Structure of Homeland Security Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Structure of Homeland Security - Research Paper Example The paper sheds light on what aspects of U.S response people feel have been successful and effective, and those that have been less effective or counter-productive. How did 9/11 attack affect your sense of security? Reactions from respondents show that people feel insecure after the 9/11 terrorist attack. Unexpectedness amplifies fear of terrorist attacks. This makes people feel highly vulnerable to similar terrorist attacks. People who were in the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon were caught unawares by the attack and so many lost their lives to the deadly act. Memories of the massive loss of lives and damage of property are still vivid in the minds of people (Barkun, 2011). Despite the government's efforts in reassuring and guaranteeing the safety of its citizens, many cannot help doubting the possibility of a repeat. What is your perception of the US government towards 9/11 attack? The government of the United States of America responded quickly to the attack. Provisions and am endments that will help curb future terrorist attacks on America are some of the initial government responses. Such included interception of communication between suspected individuals. This extended to telephone calls and other devices of communication including computer. Subsequently, America invaded Afghanistan and this war has continued for a long time since it begun. America also launched a global campaign against terrorists and terrorism, leading to the subsequent invasion of Iraq (Viotti, et. al., 2008). Most significantly, the Homeland Security emerged to protect American citizens against terrorist attacks. Many respondents applaud these responses by the government. They are confident that these efforts are for the good of all American citizens. The creation of the Homeland Security Department stands out. The respondents confirmed that thanks to the department, they are more assured of security and safety on their soil. The sight of officers checking all terminals of transpo rt, and more so in airports, reminds them of the government’s commitment to protect them (Barkun, 2011). There have been reservations with America’s decision to take on Afghanistan and Iraq marking them as the primary breeding grounds for terrorists and terrorism. Although some respondents acknowledge that many of the terrorists come from these countries, they hold that to a considerable extent, America has overreacted. So many lives perish in the wars. Opponents believe that this loss is not necessary. They move that these reactions are extreme and amount to counter-terrorism (White, 2012). It follows that there are innocent victims of these wars suffering the same fate as their American counterparts. Is 'war on terror' a suitable term? Many respondents felt the war on terrorism is an appropriate term. Terror need not be coming from a country on to another. It can originate from individuals or groups either within or outside the country. Reaction to terrorist attacks can as well be described as fight (or war) against terrorism. Nevertheless, they are adamant that even if all nations came together, it is quite impossible to eliminate terrorism. Curbing terrorism is rather possible, and government efforts so far have succeeded significantly. Security checks at transport terminals, deployment of more security forces on the boarders, installation of surveillance cameras and legislation regarding the fight

Assessment of the simplest, smartest, most effective and efficient Research Paper

Assessment of the simplest, smartest, most effective and efficient solutions to tackle long-term global warming issues - Research Paper Example The topic under discussion is current issues related to global warming. First of all, one can see that human encroachment upon nature and indiscriminative abuse of natural resources leads to ecological imbalance. Besides, the current issues related to global warming is deeply related to burning of fossil fuels and green house gas emission. Both these reasons behind global warming are closely connected to human encroachment upon nature. The most important issue related to global warming is climate change. Besides, the current global warming issues are interconnected. For instance, rise in global temperature leads to melting of snow in North and South poles and it eventually leads to rise in sea levels. Stephen H. Schneider makes clear that global warming may result in gradual sea level rise and flood in coastal areas (Schneider, 1990, p.160). Another issue related to global warming is extreme weather events. One can see that extreme weather events exert much pressure upon global population. Besides, rapid change in rainfall and uncertain climate affects nations in arid/semi-arid regions. From a different angle of view, rapid increase in global average temperature is beneficial to some regions. At the same time, some other regions are affected by increase in global average temperature. But generally, developing and underdeveloped nations are forced to suffer the far-reaching consequences of global warming and related issues. The current global warming issues can be divided into two: global and local. The global issues include problems originating from rising temperature. For instance, rising temperature melts ice deposit in north and south poles and it eventually leads to increase in global average temperature. This issue cannot be limited to any national boundary. All the human beings are forced to face the aftereffects of global warming.

