Ngo And International Development Essay

We live in an imperfect world where citizens are continuously plagued with problems caused by lack of opportunities or through bad leadership of states that immerses these people into problems not of their own making. These problems are many and diverse ranging form wars, human rights abuse, famine and natural calamities. Many governments are not equipped to respond adequately to those adversities and it becomes necessary for Ngo’s to intervene. However some countries have continued to frustrate the work of such institutions for different reasons and North Korea becomes a classic example of such a totalitarian government limiting the operations of such organizations. Ngo’s operations in North Korea Ngo’s are viewed with great skepticism by the government of South Korea as they go about their work. This is because the government is greatly paranoid of foreign presence in the country and aid workers are usually treated with the same disdain accorded foreign delegations from the west (Gordon, l. & Snyder, S. 2003). However the degree of freedom and responsibility given to ngo’s depends mainly on the political relation of South Korea and the nationality of the ngo in question. For instance ngo’s from America and South Korea are the worst affected while their counter parts form Europe enjoy more privileges. Therefore organizations from countries perceived with hostility are not even granted permanent stay hampering their efforts to help the needy. All ngo’s however encounter a similar problem since they are not usually allowed access to the people in their problem evaluations and expected to rely on government guidelines in pursuit of their goals. Furthermore hey have to contend with constant monitoring by state agencies hat limit their response abilities. However there are hopes that the situation is improving since 1995 when the government of North Korea asked for assistance from the international community in response to food shortage (Smith, 2002). It is perceived that the problem that ngo’s faced is due to the country’s failure to comprehend the underlying principles that from the basis for humanitarian assistance by ngo’s. However recent acts by the government to eject food assistance by the U S government and the threat to evict all organizations from the U S might erode all the steps gained in diplomacy and relation ad discourage aid organizations from the country (Radia, 2009). Conclusion It is quite clear that organizations have found it hard to work in North Korea but it is unacceptable for some organizations to quite since such help is vital for those in suffering. Furthermore the gates opened by these organizations allow for an improvement in relations with foreign country and this might in the long run improve the conditions both for these institutions and for the people of North Korea. References Gordon, l. & Snyder, S. (2003). Paved With Good Intentions: The NGO Experience in North Korea. West port: Praeger Publishers. Radia, k. (2009). Abc news: North Korea Rejects US Food Aid, Kicks Out US NGOs. Retreved March 19, 2009, from http://blogs. abcnews. com/politicalradar/2009/03/north-korea-can. html. Smith, H. (2002). Unied States Institute of Peace: Overcoming Humanitarian Dilemmas in the DPRK (North Korea). Retreved March 19, 2009, from http://www. usip. org/pubs/specialreports/sr90. html.

Boston Bombing: Summary Essay

On Monday April 15 2013, which was Patriot Day, an atrocity happened in Boston, United States. As everyone already knew, it was the Boston Marathon Bombing. The annual Boston Marathon bombing started just like other years, without any clue of the calamity. The marathon began as usual and horde of crowds gather along the sidewalk, cheering for their families and friends. The contestants endured the tiredness and headed towards the finish line. A spontaneous chant of â€Å"Go, Go!† bursted out as the runners moved closer and closer towards the ending. But just then, a bomb was released on Boylston Street, near the finish line. Many people screamed, and the air was filled with dirt and gases. 13 minutes later, another bomb went off also on Boylston Street, but few blocks further. Debris from the building along the side walk was blown over into pieces, flying over in the air. Some runners collapsed on the ground, failing to stand up. They tried to combat the bomb but unfortunately, they couldn’t. The air was so polluted and you hardly could see anything. 3 people died, and 264 were injured. A exciting and interesting event turned into one that was a totally disaster and grievous. But fortunately, rescue workers came as soon as possible. According to FBI, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the weapons that took part in the bombing were pressure cooker bombs that was especially made for this marathon. These types of bomb was intended to damage the runner’s limb, making them unable to run. Most of the victims suffered severe leg injuries and wounds. This event was globally significant because it had caused a lot of reactions from people all over the world. In the united states, a moment of silence were observed on the day after the bombing to show respects towards the victims. President Obama ordered the flags lowered to half- staff, also to show a kind of respect. In China, people posted message on social websites to give comment about the death of a Chinese contestant, who was attending collage in Boston. People were aware of her death since many Chinese wanted to send their children overseas for collage. People all around the world will learn from this event and be more cautious.

