Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Documentation Requirements for the Acute Care Inpatient Record Essay Example for Free

Documentation Requirements for the Acute Care Inpatient Record Essay The medical record is a tool for collecting, storing, and processing patient information. Records are being used daily for a multitude of purposes, including: providing a means of communication between the physician and the other members of the healthcare team caring for the patient providing a basis for evaluating the adequacy and appropriateness of care providing data to substantiate insurance claims protecting the legal interests of the patient, the facility, and the physician   providing clinical data for research and education ? General Guidelines for Patient Record Documentation ?†¢ Each hospital should have policies that ensure uniformity of both content and format of the patient record based on all applicable accreditation standards, federal and state regulations, payer requirements, and professional practice standards. ?†¢ The patient record should be organized systematically to facilitate data retrieval and compilation. ?†¢ Only persons authorized by the hospital’s policies to document in the patient record should do so. This information should be recorded in the medical staff rules and regulations and/or the hospital’s administrative policies. ?†¢ Hospital policy and/or medical staff rules and regulations should specify who may receive and transcribe a physician’s verbal orders. ?†¢ Patient record entries should be documented at the time the treatment they describe is rendered. ?†¢ Authors of all entries should be clearly identifiable. ?†¢ Abbreviations and symbols in the patient record are permitted only when approved according to hospital and medical staff bylaws, rules, and regulations. All entries in the patient records should be permanent. †¢ Errors should be corrected as follows: draw a single line in ink through the incorrect entry, and print error at the top of the entry with a legal signature or initials, date, time, title, reason for change, and discipline of the person making the correction. Errors must never be obliterated. The existing entry should be left intact with corrections entered in chronological order. Late entries should be labeled as such. ?†¢ In the event the patient wishes to amend information in the record, it shall be done as an addendum, without change to the original entry, and shall be clearly identified as an additional document appended to he original patient record at the direction of the patient, who will thereafter bear responsibility for the explaining the change. The health information department should develop, implement, and evaluate policies and procedures related to quantitative and qualitative analysis of patient records. ?†¢ Review any requirements outlined in state law, regulation, or healthcare facility licensure standards as they relate to documentation requirements. If your state requires that verbal orders be authenticated within a specified time frame, accrediting and licensing agencies will survey for compliance with that requirement.

