost his linguistic knowledge at a young age (Sodikoff, 2012). As a result, the former speaker of Maliseet has lost one’s cultural reference and identity by means of assimilation with other culture. Consequently, scholars indicate that pidgin- and creole-speaking people are among those speakers, whose languages remain on the fringe of the world’s languages (Sodicoff, 2012). Therefore, they suffer from the pressure of bigger cultural communities and more popular languages, which, in turn, endanger their historically natural community and language. The discussed issue shows that the natural language shift towards more favored languages and cultures causes the overall language shift of minor language communities. As a result, younger speakers of these communities refuse to learn their own language and culture giving favor to more popular, useful, or easier language. At the same time, the endangered language itself experiences assimilative processes with the dominating language. The result of this is that its phonemic structure, grammatical structure, and the vocabulary obtain features from the host language. Thus, gradually, language shift causes language death. In order to resists these processes, minor language communities should develop language and culture preserving programs. These programs and initiatives should focus on language maintenance activities maintaining the unicity of the natural language of a peculiar community. As a result, the speakers would preserve cultural resistance towards the communities with major lang uage. Therefore, these actions would allow language to live even in the case of having underrepresented community of its speakers. Summarizing the presented information, the study comes to a conclusion that language maintenance, language shift, and language death are three significant factors for any society. The reason for this assumption is that any group of speakers has to have language maintenance with the aim of saving the unicity of their language and resisting assimilation. In contrast, language shift is a process of active relationship between the speakers of two languages characterized with a high degree of assimilation. A peculiar feature of this process is that minor language communities tend to lose the features of their languages when faced with major ones. As a result, gradual language shift towards the major culture causes the language death in minor culture. Such death is accompanied by the assimilation of phonemic and grammatical structures of the underrepresented language as well as its vocabulary. Therefore, minor communities require the establishment of measures and initiatives aimed at prese rving the existence of their languages. Consequently, the activities towards enhancing language maintenance in minor language community would allow avoiding language death.

Mental health nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Mental health nursing - Essay Example Understanding is most often than not can be achieved in careful study and research of behaviours, patterns, beliefs, among other prevalent practices and knowledge in the nursing and health care relations and practices. Likewise, it is very critical for every health care studies and research to adhere to scientific, systematic process as can be achieved through objective measurement, through the imposition of control in order to be able to describe, explore and explain (Playle, 1999) the nature of the subject matter under investigation. Benton and Cormack (2000) have been very instrumental in defining a format for the method of mental health research issues as they have designed it to identify strengths and weaknesses of every study for inclusion, assessed, and careful consideration allows that the more ambiguity there will be and hence greater care needed in drawing conclusions from the paper. The framework they have presented have always been used in most instances to help the process of critiquing as it is a comprehensive framework covering most points needed in the critiquing process. The framework may be applied to both qualitative and quantitative research but without very clear research questions or objectives, a study cannot progress in a systematic and efficient manner so that the researcher must have established a specific purpose for the study, thereby allowing decisions to be made about methods and resources, and ethical issues will be identified. Playle (1999) likewise pointed out that identification of the overall nature of research will lead to examination of more depth the two stages of the research process which are the development of research questions and establishing current knowledge through awareness of existing literatures. Cormack and Benton (2000) insisted that without very clear research questions or objectives, a study cannot progress in a systematic and efficient manner. Burns and Grove (1997) specified that much time is spent in narrowing down a broad area of interest although many research or studies have very specific questions, objectives and hypothesis. Still, clear purpose must be provided to guide the research process (Burns and Grove, 1997). DISCUSSION: With a premise that little evidence exists to indicate that community psychiatric nurses can achieve the results reported by expert cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), a study conducted by Turkington, et al (2000) aimed to "assess the effectiveness and safety of a brief cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention in a representative community sample of patients with schizophrenia in secondary care settings." The study used the method of pragmatic randomized trial performed involving 422 patients and carers to compare a brief CBT intervention against treatment as usual and the results showed that "patients who received CBT (n=257) improved in overall symptomatology (P=0.015; number needed to treat [NNT]=13), insight (P

