Andrew Wedman Essays - Smoking, Tobacco, Passive Smoking, Tar

Andrew Wedman 12-17-98 Period 2 Tobacco Essay One may think they have benefits from smoking because they fit in the crowd. Of course, that's not true. Someone may tell you that if you smoke you'll be cool and everyone will like you. Then the crowd that smokes will like you but others may not. Your family may think you are uncool since you smoke. Other friends that you had may start not liking you since they won't want to be around you when you smoke. You might start to rather smoke then be with your friends. These are the unbeneficial things you may get from smoking. If you smoke you will have bad financial problems. Most people smoke about 20 cigarettes a day which is 1 pack. So you smoke 1 pack a day, 30 packs a month, and 360 packs a year and probably a few more at friends houses. Now, 1 pack is $3.00 which averages out to around $1080 a year. Imagine what you could do with that money! Buy a new stereo, TV, motorcycle, almost anything except a car or house. But added to that you have to think of spending money on paint for your house since the tar from tobacco smoke collects on walls. You will need to buy new tooth brushes and toothpaste for your smelling and dirty mouth, and more money on medicine since you are able to catch colds and flus easier.The minimal cost a year would probably be about $1500. You will get major effects if you smoke. Cigarette smoke contains tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, and many other toxic substances. Smoking gives you twice the amount of risk for getting cancer. You have the chance of getting cancer of the lung, larynx, mouth, and esophagus. The smoke destroys the cilia in your respiratory tract so there is constant coughing. If you are pregnant, the nicotine will effect the birth by having smaller babies, premature babies, and more stillbirths. You also effect the people around you while you smoke. It's called secondhand smoke, I will get the same effects that you get from smoking since I inhale the same 2000 harmful things in smoke. 50,000 people die from secondhand smoke each year. This is what happens to you when you smoke. Sometime in my life I will have to make a decision whether I want to smoke..... or not. But, I already have. I don't want to smoke in the future for my sake and others. I don't want to endanger my life and others, also I don't want to support the tobacco industry. Tobacco makes your family and friends not like you as much. Family and friends are the best things someone could have. I think tobacco sucks and I will never want to touch a cigarette bud to my lips ever!

Free Essays on Life After High School

High school is a strange time. After three years of trying to develop identity and friends in middle school, students are expected to mature immediately on the first day of ninth grade, but I never did this. I never fully realized in the earlier grades how important high school success, as measured by GPA, would be to my future life, and as a result I am applying to college with seemingly contradictory measures of my ability to perform college-level work. If I had worked and studied hard rather than hanging out with friends and viewing high school as an opportunity to socialize, I would not have to apply to school with a 1300 SAT and a 2.7 GPA. Had I taken my grades in my earlier years seriously, I could have been a college's dream candidate. This year I have made an earnest effort to improve my work ethic. My grade point average is rising and my study habits are improving. However, after performing poorly for three years, my GPA cannot reflect the transformation I underwent at the start of this year. Dedicated to making something of myself, I finally matured and am now trying to lessen the consequences of my past actions. Armed with my new attitude and my understanding of the extreme importance of earning good grades to signal my capacity to work responsibly, I assure you that I will never revert to the student I once was. In retrospect, I believe that it was my inability to choose my classes that resulted in my lack of enthusiasm on the ride to school each morning. I enjoy the freedom to pursue my own interests and anxiously anticipate the ability to choose my own class schedule in college. While I understand that college will be significantly more challenging than high school, I have always found it easier to study for a class that interests me. I am also willing to accept the fact that as long as I am in school, I will be forced to take required courses that I might be less than enthusiastic about. However, with my new goal-orie... Free Essays on Life After High School Free Essays on Life After High School High school is a strange time. After three years of trying to develop identity and friends in middle school, students are expected to mature immediately on the first day of ninth grade, but I never did this. I never fully realized in the earlier grades how important high school success, as measured by GPA, would be to my future life, and as a result I am applying to college with seemingly contradictory measures of my ability to perform college-level work. If I had worked and studied hard rather than hanging out with friends and viewing high school as an opportunity to socialize, I would not have to apply to school with a 1300 SAT and a 2.7 GPA. Had I taken my grades in my earlier years seriously, I could have been a college's dream candidate. This year I have made an earnest effort to improve my work ethic. My grade point average is rising and my study habits are improving. However, after performing poorly for three years, my GPA cannot reflect the transformation I underwent at the start of this year. Dedicated to making something of myself, I finally matured and am now trying to lessen the consequences of my past actions. Armed with my new attitude and my understanding of the extreme importance of earning good grades to signal my capacity to work responsibly, I assure you that I will never revert to the student I once was. In retrospect, I believe that it was my inability to choose my classes that resulted in my lack of enthusiasm on the ride to school each morning. I enjoy the freedom to pursue my own interests and anxiously anticipate the ability to choose my own class schedule in college. While I understand that college will be significantly more challenging than high school, I have always found it easier to study for a class that interests me. I am also willing to accept the fact that as long as I am in school, I will be forced to take required courses that I might be less than enthusiastic about. However, with my new goal-orie...

Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 20

Personal Statement Example I will be the first to admit that I was not always interested in a career in music. As a child, my activities leaned more towards the child like interests such as roller skating. As a teenager, I loved to take long drives in the countryside with my friends on weekends. But because my mother enrolled me piano lessons as a child, I had no choice but to follow her orders. As I progressed with my piano studies though, I discovered that I was slowly coming to love the art of music, hence the reason why I chose Music as my college major. As an international student, the biggest challenge I have faced would have to be my communication abilities .I am at a disadvantage because I am not a native English speaker. Since we have a number of Chinese students enrolled in my current school, I have come to understand the difficulties of learning a language far removed from ones own. Since translators are not always available and translations do not always work in conveying the original thoughts and emotions of a person. So I am working hard on improving my English skills in order to ensure that that I can overcome this problem that I am facing. As I previously mentioned, there are a number of Chinese students currently enrolled in my school. Being foreign students, they have a great difficulty in communicating with the others in our class and expressing themselves in oral reports. Such experiences send them into isolation because they feel intimidated by our classmates. I have gone out of my way to make friends with the foreign students and help them overcome their language barrier with the others in our class because I know that the time will come when I will be needing the same help from others. So I am paying it forward for now. My goal in life is to complete my college studies in Music and then go on to further training at internationally renowned musical institutions where I can catch the eye or ear of notable names in the music

Critical Issues In Police Civil Liability Essay

Critical Issues In Police Civil Liability - Essay Example There are many instances in which the police fail to prevent harm. The movie starts by a man planting a bomb timed to explode at a certain time in a car. There after a man accompanied by a woman (Joi Lansing) enters the car and starts driving ending to American- Mexico border. On there away, drug enforcement officers from the government of Mexico passed the car on foot and they do not take any action. Joi realizes that there is a problem with the car but the drug enforcement officers did not take any action or search the car to notice the bomb. Immediately after crossing the border, the car exploded and killed the occupants. The explosion of a Mexican bomb in America drew attention of Harry Shannon who was the Police Chief, Mike who was interested in investigating the issue and latter Ray Collins (the district attorney) arrived at the scene. A one legged police officer known as Orson Welles also arrived at the scene together with the district attorney. The officers carried out investigation while suspecting Sanchez who happened to be the husband to the daughter of the victim (Joanna). Quinlan and Menzies carried on with the investigation in order to identify the cause of the tragedy. At the end of the movie, Quinlan admitted that he was not genuine but used to plant evidence on people. He admitted the Menzies that the most of the people were innocent but he planted evidence to have them convicted. Quinlan attempts to kill Menzies using the Vargas gun because they had recorded him testifying on the evils which he did instead of doing police work. He manages to shoot Menzies but Menzies shoots him dead be fore shooting Vargas. At the end of the movie it is noted that Quinlan was preventing investigation by protecting the suspects. Latter Quinlan says that Sanchez had accepted the crime. It is noted that Sanchez was the one who planted the bomb to the car but Quinlan being an investigator was protecting him by

I have questions in Marketing that I need to answer. Marketing Assignment

I have questions in Marketing that I need to answer. Marketing - Assignment Example 3. A quality marketing plan focuses on such things as brand recognition or returning customers and focuses strategy on developing and continuing relationships with consumers while also cultivating new relationships. It involves pleasing the customer, using experience and reinforcing relationships with consumers. 4. The primary goal of publicity is to get attention through the use of the media; it is a form or public relations but is not necessary in public relations. Public relations use the media to help shape opinion; companies may use PR as a way to get out a campaign that makes them appear more favorable, such as charity donation or environmental efforts. It is usually carefully crafted so as to enhance appearance. 5. Strategic marketing plans must be aware of what the public would perceive as wrong and right, favorable to their moral standard as a majority or unfavorable due to an ethical reason. Any marketing campaign with the possibility of getting some degree of unfavorable attention due to an ethical issue should plan ahead and try to circumvent and plan for that negativity as much as possible. An example for this might be a new line of fur coats, and planning for complaints and criticism in the media from PETA. 6. Reasons products fail might be a poor marketing campaign, poor timing, and cost vs. quality in a competitive market, introducing a similar product in a category already supersaturated or not living up to initial marketing hype. 7. Three ways to move a product through a life cycle is focusing on a primary demand for the product category with limited models and penetration prices, gaining wider distribution through promotion when profits are at their peak and offering large promotions to consumers once the product has matured. 8. Retailers are also in the business of making money and being successful and are