Playing by Heart Movie. Relations Between Paul And Hannah Essay

Playing by Heart Movie. Relations Between Paul And Hannah - Essay Example Theirs is a case of true love that conquered all and is the kind of marriage that is permanent and not fleeting. Gracie and Hugh’s marriage was on the rocks because boredom set in and Gracie did not think Hugh had enough imagination to make their marriage more exciting, that is why Hugh kept trying to invent stories and sell these to women in bars to prove to himself that he is still an interesting man. Gracie, however, goes off to have a physical affair with a man he thought was exciting. Their marriage was not built on a strong foundation because the commitment to each other was flimsy and consistently needed concrete proof that they were worthy of each other. Meredith and Trent’s relationship is new, thanks to Trent’s devotion and persistence in breaking down the high wall that Meredith had built around herself. Being able to get through to her was a major breakthrough that both he and Meredith had a great chance of a successful relationship. The same is true of Joan and Keenan who met casually at a bar. Although their lives seem to be shallow, once they opened up to each other and decided to become vulnerable, they discovered what love was. The movie seemed to point out that once walls are broken down and the person inside agrees to be exposed until another person gets to love him or her for what he or she is, then the love that will grow from it is true. The couples Meredith and Trent and Joan and Keenan have chances to have happy marriages and probably children to complete their families. This is because they have made a decision to be honest with each other and to live without pretenses. 2. Discuss and evaluate the primary relationship between Paul and Hannah. Explain how they deal with intimacy, power, and love and how they understand marriage. Give examples of how their behaviors express their hopes and aspirations about love, marriage, children, and family. Paul and Hannah had very different philosophies with regards to relationsh ips. Paul was in love with Wendy 25 years ago but he chose to stay with his wife and children when Wendy moved away. Hannah took everything in just to save the family from breaking apart until both of them reconciled without talking about issues that bothered them. It was only until later when they discovered how ill Paul was that they endeavoured to be open to each other. Paul revealed that he fell in love with another woman because he wanted to feel again what made Hannah fall in love with him. With Wendy, he felt great and â€Å"vindicated† as a man who had a successful wife and left in the shadows. However, no matter how he felt for Wendy, he still knew that he was committed to his family. On they both journeyed through life as marriage partners, and have now reached a milestone, celebrating 40 years of marital togetherness and raised three lovely and loving daughters who had lives of their own. 3. Did Paul have an â€Å"affair† with Wendy? Is this kind of relation ship wrong for a marriage? How do you understand the explanation that Paul gives to Hannah about his relationship with Wendy? How would you compare Paul’s relationship with Wendy and Gracie’s relationship with Roger? Paul had an emotional affair with Wendy however, they never engaged in

Contemporary nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Contemporary nursing - Essay Example (Hermann, 2004) It is due to this reason that Australian nursing is confronting to challenges like lack of public reliance on hospitals, nurses', negligence towards patients etc. Other challenges include lack of community contact, some ethical issues which later escort towards loss of interest and defaming the profession. (Mant, 2002) Job dissatisfaction is also one of the reasons which escort experienced nurses to leave this field. (Goodwin, 2002) Under such circumstances where nurses are open to hear critics either in professionalism or ethical values, could one think that political apathy alone is to be held responsible for creating this situation In my opinion, the situation is all about what nurses understand and perceives the ethical and moral code of conduct. Therefore, it is not to blame the political apathy of professional values but the morals which a nurse has to follow throughout her nursing career. By nursing ethics, it is meant the morals and duties of nursing which she must succumb to in professional patient care. Often nurses see 'morality' as involving more a personal or private set of values, in contrast with 'ethics', which is seen as involving a more formalised, public and universal set of values. The incorrect use of fundamental ethical terms and concepts has led to a certain degree of confusion in nursing ethics discourse. Therefore the responsibility of this confusion does not lie with political apathy, but with a nurse who understands and perceives in her own manner. In this situation where 'political involvement' and 'ethics' has, been misunderstood in today's nursing profession, one must think behind the hidden facts responsible for creating the chaos. Blaming the laws, nursing code of conduct or nursing schools is not the solution to the problem. Lack of sharing and understanding a common nursing ethical language has become the ground root for taking a correct or incorrect course of action on which the reputation of nursing is built. Here by correct or incorrect I mean the course of action that is morally correct for the patient. For example if two nurses are unable to share a common perception about nursing practice, they cannot meaningfully debate about moral permissibility due to conflicting views and these views could later result into the differences clearly seen while handling a patient. Therefore, the onus comes on the shoulders of those nurses who are dedicated to enter in this profession to research about the conflicting views. The Moral Problems of today's Nurse Nursing practise revolves around basic care and common sense and today's nursing care is the moral care of the patient without these two features. (Traynor, 1999, p. 69) Moral care involves dedication and emotional bonding and respect for the patient. Though the nurses who are new to the profession are dedicated enough to handle the patient and understand morality, but that dedication is devoid of basic 'care' and 'common sense'. However older ones that stick to this profession for years explicitly identify their work and values as 'traditional' but still they never realise what is ahead of them that requires true morality what it takes to become today's nurse who is willing to accept