Part Two Chapter VI

VI ‘The fuck have you done to your face? Come off the bike again?' asked Fats. ‘No,' said Andrew. ‘Si-Pie hit me. I was trying to tell the stupid cunt he'd got it wrong about Fairbrother.' He and his father had been in the woodshed, filling the baskets that sat on either side of the wood-burner in the sitting room. Simon had hit Andrew around the head with a log, knocking him into the pile of wood, grazing his acne-covered cheek. D'you think you know more about what goes on than I do, you spotty little shit? If I hear you've breathed a word of what goes on in this house – I haven't – I'll fucking skin you alive, d'you hear me? How do you know Fairbrother wasn't on the fiddle too, eh? And the other fucker was the only one dumb enough to get caught? And then, whether out of pride or defiance, or because his fantasies of easy money had taken too strong a hold on his imagination to become dislodged by facts, Simon had sent in his application forms. Humiliation, for which the whole family would surely pay, was a certainty. Sabotage. Andrew brooded on the word. He wanted to bring his father crashing down from the heights to which his dreams of easy money had raised him, and he wanted to do it, if at all possible (for he preferred glory without death), in such a way that Simon would never know whose manoeuvrings had brought his ambitions to rubble. He confided in nobody, not even Fats. He told Fats nearly everything, but the few omissions were the vast topics, the ones that occupied nearly all his interior space. It was one thing to sit in Fats' room with hard-ons and look up ‘girl-on-girl action' on the internet: quite another to confess how obsessively he pondered ways of engaging Gaia Bawden in conversation. Likewise, it was easy to sit in the Cubby Hole and call his father a cunt, but never would he have told how Simon's rages turned his hands cold and his stomach queasy. But then came the hour that changed everything. It started with nothing more than a yearning for nicotine and beauty. The rain had passed off at last, and the pale spring sun shone brightly on the fish-scale dirt on the school-bus windows as it jerked and lurched through the narrow streets of Pagford. Andrew was sitting near the back, unable to see Gaia, who was hemmed in at the front by Sukhvinder and the fatherless Fairbrother girls, newly returned to school. He had barely seen Gaia all day and faced a barren evening with only stale Facebook pictures to console him. As the bus approached Hope Street, it struck Andrew that neither of his parents was at home to notice his absence. Three cigarettes that Fats had given him resided in his inside pocket; and Gaia was getting up, holding tightly to the bar on the back of the seat, readying herself to descend, still talking to Sukhvinder Jawanda. Why not? Why not? So he got up too, swung his bag over his shoulder, and when the bus stopped walked briskly up the aisle after the two girls as they got out. ‘See you at home,' he threw out to a startled Paul as he passed. He reached the sunny pavement and the bus rumbled away. Lighting up, he watched Gaia and Sukhvinder over the top of his cupped hands. They were not heading towards Gaia's house in Hope Street, but ambling up towards the Square. Smoking and scowling slightly in unconscious imitation of the most unself-conscious person he knew – Fats – Andrew followed them, his eyes feasting on Gaia's copper-brown hair as it bounced on her shoulder blades, the swing of her skirt as her hips swayed beneath it. The two girls slowed down as they approached the Square, advancing towards Mollison and Lowe, which had the most impressive fa;ade of them all: blue and gold lettering across the front and four hanging baskets. Andrew hung back. The girls paused to examine a small white sign pasted to the window of the new cafe, then disappeared into the delicatessen. Andrew walked once around the Square, past the Black Canon and the George Hotel, and stopped at the sign. It was a hand-lettered advertisement for weekend staff. Hyperconscious of his acne, which was particularly virulent at the moment, he knocked out the end of his cigarette, put the long stub back into his pocket and followed Gaia and Sukhvinder inside. The girls were standing beside a little table piled high with boxed oatcakes and crackers, watching the enormous man in the deerstalker behind the counter talking to an elderly customer. Gaia looked around when the bell over the door tinkled. ‘Hi,' Andrew said, his mouth dry. ‘Hi,' she replied. Blinded by his own daring, Andrew walked nearer, and the school bag over his shoulder bumped into the revolving stand of guides to Pagford and Traditional West Country Cooking. He seized the stand and steadied it, then hastily lowered his bag. ‘You after a job?' Gaia asked him quietly, in her miraculous London accent. ‘Yeah,' he said. ‘You?' She nodded. ‘Flag it up on the suggestion page, Eddie,' Howard was booming at the customer. ‘Post it on the website, and I'll get it on the agenda for you. Pagford Parish Council – all one word – dot co, dot UK, slash, Suggestion Page. Or follow the link. Pagford †¦' He reiterated slowly, as the man pulled out paper and a pen with a quivering hand ‘†¦ Parish †¦' Howard's eyes flicked over the three teenagers waiting quietly beside the savoury biscuits. They were wearing the half-hearted uniform of Winterdown, which permitted so much laxity and variation that it was barely a uniform at all (unlike that of St Anne's, which comprised a neat tartan skirt and a blazer). For all that, the white girl was stunning; a precision-cut diamond set off by the plain Jawanda daughter, whose name Howard did not know, and a mouse-haired boy with violently erupted skin. The customer creaked out of the shop, the bell tinkled. ‘Can I help you?' Howard asked, his eyes on Gaia. ‘Yeah,' she said, moving forwards. ‘Um. About the jobs.' She pointed at the small sign in the window. ‘Ah, yes,' said Howard, beaming. His new weekend waiter had let him down a few days previously; thrown over the cafe for Yarvil and a supermarket job. ‘Yes, yes. Fancy waitressing, do