Monday, August 5, 2019

Trade policies: The WTO Success And Failures

Trade policies: The WTO Success And Failures A Review of the Theory Trade between nations has always been an intriguing issue. Some argue that there should be a complete allowance of trade between countries and on the other hand some say that this would be disastrous for many countries that would lose from such a decision. In understanding why would a country seek trading with other countries and whether free trade should be introduced in the world, we have to take into account some basic theories from the past. Adam Smith, was the first person to attempt to give a reason for this in the late 18th century. In his book, Wealth of Nations, he tried to give a good reason to promote free trade, through his absolute advantage theory. In his theory he first used a comparison between nations and households. The concept of this example was simple. The master of a family would never choose to produce something at home that is going to cost less by buying it. And this is a fact because doing so, he would gain more time to produce something else. This is the same case as for countries. A country would prefer to buy a product, if the cost of producing it, would be higher than buying it. This country would gain the opportunity cost of using the spare time from not producing that good, to produce something else. In order to show this, he used the term of absolute advantage of one country over another in producing a good. A country is supposed to have an absolute advantage in producing a good if a worker o f that country is able to produce higher amounts of this good than a worker of the same industry in another country. To define and measure this advantage he used labor productivity and production cost and compared them between countries. Thus, Adam Smith explained the benefits of free trade, and showed that trade helps every single country to make the most of its absolute advantage in constructing some products. Generally, the overall level of wages in countries is determined by absolute advantage, and trade patterns are determined by comparative advantage. To sum up with, a country is more affluent with trade, without being an disbursement to the other country. This theory was something very important for that period because it introduced the free trade idea to many governments. On the other hand, it had a big imperfection. In a case in which a country would have absolute advantage in all products over another country (and the world was following his  [1]  theory thoroughly), n o trade would occur between these two countries, because of no absolute advantage existence. This is when David Ricardo introduced his own theory of comparative advantage, to give an answer and solution to this imperfection. In his theory, he entails that a country doesnt need to have absolute advantage over another country in order to trade a good. He combined the theories of comparative advantage and opportunity cost, to prove that a country will export the goods and services that it can produce at a low opportunity cost and import the goods and services that it would otherwise produce at a high opportunity cost (Pugel, 2009). According to comparative advantage theory, the living standards of these countries are going to boost because of trading, because the resulting world pattern of production faces higher efficiency instead of each country producing only for its own market. If this theory is accurate, globalization is beneficial for every society, to the extent that living standards are higher and prices for goods are lower. In conclusion, Ricardo proved that advantageo us trade can arise even if one country is less productive at producing all products, on condition that, these countries will have different relative advantage or disadvantage on the production of different goods. An alternative to Ricardos model came up in the early 19th century. Heckscher-Olin theory, which predicts, that a country exports the product(s) that use its relatively abundant factor(s) intensively and imports the product(s) using its relatively scarce factor(s) intensively. The H-O theory focuses on another important source of production-side differences. There exist some basic assumptions that have to hold in order for two countries to trade goods with each other, according to H-O theory. First of all, there has to be a condition in which major factors of production are not found in the same amount in both countries and that these two goods being produced, will require either relatively more labor or relatively more capital. When a country has a relatively higher amount of capital, it specializes in producing capital-intensive goods, while on the other hand, the country with the relatively higher amount of labor, is going to specialize in the production of labor-intensive goods. Furthermore, another condition that has to stand is that there will be no movements of labor and capital between the two countries. In addition, these countries will have to be in a market environment in which, transporting goods between countries has no associated costs. The final assumption required, is that the citizens of these two nations have the same wants. To conclude with, the prediction that comes out of Heckscher-Olin theory is that a country exports products that use the countrys relatively abundant factors more intensively. They exchange these products for imports of products that have an intensive usage of the countrys relatively limited factors. Specialization in production and trade generates a higher standard-of-living for the countries involved, according to the H-O theory. The problem arising from this theory is that it is not taking the trade of capital goods into consideration. Moreover, capital and labor are fixed components endowed to each country. These main theories give emphasis to differences in production conditions instead of tastes. Ricardos argument was that, because countries have different comparative advantages in producing different goods, trade is profitable. The Heckscher-Ohlin theory agrees that comparative advantages in production are the basis for trade, but H-O explains comparative advantage in terms of underlying differences in factor endowments. Each country tends to export those goods that intensively use its relatively abundant factors of production (Pugel, 2009). The evidence is that the H-O theory explains a fine part of the worlds actual trade patterns sensibly well, but that some significant aspects of trade patterns do not square easily with H-O (Pugel, 2009). Most economists favor letting nations trade freely, with few tariffs or other barriers to trade. The striking consensus in favor of free trade is based primarily on a body of economic analysis demonstrating that there are usually net gains from free trade, both for nations and the world. Trade affects production and the quantity of consumption in a country. In the country importing a good, it is doing so, by raising consumption and by lowering the production of that single good. On the same time, it is raising production of that good in the exporting country, but we cannot be sure whether it is going to lower or raise the quantity of consumption of that single good. We can say that both countries gain from trade. That is because it makes, both the exporting as well as the importing nation, better off in the net national sense. Each countrys net national gains are proportional to the change in its price from its no-trade value, so the country whose prices are disrupted more by trade, gains more (Pugel, 2009). A further source of national gains from trade is that the variety of products that become available to consumers, increases through imports, because of the countrys opening to trade. The economic well-being of consumers increases when they are able to choose from a wider variety of goods. Another source of national gains, comes from international competition, which can lower the prices of domestic goods, bringing extra gains to home consumers. It is quite interesting to have a look on who are the gainers and who are the losers, from opening trade. To do so, we need to make a distinction between the short run and long run effects of open trade. In the short run, we can say that those consuming the goods being imported and those producing exportable goods, are the main gainers. To find losers and gainers from trade, in the long run, we need to examine the findings of the Stolper-Samuelson theorem. This theorem shows that in long run, a person that is making his living by selling a factor that is more abundant in his country, in respect to other countries, is able to gain from trade. And this is a fact regardless of the goods he might be consuming, or the sector he might be working in. On the other hand, a person that makes his living by selling a factor that is relatively scarce in his country, can lose from trade. Again, this is a fact regardless of the goods he might be consuming, or the sector he might be working in. But free trade is not accomplished due to trade policies and barriers that countries put up, according to their own benefits. Kinds of policies like these, with all their consequences are explained in the following section. Trade Policies and The Role of the WTO A tariff is a tax imposed by a country on the import of a good or service, which custom officials accumulate at the place of import. There are two major kinds of such taxes. A specific tariff is described as the total sum of money that should be given for each unit of import (dollars per ton of steel bars). An ad valorem tariff, is a percentage of the estimated market value of the goods when they reach the importing country (Pugel, 2009). In general, a tariff is going to be beneficial for domestic producers, competing against imports, but on the other hand, it is going to hurt all the domestic consumers that buy this imported good, forcing them to suffer from higher prices for the consumption of the same good. Furthermore the effect of a tariff that is not so high as to end the imports, for a government, is an increase on this governments revenue. This government could use this extra revenue for projects that will benefit the nations wellbeing. Through years, several empirical effect s of placing tariffs can be made. We can say that putting up a tariff reduces in almost every case the overall worlds, as well as, each nations welfare. Another impact of using a tariff is that it benefits those groups that produce goods or services that can be used as substitutes for the taxed import. Another