Wednesday, October 30, 2019

World Religions From A Healthcare Perspective Essay

World Religions From A Healthcare Perspective - Essay Example In fact, proceeding from the information included in this chapter, it may even be claimed that there is no such thing as a unified American Indian religion whatsoever. This is supported both by the incredible diversity of tribal groups and nations among American Indians and Alaska Natives, and, on the other hand, by the absence of the organized religion (in the Western sense at least) among many of these peoples. The painful history of relations between the US Government and various Indian tribes had its brunt on the state of the healthcare provision to the American Indians, among other things. While the Indian Health Service (IHS) was established in 1955 to provide primary and comprehensive health care to the American Indians, many of the latter reside in metropolitan areas which lie outside the field of the HIS competence. This complicates the situation with regard to health care provision and creates significant discrepancies in respect of the interrelations between the IHS and co nventional healthcare providers, on the one hand, and the traditional tribal elders, on the other. When speaking on the subject of the specificity of American Indian religious traditions, it is necessary to observe that the practitioners of American Indian beliefs have a significantly different concept of the world than those of theistic religions. Unlike linear concepts of the proceedings of the world inherent in the latter, the American Indian belief traditions assume the circular development of the world, which is aimed at perceiving the world as a harmonious whole. Subsequently, the centre of this whole is construed as a state of peace and balance, including peace of mind, which informs the general understanding of the world in Indian religious traditions. Therefore the idea of healthcare provision in American Indian tradition is directly intertwined with the notion that the surrounding world is infused with spiritual energy that may be embodied in particular healing substances such as some herbs. In practical dimension, this means that the concept of healthcare in American Indian worldview is directly connected with the idea of healing by nature’s aid and that of connection between the spiritual and physical health of the patient. Therefore the taking into account of such complexities is absolutely necessary when dealing with American Indian patients. 3. Hinduism The essence of Hinduism as a set of religious practice lies not so much in the regulation of the practitioners’ beliefs than in the regulation of the latter’s behavior. In reality, Hinduism can scarcely be characterized as a unified religion arising out of the certain consensus, as the majority of its practitioners belong to different sects and sub-cultures. Nevertheless, there are some common tenets that bring different strands of the Hindu religion together. On the one hand, Hinduism is characterized by its reliance on the preceding, Vedic tradition that emphasizes the impo rtance of ritualistic devotion to the gods, the maintenance of the devotee’s duties before the social structure and the world in general, the existence of the complex cycle of life and death, where the souls of the

Monday, October 28, 2019

Life Experience of Children Living with Extended Family

Life Experience of Children Living with Extended Family Background Information All of us, despite what social status we are, whether we are poor or rich or young or old, we still belong to a family. Our family can come from either immediate or extended family. Immediate family means we belong in a unit where parents and siblings are living together, therefore, in contrary extended family means living together in the same roof with other family members like grandparents, uncles and aunties, in laws, cousins and sometimes stepsiblings. According to Roberts (2010), families with many members in the house make an inconsistent return with about 25% in the 40’s, however decreases to 12% in the 80’s but then shows increasing of 16% in the 90’s. The main reason of why extended families still exists these days is compassion at heart. When elderly relative tentatively become old or young relatives are jobless or family that could not find any babysitter, family members tend to take up the role as a caregiver, just like a line from Robert Frost Ã¢â‚¬Ë œHome is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in’ (Roediger, 2014; Lathem 2006) and take care of the family’s wellbeing. A house that filled with many relatives represent love and happiness, despite any reasons, there will always be some issues upfront for example conflict between family members and in-laws or the competition between both families in aspect such as financial and education as seen in Goodwin’s research. Goodwin (2012) states that past studies back in the 30s had found that conflict between parents greatly affect children especially in their emotional state. The question of ‘why children are acting such ways’ has been lingering in the mind of everyone especially the parents. They do not know or understand the reason of why their children are acting in that way, for example during family gathering, children sometimes seen to be quite for the whole gathering or they rather skipped the gathering than attending. Sometimes, children are put under pressure by their parents to be the same level or a level higher than their cousin in order to ‘save faces’ for their parents. However, Goodwin (2012) also said that conflict is part of our life, not many people realised how much children are affected by it and also not realising that children have feelings of their own. The reason of why this topic are chosen is because family plays a role in child’s development (Waites, 2012; Sexton Schuster, 2008), but however not all parents understand the behind reason of children’s emotion. This research is supported by Bowen’s work where he did an in-depth research that he highlights multigenerational approach shows relationship that connects many family members across generations in terms of emotions, thoughts and belief (Dattilio, 2006 as cited in Kerr Bowen, 1988, Miller, Anderson Keala 2004). Furthermore, in order for the multigenerational to keep living, it has linked to long term relationships with family members and also coping the action of others by means one family taking care of elderly, another family members follow suits and thus it continues (Dattilio, 2006 as cited in Kerr Bowen, 1988). But however, according to Dattilio (2006), Bowen later found that there are no mere exposure with individual and family to link with multigenerational transmission as the original findings were inconsistent, only to happen at emotional category. Other than that, the reason why extended family still exists these day is because they provides beneficiate towards su ccess in education through attribution from first cousins and immediate siblings (Jaeger, 2012). Hence the aim of this research is to find out the experiences of children living in extended house. Although most past studies have done towards different race and also in bigger country with bigger population like California (Figueroa Williams, 2012) and South Africa (Waites,2009), this research is focusing in our country, Malaysia where all five participants with different race from small island which is Penang to be representative. Theoretical Framework The research will focus on the life experience children faced when living in an extended family. With this, in order to be more in-depth, emotion theory modified by Schachter-Singer, a two factor emotion based theory that implies human feels arousal first, then make reasoning to why people arouse and identify it as an emotion are used. Nevertheless, children are human and human shows emotion no matter what situation they are facing. Parents that bring warmth to their children actually influences social life of the children and also their development in emotional aspect (Aunola, Tolvanen, Viljaranta Nurmi, 2013 as cited in Hart, Newell Olsen, 2003). Adding to that, another aspect the research are looking into is the parenting styles where they have three different approaches, affective also known as emotional control, behavioural control and psychological approach (Aunola et al, 2013), depending on which styles the parents living in an extended family used that could influence and a ffect the emotion of the child. Research Question The research focus mainly on the experiences of children living in extended family. With that, the research question for the research will be ‘what is the experience of children living in extended family?’ Significant of the Study The important of this study is to learn about the life experience of child living in a house with many generations of members as children is in their growing stage, it is wise to learn about their personal experience as their experience will be different from adults. Besides, nowadays many members of family are staying together with other family member as to save living cost and family bonding. Also, parents will have a better understanding of children’s emotion through the study and would be able to find appropriate educating approach to their children for a better lifestyle. The limitation of this research is the number of participants being interviewed due to limitation of time. This research will only focus on a total of five participants which will be relatively small to represent for children living in an extended family. Other than that, this research will only focus in Penang and the analysis of data might shows different results as compared to bigger country with more population. Also, some participants might be hiding some of their feelings or might fake their experiences when interview is in progress as they might feel shy or inappropriate to share. Research Paradigm The paradigm proposed in this research is post-positivism. Each participant has their own perspective and different thoughts on their feelings, which is why this research uses post-positivism as it does not only focus on single reality. Additionally, to understand how an individual feels and behave, post-positivism brings the first hand life experience of children to the research for better understanding of why they behave and how they feel living in a house with many family members. Methods Approach The research mainly focus on the experience of children living in extended family. As this research is more about experiences of children, consequently the design of the research is a qualitative type as supported in Figueroa Williams (2012). With that, the research focuses into a phenomenological study where the data collected will be using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Phenomenological study provides us with a real life experience on a concept, as for this study, the aim for the study of experience of children living in extended family will be investigated for further understanding on the matter. The experiences and personal view of the children are examine through description and analysis of the data collected from the interview. Through phenomenological research, investigator will gain access to participant’s experience on their life world and meaningful moments of thoughts, sensation and emotion when they live in the same roof with many relatives. Data Collection In this research, researcher will be using individual interview in order to find out about the participant’s experience when living in extended family. Semi-structured questions regarding extended family as attached will be presented to the participants and they are to share their experiences. When doing individual interview, participants might able to share more informations as they can speak freely. Besides that, investigator will have the opportunity to observe participant’s facial expression and body language as they answer questions given to them which in turn, investigator will get a clearer indication of their feelings and thus making a strong judgement on the matter. Furthermore, in individual interview, investigator could follow up with participants at that particular session if they have any doubts or unsure about what the participants say during the interview session. As the research will be a one on one interview, it would takes up approximately 30 minutes o f participant’s time. Before the interview begins, participant will be brief about the purpose of the research and also be informed once again that there will audio recording during the session even though they have already signed the informed consent form. Audio recording will be used for further transcribing. After transcribing, the transcript will be emailed to the participants to be confirm on the validity of the transcript. The recordings however will be kept private and confidential, only the investigator and the supervisor will have the access to it. Participants A total of five participants will be recruited in the study through purposive and snowball method. The reason of why only five participants are being recruited in the study is because the minimal requirement for individual interview is five candidates. In the research, the first participant will be randomly selected with the fulfilment of the ‘living in extended family’ purpose and then followed by the second participant through snowball and the process goes on till the fifth participant. Participants will be asked for permission for their participation in the research and if they agree to be involved, investigator will then make appointment for suitable venue and time to start the interview session. Participants aged 18-21 will be used for the study. This is because participant aged 18 and above are considered as an adult and they are mature enough to give rational thought and answer. Any gender or ethnicity are selected for the study. There will be no specific ethnic s election involved. In the study, no compensation will not be provided for the participants. Data Analysis and Data Modification During the individual session, investigator will carry out interpretative analysis when they proposed the questions to the participants as they try to make sense of what participant are conveying. With them, there will be a reflective diary where the investigator will be using throughout the whole process to make a simple analysis or key notes of what participant saying and making some relevant themes out of it. As the process continues, the researcher will be able to maintain the flow of interview. After the interview session is finished, each and every recordings will be transcribed before the data being analysed. However before that, the transcript will be emailed to the participants to check on the validity of the contents. After the contents are checked, the data will be analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The transcripts will be break down in to several small session without changing the exact sentence or word said by participants. From the break down, themes will be formed according to the descriptive summaries of what participants said and also the initial interpretative of the issues. Furthermore, the themes will then compile into a smaller chunk depending on which theme fits in with another theme. Central concept of the data interpretation will be much clearer when the themes are divided into sub theme. IPA is used for exploration of lived experience of participant which in this research is to find out about experiences living in extended family. Subsequently, thematic analysis will be used after the interview ends when investigator listened to the audio recorder and repeatedly reading the transcripts over and over to highlight the significance of the findings and also the similarities and differences of the data. The validity of the findings are checked when all the interpretation consistent with the sub theme.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Young Goodman Brown Essay -- essays research papers