you? We're offering minimum wage – nine to half-past five, Saturdays – twelve to half-past five, Sundays. Opening two weeks from today; training provided. How old are you, my love?' She was perfect, perfect, exactly what he had been imagining: fresh-faced and curvy; he could just imagine her in a figure-hugging black dress with a lace-edged white apron. He would teach her to use the till, and show her around the stockroom; there would be a bit of banter, and perhaps a little bonus on days when the takings were up. Howard sidled out from behind the counter and, ignoring Sukhvinder and Andrew, took Gaia by the upper arm, and led her through the arch in the dividing wall. There were no tables and chairs there yet, but the counter had been installed and so had a tiled black and cream mural on the wall behind it, which showed the Square in Yesteryear. Crinolined women and men in top hats swarmed everywhere; a brougham carriage had drawn up outside a clearly marked Mollison and Lowe, and beside it was the little cafe, The Copper Kettle. The artist had improvised an ornamental pump instead of the war memorial. Andrew and Sukhvinder were left behind, awkward and vaguely antagonistic to each other. ‘Yes? Can I help you?' A stooping woman with a jet-black bouffant had emerged from out of a back room. Andrew and Sukhvinder muttered that they were waiting, and then Howard and Gaia reappeared in the archway. When he saw Maureen, Howard dropped Gaia's arm, which he had been holding absent-mindedly while he explained to her what a waitress's duties would be. ‘I might have found us some more help for the Kettle, Mo,' he said. ‘Oh, yes?' said Maureen, switching her hungry gaze to Gaia. ‘Have you got experience?' But Howard boomed over her, telling Gaia all about the delicatessen and how he liked to think it was a bit of a Pagford institution, a bit of a landmark. ‘Thirty-five years, it's been,' said Howard, with a majestic disdain of his own mural. ‘The young lady's new to town, Mo,' he added. ‘And you two are after jobs as well, are you?' Maureen asked Sukhvinder and Andrew. Sukhvinder shook her head; Andrew made an equivocal movement with his shoulders; but Gaia said, with her eyes on the girl, ‘Go on. You said you might.' Howard considered Sukhvinder, who would most certainly not appear to advantage in a tight black dress and frilly apron; but his fertile and flexible mind was firing in all directions. A compliment to her father – something of a hold over her mother – an unasked favour granted; there were matters beyond the purely aesthetic that ought, perhaps, to be considered here. ‘Well, if we get the business we're expecting, we could probably do with two,' he said, scratching his chins with his eyes on Sukhvinder, who had blushed unattractively. ‘I don't †¦' she said, but Gaia urged her. ‘Go on. Together.' Sukhvinder was flushed, and her eyes were watering. ‘I †¦' ‘Go on,' whispered Gaia. ‘I †¦ all right.' ‘We'll give you a trial, then, Miss Jawanda,' said Howard. Doused in fear, Sukhvinder could hardly breathe. What would her mother say? ‘And I suppose you're wanting to be potboy, are you?' Howard boomed at Andrew. Potboy? ‘It's heavy lifting we need, my friend,' said Howard, while Andrew blinked at him nonplussed: he had only read the large type at the top of the sign. ‘Pallets into the stockroom, crates of milk up from the cellar and rubbish bagged up at the back. Proper manual labour. Do you think you can handle that?' ‘Yeah,' said Andrew. Would he be there when Gaia was there? That was all that mattered. ‘We'll need you early. Eight o'clock, probably. We'll say eight till three, and see how it goes. Trial period of two weeks.' ‘Yeah, fine,' said Andrew. ‘What's your name?' When Howard heard it, he raised his eyebrows. ‘Is your father Simon? Simon Price?' ‘Yeah.' Andrew was unnerved. Nobody knew who his father was, usually. Howard told the two girls to come back on Sunday afternoon, when the till was to be delivered, and he would be at liberty to instruct them; then, though he showed an inclination to keep Gaia in conversation, a customer entered, and the teenagers took their chance to slip outside. Andrew could think of nothing to say once they found themselves on the other side of the tinkling glass door; but before he could marshal his thoughts, Gaia threw him a careless ‘bye', and walked away with Sukhvinder. Andrew lit up the second of Fats' three fags (this was no time for a half-smoked stub), which gave him an excuse to remain stationary while he watched her walk away into the lengthening shadows. ‘Why do they call him â€Å"Peanut†, that boy?' Gaia asked Sukhvinder, once they were out of earshot of Andrew. ‘He's allergic,' said Sukhvinder. She was horrified at the prospect of telling Parminder what she had done. Her voice sounded like somebody else's. ‘He nearly died at St Thomas's; somebody gave him one hidden in a marshmallow.' ‘Oh,' said Gaia. ‘I thought it might be because he had a tiny dick.' She laughed, and so did Sukhvinder, forcing herself, as though jokes about penises were all she heard, day in, day out. Andrew saw them both glance back at him as they laughed, and knew that they were talking about him. The giggling might be a hopeful sign; he knew that much about girls, anyway. Grinning at nothing but the cooling air, he walked off, school bag over his shoulder, cigarette in his hand, across the Square towards Church Row, and thence to forty minutes of steep climbing up out of town to Hilltop House. The hedgerows were ghostly pale with white blossom in the dusk, blackthorn blooming on either side of him, celandine fringing the lane with tiny, glossy heart-shaped leaves. The smell of the flowers, the deep pleasure of the cigarette and the promise of weekends with Gaia; everything blended together into a glorious symphony of elation and beauty as Andrew puffed up the hill. The next time Simon said ‘got a job, Pizza Face?' he would be able to say ‘yes'. He was going to be Gaia Bawden's weekend workmate. And, to cap it all, he knew at last exactly how he might plunge an anonymous dagger straight between his father's shoulder blades.