kind of trade policies is the nontariff barrier (NTB) and it is a policy that governments use in order to reduce number of imports. This is accomplished by several effects. For example, the cost of getting imports into a market is increased, and also it generates uncertainty over the conditions under which imports are going to be allowed. This is different than a usual import tariff. The most common nontariff barrier is import quota, with which, a government can restrict the import of a product into the country, above a specified limit of total quantity, during a period of time. The direct effect of NTB is on quantity. Protectionists and government officers might decide on putting up quotas instead of tariffs for many reasons. One of them is that a quota, guarantees that there is a strict limitation on the imports quantity, quite the opposite to a tariff. A result of such a quota, is that government officials end up with greater power. Furthermore, there are some other nontariff barriers. One of them is the voluntary export restraint (VER), which is a case in which an importing country government pressurizes with many ways the foreign exporting country to restrict its exports to this country. Just like an NTB, the direct effect of VER is on quantity. Voluntary export restraint results in the form of a cartel among the foreign producers, who agree not to export a good to the importing country that negotiated the VER. This leads to an increase of the foreign countrys price for this specific good, as well as a decrease for the revenue of the importing government because it suffers from the cut of a tariff for this imported good. To sum up with, VERs have negative effects on the welfare of both the importing and exporting nations, who suffer from higher prices and lower variety of the goods being cut from exports and imports. Another nontariff barrier, is a tariff-quota. This kind of a barrier, allows imports with a low or zero tariff into the country, but up to a specified quantity, and imposes a higher tariff on imports above this quantity. In this way it manages to have a direct effect on quantity of imports, because, by placing a very high tariff, it makes the import above the specified quantity unaffordable. A further nontariff barrier, is the Government procurement. This is a case, when a government that buys a quantity of a good, is placing law and government rules that favor local products. This barrier has direct effects on the quantity and the cost of importing this good. Moreover, another NTB is the, Local content and mixing requirements. With this barrier governments succeed a direct effect on the quantity of an import, by requiring a specified use of local labor, materials, or other products. An additional NTB is, Import Licensing ,which, by requiring from importers to apply for approvals for intended imports accomplishes direct effects on the cost of the import and also it creates uncertainty on whether this import is going to be made. Protectionism against import competition for a product has several results. First of all, it is clearly beneficial for domestic producers, by increasing the domestic production of a product. In addition, it harms domestic consumers on the purchase of this product, who suffer from higher prices. Furthermore because of protectionism, this product faces a decrease on its domestic consumption. It is probably harmful for the importing nation as a whole and furthermore, it is almost surely harmful for the world as a whole. On the other hand protectionism results in increasing government revenues and, in addition, the distribution of income or well-being in the country is being altered. Evidence (that associate trade with economic growth and jobs) [1,500] These are some of the reasons for the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO espouses three major principles: first of all, reductions of barriers to trade, furthermore, nondiscrimination principle (MFN), and finally, reduction of unfair encouragement for exports. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was signed in 1947 by 23 countries and focused directly on international trade issues. From 1948 to 1994, the GATT was putting up the rules on which world trade was accomplished. GATT was provisional with a limited field of action, but in its over 47 years of existence it succeeded promoting and securing the liberalization of much of world trade. With continuous reductions in tariffs it resulted in very high rates of world trade growth. During the Uruguay Round, the rush of new members confirmed that the multilateral trading system was recognized as an instrument for development and economic and trade improvement. Under the GATT, eight rounds of multilateral trade negotiations were pursued by the member countries, with the purpose of lowering barriers. In the first five rounds they based their discussions on reductions of tariff rates, using item-by-item negotiations, where there was an agreement that the largest trading countries would reduce tariffs, extend them to all members, keeping the MFN nondiscrimination principle in mind. This means that GATT did not address other areas of trade, for example agriculture and services, even though they represented a considerable share in world trade. Through years, GATT was facing more and more problems because of its structure. Globalization of the world economy was ongoing, GATT rules were not covering trade-in services, which was becoming more and more interesting for countries, and international investment had expanded. World merchandise trade was further increasing and this was tied up closely to the expansion of services. These and other reasons were convincing enough for GATT members to attempt to reinforce and extend the multilateral system. That effort resulted in the Uruguay Round, the Marrakesh Declaration, and the creation of the WTO (World Trade Organization). The World Trade Organization An international agreement in the early 1990s led to the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in January 1995. The WTO took the place of GATT as its physical expand and since then it is the organization that supervises the worldwide rules of policies being kept by several countries towards international trade. It provides the round-table for negotiating global agreements to improve these rules. The governments that had signed GATT were known as GATT contracting parties. Since they signed the new WTO agreements, they officially became known as, WTO members (World Trade Organization).Today the WTO has 153 member countries and an overall budget of 189 million Swiss francs for 2009. The WTOs headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. The WTO is making decisions in some quite unusual processes. There are two primary models of decision-making: decision by consensus and decision by voting. For general decision-making, WTO kept on acting like GATT, in making decisions by consensus. In consensus decision-making, the minority will normally go along with the majority unless it has a serious objection (Matsushita, M., et al). Then the majority will not make decisions using voting but it will discuss the objections of the minority. This decision-making process is always taking a great deal of time. In the WTO, only when a decision cannot be taken by consensus there is usage of voting decision- making. In the Ministerial Conference and the General Council, decisions are taken by a majority of the votes cast, unless otherwise specified in the relevant WTO agreement (Matsushita, M., et al). There are several ways of looking at the WTO. Its an organization that seeks the liberalization of trade. It is a forum where governments can negotiate trade agreements. Fundamentally, it is a place where member countries try to sort out some trade problems they might be facing with each other. The first step is to discuss. The organization was born out of negotiations, and everything it does is offering the table on which, optimal solutions can be made. Its a place for governments to settle trade disputes. Regularly, incompatible interests are involved within trade relations. Agreements, including those thoroughly negotiated in the WTO, often need interpreting. The most harmonious way to settle these differences is through some neutral procedure based on an agreed legal foundation (World Trade Organization). That is the purpose behind the dispute settlement process written into the WTO agreements (World Trade Organization). It operates a system of trade rules. The WTO agreements, wh ich are negotiated and signed by the worlds trading countries, provide the legal essentials for international trade. They are fundamental contracts, that bind governments on keeping their trade policies within settled limits. Although the negotiations are being discussed and signed by governments, the main goal is to help exporters and importers as well as producers of goods and services, carry out their business. And all this, while governments will be able to meet social and environmental principles. The whole system has an overriding purpose to help trade flow without restraints, whenever possible, because this is something crucial for economic development and well-being. That partially means removing barriers. It also means ensuring that individuals, companies and governments know what the trade rules are around the world, and giving them the confidence that there will be no sudden changes of policy (World Trade Organization). In other words, the rules have to be clear and unsur prising. World Trade Organization is running under certain trade principles. According to these principles, the trading system should meet some requirements, such as, trade without discrimination, freer trade, predictability on trade issues by the governments, promotion of fair competition and encouragement of development and economic reform. Under the WTO agreements, countries are not allowed to discriminate between their trading associates. This principle is known as most-favoured nation (MFN) treatment (World Trade Organization). This principle suggests special treatment, but in fact it means non-discrimination. Imported and locally-produced goods should be treated equally at least after the foreign goods have entered the market. (World Trade Organization). Free trade is another aim of the WTO. This aim suggests lowering trade barriers through negotiation. This is one of the most clear ways to encourage trade. The multilateral trading system is an attempt by countries to make the business environment stable and predictable (World Trade Organization).WTO