â€Å"Evil is the nature of mankind.†(Nathaniel Hawthorne). The story of â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† depicts what Hawthorne believes the nature of mankind is, which is evil. Goodman is a man of attempted good who comes face to face with the supposed inherent evil of humanity. He cannot realize, through any normal means, whether or not this awareness is something of his tormented mind, or based on something he stumbled upon while deep within dreary, haunted forests. Faith who seems to be good appears not to be after Goodman sees her in the forest. Faith is Goodman’s wife. She was also young and she was beautiful. She had a lot of faith in God and her religion. In the beginning she didn't want Goodman to leave, but because she had faith in him she agreed. She seemed to be worshiping the devil and has...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

European Cars Are Better Than Japanese Essay

The design is specialized to cater to the specific needs of a consumer. Every country in the world manufactures its own cars, whether it is Japan, America or Europe. European cars are vastly superior to Japanese cars when examining performance, design and safety. The key feature that makes European cars better than all other cars is performance. Performance of a care is judge by how well the, brakes, suspension, traction, transmission and engine work. When European car manufacturers talks about performance they are referring to power generated by the car. European cars manufacturers combine all the aspects of performance to create an extraordinarily spectacular engine, which has maximum horse power and torque. Some European cars engines are hand-built, which helps delivers performance at a perfect level. Power from the engine has to be delivered to the wheels; transmission plays a vital role in delivering the power and speed from the engine to wheels. Car manufacturers in Europe develop a transmission system which is particularly adept at applying output so that it can be delivered quickly, smoothly and efficiently when called upon. European car manufacturers are especially renowned for their designs, because their designs allow precision in handling, efficiency in engine performance and good brakes. An efficient power output of the engine leads to an increased maximum speed limit that the car can reach. To maximize the speed that a car can reach the external shape of the body of a car is designed with special care as well. When European car manufacturers talk about speed, they keep in mind the aerodynamics of the car. Designers ensure that the car has a streamlined body shape, which reduces air resistance experienced by a car while it is in motion. In addition, aerodynamics designing provides for the external appearance of the car to look elegant, fashionable, artistic and sensational. European cars are made out of high-strength steel body panels make the safer when an impact takes place. They are manufactured with 7 different air bags inside the care to avoid the impact and causing the driver and passenger to be much safer. If a car can reach high speeds in a short span of time then it needs good brakes. European engineers ensure safety and handling does not become an issue for the driver and the passenger by providing an anti-lock braking system. This system prevents the car from skidding and allows the driver with greater control over the car because due to the anti-braking system the wheels of the car are only gradually reduced in speed. Rather than bringing the wheels of the car to an abrupt halt, the brakes of the car provide with better independent suspension for each wheel, which can help withstand shocks and bumps. European cars are superior in performance design and safety. Japanese cars lack behind in performance when compared to European cars. They have weaker and lighter engines, which only reduce the manufacturing cost, but result in giving a poor performance. Japanese car engines are manufactured on low budget. The lack in use of technology during the production makes the cars less reliable, because the finished engine does not produce much power. Less power means less torque and horsepower. Production companies in Japan manufacture engines using heavy equipment and machinery. This allows them to produce cars in a greater quantity, but there is no guarantee for quality . Japanese engineers focus on building lighter engines which gives more gas millage. Japanese cars are designed using weaker body structures making the car lighter. They use to steel alloy to manufacture the exterior of the less expensive material. Exterior of the car is brittle enough to not to withstand an impact, hence making less safe. Japanese cars are not safest car in the world. To avoid the cost to manufacture the car, they use disk brakes which have a higher risk of worning out faster than anti-lock brakes. They use one suspension for two pair of wheel, which causes to feel the smallest shock and bump while ridding the car. Japanese car don’t use that much technology to make their car safe enough. European cars are superior to Japanese cars. They are better in performance, design and safety. European cars are comfortable, luxurious and high end cars. Japanese cars are ordinary and standard cars. Japanese cars are cheaper that European, but buying an expensive car gives you a lot of option to enjoy the ride of the car. , and produce products with a superior passenger cabin but employ lower standards outside of the cabin. Disk brakes, Alloy Wheels, and Brake Override Systems have been standard on most mid-size domestic cars for years, yet are still optional or non-existent on many major Japanese mid-size cars being sold today. Anti-lock braking system (ABS) is an automobile safety system that allows the wheels on a motor vehicle to maintain tractive contact with the road surface according to driver inputs while braking preventing the wheels from locking up (ceasing rotation) and avoiding uncontrolled skidding. It is an automated system that uses the principles of threshold braking and cadence braking which were practised by skilful drivers with previous generation braking systems. It does this at a much faster rate and with better control than a driver could manage. With 72% of its body panels made from high-strength steel, theody structure is even more rigid than its renowned predecessors. The advanced front crumple zone has been refined with approximately 17,000 computer-simulated collisions and 150 crash tests. An innovative front bulkhead and deformation zones that act on four independent levels to help divert the energy of a frontal impact under, over and around the passenger cabin.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Gerontology and Social Exchange Theory Essay