Challenging Leopold Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Challenging Leopold - Essay Example King Leopold II was Belgian King between 1865 and 1909. Under Leopold II control, the regime became notorious for forced labour used to gather ivory, palm oil and rubber. It killed so many locals in turn, until its misdoings were eventually exposed and widely reported by the Congo Reform Association, which had been established by Edmund Dene Morel, after which King Leopold was forced to transfer control to the Belgian government. Edmund Morel discovered that the trade in Congo was based on slave labor while in the course of duty at the Shipping Company where he worked. He realized that most ships landing were laden with valuables: ivory, rubber and minerals. However, the ships departing to Congo mainly carried soldiers, ammunitions and other weapons of destruction. There was only one conclusion from the discrepancy: slave labour was ongoing in Congo. Chapter 1 Henry Morton Stanley was an American journalist and an explorer, who was born in Wales. He explored through the Congo River a nd Basin and vast lands of the present DRC. He teamed up with resource hungry King Leopold II to establish the Congo Free State. In Europe, explorers were respected and treated in awe. This explains why many European countries competed to send explorers. The motives of British Exploration in Africa were several. Importantly, it was to acquire resources and new market for its product. Secondly, it was as result of political reasons as major European nations were competing for colonies. Importantly, Britain desired to spread religion, open up the region and stop slave trade. The targets of anti-slavery fervor in the 1960s were mainly Arabs operating mainly from East Africa. Dr Livingston was a Scottish born explorer, famous for his works in Central Africa. His initial aim was to spread Christianity and commerce in the region. While in Africa, he developed illness and was not heard from for a long time prompting his search. Henry Morton Stanley is famous for having found Dr. Livingston e in Africa. This was after being commissioned by the New York Herald to go and search for him. His search for Dr Livingstone was important to his future career because after finding Dr Livingstone, he preceded with exploration in the Congo Basin and River, and it his findings which prompted him to team up with Leopold to establish Congo Free State. Chapter 2 Leopold was obsessed with making Belgium an imperial power, succeeding at what his father did not. Edmund Dene Morel account describes him as a cruel, greedy yet with a charming personality. Leopold believed that one of the key to building a powerful, imperial Belgium was to through colonial expansion. One of the core reasons why he wanted a colony was to establish recognition: he felt that he was not truly in charge of Belgium because of Parliament. Therefore, he wanted a colony in order to establish his recognition, and create a profit to build monuments. He promoted his interests in Africa through creation of Congo Free Stat e, which was a privately held state. The Brussels Geographical Conference took place in September 1876 at the request of Leopold and its agenda was to discuss Europe activity in Africa. H invited several experts and explorers to the conference. He used this conference to rubber stamp his interest in Africa,

Evaluating sow welfare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Evaluating sow welfare - Essay Example In this case, the common systems included tethers, stalls, and other group housing system. Meta-analysis results established that the average level of oral-nasal-facial, productivity and blood cortisol concentrations were similar for sows in stalls and group pens (McGlone et al. 2004). For the review, housing system does not change heart rate, but circulating cortisol concentrations were higher among gestating sows kept in tether than other housing systems. The review also identified that gestation housing system sometimes influences sow behavior, including social behavior, stereotypic ONF, feeding behavior, or postural locomotory (McGlone et al. 2004). In order to validate their review’s results, this paper provides a critical analysis of the meta-analysis and other measures employed to compare the welfare of sows, in these two systems. This paper further investigates whether the meta-analysis and numbers presented justify the study’s conclusion. Meta-analysis is a sta tistical method that is used to compare the results of several independent researches that are considered as â€Å"combinable†. ... Researchers using this method are required to write a detailed research protocol, in advance, and clearly state the study’s objectives, develop the hypothesis to be tested, the subjects of interest, and propose criteria and procedures for identifying and selecting valid studies and obtaining and analyzing data (McGlone et al. 2004). The method for selecting relevant studies should be well delineated with much focus on whether the search will include unpublished studies, whose results may significantly differ from published trials. It is usually recommended considering unpublished studies, in meta-analysis since one that is restricted to published studies may produce irrelevant results due to biases of such publications. Most researchers usually obtain published studies from electronic databases or Cochrane Controlled Trial Register. The results obtained from different studies must then be expressed in a standardized format to make their comparison easier. This method employs w eighted average of the results to compare different research findings. In this context, larger trials have more effects than the smaller trials. In McGlone et al. review, the authors performed meta-analysis by extracting data from published scientific papers. They used the mean value for treatment in each scientific paper as the experimental unit for performing meta-analysis (McGlone et al. 2004). For instance, if the weighted values from an unreplicated pen were present in the paper, then they were considered for meta-analysis since each study represented a single observation. It is worth noting that the meta-analysis presented in Table 1 significantly justifies the study’s conclusions. In this