tries to improve predictability and stability through binding and transparency. With these factors stable, investment is encouraged, jobs are created and consumers can fully enjoy the benefits of competition. The organization also seeks on promoting fair competition while discouraging unjust practices such as export subsidies. The final principle under which the organization is running, is that trade should be more beneficial for less developed countries. The WTO is paying extra attention on the least-developed countries. All the agreements recognize that they must benefit from the greatest possible flexibility, and better-off members must make extra efforts to lower import barriers on least-developed countries exports (World Trade Organization). Nowadays, most of the WTOs members are developing countries. Because of their number, because they are gaining more importance in the global economy, and because they increasingly seek to trade as a crucial tool in their development efforts, they play an increasingly significant and vital role in the WTO. Developing countries are a group with very different concerns and views. The organization deals with the different needs of developing countries in several ways. First of all, the WTO agreements enclose special provisions on developing countries, providing them with special rights and special treatment than other members. For example, there might be some provisions, which allow developing countries to be treated more favourably by the developed countries, than the rest WTO members. In addition, the organization offers extra time for developing countries to accomplish their obligations. Moreover, it makes agreements that offer provisions, designed to increase trading opportunities fo r such countries, through greater market access. *Rounds of negotiations (2000) Through the years of their existence, GATT and WTO have started several rounds of negotiations to achieve the liberalization of trade and further reduction of tariffs and other policies standing against trade. These rounds are often lengthy, with an example being the Uruguay Round which lasted seven and a half years. Trade rounds can provide an important advantage. Instead of negotiating on a single issue, they offer a package approach to trade negotiations, which can sometimes turn to be more fruitful. This is a case, because the size of the package can imply more benefits for participants who can seek advantages across a wide range of issues. It can be easier for an agreement to be achieved, through trade-offs . This has political as well as economic implications. Developing countries and other less powerful participants, face a greater chance to influence the multilateral system in a trade round than in bilateral relationships with major trading nations (World Trade Organization). In December 1945, 15 countries had already started negotiations to decrease and bind customs tariffs. Considerable tariff reductions were accomplished in the first round, which took place in Geneva. This round, started on April 1947 and lasted for 7 months. By the time the deal was signed on 30 October 1947, the number of member countries had increased to 23. These negotiations achieved the signing of GATT and in addition, it resulted in 45,000 tariff concessions, affecting $10 billion of trade (World Trade Organization). For almost half a century, the GATTs basic legal principles remained much as they were in 1948 and efforts to reduce tariffs continued (World Trade Organization). This was achieved through the trade rounds, which were a series of multilateral negotiations. The leading steps forward in the liberalization of international trade, were achieved because of these rounds which were held under GATTs support. The next round, Annecy, started on April 1949 and finished 5 months later. 13 countries participated in these negotiations, which resulted in the exchange of some 5,000 tariff concessions by the countries (World Trade Organization). Negotiations continued in the Torquay round. They started on September 1950 and finished 8 months later. In Torquay, the result was that countries exchanged some 8,700 tariff concessions, cutting the 1948 tariff levels by 25% (World Trade Organization). 26 Countries continued negotiations in Geneva, on January 1956. The major subjects that were covered in this round were not only tariffs, but also the admission of Japan. Geneva II round of negotiations, achieved new reductions in tariffs of $2.5 billion (World Trade Organization). As did the Dillon Round in September 1960, from which, further tariff concessions that were worth $4.9 billion of world trade, were achieved (World Trade Organization). To achieve more extensive tariff reductions, the Kennedy Ro und (1963-1967), covered subjects not only on tariffs but also on anti-dumping. The 62 countries that participated in this round for 37 months, made the agreements so that the industrialized countries would use a formula to decrease all nonagricultural tariffs. The results from these agreements were substantial. They achieved tariff compromises worth $40 billion of world trade (World Trade Organization). In addition, the average tariff was decreased by 38 percent for non-agricultural imports into industrialized countries (World Trade Organization). The Tokyo Round started on September 1973 and lasted for 74 months. It included negotiations over tariffs, non-tariff measures and framework agreements. It achieved tariff reductions worth more than 300 billion dollars (World Trade Organization). Up to this point the achievement of all these negotiations is that they led to substantial reductions of tariffs, but on the other hand, they had let non-tariff barriers (NTBs) rise in importance. GATT members started discussing about NTBs in a more serious way. They tried to find ways of addressing these excluded sectors. This stood until the Uruguay Round successfully covered them. The Uruguay Round (1986-1994) kept on going, with usage of ways for cuts, with negotiated exceptions. It resulted on an agreement to allow full access for clothes and textiles from developing countries and intellectual property rights were extended. Furthermore governments agreed to limit their use of domestic content requirements. Industrialized countries nonagricultural tariffs fell by an average of 33 percent and 38 percent, respectively (World Trade Organization). The agreements also included new codes on customs, such as, import licensing and procedures, subsidies, safeguards and dumping. The last r ound of negotiations under the GATT was the most ambitious and most successful international economic negotiation since Bretton Woods (World Trade Organization). The World Trade Organisation was launched in 1995, and since then, it has held five Ministerial conferences. The Doha Ministerial in 2001, was marked by the core concern, that the multilateral trading system should benefit the developing countries which constitute about two thirds of the WTO members. The entire package is called the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). Key elements of the striving agenda include significant liberalization on trade of agricultural products, drop of nonagricultural trade tariffs, reductions of nonagricultural goods tariffs, trade in services liberalization, provision of assured access on low-cost medicines for developing nations, and refinement of rules, governing various NTBs. The Doha declaration tried to help developing countries to obtain a share in the growth of world trade according to the needs of their economic development. It pledged that, through two key routes. First of all, by reducing import tariffs it tried to improve market access to the North ern markets for developing countries. Furthermore by phasing out domestic and export subsidies. After failing to begin the new round at the WTO ministerial conference in Seattle in 1999, the next conference was in Doha, Qatar, in 2001. Developing countries were considering that the Uruguay Round was unfair for them. They incurred substantial costs by accepting the mandatory NTB rules and the mandatory protections of intellectual property, but their benefits of greater access of export markets in the industrialized countries were limited by the slow end to the VERs on clothing and textiles and by the lack of actual liberalization of agricultural trade. Developing country governments pushed for a development round and vowed to be more active in the negotiations (Pugel, 2009). A special agreement led to the Information Technology Agreement of 1996. Each country involved in the agreement (initially 23 countries) was obligated to eliminate tariffs on imports of information technology goods and software. By 2007, 70 countries had embraced this agreement, so that 97 percent of international trade in these products is now free of tariff. Second, the developing countries that have joined the WTO since 1995 minimized their actual tariff rates as a condition for joining and accepted bound rates equal to, or very close to, their actual rates. The Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancà ºn, in September 2003, was proposed as a stock-taking conference where members would come to an agreement on how to complete the rest of the negotiations. But the meeting was soured by discord on agricultural issues and ended in deadlock on the Singapore issues (World Trade Organization). In 2003, member countries agreed to improve the rules on intellectual property to allow developing countries to import low-cost broad versions of patented drugs in health emergencies, however, there has been little progress. The major area of disagreement has been agriculture, for which, neither the United States nor the European Union has been willing to offer sufficient liberalization. The United States has resisted meaningful cuts in its subsidies to domestic agricultural production, and the European Union has been unwilling to offer sufficient cuts in tariffs and other barriers to agricultural imports. Without adequate progress on agriculture, the devel oping countries led by India and Brazil, have been unwilling to offer much in other areas of the agenda (Pugel, 2009). Further progress in narrowing members differences was made at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December 2005, but some gaps remained unbridgeable and Director-General Pascal Lamy suspended the negotiations in July 2006 (World Trade Organization), though discussions continued at a less formal level. Efforts then focused on trying to achieve a breakthrough in early 2007 (World Trade Organization).