Exam #2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Exam #2 - Essay Example By implementing this program, the company gets the following benefits: Light and modified duty program offers cost savings opportunity for the company to control workers’ compensation and disability costs. A well developed Light and modified duty program must contain the senior management’s support and cultural acceptance by the location management of the program. In addition, a well-made light/modified duty program contains a detailed job description for each task done in the workplace. Potential questions include: A). will there be a rising cost of workers’ compensation and healthcare? –the answer to this question is no, the program in conjunction with the transitional duty will manage this. Also, it is more efficient to pay an employee working at 50% as opposed to paying for workers compensations which is 0% productivity to the company. B). in case of injury, which will be responsible? The answer to this question is, the responsible individuals include the injured employee, supervisor, and program coordinator a. Family medical leave act- Only serious health conditions of the employee constitutes a modified work program. This act is only relevant in cases where the employee has a serious accident, with the approval of a medical practioner. b. The Americans with disabilities act- This act enables employers to make permanent reservations for employees who are disabled. This means that disabled employees do light duty task. If no outcome is predestined for the light duty program and the employer requests no follow up information, the employer may be sued. Although the employee may be working under the light and modified duty programs, follow up data is necessary. c. Workers compensation statutes- Actual disabilities qualify someone for this act and for a modified work program. An employer may be sued if found to make a sick or injured employee work as

Single Member Plurality Electoral System Essay Example for Free

Single Member Plurality Electoral System Essay The Fallacy of the Single Member Plurality Electoral System Government efficiency is dependent on the capacity of the government to make decisions that mirror the views of the majority. This would require municipal representatives to be elected by at least half of the voters. This has not been the case in Canada. Electoral reform has been a highly debated issue throughout Canadian politics. Currently, Canada’s electoral system is being questioned for its inability to reflect the political views of its citizens. The single member plurality system (SMP), which Canada employs to fabricate a democratic election, can cause representatives to be elected without the majority of the popular vote. In contrast, the system of proportional representation eliminates an inequity in parliament composition by ensuring representation from every party that received votes. Although this system would inevitably result in minority governments, it would appropriately cater to the views of the constituents. To produce a more effective government, Canada’s single member plurality electoral system should be replaced by a system of proportional representation (PR). Another attempt to negate the effectiveness of the PR system is by charging that it would lead to the decline of responsible government. The reasoning behind this lies with the theory that PR disenfranchises a parties capability to â€Å"formulate policies, administer programs, make laws, submit budgets†(Barker, 287). Opponents contend that under PR, the government would be unable to garner enough confidence from the legislative branch. However, by looking at the opposite side of the spectrum, one would agree that this disadvantage is minimal compared to the policy making created through single member plurality. SMP encourages parties to form lowest common denominator policies in order to achieve a plurality of votes. Consequently, parties will create platforms that advocate policies that are indistinguishable to those of other party platforms. By providing ambiguous party principles, a constituent’s local MP can avoid being held accountable. In essence, â€Å"the plurality system encourages MPs and political parties to reflect some limited concerns of their geographic districts while ignoring the deeply held principles of the voters†(Heimstra and Jansen, 300). The only thing differentiating Canadian parties is their promise of â€Å"social benefits beyond what the economy could tolerate†(Irvine, 45). Since parties under PR do not have to compete for the median voter, â€Å"governing parties have less incentive to manipulate policy for short run ends†(Irvine, 50). As mentioned earlier, minority governments are likely to be assembled over a majority government under a PR system. This will entice legislature to form a coalition, thereby facilitating the demands of all the different regions comprising Canada. Eventually, long term policy making will be executed with less hesitation, as governments will soon realize that regardless the outcome of the following election, support for their proposed policy will still exist. The inability of the House of Commons to finalize long-term policy-making has stunted economic growth in Canada because of ineffective governments elected through SMP. The greatest disadvantage of single member plurality is its inhibiting effect on voter turnout. Voter turnout has been decreasing steadily as more people have come to the realization that their votes will not necessarily be accounted for. In Jeffrey Simpson’s book, The Friendly Dictatorship, the author reveals that â€Å"only 61 per cent of eligible Canadians bothered to vote in 2000, the lowest turnout by far since the Second World War†(Simpson, 144). It is important to note that Canada counts voter turnout by the number of people who vote in relation to the number of people on the electoral list. Since not everyone eligible to vote gets on the electoral list, the numbers are actually far lower than they appear. With a large number of eligible voters staying home, elected MPs do not have a real mandate to represent their constituents. This discrepancy has the potential to produce an ineffective government and a discontent amid the members of society. It has become increasingly important to determine the cause of this decreased interest in voting. electoral system is often described as a â€Å"first past the post† system. The way in which this system functions is that each voter is allowed one vote and the candidate with the most votes (or a plurality) becomes elected. Proportional representation, on the other hand, can be accomplished through a multitude of electoral methods. But for the sake of convenience, we will focus primarily on the two most notable systems: party list system, and mixed member proportional. The party list system used to achieve PR relies on the voter to choose the party they wish to support as opposed to the actual candidate.