Introduction The fundamental biological problem that all theories of aging seek to explain was stated very elegantly in 1957 by Williams when he wrote, â€Å"It is indeed remarkable that after a seemingly miraculous feat of morphogenesis, a complex metazoan should be unable to perform the much simpler task of merely maintaining what is already formed.† The difficulty in attempting to establish an understanding of aging is that it is not a single physiological process. It is multifaceted and hierarchical in its expression with subtle changes occurring simultaneously at the molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels. The variety of characterizes many species, particularly humans, and the complexity of environmental interactions results in an enormous phenotypic variability being associated with aging. This variability is frequently confounded by the symptoms of underlying pathology and invariably increases between individuals with aging. First Transformation of Theory The beginning of social gerontology began as general perspectives on aging rather than as actual scientific theories. Prior to 1961, social gerontology attempted to explain how individuals adjusted to aging from role and activity perspectives. Growing old was seen as an inevitable process that led to the development of problems an individual experienced overtime. It wasn’t until 1961, with the development of disengagement theory, that there was an actual theory being used as a basis for scientific research. A basic assumption of the theory was that all societies have to transfer power from an aging population to a younger one. Disengagement attempted to explain this process of power transfer and complimented gerotrancendence, another theory from what is considered to be the first transformation of theory. Gerotrancendence follows the beliefs of Jung and Erikson that as a person ages, they withdraw from the external world to an internal world focused on spirituality, wisdom, se lf-acceptance and purpose. Both disengagement and gerotrancendence theories attempted to explain what social gerontologists thought aging should be. They did not try to develop a universal theory to explain the variety of experiences of people as they age (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011). In the case of disengagement, this withdrawal from power was  believed to be a universal experience that transcended gender and culture. Death was inevitable; decline in abilities was probably. It was only natural that others would have lowered expectations for aging individuals. In the case of gerotrancendence, this withdrawal resulted from an individual not achieving ego identity. An individual would either attain this ego identity, a positive regard for their life, or withdraw as a symptom of despair (Andrus Gerontology Center; University of Southern California, 2005) A third theory of the time period was continuity theory, which postulated that â€Å"individuals tend to maintain a consistent pattern of behavior as they age, substituting similar types of roles for lost ones and keeping typical ways of adapting to the environment† (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011, p. 319). Individual satisfaction was dependent on how consistent a person was able to maintain the same patterns of behavior. Though attempting to challenge previous theories based on activity and disengagement perspectives, it also did not address any personality differences among aging individuals, nor did it address any political, social, historical or cultural influences on the experience of aging (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011). It is interesting to note that though continuity theory attempted to challenge the activity theory, it was similar to the activity perspective that that was a positive relationship between social roles and life satisfaction (Howe, 1987). Alternative Theoretical Perspectives Alternative theories based on a symbolic interaction perspective were developed to address external issues affecting aging while also attempting to connect the disparate theories of activity and disengagement. Symbolic interaction perspective is based on the premise that as an individual interacts with his environment; his experiences of aging are shaped by these interactions. Three of these alternative theories are: age stratification theory, social exchange theory, and the political economy of aging. There are many similarities and differences between these theories. Age stratification and political economy theories are based on the belief that as people age, the differences in their aging experience is significantly influenced by stratification. Age stratification acknowledges the differences experienced by those sharing a similar history. Similarities among life events and societal changes experienced by these historical  cohorts affect these individuals in similar ways. In contrast, political economy theory rejects all previous theories and posits that differences between individual experiences of aging are determined by social class. Socioeconomic and political factors determine the disparity between different groups in an aging population. Social exchange theory is based on an economic cost-benefit model of social interaction. It could be said that there is a similarity between social exchange and political economy in that disparities experienced are social in nature. Whereas in social exchange theory, an individual is thought to be able to influence or change one’s environment as one adapts, political economy believes that inequalities are built into the political system. Political economy critiques the current system which lulls the individual into believing one has to adapt to circumstances, rather than changing society’s structural inequalities. Of the alternative theories, social exchange is the only one to address the influence of culture on the experience of aging. Social exchange theory believes that people interact with those whom they believe the rewards outweigh the costs of the relationship (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). Though social exchange theory acknowledges that though a person may no longer have the same economic value when older, that the older individual possesses other non-materialistic assets such as wisdom, love, and time for service. As our society modernized, these assets have been overlooked by a culture that now places importance on efficiency and productivity (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011). The Second Transformation The second transformation was developed in the early 1980’s. This transformation includes the following approaches: social phenomenology, social constructivism, and social constructionism. Both of which discuss the influence of social perceptions, rather than actual facts. Social phenomenology is an interpretative approach to an individual’s social life on a day to day basis. The purpose is to gain a better understanding of the aging process and how it is influenced by social definitions and social structures. This approach can be a very helpful guide when gaining understanding of an individual’s social life, depending on how the information is obtained. The outcomes for this approach will be solely based on the interpretations of the individual (s) obtaining this information. Not  everyone has the same social definition and or social structures, which could result in numerous interpretations (Hooyman& Kiyak, 2011). Social Constructionism and Social Constructiv ism are both phenomenological approaches that focus on social phenomena development, but are very different. Social constructionism is the sociological perspective and focuses on the social contexts and structural development. This approach would view how an individual structures their life which shapes their old age experiences. Social constructivism is interpreting the meaning of an individual’s social context, psychologically. From this approach the researchers want to know more information on why a person chooses a specific context and how an individual does decide a specific social context (Hooyman& Kiyak, 2011). Critical Theory and Feminist Perspectives are also influenced by phenomenology. Critical theory refers to the biomedical model of aging, but focuses on structural and institution factors. This theory is suggesting that those (older people) participating in research studies should be allowed to come up with the questions they are requested to answer. For instance, research conducted regarding retirement would recommend a series of questions complied by other retirees (Hooyman& Kiyak, 2011). The Feminist Theory concludes that age related research outcomes involve inequalities against wom en. This theory suggests that women haven’t been included in research studies as they should be. It’s even been stated that men have been favored over women. Due to these inequalities all other theories of aging are insufficient. These inequalities also include gender with race, social class, sexual orientation, and disabilities, all of which aren’t discussed as much as they should be (Hooyman& Kiyak, 2011). These theories are all based on assumptions, rather than actual facts. The text states, â€Å"To positivist, phenomenological theories may seem impossible to test and closer to assumptions about meanings than propositions that can be proved or disprove† (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011, p. 326).Society has a huge impact on our perceptions of life, which aren’t consistent and change over time. A huge factor of perception is that it’s not necessarily reality and lacks proven facts. If the information being evaluated isn’t consistent, lacks factual information, and is based on assumptions it shouldn’t be used for practice, but could be a beneficial guiding tool (Hooyman& Kiyak, 2011). Postmodernist Theory Postmodernist theory represents a decisive break with modernity or a positivist scientific approach to an â€Å"objective† truth (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011, p. 331). Postmodernism focuses on how our world appears today, rather than focusing on how an individual wishes for the world to be seen. Postmodernist theory reviews the whole of a person’s experiences during their life time and examines the body not from a biological standpoint, but rather by everyday social and cultural practices built overtime to construct the identity of the individual. The individual will physically change overtime, but their essential identity develops based on achievements and future goals. An area that continues to develop in postmodernist theory focuses on biomedical technology that can provide options for reconstructing failing body parts to slow the process of aging. Postmodernist and social constructivist theories share the link of knowledge as a socially constructed element and each indivi dual’s social life events create who they are. This diversity of perspectives alerts social gerontologists to be concerned with the connections between scientific inquiry and the social milieu at particular influential points in time (Putney, Alley, & Bengston, 2005, p. 95). Both areas focus on an individual’s construct based on a cultural framework of customs, traditions, and beliefs. Social constructionism and postmodernist take into account how individual experiences alter an individual’s aging process allowing the person to develop their own reality. Each area stresses the importance of the individual’s social framework to help sustain their self-worth as they age. In contrast to political economy of aging, postmodernists focus on the well-being of an individual not from a social class or political standing, but from their life experiences. Structural factors of gender, sexual orientation, functional ability, race, age and class can have negative effects that limit an individual’s later opportunities. According to Hooyman & Kiyak (2011), these structural factors—often institutionalized and reinforced by public policy—limit the opportunities and choices of later life, resulting in cumulative disadvantages in o ld age, which are further exacerbated by retirement (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011, p. 323). These differences force aging individuals to change themselves and their lifestyles to fit income, health and physical care policy constraints forced  on them. Increased reduction in public health and social services creates a barrier for individuals to affectively age and receive proper care. Postmodernist theory follows the same framework of individual aging. It develops with the individual to meet their needs on a personal level and takes into consideration what the body and mind have both gone through as they have aged. According to Powell (2011), older people are usually ‘fixed’ to roles without resources which does not do justice to the richness of their individual experiences and multi-facets of their personalities (Powell, 2001, p. 6). Postmodernism clearly focuses on the importance of an individual’s ability to develop overtime through experience and uses biomedicine to provide options for maintaining an individual’s physical body. This provides a solid framework for aging that meets the needs of an individual from both physical and mental capacities. Conclusion While these are the dominant theories, many other theories are in varying stages of development. In addition, theories are constantly being tested and modified as new data from aging research emerges. It is only in the last half-century that researchers have begun to focus their attention on older adults as a population worthy of special consideration. While earlier theories of aging were few in number, narrowly focused, and generally negative, recent theories have emerged that establish aging as a multidimensional process. These theories view aging as characterized by positive as well as negative qualities and are more interactive in nature. They emphasize the interaction of biological, physical, and social factors in each individual’s age trajectory, and attempt to explain how older adults can minimize the negative and maximize the positive aspects of aging, in order to more fully enjoy the increased life span that comes with living in the 21st century. References Andrus Gerontology Center; University of Southern California. (2005). The Psychology of Aging: Lecture Part II. Retrieved from http://gero.usc.edu/AgeWorks/core_courses/gero500_core/psychology_lect/index_a.htm Hooyman, N. R., & Kiyak, H. A. (2011). Social Gerontology, ninth edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Howe, C. Z. (1987). Selected Social Gerontology Theories and Older Adult Leisure Involvement: A Review of the

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Way down east essays

Way down east essays D.W. Griffiths great film, Way Down East, is a silent melodramatic film with many different stories within one great plot. The movie opens with a mother and a daughter sitting at their quiet countryside house laughing and talking. The daughter is Anna Moore, the main character of the film, who must leave to see her cousins in the city. The movie tells of her travels from her cousins house in the city to almost losing her life on the icy river running away from her past. In the first scene of the movie, Anna is seen with shorter, darker hair that is almost always pulled up. By the end of the movie, she has lighter and longer hair that is almost always down and waving around. I found this symbolic because it seems as if she becomes happier but more aged by the end of the film because she has been through so many experiences trying to run away from her past and make a better future for herself. She has had so many people in her life that have caused her to run away or hide. Some of these people are her husband Lennox Sanderson, who lied to her about their marriage; they were never married in the first place. When Anna had Sandersons baby, Maria Poole, the lady that was there during the delivery, was ashamed of Anna and spread the word that she was an unmarried mother, just before Annas baby passed away. Martha Perkins is another character that likes to spread gossip about people. She heard from Maria Poole that Anna was an unmarried mother a nd told Annas boss on the homestead so she would have to leave and start a whole new life. There seems to be the theme of people rooting for Anna to fail throughout the movie. While the movie was pretty self-explanatory in the basic events of the characters, it was sometimes hard to follow without conversation between the people in the film and all of the music in the background. The scenes move very quickly and it was sometim ...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Family values Essay Example

Family values Essay Example Family values Essay Family values Essay curiosity about others) appears to be a key distinguishing gratification between reality and fictional programming, it is not always a predictor of reality television enjoyment. † In his popular commentary in The Guardian in 2001, Salman Rushdie shares similar view on voyeurism in television. as Nabi. Big Brother house is like a human size aquarium. It permits a consented invasion of privacy of the contestants; thus, insatiable sex perverts can freely view them bare 24 hours a day. Finally, programs like Survivor and Big Brother, are just trivializing sacred human feelings for network rating’s sake and an equivalent affluence and popularity for the winner who has capitalized on either pretending or immorally real. They definitely can’t give us decent family values. It all ends to business as usual.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Elagabalus - Roman Emperor