International Economic Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

International Economic Relations - Essay Example Economies of scale results from external activities undertaken by the firm. The traditional way of doing this is to assume that increasing returns are wholly external to the firm. That is, all economies of scale realized by the firm results from activities in which the firms have no control over (Murthy 25). This means that activities undertaken by the firm do not contribute to any savings on large-scale operations. External economies are too vague and unmeasurable to qualify as an explanation of patterns of trade. Given the economies of scale, each country undertakes to produce only a limited number of products in each industry that is under operation. This pattern of operation is termed as intraindustrial specialization, where each country produces what is essential for offer on other markets (Murthy 46). This makes the implications for the trade pattern straightforward, meaning that each and every nation will be a net exporter in industries in which it possesses a comparative advantage. That is, it will specialize in producing those goods that it can cheaply produce and export or sell them to countries that have limited resources to produce similar goods. This enables the country to realize gains from exporting those goods and thus increases its revenue and overall profitability. Due to intraindustry specialization, each country is capable of importing some products even in some industries in which it is a net exporter. Similarly, a country is capable of exporting some products even in some industries in which it is a net importer. This implies that there will be a presence of both intraindustry as well as interindustry trade, thus enabling the given country to reap both the benefits of comparative advantage and economies of scale (Murthy 55). This article widely explains the intra-industry theory as it allows a country to reap benefits from both exports and imports by partly engaging in

Reflection on Placebo Effect Essay Example for Free

Reflection on Placebo Effect Essay Does a Supportive Patient-Therapist Relationship Enhance Clinical Improvement? Kaptchuk (2008), Components of Placebo Effect: Randomised Controlled Trial in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. (PRO) Argument 1: Kaptchuk (2008) suggested that placebo effects (non-specific effects) include three components: a patient’s response to observation and assessment, the patient’s response to the administration of placebo treatment, and the patient’s response to the patient-practitioner interaction. Kaptchuk (2008) found that the symptoms of IBS patients in the condition with placebo treatment and supportive patient-therapist relationship ameliorated the most across all measures compared to patients with having only observation and the patients with only placebo treatment. Thus he claimed that a supportive patient-therapist relationship is the most potent component of placebo effects. Argument 2: After three and six weeks, only in the condition with placebo treatment and supportive patient-therapist relationship, the symptom severity score of 60% patients decreased 50. Also Kaptchuk (2008) found that after six weeks, the change in life quality of patient in condition with only observation and the life quality of patient in condition with placebo treatment was similar, but the life quality change of patient with placebo treatment and supportive patient-therapist relationship was observable. So Kaptchuk (2008) suggested that a supportive patient-therapist relationship can enhance clinical improvement. Argument 3: Kaptchuk (2008) also compared these IBS patients to the patients who received IBS drug treatment. He found that the patients with placebo treatment and supportive relationship had comparable symptom relief as those who with drug treatment. His finding was only applied to IBS patients with supportive patient-therapist relationship, thus he indicated that a supportive patient-therapist relationship could enhance the efficiency of clinical treatment. Critique (or Strength): The result of the study done by Kaptchuk (2008) clearly demonstrated the importance of supportive patient-therapist relationship in medical treatment. However, Kaptchuk conducted the study on IBS patients, because he believed that placebo effects are most likely to be demonstrable in disorders defined by subjective symptoms. As Kaptchuk (2008) stated in limitation that he did not know if his finding could be applied to other illnesses, I also think that if Kaptchuk conducted his study on patients with the disease that has external causes, the results will be more convincing. One of important causes of IBS is stress, a subjective etiology. Thus a supportive patient-therapist relationship may have greater influence on IBS patient than the patient with other diseases, like flu.