Anne Tylers classic novel, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Essay

Anne Tyler's classic novel, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant In Anne Tyler's classic novel, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, the reader experiences a variety of conflicts between parent and child, one of the most apparent being that between Pearl Tull and her eldest son, Cody. These two characters never seem to see eye to eye, as Pearl prefers to see only the negative aspects of her children. Cody never truly relates to Pearl and her manic ways. As the conflict unfolds between Pearl and Cody, the deeper meaning of the story is revealed; there is never a perfect family, but nonetheless, theirs is a family. As the first child, Cody is expected to excel and be the ideal son. He establishes a rebellious personality once his younger brother Ezra is born. Because of this brotherly competition, he and Pearl never really get along. Whether or not they even truly loved each other is an idea to be questioned. Pearl doesn't like the idea that Cody might, for once in his life, be better than Ezra. The reader sees this in chapter 2, when Pearl insists that Ezra try to shoot ... Anne Tyler's classic novel, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Essay Anne Tyler's classic novel, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant In Anne Tyler's classic novel, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, the reader experiences a variety of conflicts between parent and child, one of the most apparent being that between Pearl Tull and her eldest son, Cody. These two characters never seem to see eye to eye, as Pearl prefers to see only the negative aspects of her children. Cody never truly relates to Pearl and her manic ways. As the conflict unfolds between Pearl and Cody, the deeper meaning of the story is revealed; there is never a perfect family, but nonetheless, theirs is a family. As the first child, Cody is expected to excel and be the ideal son. He establishes a rebellious personality once his younger brother Ezra is born. Because of this brotherly competition, he and Pearl never really get along. Whether or not they even truly loved each other is an idea to be questioned. Pearl doesn't like the idea that Cody might, for once in his life, be better than Ezra. The reader sees this in chapter 2, when Pearl insists that Ezra try to shoot ...