Elagabalus - Roman Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus aka Emperor Elagabulus Dates: Born - c. 203/204; Reigned - May 15,218 - March 11, 222. Name: Birth - Varius Avitus Bassianus; Imperial - Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus Family: Parents - Sextus Varius Marcellus and Julia Soaemias Bassiana; Cousin and successor - Alexander Severus Ancient Sources on Elagabalus: Cassius Dio, Herodian, and Historia Augusta. Elagabalus Ranked Among the Very Worst Emperors At the same time, he will learn of the Romans discernment, in that these last [Augustus, Trajan, Vespasian, Hadrian, Pius, Titus and Marcus] ruled long and died by natural deaths, whereas the former [Caligula, Nero, Vitellius and Elagabalus] were murdered, dragged through the streets, officially called tyrants, and no man wishes to mention even their names.Aelius Lampridius The Life of Antoninus Heliogabalus The life of Elagabalus Antoninus, also called Varius, I should never have put in writing - hoping that it might not be known that he was emperor of the Romans -, were it not that before him this same imperial office had had a Caligula, a Nero, and a Vitellius. Elagabalus' Predecessor Caracalla's Mixed Evaluation An emperor with mixed reviews, Elagabalus cousin Caracalla (April 4, 188 - April 8, 217) ruled for only 5 years. During this time he caused the murder of his co-ruler, his brother Geta, and his supporters, raised the pay for soldiers, waged campaigns in the East where Macrinius was to have him assassinated, and implemented the (Constitutio Antoniniana Antonine Constitution). The Antonine Constitution was named for Caracalla, whose imperial name was Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus. It extended Roman citizenship throughout the Roman Empire. Macrinus Easily Rises to the Imperial Purple Caracalla had appointed Macrinius to the influential position of praetorian prefect. Because of this lofty position, three days after Caracallas murder, Macrinius, a man without senatorial rank, was powerful enough to compel the troops to proclaim him emperor. Less competent as military leader and emperor than his predecessor, Macrinius suffered losses in the East and wound up making settlements with the Parthians, Armenians, and the Dacians. Defeats and Macrinius introduction of a two-tiered pay for soldiers made him unpopular with the soldiers. Enduring Ambitions of Caracalla's Mother Caracallas mother had been Julia Domna of Emesa, Syria, second wife of the emperor Septimius Severus. She had conceived the idea of propelling her great-nephew to the throne, but ill health prevented her involvement. The grandson of her sister Julia Maesa (who shared the family ambitious streak) was Varius Avitus Bassianus who would soon be known as Elagabalus. Sensationalist Biographers of Elagabalus Sir Ronald Syme calls one of the biographies of the time, Aelius Lampridius The Life of Antoninus Heliogabalus, a farago of cheap pornography.* One of the contentions made by Lampridius is that Julia Symiamira (Soaemias), Julia Maesas daughter, had made no secret of her liaison with Caracalla. In the year 218, Varius Avitus Bassianus was performing the hereditary family function of high priest of the sun god whose worship was popular with the troops. A family resemblance to Caracalla probably led them to believe Varius Avitus Bassianus (Elagabalus) the illegitimate son of the more popular emperor Caracalla. The artful Maesa saw and cherished their rising partiality, and readily sacrificing her daughters reputation to the fortune of her grandson, she insinuated that Bassianus was the natural son of their murdered sovereign. The sums distributed by her emissaries with a lavish hand silenced every objection, and the profusion sufficiently proved the affinity, or at least the resemblance, of Bassianus with the great original.Edward Gibbon Follies of Elagabalus Elagabalus Becomes Emperor at 14 One of the legions near their family hometown proclaimed Elagabalus emperor, naming him Marcus Aurelius Antoninus on May 15, 218. Other legions joined the cause. Meanwhile, still other troops rallied to defend Macrinius. On June 8 (see DIR Macrinus) Elagabalus faction won in battle. The new emperor was only 14-years-old. Elagabalus Discussion in the Forum *I dont remember the source of that Syme quote. It is referred to on The Toynbee Convector. Origin of the Name Elagabalus As emperor, Varius Avitus became known by the Latinized version of the name of his Syrian god El-Gabal. Elagabalus also established El-Gabal as the principal god of the Roman Empire. Elagabalus Alienated the the Roman Senators He further alienated Rome by taking honors and powers upon himself before they had been awarded him including substituting his name for that of Macrinius as consul. In both the message to the senate and the letter to the people he styled himself emperor and Caesar, the son of Antoninus, the grandson of Severus, Pius, Felix, Augustus, proconsul, and holder of the tribunician power, assuming these titles before they had been voted, and he used, not the name of Avitus, but that of his pretended father, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the notebooks of the soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . for Macrinus . . . . . . . Caesar . . . . . . . . . to the Pretorians and to the Alban legionaries who were in Italy he wrote . . . . . and that he was consul and high priest (?) . . . and the . . . . . . Marius Censorinus . . leadership . . read . . . of Macrinus . . . . . . . himself, as if not sufficiently by his own voice able to make public . . . . the letters of Sardanapalus to be read . . . by (?) Claudius Pollio, whom he had enrolled among the ex-consuls, and commanded that it anyone resisted him, he should call on the soldiers for assist ance; Dio Cassius LXXX Sexual Charges Herodian, Dio Cassius, Aelius Lampridius and Gibbon have written about Elagabalus femininity, bisexuality, transvestism, and forcing a vestal virgin to break vows that were so solemn any virgin found to have violated them was buried alive. He appears to have worked as a prostitute and may have sought the original transgendering operation. If so, he didnt succeed. When he tried to become a gallus, he was convinced to undergo circumcision, instead. To us the difference is immense, but to Roman men, both were humiliating. Evaluating Elagabalus Although Elagabalus killed many of his political enemies, especially supporters of Macrinius, he wasnt a sadist who tortured and put an inordinate number of people to death. He was: an attractive, hormonally-charged teen with absolute power,the high priest of an exotic god anda Roman emperor from Syria who imposed his eastern customs on Rome. Rome Needed a Universal Religion J.B. Bury believes that with the universal citizenship grant of Caracalla, a universal religion was necessary. With all his unashamed enthusiasm, Elagabalus was not the man to establish a religion; he had not the qualities of a Constantine or yet of a Julian; and his enterprise would perhaps have met with little success even if his authority had not been annulled by his idiosyncrasies. The Invincible Sun, if he was to be worshipped as a sun of righteousness, was not happily recommended by the acts of his Invincible Priest.J.B. Bury Assassination of Elagabalus Ultimately, like most of the emperors of the period, Elagabalus and his mother were killed by his soldiers, after less than four years in power. DIR says his body was dumped in the Tiber and his memory was erased (Damnatio memoriae). He was 17. His first cousin Alexander Severus, also from Emesa, Syria, succeeded him.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Workplace Policy Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Workplace Policy Project - Research Paper Example The above policies only apply to customers in the United States. International Privacy Policies exist for customers outside the United States which are dependent on the laws of the country that govern their relationship with Wells Fargo This policy describes how the company utilizes and protects the customers’ information. The privacy of an individual, to a large extent, determines the customer service provided by the company. This policy was aimed at protecting information pertaining to individuals’ business accounts, loans, leasing and sales programs among others. The company determines how they share the personal information of its customers and whether the customers can limit the sharing and are required to inform their customers on how they go about it. The type of information being referred to here is the social security number and employment information, account balances and history of transactions and the credit and investment history. Some of the reasons the company may choose to share customer information include: For trust accounts in which the trustee happens to be Wells Fargo, there are special rules of confidentiality under which these accounts are protected. This kind of information needs specific consent before it can be shared for market purposes. Wells Fargo gives provisions for their customers to limit sharing of information. To protect the customers’ personal information from any form of unauthorized access, the company uses security measures that are required to be in compliance with federal law. Some of these measures include computer safeguards to prevent computer hacking and securing files and buildings. To cater to visitors, Wells Fargo provides various demos designed to help customers make the right financial decisions in selecting the products and services the customers need. It has applications to enable the customers to generate ‘what if’ scenarios to determine whether they

Friday, October 18, 2019

Based off documentary (George) Orwell rolls in his grape Essay

Based off documentary (George) Orwell rolls in his grape - Essay Example There are several examples of the media not engaging in critical thinking throughout this movie. One of the main problems with the current media practices is that media will often report whatever they are told is happening without actually dissecting the context surrounding it. For instance, the media’s current coverage of the protests in New York over Wall Street do very little to unpack the socioeconomic causes of this anger, or the realities of the issue. Instead, they simply either cast the protesters as â€Å"good guys† or â€Å"bad guys† and run a story about how good or bad they are. Likewise, the movie â€Å"George Orwell Rolls in His Grave† shows that the media has a clear agenda that it pursues relentlessly, which is the aggrandizement of media and the protection and expansion of media profits. Media companies have become more and more concentrated into small ownership groups, so there is no real competition in the media market anymore, and whene ver there is a news story about deregulation of the media, the media portrays this as an amazing thing with no downsides because they want to be able to make more profit off of it. There is no way to truly be a critical thinker if you are relentlessly pursuing an agenda, so in this way the media fails to actually engage in critical