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Drama - I wanted to present a convincing portrayal of a wealthy, educated :: Drama

Drama - I wanted to present a convincing portrayal of a wealthy, educated woman who, faced with a extremely distressing, seemingly insurmountable personal problem, sees what looks like a perfect solution, but which ends up driving her to madness. Why Were the Nazis Able to Attempt the Genocide of the Jewish People in the Years1939 to 1945? ==================================================================== How Has the Human Rights Position of the Jews Improved Since 1945? ================================================================== The power of the Nazi State made it difficult to resist and rebel against the Nazis. By 1939 the Nazis had built up an enormous empire and army. The SS were responsible for security of Hitler and leading Nazis. Rudolf Hoess said that, '...the thought of refusing an order just didn't enter one's head, regardless of what kind of order it was.' The SS were completely loyal to Hitler and strictly disciplined. The SS also did work such as manning the concentration camps. The concentration camps were created in 1933 and they were prisons for opposition to the Nazis and people who did not fit in with the Nazis, including the Jews. A special, secret police force was devised in 1936 called the Gestapo. They would catch people if they thought they had said anything wrong about the Nazis, or they were Jewish. Ordinary people were scared of being reported by the SS or Gestapo, so most did nothing to prevent the Holocaust. Many people may have ignored Anti-Semitism because, they agreed with the Nazis on other issues, however some people were actively Anti-Semitic themselves. This tells us that the Nazis had built up a state so powerful and secretive that it was possible to get away with genocide. The wartime emergency made it possible to keep the extermination of the Jews secret, from the majority of the population. A map of Poland and Germany (Source U) shows that all the extermination camps were situated in Poland, away from the German population. Therefore, the Germans may not have known, as they would not be able to see the camps. Also the SS were forced to keep the genocide a secret, in a speech by Himmler he said, '...we will never speak about it in public.' and also 'à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦he would do it again if it were an order and if it were necessary.' The German people were also subjected to Nazi propaganda and control. They would also be worried about food, water and being bombed on, as it was wartime. They were probably worried about themselves. Also Stephen Lee tells that extermination would be kept secret by terms such as, 'resettled', 'evacuated' or 'deported'.