Secure Barcode Authentication using Genetic Algorithm

Secure Barcode Authentication using Genetic Algorithm Dr. Poornima G. Naik Mr. Girish R. Naik Abstract— Genetic Algorithm (GA) is an invaluable tool for solving optimization problems due to its robustness. It does not break even if the inputs are changed slightly or in the presence of a reasonable noise. GA offers significant benefits over other optimization techniques in searching a large state space or n-dimensional surface. In todays information age information sharing and transfer has increased exponentially. With the popularization of Internet and exponential increase in e-commerce transactions security has become an inevitable and an integral part of any e-commerce application. Data integrity, confidentiality, authenticity, non-repudiation have gained tremendous importance and have become important components of information security. In this paper we have made an attempt to exploit the randomness involved in crossover and mutation processes of GA for generating a barcode for authentication process. The number of crossover points and number of mutation points is f ixed and cannot be altered by the user. In the current work we have employed a single crossover point and two mutation points. We have used Code-39 and Code-128 encoding techniques for generating a barcode. The barcode data comprises of 12 randomly generated decimal digits. Each decimal digit is represented using 4 bits. Hence the length of the barcode data is 36 bits. The randomly generated data is transformed into encoded form by applying crossover, mutation and XOR operations before generating a bar code. The randomness together with encoding makes the password robust and hard to track. Finally, the algorithm is implemented in Java and applied for authentication of employee data in a hypothetical organization. The methodology is general and can be applied to any task where authentication is required. Index Terms— Genetic Algorithm, Cross-over, Mutation, Barcode, Encoding. The paper is organized as follows. The first section gives an introduction to Genetic Algorithm under the heading of Introduction. Section II covers the literature survey and the current scenario of application of soft computing in implementing security. Section III focuses on the proposed method of barcode generation using Genetic Algorithm. Section IV covers implementation of the algorithm in Java. Finally, Section V is devoted for conclusion and scope for future enhancements. I. Introduction Genetic algorithms (GA) are adaptive heuristic search algorithms based on the evolutionary ideas of natural selection and genetics [1]. They are based on the principle of Darwinian idea of survival of the fittest and natural genetics. Genetic Algorithm Generally, a Genetic Algorithm consists of three basic operations. Selection Crossover Mutation The first step consists of searching individuals for reproduction. In our problem, we have selected two vectors of 16 bytes each as parents for reproduction. Since the problem is of encryption, there is no special preference given to any particular selection method. All the vectors are selected sequentially based on their order of appearance in a text file. Cross-over is the process of taking two parents and producing from them a child. In an optimization problem, crossover operator is applied to the mating pool with the hope that it creates a better offspring. For the problem under consideration, crossover is taken as one of the steps in producing a decrypted vector. We have employed four-point crossover method. In the case of optimization problem, selecting more than four crossover points will result in the disruption of building blocks whereas in the case of encryption larger the disruption better is the algorithm which makes it robust and difficult to break. After crossover, the vectors are subject to mutation. In optimization problem, mutation prevents the algorithm from being trapped in a local minimum. Mutation plays the role of recovering the lost genetic matter as well for randomly distributed genetic information. In encryption problem, mutation is employed for inducing disorder into the vector. It introduces a new genetic structure in the population by randomly modifying some of the building blocks and maintains diversity into the population. We have employed flipping method, in which for a character 1 in mutation chromosome, the corresponding character b in the parent chromosome is flipped from b to (9-b) and corresponding child chromosome is produced. In the following example 1 occurs at two random places of mutation chromosome, the corresponding characters in parent chromosomes are flipped and the child chromosomes are generated. Structure of Code128 Bar Code Barcodes are made up of a series of lines that vary in width and correspond to various numeric, alphanumeric, or multicode configurations which can then be read in by a laser barcode scanner.Code 128 is a very effective, high-density symbology which permits the encoding of alphanumeric data. It includes verification protection both via a checksum digit and byte parity checking. This symbology has been widely implemented in many applications where a relatively large amount of data must be encoded in a relatively small amount of space. Itsspecific structure also allows numeric data to be encoded at, effectively, double-density. A Code 128 barcode consists of a leading quiet zone, one of three start codes, the