Ethical Delima

This case presents an ethical dilemma, a situation which arises when one must choose between mutually exclusive alternatives (Beauchamp& Walters, 2003). Decisions may have results that are desirable in some respects and undesirable in others. In Juana's case, her decision to refuse the blood transfusion had the desired outcome of allowing her to remain true to her religious beliefs. However, her choice also resulted in her death. If she had followed the recommendation of the physicians and the team, the desirable outcome would have been possible survival but would have had the undesired effect of violating her religious principles.The major ethical dilemma was that by honoring the patient's autonomy and religious beliefs, the physicians and interdisciplinary team were faced with compromising their moral duty to administer professional care in accordance with established standards (Chua & Tham, 2006). A brief review of the literature of Nursing Collection II: Lippincott Nursing Journa ls (from Ovid) and CINAHL databases for the past 5 years found no evidence to support best practice for a Jehovah's Witness who is pregnant and has experienced blunt trauma.Healthcare providers faced with this situation have sometimes attempted to obtain court orders that would overrule the patient's decision and result in her submitting to recommended medical treatment. For example, the Illinois Supreme Court (Illinois v. Brown, 1996) upheld a mother's decision to refuse blood transfusions even though they were vital for both the mother's and fetus' survival. The Patient's Bill of Rights states that the healthcare providers' responsibility is to give patients accurate information and that patients must consent to treatment (New York State Department of Health, 2008).This is consistent with the Federal government's recommendations to create guidelines that assure healthcare quality and to reaffirm the critical role consumers play in safeguarding their own health, (United States Depa rtment of Health and Human Services, 1999). Nursing practice is governed by the patient's right to autonomy rather than her religious beliefs (Levy, 1999). The first item in the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code for Nurses with Interpretative Statements (2001) addresses respect for human dignity:â€Å"Truth telling and the process of reaching informed choice underlie the exercise of self-determination, which is basic to respect for person †¦ Clients have the moral right to determine what will be done with their own person; to be given accurate information, and all the information necessary for making informed judgments; to be assisted with weighing the benefits and burdens of options in their treatment; to accept, refuse, or terminate treatment without coercion; and to be given necessary emotional support† (p. 1).However, it is difficult to witness death based on a person's decision to forgo care when medical options to sustain life are available. Treating this type of patient becomes particularly challenging when it involves two lives. Virtue ethics To analyze this ethical dilemma, the principles of Western medicine and the religious beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses were examined. The questions that surfaced were (a) how would the application of virtue ethics provide insight into Juana's situation, (b) what were the ethical principles in conflict, and (c) why was it an issue to administer a blood transfusion to Juana in an emergency situation.Volbrecht's framework for ethical analysis was utilized to address the clinical dilemma and the questions listed above. Virtue ethics was the primary theory employed prior to the 17th century. This theory centers on shared familial and cultural histories and religious traditions and acknowledges the community's ability to identify, interpret, prioritize, and adjust to moral considerations within a particular context (Volbrecht, 2002). The following is an exposition of this case according to virtue ethics. Virtue ethics focuses on what is morally correct from the patient's viewpoint and centers on the patient's autonomy.Actions and character are intertwined, and the ability to act morally is contingent on one's moral character and integrity. Virtue ethics focuses on the context of the situation (Volbrecht, 2002). Ethical analysis of virtue ethics entails (a) identifying the problem, (b) analyzing context, (c) exploring options, (d) applying the decision process, and (e) implementing the plan and evaluating results (Volbrecht, 2002). Identifying the problem Juana, a 20-year-old Hispanic woman, 32 weeks pregnant, was involved in a car accident. Internal bleeding to the thoracic or abdominal cavity was suspected.The stakeholders were the woman, her husband, the fetus, and the interdisciplinary healthcare team. The team thought the best method of treatment for this patient was to administer a blood transfusion and perform an emergency cesarean section. Both the patient and her husband ref used this option because of their religious beliefs and provided written documentation indicating that the patient would not accept blood or blood products. The value issues were the physical survival of the woman and her fetus versus the woman's religious integrity. Analyzing contextTo understand the decision-making process in this case, one must consider the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, compassion, and respect. The patient's religious beliefs and how they influenced her decision must also be taken into consideration. Gardiner (2003) confirms that the ethical principles mentioned above influence one's choices. In Juana's case, the healthcare team suspected she was experiencing internal bleeding and that she and the fetus were in physiological distress. Juana's decision to reject the proposed treatment was based on her stated religious beliefs.The contextual factors of this case centered on the patient's religious beliefs. The patient stated she would â€Å"rather be embraced in the hollow bosom of Jehovah than to be condemned for all eternity,† if she should receive a blood transfusion. Nurses draw from