Marketing Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Marketing Plan - Essay Example The Brighter Cleaning Company offers janitorial equipment and cleaning solutions products for furniture and floors. The cleaning products and janitorial equipment help in keeping the work places clean and free from germs. The products can be categorized into three major areas: equipment, paper products and cleaning chemicals. The specific products include brooms, brushes, dustpans, chemicals, dust mops, dusters and cleaning pads. Additional products are floor and furniture care, janitorial carts, paper products, rags and wipes. The Brighter Cleaning Company also offers receptacles, personal care, trash bags, liners, recycling equipments and replacement parts. The aim of the marketing plan is to see that the market of the products increases thus increase in profit margin. An increase in profits will ensure that the shareholders’ returns increase. The marketing plan also aims to improve the return on investment of the company. The marketing plan will aim to minimize the cost that is associated with marketing while the same time ensuring efficiency. The costs to be reduced will include those that are related to lack of customers for the company’s products. United States of America enjoys a stable political condition, thus suitable for business. Being a super power country, it also experiences a great political favor from other different countries. In return, the products manufactured in the United States of America are easy to export to other countries. The policies that control the business in the country favors young businesses and have seen them flourish. The tax laws give the young businesses a grace period to which the business can grow. The business policies in the area also promote the issuance of subsidies to the young businesses thus promoting them. The levied tariffs are also fair; therefore, the business does not struggle to pay the taxes (Kotler & Levy, 1969). The company’s

The Yield Curve Kink Decision Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Yield Curve Kink Decision - Case Study Example The past last seven years of operation the company has been outstanding as revealed by its ability to attract new clients in that same period it lost two small pension accounts that is worth $ 10million while gaining a whopping $400 million in new pension business. The investment style is summed up by a pension consultant as 20% pure interest rate anticipation and 80% quantitative strategies based on values. The company anticipates trying to predict whether the interest rate will rise or fall. The periods when the interest rate reaches volatile state are rare, but when it does like in a period between December 1994 and July 1995, then a timing mode was engaged because GBA already expected a fall in interest rates.AT such scenarios a barbell strategy was employed where other bond are retained with the bench mark or entering a period long dated trip bonds. The system created a system of long dated strips and a shorter duration bond that form a barbell. Barbell is an investment strategy mostly employed in fixed type of investment that comprises a combination of short term and long term bonds. The term barbell is used here to reflect the both end loading the system look to be experiencing. Therefore in a nutshell, barbell tries to exploit the best of both end of situation hence it combine the high and the low risk assets to influence for the best outcome. However during the period the interest rate is stable, then their family gets in and creates a management for portfolio’s that ranges for a 1.5 year period and are standard income benchmark which most clients are awarded unless the request differs. Most or all of the GBA invested strategies on computer models and quantitative models which compare the bond selling price to the price as determined by GBA.GBA has its own analysis technique regarded as proprietary model which has parameter’s close to fifty with 20 of it being critical checking points and that help GBA

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 4

Case study - Essay Example Through this program, company collected the discarded systems waste from the customers and delivered it to the certified vendors. The vendors were certified by the Pollution Control Board. In 2007, Wipro also appeared as a first Indian company which introduced eco-friendly range of desktops and laptops. By introducing these laptops and desktops, Wipro was aiming to reduce e-waste in the environment. Wipro also introduced a range of other products which were environment friendly and they were named as Green Ware. These products were manufactured from the materials which were free from the hazardous material such as heavy metals like lead, mercury and cadmium, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and Brominated flame retardants. All of the other companies were using these ingredients in their products however; Wipro designed its products such as PCs without using these hazardous items. In this way, Green Ware products of the company were compliant with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS). Wipro has been very active in joining the campaigns and initiatives taken at global level for environmental safety. Wipro joined the Green Grid in June 2008 which was a global consortium and started to enhance energy efficiency in datacenters and business computing ecosystems. The company was not joining such platforms to get aim but the aim of the company was to actually contribute in enhancing the green technology and systems. It is also evident from the fact that Wipro joined Green Grid in June 2008 and in the same month company also joined EcoEye initiative. EcoEye initiative was a comprehensive plan aimed to increase ecological sustainability in all operations and engaging its shareholders. By joining this program, Wipro showed that it is very active in taking initiatives on green concerns. As mentioned in the case study, Chandran commented on this initiative taken by Wipro. He argues that this initiative has been taken as a collaborative effort

Properrty Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Properrty Law - Case Study Example Arnold, however, paid the mortgage instalments until he died in 2001, leaving all his property to Wendy. Very shortly thereafter, Bill's marriage broke up and he had to leave his matrimonial home. Wendy invited him in writing to move in with her "as you have a share in it anyway". Bill moved in, together with his son, then aged 8. Thereafter Bill paid some of the mortgage instalments. The mortgage loan was paid off by 2006, Bill having paid instalments equal to 25% of the original purchase value. Wendy has now died, by her will leaving all her property in equal shares between her two daughters and one son, all of whom had by then left home. They are now indicating that they would like the house to be sold so that they can share the money between them. Bill and his son, now aged 15, wish, however to remain You are a trainee in the firm of solicitors consulted by Bill. Your principal has asked you to research the relevant law and report to the principal (in 1,000 words) on the legal principles and relevant case and statute law as to (ii) Your principal has also asked you to do a separate piece of research, unconnected to these facts, as she has heard that there have been a number of recent cases concerning the presumptions of advancement. She wants you to give her a summary, in 500 words, of the cases in the last 6 years that have concerned these presumptions. You are a trainee in the firm of solicitors consulted by Bill. Your principal has asked you to research the relevant law and report to the principal (in 1,000 words) on the legal principles and relevant case and statute law as to (a) what are the current legal and beneficial interests in the house (b) on the basis that Bill is not solely entitled, could Wendy's daughters and son (or any of them) force a sale of the house. The principal will then formulate the advice to give to Bill. (ii) Your principal has also asked you to do a separate piece of research, unconnected to these facts, as she has heard that there have been a number of recent cases concerning the presumptions of advancement. She wants you to give her a summary, in 500 words, of the cases in the last 6 years that have concerned these presumptions. Introduction The Parliament of Commonwealth has the power to legislate and standardise real estate practice that under the assumption that bill pass by the two houses. 2. Australian Constitutional system and power Constitution of Australia authorizes the legislative power to the commonwealth and states concurrently and divides it up by specifying a list of subjects on which the Australian Parliament may enact laws, which is known as Section 51 of the Australia Constitution Act (Ron McCallum 2006) . Any subjects who fall outside this list are exclusively available to the state parliament.This pattern of distribution follows the model of the United States Constitution and differs from the plan adopted by Canada by the British North America Act 1867 . It appears that the Federal Parliament is stronger than the State parliament, but only in the narrowly defined field of activity. So whether the real estate

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 4

Case study - Essay Example Through this program, company collected the discarded systems waste from the customers and delivered it to the certified vendors. The vendors were certified by the Pollution Control Board. In 2007, Wipro also appeared as a first Indian company which introduced eco-friendly range of desktops and laptops. By introducing these laptops and desktops, Wipro was aiming to reduce e-waste in the environment. Wipro also introduced a range of other products which were environment friendly and they were named as Green Ware. These products were manufactured from the materials which were free from the hazardous material such as heavy metals like lead, mercury and cadmium, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and Brominated flame retardants. All of the other companies were using these ingredients in their products however; Wipro designed its products such as PCs without using these hazardous items. In this way, Green Ware products of the company were compliant with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS). Wipro has been very active in joining the campaigns and initiatives taken at global level for environmental safety. Wipro joined the Green Grid in June 2008 which was a global consortium and started to enhance energy efficiency in datacenters and business computing ecosystems. The company was not joining such platforms to get aim but the aim of the company was to actually contribute in enhancing the green technology and systems. It is also evident from the fact that Wipro joined Green Grid in June 2008 and in the same month company also joined EcoEye initiative. EcoEye initiative was a comprehensive plan aimed to increase ecological sustainability in all operations and engaging its shareholders. By joining this program, Wipro showed that it is very active in taking initiatives on green concerns. As mentioned in the case study, Chandran commented on this initiative taken by Wipro. He argues that this initiative has been taken as a collaborative effort

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

CIA Operation PBSUCCESS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CIA Operation PBSUCCESS - Essay Example "PB" here stands for "Presidential Board" while SUCCESS is used to express the general optimism and confidence that this operation would achieve its objectives. Its main objective was overthrowing the popularly-elected Guatemalan President, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. This was because his government had presented various new policies that the US was of the opinion that they were Communist. The US suspected the influence of the Soviet Union in this. The US clearly hated Communism and all its principles. They could therefore do anything to stop it. Moreover, Communism threatened to oust the US as the world's super power. They had to fight this at all costs to continue with this domination. For Guatemala, Communism posed a threat to the US interests in that country and even neighboring ones. They had to intervene to secure these interests. The US was therefore killing two birds with one stone in Guatemala. The US feared that Guatemala becoming a "Soviet beachhead." Guzman introduced land reform acts were seen as antagonizing United Fruit Company, a US-based multinational. This company had great stakes in the earlier Guatemala administration and urged the US to intervene. The operation took place between 1953 and 1954. ... Later there was another operation known as "Operation PBHISTORY". Its aim was gathering and analyzing Guatemalan government documents. The US would later use these documents to portray Guzman as puppet of the Soviet Communists. During the administration of two of Guzman's predecessors, Jorge Ubico and Manuel Cabrera, Guatemala was open to foreign investment, with Ubico specially favoring the United Fruit Company. The UFC then invested heavily in the country. It bought controlling stocks of the rail, electricity and telegraph utilities. It won control over most of Guatemala's best land. Ubico administration greatly protected the interests of the United Fruit Company. Soon after the inauguration of Dwight Eisenhower as the US President in 1953, scrutiny of CIA covert action operations started. Eisenhower set up an evaluation known as Solarium that comprised three committees that did an analysis to find out which action plans should go on. Later, CIA's covert activities were kept under close check. Questions arose as to whether CIA covert operations were proper and if they served national interests (Cullather, 2006). According to David Bruce, a presidential advisor on foreign intelligence activities, these covert actions were responsible for sparking turmoil and raising doubts about the US in numerous countries worldwide. The US faced political condemnation worldwide because of the role it played in having President Guzman overthrown. The US damaged its reputation in Latin America and also angered its allies. It was heavily criticized even by the United Nations (Kinzer and Schlesinger, 1999). There was strong resentment in the Caribbeans and Latin America. This played a part in damaging the stability of Guatemala and Latin