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Hajj :: essays research papers

The Hajj: Pilgrimage Mecca is also known as Makkah and its full name is Makkah al-Mukkaramah. Mecca is a city in the Hijaz region of western Saudi Arabia. It is known as the holiest site in the Islamic religion. The history of Mecca goes back as early as the fifth century. It was an independent and powerful city in pre-Islamic times. It is the religious center for Islamic people and it houses the Kaaba and the Great Mosque. It is also the birthplace of Muhammad, the first capital of caliphate, and the center of present day mosques. In 630 Muhammad and some of his followers went into the city of Mecca and captured it. Mecca is said to have started one of the most important religions in the world and it brings together the Islamic religion. When people think about Mecca one of the first things that might come to their heads is the pilgrimage or the black stone. Muhammad is one of the reasons that Mecca is what it is today. Muhhamad was a prophet born 570 in Mecca. He was orphaned as a child and sent to ended up living with his uncle. Muhhamad would get away from everything by going to the desert to meditate. One night while alone at Mt. Hira he was visited by an angel named Gabriel. After this Muhhamad began to accept Allah and started to believe. Some of the things Muhhamad believed was Jihad, holy struggle. He also began to believe you live for Allah. He believed all those who did would be rewarded and the rest punished. Not everyone believed the way Muhammad did. People at first thought that his teachings were a threat to the religious and material order. He was accused of making up what the Angel Gabriel had told him. He got followers from the poor and people who thought they were being unequally treated. Muhha mad took these people and then left and went to Medina to find more followers. He then returned to Mecca later and took over the city and converted everyone to Islam. In the Islamic faith there are five pillars that they must follow to their best ability. The Salaht, the Hajj, they must give to the poor, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and repetition of the creed, "There is no God but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." These pillars are more like obligations in the Islamic religion.

Comparative Souls, Contrasting Beings: Frankenstein and His Creature Es

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a story about a man named Frankenstein who wants to understand the creation of life. He does not fail in understanding it and actually applies what he knows into making his own creature. However, the catch is that his creature is not anything as he imagines, he is far too physically deformed to be accepted as a good creature. Frankenstein abandons him and the creature takes on a life and mind of his own, but finds that no man will ever want to be around him. As the story separates the characters, the two come together and that is when one can compare and contrast them to each other. Thus, this story putting such opposite beings alongside each other makes room for ways they may be similar but also heightens how their natures influence their differences. Frankenstein has a weak mind for disaster; when the creature comes to life and later kills his friends and family, these disasters impair his mind. He falls into a â€Å"nervous fever† (38) when he first sees his creation and his shock debilitates his mind. Yet, his friend Clerval â€Å"called forth the better feelings† (45) he had possessed before making his creation, such as mental clarity and inclusion into the human world, not isolated in his mind. While Frankenstein does have â€Å"frequent relapses,† showing the profound horror he experienced was in looking at the deformed creature, he recovers and becomes normal again. However, as the very creature takes away his loved ones, Frankenstein’s situational mental dysfunction manifests and begins to show on his body as well: â€Å"[Elizabeth] welcomed me with warm affection; yet tears were in her eyes, as she beheld my emaciated frame and feverish cheeks...The tranquility which I now enjoyed did not endure.... ...ars. But his revenge can not nearly hold the same power as the creature’s, who prepares himself for an eternal battle between himself and his creator. The creature seeks to be human but cannot escape that he not only looks different but his capacities for rage and his mental acuteness are very much inhuman while Frankenstein is human and appears that way his mental weakness and large need for understanding the physical secrets of the world pull him away from men. He truly does not yearn as the creature does for men, and the creature does not yearn to understand anything beside men, the two are opposite because Frankenstein is so human and the creature is so inhuman. How they feel is important to compare, but what it all comes down to is how mentally, physically, and emotionally strong these two are, the creature ends up on top of it all. Comparative Souls, Contrasting Beings: Frankenstein and His Creature Es Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a story about a man named Frankenstein who wants to understand the creation of life. He does not fail in understanding it and actually applies what he knows into making his own creature. However, the catch is that his creature is not anything as he imagines, he is far too physically deformed to be accepted as a good creature. Frankenstein abandons him and the creature takes on a life and mind of his own, but finds that no man will ever want to be around him. As the story separates the characters, the two come together and that is when one can compare and contrast them to each other. Thus, this story putting such opposite beings alongside each other makes room for ways they may be similar but also heightens how their natures influence their differences. Frankenstein has a weak mind for disaster; when the creature comes to life and later kills his friends and family, these disasters impair his mind. He falls into a â€Å"nervous fever† (38) when he first sees his creation and his shock debilitates his mind. Yet, his friend Clerval â€Å"called forth the better feelings† (45) he had possessed before making his creation, such as mental clarity and inclusion into the human world, not isolated in his mind. While Frankenstein does have â€Å"frequent relapses,† showing the profound horror he experienced was in looking at the deformed creature, he recovers and becomes normal again. However, as the very creature takes away his loved ones, Frankenstein’s situational mental dysfunction manifests and begins to show on his body as well: â€Å"[Elizabeth] welcomed me with warm affection; yet tears were in her eyes, as she beheld my emaciated frame and feverish cheeks...The tranquility which I now enjoyed did not endure.... ...ars. But his revenge can not nearly hold the same power as the creature’s, who prepares himself for an eternal battle between himself and his creator. The creature seeks to be human but cannot escape that he not only looks different but his capacities for rage and his mental acuteness are very much inhuman while Frankenstein is human and appears that way his mental weakness and large need for understanding the physical secrets of the world pull him away from men. He truly does not yearn as the creature does for men, and the creature does not yearn to understand anything beside men, the two are opposite because Frankenstein is so human and the creature is so inhuman. How they feel is important to compare, but what it all comes down to is how mentally, physically, and emotionally strong these two are, the creature ends up on top of it all.