Multi Protocol Label Switching Simulation Lab Report

Multi Protocol Label Switching Simulation - Lab Report Example Modem converts analog signal to digital signals & digital signal to analog signal. Today the internet seems to be an indispensable communication instrument, and everybody who is using the internet wants good services from internet service providers. Good service means, good downloading speed (means time related to opening, closing and downloading a file on the internet), good connectivity (Internet connection can be done easily on request), & transfer of data or file without interruption. Transfer of data or file without disturbance is a very critical factor on the internet, there are lots of internet connections providers, a lot of websites, a lot of data transfer, a lot of web server and lots of computer are accessing internet at the same time. Due to these usages, there is congestion on the internet, which results in delay in data transfer and also there is no surety that the data will be transferred completely. Today each and every organization wants to fulfill all the customers' needs. And the main agenda of most of the organization is Customer Satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is the key of success for any organization. Customer satisfaction can be achieved by providing good Quality of Service (QoS). Parameters for Quality of Service may vary from one organization to another. ... The performance of networking has complete dependence on the above four parameters. So if an organization wants to achieve customer satisfaction, they should have control on these parameters. For controlling these parameters, organizations use packet switching technology and Traffic Engineering. This technology depends on internet protocol addressing. Internet protocol addressing provides a unique number to a particular location. This unique numbers helps to find the location for transfer and minimize congestion. The internet protocol address is a twelve digit number. The Internet Engineering task force developed a technique known as Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), to avoid congestion in networking, avoid delay in data transmission and keeping control on bandwidth. Multi Protocol Label Switching is based on internet protocol addressing. It involves packet data transfer. As the packet enters into Multi Protocol label switching, it receives a label. Depending upon the label Multi Protocol Label Switching defines the most suitable routing or path for data transfer. While defining the path Multi Protocol Label Switching analyze the load on the network & the type of traffic. Based on the analysis Multi Protocol Label Switching divides the traffic in a manner to minimize the network congestion. It also finds the shortest path for data transmission, which transmits the data from one location to other in the minimum time. Validation of MPLS Simulation: As we have come to know MPLS simulation is used to increase the efficiency of the network through minimizing congestion, now we have to validate that really this MPLS simulation is an effective tool for Internet service provider. There are various ways of proving or validating the MPLS

Choose 1 public Uk company and 1 charity company Assignment

Choose 1 public Uk company and 1 charity company - Assignment Example Today, the firm sells tens of thousands of products and operates in over 12 countries in the Euro and Asia markets. The mission of Tesco is to offer its customers the best products at the best prices ever. It intends to help its customers to save some money on grocery shopping through providing pocket-friendlily high quality prices (Rohwedder, 2006). Tearfund is a UK nongovernmental organization and a Christian charity fund that was founded in 1968 in London (Hollow, 2008). From the organization some more charity organizations have been formed such as the Disaster Emergency Committee and the Micah Network. Tearfund was created from an already existing organization called the Evangelical Alliance as well as the evangelical Refugee Fund which were initially created by the UN. Its initial name was Evangelical Alliance Fund Committee and was headed by George Hoffman. The mission for Tearfund is to give relief funds in places that face some sort of disaster whether it is poverty, war or natural calamity (Barry, 2000). Tearfund also gives funds for development purposes in places where there is minimal development. A look at these two firms reveals that there is a different between nonprofit firms and the for profit firms. The growth rate for the two firms is different. The private for profit firms seem to grow faster as they look for more market. A good example is the Tesco which has been exploring markets outside UK, even in the US where it failed dramatically (Kamal, 2014). The other difference that comes between these two firms is with regard to their expansion strategy. While a profit oriented firm seeks to expand to the markets where the economies are doing well in order to profit from the economy, a charity organization like Tearfund seeks to expand to areas where the economy is not doing so well, because their intention of to give money rather