Monday, October 14, 2019

Augmented Reality Ar Is A Live Media Essay

Augmented Reality Ar Is A Live Media Essay Hardware components for augmented reality are: processor, display, sensors and input devices. Modern mobile computing devices like smartphones and tablet computers contain these elements which often include a camera and MEMS sensors such as accelerometer, GPS, and solid state compass, making them suitable AR platforms.[8] [edit] Display Various technologies are used in Augmented Reality rendering including optical projection systems, monitors, hand held devices, and display systems worn on ones person. [edit] Head-mounted A head-mounted display (HMD) is a display device paired to a headset such as a harness or helmet. HMDs place images of both the physical world and virtual objects over the users field of view. Modern HMDs often employ sensors for six degrees of freedom monitoring that allow the system to align virtual information to the physical world and adjust accordingly with the users head movements.[9][10][11] HMDs can provide users immersive, mobile and collaborative AR experiences.[12] [edit] Eyeglasses AR displays can be rendered on devices resembling eyeglasses. Versions include eye wear that employ cameras to intercept the real world view and re-display its augmented view through the eye pieces[13] and devices in which the AR imagery is projected through or reflected off the surfaces of the eye wear lens pieces.[14][15][16] [edit] Contact lenses Contact lenses that display AR imaging are in development. These bionic contact lenses might contain the elements for display embedded into the lens including integrated circuitry, LEDs and an antenna for wireless communication.[17][18][19][20] Another version of contact lenses, in development for the U.S. Military, is designed to function with AR spectacles, allowing soldiers to focus on close-to-the-eye AR images on the spectacles and distant real world objects at the same time.[21][22] [edit] Virtual retinal display A virtual retinal display (VRD) is a personal display device under development at the University of Washingtons Human Interface Technology Laboratory. With this technology, a display is scanned directly onto the retina of a viewers eye. The viewer sees what appears to be a conventional display floating in space in front of them.[23] [edit] EyeTap The EyeTap (also known as Generation-2 Glass[24]) captures rays of light that would otherwise pass through the center of a lens of an eye of the wearer, and substituted each ray of light for synthetic computer-controlled light. The Generation-4 Glass[24] (Laser EyeTap) is similar to the VRD (i.e. it uses a computer controlled laser light source) except that it also has infinite depth of focus and causes the eye itself to, in effect, function as both a camera and a display, by way of exact alignment with the eye, and resynthesis (in laser light) of rays of light entering the eye.[25] [edit] Handheld Handheld displays employ a small display that fits in a users hand. All handheld AR solutions to date opt for video see-through. Initially handheld AR employed fiduciary markers,[26] and later GPS units and MEMS sensors such as digital compasses and six degrees of freedomaccelerometer-gyroscope. Today SLAM markerless trackers such as PTAM are starting to come into use. Handheld display AR promises to be the first commercial success for AR technologies. The two main advantages of handheld AR is the portable nature of handheld devices and ubiquitous nature of camera phones. The disadvantages are the physical constraints of the user having to hold the handheld device out in front of them at all times as well as distorting effect of classically wide-angled mobile phone cameras when compared to the real world as viewed through the eye.[27] [edit] Spatial Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR) augments real world objects and scenes without the use of special displays such as monitors, head mounted displays or hand-held devices. SAR makes use of digital projectors to display graphical information onto physical objects. The key difference in SAR is that the display is separated from the users of the system. Because the displays are not associated with each user, SAR scales naturally up to groups of users, thus allowing for collocated collaboration between users. SAR has several advantages over traditional head-mounted displays and handheld devices. The user is not required to carry equipment or wear the display over their eyes. This makes spatial AR a good candidate for collaborative work, as the users can see each others faces. A system can be used by multiple people at the same time without each having to wear a head-mounted display. Examples include shader lamps, mobile projectors, virtual tables, and smart projectors. Shader lamps mimic and augment reality by projecting imagery onto neutral objects, providing the opportunity to enhance the objects appearance with materials of a simple unit- a projector, camera, and sensor. Handheld projectors further this goal by enabling cluster configurations of environment sensing, reducing the need for additional peripheral sensing.[28][29] Other tangible applications include table and wall projections. One such innovation, the Extended Virtual Table, separates the virtual from the real by including beam-splitter mirrors attached to the ceiling at an adjustable angle.[30] Virtual showcases, which employ beam-splitter mirrors together with multiple graphics displays, provide an interactive means of simultaneously engaging with the virtual and the real.[31][32] Altogether, current augmented reality display technology can be applied to improve design and visualization, or function as scientific simulations and tools for education or entertainment. Many more implementations and configurations make spatial augmented reality display an increasingly attractive interactive alternative.[11] Spatial AR does not suffer from the limited display resolution of current head-mounted displays and portable devices. A projector based display system can simply incorporate more projectors to expand the display area. Where portable devices have a small window into the world for drawing, a SAR system can display on any number of surfaces of an indoor setting at once. The drawbacks, however, are that SAR systems of projectors do not work so well in sunlight and also require a surface on which to project the computer-generated graphics. Augmentations cannot simply hang in the air as they do with handheld and HMD-based AR. The tangible nature of SAR, though, makes this an ideal technology to support design, as SAR supports both a graphical visualisation and passive haptic sensation for the end users. People are able to touch physical objects, and it is this process that provides the passive haptic sensation.[7][33][34][35] [edit] Tracking Modern mobile augmented reality systems use one or more of the following tracking technologies: digital cameras and/or other optical sensors, accelerometers, GPS, gyroscopes, solid state compasses, RFID and wireless sensors. These technologies offer varying levels of accuracy and precision. Most important is the position and orientation of the users head. Tracking the users hand(s) or a handheld input device can provide a 6DOF interaction technique.[36] [edit] Input devices Techniques include speech recognition systems that translate a users spoken words into computer instructions and gesture recognition systems that can interpret a users body movements by visual detection or from sensors embedded in a peripheral device such as a wand, stylus, pointer, glove or other body wear.[37][38][39][40] [edit] Computer The computer analyzes the sensed visual and other data to synthesize and position augmentations. [edit] Software and algorithms A key measure of AR systems is how realistically they integrate augmentations with the real world. The software must derive real world coordinates, independent from the camera, from camera images. That process is called image registration which uses different methods of computer vision, mostly related to video tracking.[41][42] Many computer vision methods of augmented reality are inherited from visual odometry. Usually those methods consist of two parts. First detect interest points, or fiduciary markers, or optical flow in the camera images. First stage can use feature detection methods like corner detection, blob detection, edge detection or thresholding and/or other image processing methods.[43][44] The second stage restores a real world coordinate system from the data obtained in the first stage. Some methods assume objects with known geometry (or fiduciary markers) present in the scene. In some of those cases the scene 3D structure should be precalculated beforehand. If part of the scene is unknown simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) can map relative positions. If no information about scene geometry is available, structure from motion methods like bundle adjustment are used. Mathematical methods used in the second stage include projective (epipolar) geometry, geometric algebra, rotation representation with exponential map, kalman and particle filters, nonlinear optimization, robust statistics. [edit] Applications Augmented reality has many applications, and many areas can benefit from the usage of AR technology. AR was initially used for military, industrial, and medical applications, but was soon applied to commercial and entertainment areas as well.[45] [edit] Archaeology AR can be used to aid archaeological research, by augmenting archaeological features onto the modern landscape, enabling archaeologists to formulate conclusions about site placement and configuration.[46] Another application given to AR in this field is the possibility for users to rebuild ruins, buildings, or even landscapes as they formerly existed.[47] [edit] Architecture AR can aid in visualizing building projects. Computer-generated images of a structure can be superimposed into a real life local view of a property before the physical building is constructed there. AR can also be employed within an architects work space, rendering into their view animated 3D visualizations of their 2D drawings. Architecture sight-seeing can be enhanced with AR applications allowing users viewing a buildings exterior to virtually see through its walls, viewing its interior objects and layout.[48][49] [edit] Art AR technology has helped disabled individuals create art by using eye tracking to translate a users eye movements into drawings on a screen.[50] An item such as a commemorative coin can be designed so that when scanned by an AR-enabled device it displays additional objects and layers of information that were not visible in a real world view of it.[51][52] [edit] Commerce ViewAR BUTLERS App Placing furniture using AR AR can enhance product previews such as allowing a customer to view whats inside a products packaging without opening it.[53] AR can also be used as an aid in selecting products from a catalog or through a kiosk. Scanned images of products can activate views of additional content such as customization options and additional images of the product in its use.[54][55] AR is used to integrate print and video marketing. Printed marketing material can be designed with certain trigger images that, when scanned by an AR enabled device using image recognition, activate a video version of the promotional material.[56][57][58] [edit] Education Augmented reality applications can complement a standard curriculum. Text, graphics, video and audio can be superimposed into a students real time environment. Textbooks, flashcards and other educational reading material can contain embedded markers that, when scanned by an AR device, produce supplementary information to the student rendered in a multimedia format.[59][60][61] Students can participate interactively with computer generated simulations of historical events, exploring and learning details of each significant area of the event site.[62] AR can aide students in understanding chemistry by allowing them to visualize the spatial structure of a molecule and interact with a virtual model of it that appears, in a camera image, positioned at a marker held in their hand.[63] Augmented reality technology also permits learning via remote collaboration, in which students and instructors not at the same physical location can share a common virtual learning environment populated by vi rtual objects and learning materials and interact with another within that setting.[64] [edit] Everyday 30 years of Augmediated Reality in everyday life. Since the 1970s and early 1980s, Steve Mann has been developing technologies meant for everyday use i.e. horizontal across all applications rather than a specific vertical market. Examples include Manns EyeTap Digital Eye Glass, a general-purpose seeing aid that does dynamic-range management (HDR vision) and overlays, underlays, simultaneous augmentation and diminishment (e.g. diminishing the electric arc while looking at a welding torch).[65] [edit] Industrial design AR can help industrial designers experience a products design and operation before completion. Volkswagen uses AR for comparing calculated and actual crash test imagery.[66] AR can be used to visualize and modify a car body structure and engine layout. AR can also be used to compare digital mock-ups with physical mock-ups for efficiently finding discrepancies between them.[67][68] [edit] Medical Augmented Reality can provide the surgeon with information, which are otherwise hidden, such as showing the heartbeat rate, the blood pressure, the state of the patients organ, etc. In particular AR can be used to let the doctor look inside the patient by combining one source of images such as an X-ray with another such as video. This helps the doctor to identify the problem with the patient in a more intuitive way than looking at only type of image data. This approach works in a similar as the technicians doing maintenance work. Examples include a virtual X-ray view based on prior tomography or on real time images from ultrasound and confocal microscopy probes[69] or visualizing the position of a tumor in the video of an endoscope.[70] AR can enhance viewing a fetus inside a mothers womb.[71] See also Mixed reality. [edit] Military In combat, AR can serve as a networked communication system that renders useful battlefield data onto a soldiers goggles in real time. From the soldiers viewpoint, people and various objects can be marked with special indicators to warn of potential dangers. Virtual maps and 360Â ° view camera imaging can also be rendered to aid a soldiers navigation and battlefield perspective, and this can be transmitted to military leaders at a remote command center.[72] [edit] Navigation Augmented reality map on iPhone AR can augment the effectiveness of navigation devices. Information can be displayed on an automobiles windshield indicating destination directions and meter, weather, terrain, road conditions and traffic information as well as alerts to potential hazards in their path.[73][74][75] Aboard maritime vessels, AR can allow bridge watch-standers to continuously monitor important information such as a ships heading and speed while moving throughout the bridge or performing other tasks.