Friday, August 2, 2019

Beauty in “The Bluest Eye” Essay

The Bluest Eye is a brilliantly written novel revealing the fictional trauma of an eleven-year-old black girl named Pecola Breedlove. This story takes place in the town of Lorain, Ohio during the 1940’s. It is told from the perspective of a young girl named Claudia MacTeer. She and her sister, Frieda, become witness to the terrible plights Pecola is unintentionally put through. Pecola chooses to hide from her disabling life behind her clouded dream of possessing the ever so cherished â€Å"bluest of eyes†. The Breedlove’s constant bickering and ever growing poverty contributes to the emotional downfall of this little girl. Pecola’s misery is obtained through the touch of her father’s hand and the voice of her community’s struggle with racial separation, anger, and ignorance. Her innocence is harshly ripped from her grasp as her father rapes her limp existence. The community’s anger with it’s own insecurities is taken out on this poor, ugly, black, non-ideal, young girl. She shields herself from this sorrow behind her obsessive plea for blue eyes. But her eyes do not replace the pain of carrying her fleeing father’s baby. Nor do they protect her from the shady eyes of her neighbours. Though this book discuses negative and disturbing situations, it teaches a very positive lesson. The theme of The Bluest Eye is that of depending on outside influences to become aware of one’s own beauty and to fabricate one’s own self image can be extremely damaging. Topic Tracking: Beauty Beauty 1: Claudia is constantly faced with white ideals of beauty. For Christmas one year, she receives a blue-eyed, blonde-haired, pink-skinned doll. Rather than adore the doll, she destroys and dismembers it as a result of her anger. Claudia feels she can never measure up to the beauty of white children, the beauty that all the world reveres. Beauty 2: The Breedloves are poor and ugly. At least that is how they think the world views them. Their beliefs that they are ugly come from white American media always portraying whites as representations of what is beautiful. Because of this, they do not strive for more, for they think that they do not deserve to have more. Beauty 3: Pecola wishes that she had blue eyes. She thinks that if her eyes were blue, and therefore beautiful according to white American standards, then her problems would go away and her life would be beautiful. Then maybe, her classmates and teachers would not despise her and think she was so ugly. She so hates hersel f that she stares at herself in the mirror trying to figure out where her ugliness comes from. Beauty 4: For one year Pecola prays that her eyes will turn blue. She has many problems in her life, starting with family issues, and she thinks that if she had blue eyes, her problems might go away. And even more than that, if she had blue eyes, people would see her as beautiful, and then she would be able to see herself as beautiful too. Being a black little girl in a society that idolizes blonde-haired blue-eyed beauty, Pecola thinks she is ugly. Pecola sympathizes for the dandelions because she knows what it is like to be devalued. She finds beauty in the weeds, for she thinks that people see her as a weed. Beauty 5: A new little girl, named Maureen Peal, comes to Claudia and Frieda’s school. Maureen is revered for her looks, which people deem beautiful. She has lighter skin and eyes than most of the other children, and everyone adores her because of this. She is looked upon as beautiful because her characteristics are somewhat more â€Å"white† than other black people’s. This causes many to be jealous of her. However, Claudia and Frieda are not jealous. They see through the standards placed on beauty, and if Maureen is what is beautiful, this means that they are not beautiful (according to society). Beauty 6: When the girls are walking home from getting ice cream after school, they pass a movie theater with a picture of Betty Grable on the building. Maureen and Pecola both say that they love Betty Grable, an icon for white American beauty with her blonde hair and blue eyes. However, showing her disdain for such standards placed on beauty, Claudia says that she prefers the actress, Hedy Lamarr, who has dark hair. Beauty 7: In her younger years, Pauline Breedlove occupied herself by going to the movies. It was here that she got her first glimpse into what idealized beauty was. She saw the Hollywood blonde-haired, blue-eyed bombshells as being true representations of beauty. And anything that strayed from these looks, including her own, was seen as not pretty. American society placed their standards of beauty onto the world, and because of this, many people began to realize how far away they were from those standards. Beauty 8: Pecola goes to visit Soaphead Church with the hope that he will be able to fulfill her wish to have blue eyes. She thinks that with blue eyes, all of her problems will disappear and the world will love her because she will be beautiful. The world, seen through blue eyes, will also appear beautiful to Pecola. Beauty 9: Claudia prays that Pecola’s baby will survive. She needs the baby to live to counteract society’s standards set on beauty, which say that blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girls are all that is pretty. Claudia hopes that with this new black baby people will change and see blackness as something that can be admired and something that is beautiful. Topic Tracking: Culture Culture 1: Mr. Henry moves into Claudia and Frieda’s house. One day, the girls come home and when they walk in Mr. Henry greets them. He flatters them by telling them they look just like Greta Garbo and Ginger Rogers, two white American female actresses. These two actresses represented American society’s ideal beauty, with their blonde hair and blue eyes. They, and other actresses like them, were so idealized by the media that it forced young American girls, both white and black, to question their own beauty if it differed from the standard of blond hair and blue eyes. Culture 2: After seeing the cup with Shirley Temple on it, Claudia explains her ill feelings for her. Shirley Temple was the epitome of what all of America adored in little girls: her bouncy blonde curls and big blue eyes. This sickened Claudia, as she was so different from Shirley Temple and all of the other little girls who looked like Shirley. Culture 3: Claudia tells the story about the doll she recei ved for Christmas one year. This doll was a beautiful doll that had blonde hair, blue eyes, and pink skin. Instead of appreciating the doll like most other children would have done, Claudia dismembered and destroyed the doll. She was sick of having American ideals of beauty placed on her, which said that being white with blonde hair and blue eyes was what was deemed as beautiful. Culture 4: This excerpt from a first grade reading primer describes the perfect white family. Morrison uses these excerpts in many points of the story to illustrate the dichotomy between the ideal white family, and the family of blacks, specifically Pecola’s family. The reading book perpetuates the stigma that what is seen as â€Å"ideal† in American culture means having a neat little house, run by two loving parents, with two children, one of which has blonde hair and blue eyes, and a fun loving dog who plays with the children. This social stigma presses on children who are â€Å"different† that are reading these books, and makes them think they are abnormal and unacceptable. Culture 5: The Breedloves are described. They think they are poor and ugly, and it says that much of the reason they think this is because of the white American media. The media, as part of our culture, sets the standards for what defines beauty, and anything straying from these standards is viewed as ugly. Culture 6: Pecola is constantly faced with the standards set on her society by American culture. She cannot even enjoy a piece of candy without feeling that she is different and lacking in some way in terms of beauty. When she goes to eat her Mary Jane candy, she is mesmerized by the little girl of Mary Jane on the cover, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl. These cultural pressures of what defines beauty make Pecola aware of just how much she strays from that defined beauty. This eventually leads to her desire for blue eyes, which in turn leads her into madness. Culture 7: When Pecola, Maureen, Claudia and Frieda are walking home from the ice cream shop, they pass a theater with a picture of Betty Grable on it. Young girls are bombarded with American culture’s ideals of beauty, such as pictures of famous actresses. Betty Grable in particular , with her blonde hair and blue eyes, makes Pecola and Maureen want to look like her. However, despite all of their hopes and wishes, they will never be able to look like that, and they are left as the victims of a culture that standardizes and limits young children. Culture 8: During her younger years, Pauline Breedlove spent a lot of time at the movie theater. It was here where she learned American standards of true beauty. Constantly faced with actresses like Jean Harlow, the ultimate Hollywood blonde bombshell, Pauline was forced to examine her own beauty in terms of Harlow’s. She realized that she did not look anything like Harlow, and based on this, came to the conclusion that she must be ugly. However, her feelings of ugliness were purely based on cultural standards set on her through the medium of Hollywood. Culture 9: Claudia feels the need for Pecola’s baby to be alive and healthy. She wants the baby to survive because she wants to counteract the cultural emphasis placed on white girls with blonde hair and blue eyes, exemplified by the types of white baby dolls most children adore (dolls that look like Shirley Temple). If Pecola’s baby lives, maybe people can learn to love a black baby and see black as beautiful too . At least this is what Claudia is hoping for. Culture 10: Pecola beats her arms like a bird, and attempts to fly up to the sky. However, she cannot. The reason she cannot is because she has been held back by the culture in which she lives, a culture that values white beauty, and ignores black beauty. It was an inevitable end result that Pecola would never be able to achieve the standards of beauty she wanted to. She was born a black child, and unfortunately, her culture does not accept black beauty. Thus, her dreams would never be fulfilled. And even though she thinks she has blue eyes, the world around her does not recognize her as she wishes to be seen. And because of this, she is driven to madness, caused by the pressures and social standards of her culture.