Structuralism And Edward Titchener Psychology Essay

Structuralism And Edward Titchener Psychology Essay Edward Titchener was a famous psychologist who was born in Chichester, England in 1867. He studied physiology, classics, and philosophy at Malvern College and Oxford University before pursuing his doctorate degree in clinical psychology at the University of Leipzig (King, Viney, Woody, 2009). While at the University of Leipzig, Titchener studied under Wilhelm Wundt, a psychologist who is known as the father of experimental psychology (Schultz Schultz, 2011). After Titchener completed his doctoral degree in Germany, he attempted to obtain a job in England, but was not successful in doing so. He ended up earning a job at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York as a professor of psychology. At the age of 28, Titchener earned the title of full professor at Cornell (King et al., 2009). While at Cornell, Titchener published eight books, over 60 articles, and translated much of Wundts work into English (Schultz Schultz, 2011). As the head of one of the most rigorous doctoral program in the United States, he supervised over 50 students in the clinical psychology program at Cornell (King et al., 2009). Titcheners first student who graduated was Margaret Floy Washburn, who later became famous for her work in comparative psychology, which is the study of human behavior in relation to animals and other species (King et al., 2009). In a time period when most schools would not accept women into their programs, Titchener had 19 women graduate under his supervision. This was the most of any other male psychologist in his generation (Hergenhahn, 2008). Titchener structured the doctoral program at Cornell based on the German model, which included an intense mixture of lab research and independent work. While his students worked independently, he was heavily involved in helping them out with their research. Titchener was described as having a powerful personality, a strong character, and a paternalistic way with his students (King et al., 2009). Wundt and Titchener both believed in using introspection to discover the mental elements of human experience. Both of these scientists also believed that identifying and classifying sensations and feelings were an essential part of understanding the human experience (Chung Hyland, 2012). However, Titchener felt images were a category of mental elements, and Wundt did not. Both Wundt and Titchener used an experimental approach in their work. However, Wundt believed that psychology cannot only be studied as an experimental science. He felt that psychology should also be studied through historical analyses and naturalistic observation (Chung Hyland, 2012). In addition, Wundt believed that the methods used to study psychology could be utilized to describe social customs, religion, myths, morals, art, law, and language (King et al., 2009). Titcheners view was more rigid in that he only believed that psychology could be studied in the laboratory through evidence-based methods. Another di fference between Titchener and Wundt was that Wundt believed that physical events could be explained by antecedent events, and that higher psychological processes could not be studied in the laboratory (Schultz Schultz, 2011). Titchener only studied psychology through introspection, focusing on internal processes (Hergenhahn, 2008). Titcheners goal for psychology was to make it an accepted science, classified in the same category as physics and chemistry (King et al., 2009). He firmly believed that psychology should be studied in a laboratory, and that studying psychology was no different than studying physics, chemistry, and other hard sciences. Titcheners view on psychology was called Structuralism. He believed that human thoughts, emotions, and behaviors could be charted on a table as elements are on the periodic table. Titcheners view was reductionistic in that he did not feel it was important to understand how the parts of the mind worked together as a whole, but just the individual parts themselves. He felt that if each part could be understood then all one would need to do is to learn how these parts interact to conclude in a thought or behavior. Structuralism had five main goals for psychology; 1) to study it using specific methods, 2) to provide more definitions in the field of psychology, 3) to use it to make assumptions about more general philosophical issues, 4) to make connections between the physical sciences and psychology, and 5) to prove that psychology should be in the same category as the hard sciences. Titchener believed that all science begins with experience, and that without this, there could be no cognition or knowledge. He felt that experiences could have various points of view depending on the person who is experiencing the situation. Titchener believed that the main difference between the accepted physical sciences and psychology was that psychological experience was dependent on human judgment, and the other physical sciences were not dependent on human experience. While Titchener had many goals for psychology, he identified the current problems with psychology, and why it was not an accepted science. Titchener believed that the basic elements of experience needed to be identified and categorized. Next, understanding how each element interacts with another was essential to understanding human experience. Finally, causal relations between experiences needed to be identified. Titchener believed that the method of studying psychology was not different than any other science. While hard scientists used inspection to make many of their observations, Titchener called the observation by psychologists introspection. While many criticized introspection due to its subjective nature, Titchener firmly believed introspection could be objective if individuals were formally trained in the practice. Introspection was a scientific form of observation in Titcheners eyes. According to Titchener, observation is considered scientific if it has three properties; 1) one can isolate the experience, 2) the experience can be varied, and 3) the experience can be repeated. Titchener believed that the senses were the key access points to the mind. One of his specific goals was to identify mental elements connected to each sense. After he identified each element, Titchener wanted to categorize the elements. The three mental elements that Titchener identified were: 1) affections, which were emotions, 2) images, which were ideas, memories, and thoughts, and 3) sensation, which related to perception. He believed that all sensations had four characteristics; 1) quality, which was the main descriptor, 2) intensity, which was the strength or amount, 3) clearness, which was how clearly the sensation could be identified, and 4) duration, which was the duration of the sensation. The mental