data itself, a check character, a stop character, and a trailing quiet zone as shown in Fig. 1. The Code 128 data is encoded in strips of bars and spaces. The sequences of zeros or ones simply appear as thicker bars or spaces. The checksum is included in the barcode, and is a digi t that verifies that the data just read in was correct. The checksum digit is based on a modulo 103 calculation based on the weighted sum of the values of each of the digits in the message that is being encoded, including the start character. Fig. 1. Code-128 Barcode Similar structure exists for Code-39 Barcode. ii Literature survey In literature to date, many GA based encryption algorithms have been proposed. A. Tragha et.al [2] have describe a new symmetric block cipher system namely, ICIGA (Improved Cryptographic Inspired by Genetic Algorithm) which generates a session key in a random process. The block size and key length are variables and can be fixed by the end user in the beginning of the cipher process. ICIGA is an enhancement of the system GIC (Genetic Algorithm inspired Cryptography) [3]. There are various proposed methods for image encryption such as quad tree approach, cellular automata [4, 5]. There are wide applications of GA in solving non-linear optimization problems in various domains [6,7]. But very few papers exist which exploit the randomness in the algorithm for implementation of security. Chaos theory and entropy have large application in secure data communication and the desired disorder is provided by inherent nature of genetic algorithm [8, 10]. Mohammad SazzadulHoque et.al [11] have pre sented an intrusion detection system by applying GA to efficiently detect various types of network intrusions. They have used evolutionary theory to filter the traffic data and thus reduce the complexity [12]. There are several papers related to IDS all of which use GA in deriving classification rules [13, 15]. But to the best of our knowledge very few papers exist which exploit randomness in generating barcode for authentication purpose. III Proposed Method Fig. 2. Application Architecture We have used Code-39 and Code-128 encoding techniques for generating a barcode. The barcode data comprises of 12 randomly generated decimal digits. Each decimal digit is represented using 4 bits. Hence the length of the barcode data is 36 bits.The randomly generated data is transformed into encoded form by applying crossover, mutation and XOR operations before generating a bar code. The application architecture is shown in Fig. 2. Pseudocode The pseudo code for barcode generation process using GA is depicted in Fig 3. Step 1 : Generate a 12 digit random number and store it in a vector. Step 2 : Each decimal digit in step 1 can be represented using 4 binary digits. Hence the total number of binary digits required to represent the data is 4 x 12 = 48 bits. Generate a hash H, by repeating digits 0 and 1 (if the digit is > 8) and 0 and 0, otherwise, required number of times. Step 3 : Perform the XOR operation between the data and a 48-bit hash computed above. Step 4 : Split the vector into two vectors of size six each. Step 5 : Compute 10’s complement of each digit. Step 6 : Perform the crossover operation at the midpoint. Step 7 : Perform the mutation at the extreme positions of the vector. The mutation operation consists of flipping the digit from its original value to its complement. Step 8 : Combine the vectors to reconstruct a 12-digit vector. Step 9 : Perform the XOR operation between the data and a 48-bit hash computed above. Step 10 : Use the 12-digit number generated above to generate a barcode in code-128 fromat. Step 11 : End Fig 3 Pseudo code for barcode generation using GA Mathematical Formulation. Let the original vector be represented by VOriginal. Let H be the hash constructed as follows. H= ∑’ Hi where 1 Hi = 0000, for i = 8 or 9 = 0101, otherwise. H is the generated hash of length 48 bits. Compute the hash of VOriginal as shown below: VOriginal ÃŽ ¸ H = VHash Split the hash into two vectors of size six each. Let the two parts be represented by, V1Hash and V2Hash, respectively. VHash = V1Hash + V2Hash Compute 10’s complement of each digit. Let the two parts be represented by ( V1Hash)ÃÅ'  and (V2Hash )ÃÅ' , respectively. Perform the crossover operation at the midpoint. Let the two new parts now be represented by C( V1Hash )ÃÅ'  and C(V2Hash ), respectively, where C is the crossover operator. Perform the mutation at the extreme positions of the vector. Let the two parts now be represented by MC( V1Hash )ÃÅ'  and MC(V2Hash ) ÃÅ' , respectively, where M is the crossover operator. Combine the vectors to reconstruct a 12-digit vector. Perform the XOR operation between the data and a 48-bit hash, H computed above to generate a final vector. Let it be VTransformed. We get, VTransformed = [ MC( V1Hash )ÃÅ'  + MC(V2Hash ) ÃÅ' ] ÃŽ ¸ H (1) Decoding Vector into original Vector Perform XOR operation between H and VTransformed given by equ(1) to get, [ MC( V1Hash )ÃÅ'  + MC(V2Hash ) ÃÅ' ]. Split the hash into two vectors of size six each. Let the two parts be represented by, MC( V1Hash )ÃÅ'  and MC(V2Hash ) ÃÅ'  respectively. Perform reverse mutation operation and then reverse cross0ver operation on two individual parts to get, ( V1Hash)ÃÅ'  and (V2Hash ) ÃÅ' , respectively. Take 10’s complement of each digit in the two vectors to get, ( V1Hash) and (V2Hash ), respectively. Combine the two vectors to get VHash, where VHash =VOriginal ÃŽ ¸ H Perform XOR operation between H and VHashto get the original vector. The entire process of generating the barcode is illustrated below with the help of an example. Step 1: Generate a 12 digit random number and store it in a vector. Let the number be represented by Step 2 : Generate Hash H as shown below. Step 3 : Perform the XOR operation between the data and a 48-bit hash computed above. Step 4 : Split the vector into two vectors of size six each. and Step 5 : Compute 10’s complement of each digit. and Step 6 : Perform the crossover operation at the midpoint. and Step 7 : Perform the mutation at the extreme positions of the vector. Step 8 : Combine the vectors to reconstruct a 12-digit vector. Step 9 :Generate Hash H as shown below.. Step 10 : Perform the XOR operation between the data and a 48-bit hash computed above Step 11 : Use the 12-digit number generated above to generate a barcode in code-128 fromat. CODE128- 996108946439. Decoding the barcode Step 1: Extract the rightmost 12 digits from the barcode. Step 2 : Generate a hash as shown below: Step 3 : Perform the XOR operation between the data and a 48-bit hash computed above Step 4 : Split the vector into two vectors of size six each. Step 5 : Perform reverse mutation at the extreme positions of the vector. and Step 6 : Perform the crossover operation at the midpoint. and Step 7 : Compute 10’s complement of each digit. and Step 8 : Combine the vectors to reconstruct a 12-digit vector. Step 9 : Generate a hash as shown below: Step 10 : Perform the XOR operation between the data and a 48-bit hash computed above which represents the original vector iv implementation in JAVA The model proposed above is implemented in Java using MS Access as backend and Swing for GUI development. JDBC Type-I driver is used. The structure of the Barcode table used in the implementation is as follows : The following figures 4.1 to 4.4 show the output windows generated by Barcode tool developed in Java. Fig. 4.1 Java Barcode Generation Tool Fig. 4.2 Generation of Barcode Fig. 4.3 Barcode generated in Code-39 Format Fig. 4.4 Barcode Authentication Process. V.CONCLUSION AND SCOPE FOR FUTURE WORK In this paper we have proposed a model for barcode generation based on genetic algorithm and is implemented in Java for authentication of employees in a hypothetical organization. The password is encrypted by applying crossover, mutation and XOR operations and is difficult to track. This model provides a unique security layer on top of existing barcode security layer which makes the password more robust and difficult to break. Even if the database is hacked, the password cannot be stolen because the relationship between barcode and ID is not known. The model can be employed in situations where authentication is of prime significance and can be used for secure transmission of limited data such as credit card number. It provides a cheaper solution to RFID for authentication. Due to the symmetry in the operations involved and symmetry of XOR operation, the coding and encoding processes are reversible. Our future work consists of interfacing the software with barcode scanner and study of various coding techniques with reference to their applicability. References David. E. Goldberg, â€Å"Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization, and Machine Learning†, Pearson Education, 1989, ISBN-13: 978-020115767. X. F. Liao, S. Y.Lai and Q. Zhou. Signal Processing. 90 (2010) 2714–2722. H. Cheng and X. Li. IEEE Transactions on Signal Processive. 48 (8) (2000) 2439–2451. O. Lafe. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence. 10 (6) (1998) 581–591. R. J. Chen and J. L. Lai. Pattern Recognition. 40 (2007) 1621–1631 Dr.Poornima G. Naik, Girish R. Naik, Application of Genetic Algorithm to Mass Production Line for Productivity Improvement, International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology (IJLTET) Special Issue – IDEAS-2013 ISSN:2278-621X. S. Li, G. Chen and X. Zheng. Multimedia security handbook. LLC, Boca Raton, FL, USA: CRC Press; (2004) [chapter 4]. Y. Mao and G. Chen. Handbook of computational geometry for pattern recognition, computer vision, neural computing and robotics. Springer; (2003). H. S. Kwok, W. K. S. Tang, Chaos Solitons and Fractals, (2007) 1518–1529. Mohammad SazzadulHoque, Md. Abdul Mukit and Md. Abu NaserBikas,An Implementation of Intrusion Detection System Using Genetic Algorithm, International Journal of Network Security Its Applications (IJNSA), Vol.4, No.2, March 2012 L.M.R.J Lobo, Suhas B. Chavan, Use of Genetic Algorithm in Network Security, International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)Volume 53– No.8, September 2012 W. Lu, I. Traore, â€Å"Detecting New Forms of Network Intrusion Using Genetic Programming†. Computational Intelligence, vol. 20, pp. 3, Blackwell Publishing, Malden, pp. 475-494, 2004. M. M. Pillai, J. H. P. Eloff, H. S. Venter, â€Å"An Approach to Implement a Network Intrusion Detection System using Genetic Algorithms†, Proceedings of SAICSIT, pp:221-228, 2004. S. M. Bridges, R. B. Vaughn, â€Å"Fuzzy Data Mining And Genetic Algorithms Applied To Intrusion Detection†, Proceedings of 12th Annual Canadian Information Technology Security Symposium, pp. 109-122, 2000. M. Middlemiss, G. Dick, â€Å"Feature selection of intrusion detection data using a hybrid geneticalgorithm/KNN approach†, Design and application of hybrid intelligent systems, IOS Press Amsterdam, pp.519-527, 2003.