the code of ethics to reflect upon and understand the person's perspective, and to honor her wishes. â€Å"The nurse provides services with respect for human dignity and the uniqueness of the client, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes or the nature of the health problem† (ANA, 2001, p.1). To respect the patient's decision and honor her dignity, supportive care was provided to the patient in an effort to save her life, while at the same time respecting her wishes. The ANA Code of Ethics supports the point of view that healthcare providers should respect patients' wishes and decisions despite their own personal beliefs (ANA, 2001). Applying an ethical decision process Looking through the lens of virtue ethics, the caregivers focused on Juana's autonomy and her ri ght to choose what she perceived best in spite of the possible outcomes.Juana was a competent, pregnant woman who made informed decisions not to receive blood transfusions or a caesarean section. Based on virtue ethics, the healthcare providers respected the patient's autonomy by reflecting on and honoring the decision of the patient and her husband based on her religious values and beliefs. The healthcare providers also drew on the principle of beneficence, which centers on promoting the well-being of others. In this case, the well-being was not physiological but spiritually oriented.The principle of nonmaleficence was also employed by not intentionally inflicting harm on the patient and honoring her wishes. Violation of a client's deeply held beliefs is a form of doing harm. (Leonard & Plotnikoff, 2000). They also drew from the principles of veracity and respect, which entail being truthful to the patient and allowing her to make an informed decision (Volbrecht, 2002). The nursing virtues of compassion, moral courage, and self-reliance also contribute to an understanding of this situation. Evaluating resultsAt the time this clinical situation presented itself there were no specific guidelines in the institution for dealing with the dilemma presented by this case. However, there are guidelines for Jehovah's Witnesses specifically geared to early identification and management of gynecological patients. For example, in Australasia, there are specific guidelines for treating pregnant women that focus on stabilizing the patient by using traditional and new treatment modalities to meet patient needs, particularly for Jehovah's Witnesses or other patients who decline blood transfusions (Women's Hospitals Australasia, 2005).For antepartum patients, the guidelines focus on early identification of Jehovah's Witnesses during prenatal visits, as well as placing these patients on a high risk protocol, including maintenance of high hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, having advance directives completed, and establishing affiliations with other hospitals that are well-equipped and staffed to meet these patients' needs (Women's Hospitals Australasia, 2005). The Hartford Hospital in Connecticut has a similar program and also performs bloodless procedures on patients who are Jehovah's Witnesses (Miller, 1996).As a result of Juana's case being reviewed by the ethics committee post-mortem, a risk-management protocol was developed requiring patients who refuse blood transfusions to sign a waiver that removes the legal responsibility for the decision from the hospital and caregivers. To support this type of protocol, the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management maintains a database of hospitals that provide blood-conserving services in the United States as well as in Canada, Chile, Korea, and South Africa (Society for the Advancement of Blood Management, 2008).The problem, however, in an emergency situation is that it may not be possible to get the pat ient to a participating hospital. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (2004) recommends that advance directives and other legal papers be in place should an emergency arise. These documents should be easily accessible so that healthcare providers can honor the patient's directives. In so doing, they will be applying the theory of virtue ethics and, therefore, respect the patient's wishes (Macklin, 2003).Healthcare providers should practice beneficence and non-maleficence without imposing their beliefs as to the right thing to do. More explicit and universal guidelines would benefit both patients and providers when faced with similar ethical dilemmas. Conclusion In nursing practice, cases of patients refusing blood transfusions or other interventions are becoming more common. Therefore, content regarding ethical issues, such as Juana's case, needs to be integrated into nursing curricula and the clinical arena.Nursing educators who incorporate bioethics into critical thinking in cl inical decision making situations can prepare novice and experienced nurses to handle complex ethical dilemmas, such as described in this paper. The learning process may be facilitated through integrating lectures with case studies and utilizing patient simulators to further enhance the learning process (Larew et al. , 2006).These teaching approaches would provide the opportunity to expose nurses to scenarios of acute patients where they can intervene in a safe environment, which in turn would decrease their anxiety and promote learning. Nurse educators can further facilitate the learning process by providing clinical experiences with diverse patient populations in a variety of settings followed by discussion of actual clinical experiences, ethical issues, and debriefing (Larew et al. , 2006).Nursing faculty have an ethical responsibility to prepare competent nurses and facilitate continuing education that will help nurses recognize ethical dilemmas in practice and apply ethical pri nciples in trying to resolve them. The focus in practice, education, and research must be on providing care that respects patients' cultural beliefs and autonomy. Nursing educators should place equal emphasis on ethics in order to provide the best holistic care possible. To do anything else is a disservice both to the profession and to our patients.