elements could have more than these four characteristics, but all had these. The only mental element that did not have all four was affections because Titchener did not believe that emotions were distinct or easy to identify. Titchener had a unique view on the mind and body rel ationship. Titchener believed that the mind and body influence each other, but that they were two different views of the same experience. According to him, the mind and body were parallel and never physically interacted, but one could influence the other. Some historians classified Titchener as a psychophysical parallelist, but this was controversial. This may have been thought to be controversial because s true parallelist would never say that the mind and body could influence one another in any way. Another unique aspect to Titcheners opinion on the mind and body relationship was that he did not believe in commonsense interactionism. This was likely due to his empiricist nature that everything had to be objectively studied in a lab setting. Titchener influenced many aspects of psychology that are important today. The first area of psychology that Titchener was interested in was attention. He separated attention into two categories; primary and secondary. Primary attention was passive and involuntary. It was influenced by intense stimuli, and thought to be related to novel and sudden stimuli. According to Titchener, secondary attention was active and voluntary. This involved attention under situations in which one needs to actively concentrate when distractors are in the environment. Titchener felt that this was related to advanced stages of development, and that infants were not capable of secondary attention. Another area of psychology that Titchener was interested in was associations. Titchener wanted to analyze how the mental elements of human experience interact; therefore, understanding associations was important to him. Titchener appreciated how philosophers such as Aristotle, Hobbes, and Bain placed a large emphasis on association. Titchener proposed that all association can be broken down to the law of contiguity. He felt that every law of association involved contiguity. Titchener also believed that emotions do not play an important part in association. Titchener stated, feelings only play a role by virtue of their sensory and imaginal components, and not their affective character (Cite). Titchener thought highly of Ebbinghauss work with nonsense syllables in regard to understanding association, but he felt that Ebbinghaus was missing an important component, intrinsic meaning. Titchener believed that personal impressions and associative processes operate together, and they cannot be separated. Titchener understood that intrinsic processes in humans are impo rtant, and cannot be left out when studying association. A third area of psychology that Titchener studied was meaning. Titchener believed that meaning, from a psychological perspective, had everything to do with context. In his opinion, meaning was a combination of the laws of attention and the laws of the connection of sensations. Titchener believed that everything humans see and experience had a context and a background. He understood that when individuals process things, memories of their past experiences play a large role in how they interpret what they experience. Titchener felt that the context of a situation or object was the psychological equivalent of its actual meaning. Interestingly, he noted that humans frequently had difficulty in identifying their own contexts when doing introspection. Emotion was another area that Titchener was interested in studying. In the area of emotion, Titchener had a problem with the James-Lange theory, which states that humans experience emotions based on how the body behaves. For example, when we see a bear, we run, and then become afraid. There were a number of reasons why Titchener had a problem with this theory. First, he believed it was not a novel theory, in that Descarte and Spinoza discussed physical origins of emotions. Next, Titchener felt that there were specific flaws in this theory. He argued that physical changes in the body may look exactly the same for different emotions. For example, when somebody is crying, it could be tears of joy as opposed to tears of despair. In addition, Titchener felt that bodily sensations were too simple of an explanation for emotions, which are complicated and not easily defined. He wrote in detail about how difficult categorizing emotions was, and stated that most theorists that attempt to understand and classify emotions do it subjectively, and their theories a re not scientific. Toward the end of Titcheners career, he became frustrated with his inability to identify and quantify all of the mental processes in human experience. Instead of having three main elements (Images, sensation, and affections), he proposed that affect was simply a byproduct of sensations images and sensations. Specifically, Titchener believed that affect may have been a form of sensation on a spectrum from pleasant to unpleasant. In addition, he proposed that images may have been a type of sensation. Titchener separated himself from trying to identify and classify all mental processes, and grew to feel that human experience was more abstract and on a spectrum. Titcheners Structuralism eventually was overtaken by behaviorism for a number of reasons. It was hard to defend introspection as an objective, scientific method. It was thought that individuals may not accurately report what they feel and experience. Next, structuralism placed no weight on psychological development, personality, abnormal behavior, learning, individual differences, evolution, and practicality. Behaviorism focused on what could be observed, and the relationship between external events and behavior. This lead to a great understanding in learning, performance, and the origin of behaviors. Most importantly, the methods of behaviorism were practical, quantifiable, measurable, classifying them as credibly scientific. Behaviorists criticized Structuralists for focusing too much on the internal, which cannot be observed. Behaviorists the studied cause and effect of behavior focusing on external events in the environment. This was more practical and effective than methods such as introspection. While Titcheners structuralism was too rigid to survive, it paved an important path in the field of psychology for its future. He was the first to fight a fight that has gone on for years, making psychology classified as a true, empirically-based science. Titchener also touched on areas in psychology that are crucial in the field today such as attention, association, meaning, and emotion. While he was not never able to create a periodic table of the mental elements of experience, his empirically-based methods are used today in many areas of psychology.