[76] [edit] Office workplace AR can help facilitate collaboration among distributed team members in a work force via conferences with real and virtual participants. AR tasks can include brainstorming and discussion meetings utilizing common visualization via touch screen tables, interactive digital whiteboards, shared design spaces, and distributed control rooms.[77][78][79] [edit] Sports and entertainment AR has become common in sports telecasting. Sports and entertainment venues are provided with see-through and overlay augmentation through tracked camera feeds for enhanced viewing by the audience. Examples include the yellow first down line seen in television broadcasts of American football games showing the line the offensive team must cross to receive a first down. AR is also used in association with football and other sporting events to show commercial advertisements overlaid onto the view of the playing area. Sections of rugby fields and cricket pitches also display sponsored images. Swimming telecasts often add a line across the lanes to indicate the position of the current record holder as a race proceeds to allow viewers to compare the current race to the best performance. Other examples include hockey puck tracking and annotations of racing car performance and snooker ball trajectories. [41][80] AR can enhance concert and theater performances. For example, artists can allow listeners to augment their listening experience by adding their performance to that of other bands/groups of users.[81][82][83] The gaming industry has benefited a lot from the development of this technology. A number of games have been developed for prepared indoor environments. Early AR games also include AR air hockey, collaborative combat against virtual enemies, and an AR-enhanced pool games. A significant number of games incorporate AR in them and the introduction of the smartphone has made a bigger impact.[84][85] [edit] Task support Complex tasks such as assembly, maintenance, and surgery can be simplified by inserting additional information into the field of view. For example, labels can be displayed on parts of a system to clarify operating instructions for a mechanic who is performing maintenance on the system.[86][87] Assembly lines gain many benefits from the usage of AR. In addition to Boeing, BMW and Volkswagen are known for incorporating this technology in their assembly line to improve their manufacturing and assembly processes.[88][89][90] Big machines are difficult to maintain because of the multiple layers or structures they have. With the use of AR the workers can complete their job in a much easier way because AR permits them to look through the machine as if it was with x-ray, pointing them to the problem right away.[91] [edit] Tourism and sightseeing Augmented reality applications can enhance a users experience when traveling by providing real time informational displays regarding a location and its features, including comments made by previous visitors of the site. AR applications allow tourists to experience simulations of historical events, places and objects by rendering them into their current view of a landscape.[92][93][94] AR applications can also present location information by audio, announcing features of interest at a particular site as they become visible to the user.[95][96] [edit] Translation AR systems can interpret foreign text on signs and menus and, in a users augmented view, re-display the text in the users language. Spoken words of a foreign language can be translated and displayed in a users view as printed subtitles How Augmented Reality Works Video games have been entertaining us for nearly 30 years, ever since Pong was introduced to arcades in the early 1970s. Computer graphics have become much more sophisticated since then, and game graphics are pushing the barriers of photorealism. Now, researchers and engineers are pulling graphics out of your television screen or computer display and integrating them into real-world environments. This new technology, called augmented reality, blurs the line between whats real and whats computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell. On the spectrum between virtual reality, which creates immersive, computer-generated environments, and the real world, augmented reality is closer to the real world. Augmented reality adds graphics, sounds, haptic feedback and smell to the natural world as it exists. Both video games and cell phones are driving the development of augmented reality. Everyone from tourists, to soldiers, to someone looking for the closest subway stop can now benefit from the ability to place computer-generated graphics in their field of vision. Augmented reality is changing the way we view the world or at least the way its users see the world. Picture yourself walking or driving down the street. With augmented-reality displays, which will eventually look much like a normal pair of glasses, informative graphics will appear in your field of view, and audio will coincide with whatever you see. These enhancements will be refreshed continually to reflect the movements of your head. Similar devices and applications already exist, particularly on smartphones like the iPhone. In this article, well take a look at where augmented reality is now and where it may be headed soon. Augmenting Our World The basic idea of augmented reality is to superimpose graphics, audio and other sensory enhancements over a real-world environment in real time. Sounds pretty simple. Besides, havent television networks been doing that with graphics for decades? However, augmented reality is more advanced than any technology youve seen in television broadcasts, although some new TV effects come close, such as RACEf/x and the super-imposed first down line on televised U.S. football games, both created by Sportvision. But these systems display graphics for only one point of view. Next-generation augmented-reality systems will display graphics for each viewers perspective. Some of the most exciting augmented-reality work is taking place in research labs at universities around the world. In February 2009, at the TED conference, Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry presented their augmented-reality system, which they developed as part of MIT Media Labs Fluid Interfaces Group. They call it SixthSense, and it relies on some basic components that are found in many augmented reality systems: Camera Small projector Smartphone Mirror These components are strung together in a lanyardlike apparatus that the user wears around his neck. The user also wears four colored caps on the fingers, and these caps are used to manipulate the images that the projector emits. SixthSense is remarkable because it uses these simple, off-the-shelf components that cost around $350. It is also notable because the projector essentially turns any surface into an interactive screen. Essentially, the device works by using the camera and mirror to examine the surrounding world, feeding that image to the phone (which processes the image, gathers GPS coordinates and pulls data from the Internet), and then projecting information from the projector onto the surface in front of the user, whether its a wrist, a wall, or even a person. Because the user is wearing the camera on his chest, SixthSense will augment whatever he looks at; for example, if he picks up a can of soup in a grocery store, SixthSense can find and project onto the soup information about its ingredients, price, nutritional value even customer reviews. By using his capped fingers Pattie Maes says even fingers with different colors of nail polish would work a user can perform actions on the projected information, which are then picked up by the camera and processed by the phone. If he wants to know more about that can of soup than is projected on it, he can use his fingers to interact with the projected image and learn about, say, competing brands. SixthSense can also recognize complex gestures draw a circle on your wrist and SixthSense projects a watch with the current time. Mistry demonstrates SixthSense Photo courtesy Sam Ogden, Pranav Mistry, MIT Media Lab The SixthSense augmented reality system lets you project a phone pad onto your hand and phone a friend without removing the phone from your pocket. See more gadget pictures. Photo courtesy Lynn Barry, Pranav Mistry, MIT Media Lab Augmented Reality on Cell Phones While it may be some time before you buy a device like SixthSense, more primitive versions of augmented reality are already here on some cell phones, particularly in applications for the iPhone and phones with the Android operating system. In the Netherlands, cell phone owners can download an application called Layar that uses the phones camera and GPS capabilities to gather information about the surrounding area. Layar then shows information about restaurants or other sites in the area, overlaying this information on the phones screen. You can even point the phone at a building, and Layar will tell you if any companies in that building are hiring, or it might be able to find photos of the building on Flickr or to locate its history on Wikipedia. Layar isnt the only application of its type. In August 2009, some iPhone users were surprised to find an augmented-reality easter egg hidden within the Yelp application. Yelp is known for its user reviews of restaurants and other businesses, but its hidden augmented-reality component, called Monocle, takes things one step further. Just start up the Yelp app, shake your iPhone 3GS three times and Monocle activates. Using your phones GPS and compass, Monocle will display information about local restaurants, including ratings and reviews, on your cell phone screen. You can touch one of the listings to find out more about a particular restaurant. There are other augmented reality apps out there for the iPhone and other similar phones and many more in development. Urbanspoon has much of the same functionality as Yelps Monocle. Then theres Wikitude, which finds information from Wikipedia about sites in the area. Underlying most of these applications are a phones GPS and compass; by knowing where you are, these applications can make sure to offer information relevant to you. Were still not quite at the stage of full-on image recognition, but trust us, people are working on it. Weve looked at some of the existing forms of augmented reality. On the next page, well examine some of the other applications of the technology, such as in video games and military hardware An iPhone user displays the augmented reality app Monocle, which combines the phones camera view with tiny tags indicating the names, distances and user ratings of nearby bars, restaurants and more. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez Augmented Reality in Video Games and the Military Video game companies are quickly hopping aboard the augmented-reality locomotive. A company called Total Immersion makes software that applies augmented reality to baseball cards. Simply go online, download the Total Immersion software and then hold up your baseball card to a webcam. The software recognizes the card (and the player on it) and then displays related video on your computer screen. Move the card in your hands make sure to keep it in view of the camera and the 3-D figure on your screen will perform actions, such as throwing a ball at a target. Total Immersions efforts are just the beginning. In the next couple of years, well see games that take augmented reality out into the streets. Consider a scavenger-hunt game that uses virtual objects. You could use your phone to place tokens around town, and participants would then use their phones (or augmented-reality enabled goggles) to find these invisible objects. Demos of many games of this order already exist. Theres a human Pac-Man game that allows users to chase after each other in real life while wearing goggles that make them look like characters in Pac-Man. Arcane Technologies, a Canadian company, has sold augmented-reality devices to the U.S. military. The company produces a head-mounted display the sort of device that was supposed to bring us virtual reality that superimposes information on your world. Consider a squad of soldiers in Afghanistan, performing reconnaissance on an opposition hideout. An AR-enabled head-mounted display could overlay blueprints or a view from a satellite or overheard drone directly onto the soldiers field of vision. Now that weve established some of the many current and burgeoning uses of augmented reality, lets take a look at the technologys limitations and what the future holds. Augmented reality can breathe a little life into your sports trading cards. Photo courtesy Total Immersion Limitations and the Future of Augmented Reality Augmented reality still has some challenges to overcome. For example, GPS is only accurate to within 30 feet (9 meters) and doesnt work as well indoors, although improved image recognition technology may be able to help [source: Metz]. People may not want to rely on their cell phones, which have small screens on which to superimpose information. For that reason, wearable devices like SixthSense or augmented-reality capable contact lenses and glasses will provide users with more convenient, expansive views of the world around them. Screen real estate will no longer be an issue. In the near future, you may be able to play a real-time strategy game on your computer, or you can invite a friend over, put on your AR glasses, and play on the tabletop in front of you. There is such a thing as too much information. Just as the CrackBerry phenomenon and Internet addiction are concerns, an overreliance on augmented reality could mean that people are missing out on whats right in front of them. Some people may prefer to use their AR iPhone applications rather than an experienced tour guide, even though a tour guide may be able to offer a level of interaction, an experience and a personal touch unavailable in a computer program. And there are times when a real plaque on a building is preferable to a virtual one, which would be accessible only by people with certain technologies. There are also privacy concerns. Image-recognition software coupled with AR will, quite soon, allow us to point our phones at people, even strangers, and instantly see information from their Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, LinkedIn or other online profiles. With most of these services people willingly put information about themselves online, but it may be an unwelcome shock to meet someone, only to have him instantly know so much about your life and background. Despite these concerns, imagine the possibilities: you may learn things about the city youve lived in for years just by pointing your AR-enabled phone at a nearby park or building. If you work in construction, you can save on materials by using virtual markers to designate where a beam should go or which structural support to inspect. Paleontologists working in shifts to assemble a dinosaur skeleton could leave virtual notes to team members on the bones themselves, artists could produce virtual graffiti and doctors could overlay a digital image of a patients X-rays onto a mannequin for added realism. The future of augmented reality is clearly bright, even as it already has found its way into our cell phones and video game systems. For more information about the subject and where its headed, take a look at the links on the next page Augmented Reality Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-gener