Marketing Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Marketing Plan - Assignment Example With a drug that is slow releasing and with a longer half-life, it is possible to improve the efficiency of therapy and increase patient’s confidence since they will not be required to take daily doses. The product will be provided by a new company (imagined for the purpose of the assignment). This will allow for flexibility in coming up with new ideas related to business and marketing strategy. An existing company may pose unexpected strategic barriers to the plan. The target audience for pharmaceutical companies is the drug chemists and pharmacists as well as other players in the health sector. These are the ones directly in contact with the target customer and will, therefore, link the product to the consumers. Similar products are available in the market. The REHZ drug is available as a combination of all the four main drugs used in pulmonary TB. The drug makes it more convenient for patients to take a single tablet as opposed to several tablets daily. Even with the existing similar product in the market, the new idea has a distinctive competitive advantage over the rest. This is because the REHZ is still taken daily, a factor which still does not improve on the efficiency. The new drug will not be required daily because of the slow, extended-release

Public Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Public Law - Essay Example Therefore, section 4 attains its aims via political and not legal means through section 10 that allows the government to undertake amendment of legislation sans full approval of the legislature. In this case, a remedial order can be made only following a declaration of compatibility or similar European court findings with every appeal being completed or renounced expressly. Section 4 will allow a declaration of incompatibility by the court if, by chance, it is satisfied that its provisions do not match well to the rights convention (Clements, 2008: p21). Section 3 makes a requirement that courts should interpret the legislation as being compatible with the rights convention when and where possible. While the declaration of incompatibility is a last resort measure, there are cases where the court’s interpretation may assume administrative powers that, ordinarily, it would not possess with consequences that the court is not best placed to make a consideration (Barnett, 2009: p61 ). This meaning departs significantly from an Act of Parliament’s fundamental feature that it is likely to have broken the boundary between amendment and interpretation. The statute’s thrust is essential, especially since going against this thrust needs legislative power that courts of law do not possess. In the case of A v. Ministry of Justice, a declaration of incompatibility following under the 4th Section is the appropriate remedy. The power of a judge to issue a declaration of incompatibility can allow a judge to avoid becoming involved in issues of sensitive public interests (Mwalimu, 2010: p13). Declarations of incompatibility are optional and, in this case, the court needs to choose whether to use it or not according to their discretion. The judge can use the declaration of incompatibility if a point has been identified, as well as fully argued, at a hearing that was appointed for the purpose. The judge can also choose not to use the declaration of incompatibil ity unless it becomes appropriate for the incompatibility to be formally recorded via a declaration. Finally, the judges can also issue a declaration that serves a legislative purpose. It should also provide for a basis, for a crown minister, to consider whether compelling reasons exist to amend the legislation (Mwalimu, 2010: p14). In the case of A v. Justice Ministry, the judge may also find it unnecessary to give a declaration of incompatibility since the Secretary of State had already accepted the domestic law as being incompatible with the rights convention. In this case, making another declaration of incompatibility would exert unnecessary pressure to amend legislation on the parliament. The power to make a declaration of incompatibility with regards to human rights is only likely to be available to judges of the High Court. Judges must ensure that any declaration does not make any difference to the case at hand as the High Court will still have to use the legislation (Elliott & Thomas, 2011: p72). The declaration of incompatibility must also not make differences to any cases, which will occur in the future since the legislation will have to remain valid. Finally, the judg

Top Two Issues Facing Community College Essay Example for Free

Top Two Issues Facing Community College Essay This topic came up repeatedly as I was researching critical issues for higher education in the community college environment, the vo-tech training schools, and the four-year postsecondary schools. Grace Chen (2011) writes â€Å"Community college leaders have not yet formed a consensus on what it means for students to be college ready, which could impact the quality of the education received†. This is a problem is because the receiving institutions make the entrance requirement and the core subjects (math, English, reading) in these various schools use various tests/standards for placement of students. Also, for the community college, there is no guarantee that adult students will attend in cumulative semesters so there is much more re-teaching required. Community college students can be as young as 16 and still in high school very driven to attend a post-secondary environment, or they can be a middle-aged person who is divorced, a single parent, just laid-off trying to gain some skills to re-enter the workforce. This â€Å"major issue facing community colleges, according to this study, is finding the right incentives and support to keep students in school† (Chen, 2011, Keeping Students in School, para.1). Arizona participated in a multi-state study that specifically looks at community colleges as the â€Å"Road to Nowhere.† Complete College America (2012) has a four step solution to â€Å"close remediation exit ramps†. These steps are: strengthen high school preparation, start students in college-level courses with built-in, co-requisite support, embed needed academic help in multiple gateway courses, and encourage students to enter programs of study when they first enroll. Transferability While I knew in my experience as a K-12 educator that this is a concern I had no idea that it was considered a â€Å"critical issue† to the point of earning my honor of spot number two! Working with credit transfer agreements (Dual Enrollment, Articulation, Concurrent Enrollment) I am aware of the difficulty that community colleges have in tracking data for students. As part of a federal/state R-POS (rigorous program of study) team I’m also acutely aware of how difficult it is to get data from a community college. In addition to the above-mentioned reasons, there is a consensus that transferability is a very difficult problem in the community college environment. According to the College Board (2011), â€Å"four-year institution leaders have been warned before about the need to enroll more transfers†. One reason is because during recessions and economic declines high school graduation rates tend to decline. This is a typical time for a community college to increase enrollment. â€Å"Despite considerable effort already generated†¦levels of transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions can be improved† (Pusser Levin, 2009, Executive Summary, para. 9) References Chen, Grace. June 2, 2011. What are the Biggest Issues Facing Community Colleges Today? New Study has Answers. http://www.communitycollegereview.com/articles/354 College Board. 2011. Improving Student Transfer from Community Colleges to Four-Year Institutions —The Perspective of Leaders from Baccalaureate-Granting Institution. http://advocacy.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/11b3193transpartweb110712.pdf Complete College America. April 2012. Remediation-Higher Education’s Bridge to Nowhere. http://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/files/CCA%20Remediation%20ES%20FINAL.pdf Pusser, Brian and Levin, John. December 2009. Re-imagining Community Colleges in the 21st CenturyA Student-Centered Approach to Higher Education. http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2009/12/pdf/community_colleges_reimagined.pdf