Anti Insanity Defense :: essays papers

Anti Insanity Defense The insanity defense refers to that branch of the concept of insanity which defines the extent to which men accused of crimes may be relieved of criminal responsibility by virtue of mental disease. The terms of such a defense are to be found in the instructions presented by the trial judge to the jury at the close of a case. These instructions can be drawn from any of several rules used in the determination of mental illness. The final determination of mental illness rests solely on the jury who uses information drawn from the testimony of "expert" witnesses, usually professionals in the field of psychology. The net result of such a determination places an individual accordingly, be it placement in a mental facility, incarceration, or outright release. Due to these aforementioned factors, there are several problems raised by the existence of the insanity defense. Problems such as the actual possibility of determining mental illness, justifiable placement of judged "mentally ill" offenders, and the overall usefulness of such a defense. In all, I believe that these problems, as well as others which will be mentioned later, lead us to the conclusion that the insanity defense is useless and should be abolished entirely. Insanity is a legal, not a medical definition. Therefore, mental illness and insanity are not synonymous: only some mental illness constitutes insanity. Insanity, however, includes not only mental illness but also mental deficiencies. Due to this, there are problems in exactly how to apply a medical theory to a legal matter (Herman, 1983;128). The legal concepts of mental illness and insanity raise questions in a conflict between what are termed legalistic criminology and scientific criminology: mens rea, punishment v. treatment, responsibility, and prisons v. hospitals. This debate seesaws to and fro amidst a grey area between law and science. The major difficulty with a theory such as mental illness is that it is just that, a theory. To scientists theories are a way of life, but applied to the concept of law theories become somewhat dangerous. By applying a loose theory such as mental illness to law we are in essence throwing the proverbial "monkey wrench" into the wheels of justice. TESTING FOR INSANITY At the center of the legal use of insanity lies the mens rea. Every crime involves a physical act, or actus reus, and a mental act, or mens rea, the non-physical cause of behavior.

Employment Law and Labor Relations Issues Essay

Equal opportunity is a descriptive term for an approach intended to give equal access to an environment or benefits, such as education, employment, health care, or social welfare to all, often with emphasis on members of various social groups which might have at some time suffered from discrimination. This can involve the hiring of workers and other such practices. Social groupings generally emphasized in such a way are those delineated by aspects of gender, race, or religion. In my workplace the Equal Employment Opportunity Policy is posted on almost every wall in the building. There are several issues that need to be addressed in my workplace. I work for a not-for-profit agency contracted with the Florida Department of Children and Families. We are an agency that tries to help families reunite once they have entered into the Family Law system. My job as a social worker is to promote social justice and social change with and on behalf of clients. â€Å"Clients† is used inclusively to refer to individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Social workers are sensitive to cultural and ethnic diversity and strive to end discrimination, oppression, poverty, and other forms of social injustice. These activities may be in the form of direct practice, community organizing, supervision, consultation, administration, advocacy, social and political action, policy development and implementation, education, and research and evaluation. Social workers seek to enhance the capacity of people to address their own needs. Social workers also seek to promote the responsiveness of organizations, communities, and other social institutions to individuals’ needs and social problems. The main issue that needs to be addressed within my company is some issues pertaining to the Fair Labor Standards Act, holiday pay, and having an Human Resources Representative at our local site. I believe that my organization needs to take the time to explain to its employees what their rights are and what the laws of the state require. The Human Resource department for our agency is run out of Bethesda, Maryland. So every issue and or concern has to go through them. Because of the distance, it is very hard and time consuming for local employees at this agency to get things done in a timely manner, so a lot of things that should be addressed at employee orientation are not addressed until maybe the third month of employment when the HR administrator decides to take a trip to Florida. There are a lot of questions that we as employees have about holiday pay practices and what are the legal requirements. For example, I did not know that an employer is obligated to provide reasonable accommodation for the religious practices of its employees, unless it can show that the accommodation would result in undue hardship for its business. Many employers offer a â€Å"floating holiday† in addition to the regularly scheduled holidays. This allows an employee to take time off for religious observances that are not covered by the employer’s established holiday schedule. Courts addressing the issue of religious accommodation generally agree that unpaid time off can be a reasonable accommodation, as can allowing an employee to use a vacation day to observe a religious holiday. Generally, employers require that floating holidays be taken in the same year they are granted and do not allow these days to be carried over into the next year. Employees usually are required to give adequate advance notice of their intention to take a floating holiday. I also did not know that an employer doe s not have to pay hourly employees for time off on a holiday. An employer is only required to pay hourly employees for time actually worked. On the other hand, exempt employees (salaried employees who do not receive overtime), who are given the day off, must be paid their full weekly salary if they work any hours during the week in which the holiday falls. This requirement for exempt employees did not change under the new federal overtime regulations. Both of these statements can be very helpful when our employees what to take some time off or just to check to make sure they are treated fairly. There are a handful of labor laws that do generally protect U.S. workers. It’s probably fair to say that most employers adhere to these basic laws, because they’d be foolish not to if they want to stay out of court. But, that’s typically at the HR and legal-department levels, where the employees are properly trained in such matters. Companies are also made up of other employees, who might never have heard of labor laws or fully understand their significance. That’s one way problems occur, especially if HR and legal departments don’t bother to properly train those in control, like jerky bosses. Another way problems occur is that, for obvious legal reasons, HR and legal departments are unlikely to openly admit that employee complaints and accusations have merit, and the company is  liable. Worse, they might even protect the perpetrators more than the victims. In conclusion, it is very important that companies keep their policies up-to-date and follow them. Written policies tell your employees how they can expect to be treated and give you guidelines for applying the policies consistently. However, the policies must comply with legal requirements and you must follow them, or they may be used against you as evidence of violations of the law. Having these problems addressed in my organization could help it many ways, starting with establishing a good relationship between upper management and current employees and also establishing a steady line of communication. But this issue cannot be addressed until a local Human Resources department is establish at every local office so if employees do have question about employment law or current labor relation issues they can be addressed right then and there.