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Our Obligation as Leaders Essay

The role of leaders anywhere is primary to lead the way. Leaders are supposed to be visionaries, those who chart the course. In any organization or any establishment, there are some abilities or functions that are required of a leader. Primary out of all these is the unique ability to see far, envision the people and make them see things from the right perspective; separating illusions from realities. As leaders, we should hold the idea that if we have knowledge of things that others are in the dark of; we are supposed to make them see the light. This is because by so doing, we are not only helping this people see the light, we are actually helping ourselves. Knowledge itself should make us act and the best thing we can do is to help eradicate darkness that comes with ignorance and make these people see the light. In Plato’s allegory of the cave, those people who are fortunate to see the sun owe those in the cave an obligation. This is because we were once like them. Apart from this, we are nothing better if we just keep mute about what we know. A knowledgeable person in the midst of ignorant people can not really be said to be knowledgeable. This is because soon enough, if we don’t change them, they will change us. Moreover, the question here is that since we have established the fact we have an obligation to the people in the cave, can it be said that we also have an obligation to those people we meet outside the cave? My answer to this question is yes. This is because if we have not met them, we would not have had an idea of the truth that we now know. They served as a torch to our darkness and on this very basis we owe them an obligation. Such an obligation might be that we also impart knowledge to other people who we meet on our way who are like we were before we gained knowledge. Therefore, we must act. We must embark on a mission to illuminate the cave with knowledge. We must strive to convince them of what we know. At first, they might see us as fools but as we insist on what we are saying, they would begin to see sense in what we are saying. Our knowledge is nothing without imparting other people.