Warehouse Performance Measurement Of Tesco Online Commerce Essay

Warehouse Performance Measurement Of Tesco Online Commerce Essay Tesco being the 4th largest online retailer as per revenue and 2nd largest online grocery retailer as per profit is constantly increasing its online grocery business which is being done from its Superstore chain. Tesco introduced a DOTCOM dedicated store more commonly known as DCOS (Dotcom only store) in Aylesford in 2009, which was a huge success and a boost to its online grocery business. As it was highly disturbing for the local superstores carrying out Dotcom business within them in line with the other regular store operations, it was becoming a quite a need to open a dedicated store Dotcom store in London, which TESCO did made possible by opening another DCOS in Greenford London. Tesco needed to reduce the impact of the Dotcom operation in certain stores at the same time addressing space constraints for the Van numbers in particular geographic areas, with a store-based order fulfillment model.  This led Tesco to re-evaluate the potential for a dedicated facility. Being a Tesco DCOS employee myself, I am very well known that the Product Availability is the highest priority in any DCOS or a superstore running Dotcom in it. Tweaking the performance of Warehouse is one of the key possibilities to make that high priority element easy to live with. According to Goh and Pinaikul (1998) for a company to run and have a sound and effective supply chain operations, companies have put a lot of their time and effort in this field. If the logistics of a company is well handled, it can take a company to a different level of success and it becomes easy for a company to defeat its rivals (Mentzer et al., 2004). With the new advancements in technologies there is always room for improvement and upgrades in a companys Warehouse Management. In DCOS Warehouse Management case there is a large number of logistic operations taking place. There have been many researches which discussed how to improve the performance of a companys warehouse by adapting different models and how to implement them. Moreover, this research will provide the company with the better understating of how to enhance its performance by measuring its performance with the variable benchmarking. Competitive advantage can be gained over rivals if the companys WMS is flexible and any process that is not performing well can be used as a benchmark to measure Warehouse Managements performance. Any flaws or drawbacks that maybe present in the current Warehouse Management Techniques will be reduced / diminished by the help of this research. LITERATURE REVIEW: WAREHOUSE MANAGAMENT: To have a very successful and efficient supply chain, an organisation has to focus on some major operations like warehouses. In todays day and age a firm is considered to be a flop which does not take care of its warehouse management functions. It has become vital for companies who manufactures on a large scale and in bulk to be efficient if their warehouse management system is not able to help company in all economic climates (Henneberry, 1987; Power et al., 2007). As per Brown (1990) and Lindley et al., (2008) there are numerous factors that are responsible for the vitality of warehouse management systems (WMS) some of which are that customers can place orders recently a new trend in the market has started in which people are leasing their land or building warehouses and then leasing them to different companies. This trend only came in to existence because of this mounting need of warehouses by mass producers and retailers (Jones and Hillier, 2000) Source: Adapted and modified from Mulaik and Cooper (2000). Warehouses can be defined in different ways but as per Gunasekaran et al., (1999) a warehouse can be defined as a place where commodities and goods are saved and stored for many reasons like social, commercial and assets safety. The designs of warehouses should be able to provide company with different technical and operations (Hassan, 2002; Faber et al., 2002). Warehouses are facilities that provide the right environmental conditions for the storage of finished goods and/or materials that require protection from the elements, as well as ensure commercial security and social safety (Gunasekaran et al., 1999). As such, warehouses have to be designed to satisfy a combination of several technical and operational requirements (Hassan, 2002; Faber et al., 2002). According to Lodree et al., (2004); Gaur and Ravindran, (2006) the basic functions that should be present in a warehouse are engineering structural capacity to bear the loads of the materials to be stored as well as the associated handling equipment, receiving and shipping operations and associated trucking, and the requirements of the operating personnel. Store-keeping places hold very important for proper warehouse management Gaur and Ravindran, (2006). There are following six major functions which are in the figure below. As per Lambert et al. (1998) there are more than 750,000 warehouses around the globe. These include private leasing warehouses, state of art warehouses, highly sophisticated warehouses, storage warehouses for companies and self-storage places. Lambert et al. (1998) further says that if the warehouses need so much money to have and operate then why they exist? He answers his own question and says that they play a vital role in companys supply chain management and they are usually build and kept to help companies in achieving transport and production economies, quality purchase discount and forward buys. Warehouses are a key factor in any organizations operations. Their main purpose is to supply, circulate, store, consolidate and changeover cargo. Henneberry (1987) and Power et al. (2007) claim that in todays day and age to consider profitable allocation or to consider large scale manufacture it is vital to give thought to the