Exploring the Earths Four Spheres

Exploring the Earth's Four Spheres The area near the surface of the earth can be divided into four interconnected spheres: lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere. Think of them as four interconnected parts that make up a complete system, in this case, of life on earth. Environmental scientists  use this system to classify and study the organic and inorganic materials found on the planet. The Lithosphere The lithosphere, sometimes called the geosphere, refers to all of the rocks of the earth. It includes the planets mantle and crust, the two outermost layers. The boulders of Mount Everest, the sand of Miami Beach and the lava erupting from Hawaiis Mount  Kilauea  are all components of the lithosphere. The actual thickness of the lithosphere varies considerably and can range from roughly 40 km to 280 km. The lithosphere ends at the point when the minerals in the earths crust begin to demonstrate viscous and fluid behaviors. The exact depth at which this happens depends on the chemical composition of the earth, and the heat and pressure acting upon the material. The lithosphere is divided into 15 tectonic plates that fit together around the earth like a jagged puzzle:  African, Antarctic,  Arabian, Australian, Caribbean, Cocos,  Eurasian,  Indian, Juan de Fuca, Nazca, North American,  Pacific,  Philippine, Scotia, and South American. These plates arent fixed; theyre slowly moving. The friction created when these tectonic plates push against one another causes earthquakes, volcanoes and the formation of mountains and ocean trenches. The Hydrosphere The hydrosphere is composed of all of the water on or near the planets  surface. This includes oceans, rivers, and lakes, as well as underground aquifers and the moisture in the atmosphere. Scientists estimate the total amount at more than 1,300 million cubic feet. More than 97 percent of the earths water is found in its oceans. The remainder is freshwater, two-thirds of which is frozen within the earths polar regions and mountain snowpacks. Its interesting to note that even though water covers the majority of the planets surface, water accounts for a mere 0.023 percent of the earths total mass.   The planets water doesnt exist in a static environment, it changes form as it moves through the hydrological cycle. It falls to the earth in the form of rain, seeps into underground aquifers, rises to the surface from springs or seeps from porous rock, and flows from small streams into larger rivers that empty into lakes, seas, and oceans, where some of it evaporates into the atmosphere to begin the cycle anew.   The Biosphere The biosphere is composed of all living organisms: plants, animals and one-celled organisms alike. Most of the planets terrestrial life is found in a zone that stretches from 3 meters below ground to 30 meters above it. In the oceans and seas, most aquatic life inhabits a zone that stretches from the surface to about 200 meters below. But some creatures can live far outside of these ranges: some birds are known to fly as high as 8 kilometers above the earth, while some fish have been found as deep as 8 kilometers beneath the ocean surface. Microorganisms are known to survive well beyond even these ranges. The biosphere is made up of biomes, which are areas where plants and animals of a similar nature can be found together. A desert, with its cactus, sand, and lizards, is one example of a biome. A coral reef is another. The Atmosphere The atmosphere is the body of gasses that surrounds our planet, held in place by earths gravity. Most of our atmosphere is located close to the earths surface where it is most dense. The air of our planet is 79 percent nitrogen and just under 21 percent oxygen; the small amount remaining is composed of argon, carbon dioxide, and other trace gasses. The atmosphere itself rises to about 10,000 km in height and is divided into four zones. The troposphere, where about three-quarters of all atmospheric mass can be found, stretches from about 6 km above the earths surface to 20 km. Beyond this lies the stratosphere, which rises to 50 km above the planet. Next comes the mesosphere, which extends to about 85 km above the earths surface. The thermosphere rises to about 690 km above the earth, then finally the exosphere. Beyond the exosphere lies outer space. Conclusion All four spheres can be and often are present in a single location. For example, a piece of soil will contain minerals from the lithosphere. Additionally, there will be elements of the hydrosphere present as moisture within the soil, the biosphere as insects and plants, and even the atmosphere as pockets of air between soil pieces. The complete system is what makes up life as we know it on Earth.