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Drawing The Boundaries Of The Ethical Self Essay -- Philosophy Ethics

Drawing The Boundaries Of The Ethical Self This paper evaluates some philosophical views regarding the self who is an ethical deliberator and agent-specifically the traditional atomistic individualist self and the expanded biocentric self of deep ecology. The paper then presents an alternative manner of thinking about the ethical self which avoids some of the philosophical difficulties of the foregoing views. This alternative draws on the recent work by Val Plumwood and Donna Haraway. Haraway's cyborg identity is a kind of self-in-relation (Plumwood's term) which allows for ethical deliberations that take relations with others seriously without losing individuality in problematic holism (as deep ecology does). Self-in-relation is defined by the relation of intentional inclusion. This relation is given a functionalist, non-mentalistic interpretation. The notions of ontological foresight and moral foresight are introduced to enable determinations of moral responsibility without falling back into the problematic universalism whi ch otherwise results from the functionalist view of cyborg self-in-relation. Ethical deliberation does not typically begin with an explicit articulation of the concept of self which underlies such deliberation. But a self is assumed, and usually in Western ethical thought it is an atomistic egocentric individual self. Ethical deliberation, whether deontological, utilitarian, or otherwise, assumed a self/other boundary of some kind, and such an assumption imports bias into our ethical conclusion. Ethical deliberations frequently focus on the interests or rights of individuals, without justifying the assumption of an egocentric individual self. If the traditionally-assumed egocentric individual self ci... ... the self which avoids the difficulties which result from the universalization of the deep ecology modes as well as those which result from individual egocentrism. Cyborg selves are neither isolated egos nor world-souls which merge individuals. Cyborg selves are contingent, multiple, adaptive, connected. The mutable character of cyborg selves points out the necessity for acknowledging, rather than assuming, the boundaries of the self as a part of ethical deliberation. References Haraway, Donna J. 1991. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge. Plumwood, Val. 1995. "Nature, Self and Gender: Feminism, Environmental Philosophy, and the Critique of Rationalism." in People, Penguins, and Plastic Trees: Basic Issues in Environmental Ethics, 2d ed., eds. Christine Pierce and Donald VanDeVeer. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Argument in Favor of Euthanasia Essay -- Euthanasia, Argumentative Ess

Debate about the morality and legality of voluntary euthanasia has been a phenomenon since the second half of the 20th century. The ancient Greeks and Romans did not believe that life needed to be preserved at any cost and were tolerant of suicide in cases where no relief could be offered to the dying or when a person no longer cared for their life (Young). In the 4th century BC, the Hippocratic Oath was written by Hippocrates, the father of medicine. One part of the Oath states, â€Å"I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause and abortion† (Brock). For 2,400 years, physicians made these solemn promises. Until very recently the Hippocratic Oath was taken by all new physicians. It was a rite of passage. It has only been the last 100 years that there have been concerted efforts to make legal provision for voluntary euthanasia. The word â€Å"euthanasia† comes from two Gree k words, â€Å"eu† meaning good or easy and â€Å"thanatos† meaning death (all.org). Traditionally, euthanasia meant painless death or death without suffering. Today, the term has many names, the main one being mercy killing. Assisted suicide has been legally tolerated in Switzerland for many years (Kimsma). In the 1970-1980’s a series of court cases in the Netherlands culminated in an agreement between the legal and medical authorities to ensure that no physician would be prosecuted for assisting a patient to die as long as certain guidelines were strictly met. In brief, the guidelines were established to permit physicians to practice voluntary euthanasia in those instances in which a competent patient had made a voluntary and informed decision to die, the patient's suffering was unbe... ...ck. Life choices: a Hastings Center introduction to bioethics. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1995. 537. Print. Jotkowitz, Alan, S. Glick, and B Gesundheit. "A Case Against Justified Non-Voluntary Active Euthanasia (The Groningen Protocol)." American Journal of Bioethics 8.11 (2008): 23-26. Web. 30 March 2011. Keown, John. Euthanasia Examined: Ethical, Clinical, and Legal Perspectives. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 340. Print. Kimsma, Gerrit, and Evert van Leeuwen. Asking to Die: Inside the Dutch Debate about Euthanasia. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002. 35-70. Print. McCuen, Gary. Doctor assisted suicide and the euthanasia movement. Revised Ed. Hudson, Wisconsin: G.E. McCuen Publications, 1999. 152. Print. Young, Robert. "Voluntary Euthanasia." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Fall 2010 Edition. 2010. Web.