Gender discrimination essays

Gender discrimination essays In 1972, the United States Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendment Act. This act banned sexual discrimination in education programs which received federal funding. In the area of athletics, it required universities which received federal funding to provide equal athletic opportunities for men and women. Still after over thirty years, women in sports still seek equality by the same treatment or opportunities that are given to males. Even though in the past few years, womens sports have increased in popularity forming new leagues such as the WNBA, a professional womens football league, womens soccer, and more. Sports in general is a mere reflection of society. In sport, people with the money have the power and make all the decisions. This leads to hegemony, where the powerful remain in control. In todays society, female sports do not get the recognition that mens sports do in that they do not make the same amount of money, the same amount of respect, and the same am ount of television coverage. Gender discriminations root comes from the interest and desires of society. The people in control, the older white males are biased towards male sports because the action is much faster and much more intense. This meets the desires and wellbeing of society, thus they will attend the male sporting events, watch the events on television, and buy their apparel from stores, thus solidifying the discrimination of female sports in favor of male sporting events. Female athletes are frequently looked upon as not being as entertaining or lacking athleticism compared to male athletes. The media has had the largest influence in socializing what we think about men and womens sports. Many people who are gender discriminative believe women are inferior to men in that they cannot compete on the same level, either intensity, performance, or stamina wise. These are reasons why female s...

Mankind Distanced From Nature And The Use Of Earth Simply As A Essay

Mankind Distanced From Nature And The Use Of Earth Simply As A Resource - Essay Example Never before have had the benefits of mankind labour threatened their precise existence: also this era of nuclear disasters, arms race, and global warming (Turner, 1980). For the first phase in history, mankind can produce enough to satisfy the needs of every head on the Earth. Despite mankind power to regulate natural world, many societies are dominated by emotions linked to the economic recession, health issues, insecurities, and military chaos (Turner, 1980). These issues overwhelm lives with the seemingly irresistible power of natural disasters. The more densely populated cities become, the more mankind’s lives are recognized by feelings of loneliness and isolation from the nature (Phillips, 2010). The more forces mankind experience to satisfy their emotion, the more they emotionally distance themselves from nature; and this distancing permits them to treat Earth simply as a resource to their needs. This is well discussed in the following paragraphs. The mankind ability to perform their tasks, to develop how they work and build on their successes, has tried to result in cumulative development of the productive forces. From the research carr ied out, one such advancement gave rise to class community. When community became capable of generating surplus, it also made it conceivable for a class to rise, which was liberated from the need, to generate directly and could survive from its control over the work of others (Phillips, 2010). This process was significant in order to establish and direct the productive forces; however, it was also meant that the producers, the majority of the community lost control of their labour. The emergency class society in which one class had power of control over the means of generating what the community required, led to a further division between individuals and the community to which they fit. Some forms of social life caused a wedge between the two dimensions of the self, the person and the communal, producing a separation between people’s interests and those of community as a whole (Turner, 1980). Thus, the mankind distanced from nature arose from class community. For instance, Ro bert Romanyshyn use metaphor in is work to elaborate these ideas. He claims that mankind have given their hearts away, a sordid boon (Romanyshyn, 2001). Sordid is the demonstration of the worst aspects of mankind nature such as greed, immorality, and selfishness. On the other hand, Boon is something that works as a blessing or benefit. Complication between the words proposes materialism is corrupt and destructive blessing that the industrial revolution has offered. It emphasised the tension between the good external and the sordid truth behind materialism. On the external, material goods bring pleasure and in many ways are a symbol of mankind progress; however, in truth, they feed the worst feature of humanity (Romanyshyn, 2001). The discipline whose duty is to describe and map the capabilities of human emotions/ mind is psychology; and psychology’s accepting of these abilities is built around the concept of intelligence. Apart from mankind psychological understanding of how they interact with the world around them, this concept has been widely applied in education and business, where test of intelligence always impacts selection and promotion. More indirectly, a psychological notion about what establishes intelligent action pervades the wider fabric of the community. This impacts common-sense ideas about what institutes mental ability, and offering certain styles of thought and action a higher status than others (Kidner, 1999). At the same time, the

THEORY- Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

THEORY- - Essay Example It shows that the structure has a logical importance rather than a particular one. Basing on a hypothetical approach to the induction of generic principles and their abstract and will not deal with interest in the knowledge of the work but on an understanding of its theoretical structure. Structural analysis is more concerned with the poetics of the work of literature as far as basics go and so its theoretical. Real work, when analyzed, brings out the comparative aspect of periods, genre, and the like with other analyzes and one cannot isolate a particular concept or trait to one work. Thus, structural analysis embraces abstract and theoretical approach and uses general principles to the study of a particular work and vice versa (Todorov, 1969). The poem "Evolution" by Sherman Alexie talks about a liquor shop that opens on a full day throughout the week. The store is located at the border where the Indians come with jewelry televisions sets to purchase the liquor. The voice of the poem describes how the men around the border make their approach towards the liquor store. The tone of the voice of the poem expresses attitude more so in the part when the poet describes the movement of the Indians towards the shop store. The reflection is seen by the words that the poet uses to describe the situation. The voice of the poem has a social perspective where the poet describes the main characters "Indians" showing how united they are in accomplishing the primary goal of the poem (purchase of liquor). The perspective of the voice contributes towards reflecting the poets point of view. The theme of the poem is to bring out the nature of shop businesses and their constituents. In a business at some point, cases of uncertainty emerge and this is reflected when the newly named Buffalo Bill charge Indians five bucks as entry fee. In the poem, the museum acts as the tax collector. The poem characters act as