role of warehousing. According to Brown (1990); Lindley et al., (2008) partly because of the increasing dependence on the electronic alternatives for order placing by commercial and private customers and also to the manufactured goods industry the demand for warehousing is on an all-time high. Due to this demand of electronic order placing a greater weight is placed on distribution centres to hold the right amount of all the different stocks in order to meet clientele demands. Warehousing is required due to the developing capability in stockholding by vendors and producers. Boasting a direct impact in flexibility, operational costs and service levels warehouse operations prove that they are indeed indispensable (Baker and Halim, 2007). Warehouse operations being those of warehouse location, goods handling, warehouse design, inventory and storage guidelines hold a great importance in addressing the specific issues which are faced in achieving strategic goals. These issues can only be addressed once an organization has distinct strategies that will help define their long term performance (Bowersox et al 2002, p. 389; Bowersox and Closs 1996, p. 396). As stated by Korpela and Lehmusvaara (1999, p. 135) a major point to consider when allocating warehouses or distribution centres (DCs) is their location. This is a very important decision and requires a lot of thought as it will determine the continuing profitability of the organization, affect customer services and relations, costs and delivery schedules. As pointed out by Huertas et al. (2007) a great emphasis is placed on the layout of the facility as it is a major deciding factor in the success of an organization. The warehouses layout depends on its specific operational demands and distinctiveness i.e. modularity, flexibility, compliance, allocation of arrangements, convenience, and neatness. The design of the layout varies according to the nature of the organizations operations and has to be adapted as per those operational requirements meaning there is no set layout or methodology to follow. Because of the diversity of factors influencing a warehouses operations such as rack types and entrances, gangway entrance and harbour locations, selecting an adequate layout for any given case is not unimportant especially the usage of pallitization (Huertas et al. 2007). Those responsible for the development of these warehouse services need to focus around the understanding of the necessities of the businesses that will vacate these premises (Reichhart and Holweg, 2008). According to Varila et al., (2007) most warehousing development is an approximation of how the market in storehouse rental could evolve. Formerly to meet these types of demands made by most retailers and manufacturers was easier, as most of their needs had been met within their organization. Ultimately resulting in relative ease in the prediction of vacancy levels, also the ease in establishing the capability of warehousing; the support available to promote proficient use of the services (Rubrico et al., 2008). The main activities that play a vital role in the performance of a warehouse as defined by Koster and Warffemius (2005) are as follows: Internal product relocation, Return handling, Cycle counting, Quality inspection, and Cross-docking As a result of the above research one can come to the conclusion that in todays day and age warehouses plays a crucial yet multifaceted role in many supply chains. Baker and Halim (2007) emphasize that a warehouse makes up to 20% of the total logistics cost of an organization. And their critical role as great customer service providers in particular distribution centres as they are the final point of contact. INDUSTRY BACKGROUND: Tesco was founded by Jack Cohen in 1919 from a small grocery stall. And now it is the fourth largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and second largest retailer in the world measured by profits. Started from the 25p Stock Market share, it is now making a profit of more than  £200m. Tesco is now widely spread into more than 13 countries, including China and India. Tesco.com, commonly known as DOTCOM is the UKs most successful online retailer. Launched in 1996, and officially registered in 2000, it is one of the fastest growing business selling everything from vegetables to computers, electronic appliances to normal grocery via internet. Back to its beginning, it started making its 1st annual turnover of  £25m and was started from a single store. These days their average weekly turnover is around  £30m and they currently employee thousands of people in stores across the UK making the DOTCOM procedure possible. AIM, OBJECTIVE AND HYPOTHESIS: The existing warehouse management of Dotcom Only store TESCO Greenford is appraised. The primary aim is to recommend set of measures and strategies which can be used to measure the performance and eliminate wastes, respectively. By studying TESCO Greenfords warehouse management and conducting interviews with the senior managers, the weaknesses within their warehouse management will be identified and the solutions would be provided by relating it with the strategies available in the literature of this field and moulding it to the specific needs of TESCO DOTCOM Greenford. However, the core purpose of this research is to set the performance measures and eliminate wastes by identifying them in the complete Warehouse Management system implemented in all the TESCO Dotcom only stores. The research aims to benefit managers in understanding the weakness and the processes which are wastes. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: In order to answer a question, a proper research has to be conducted (Zikmund, 2003). When a standard set of procedures and rules are followed to answer a research issue and to validate the findings attained by a systematic approach is called as research methodology (Ghauri and Granhaug, 2005). It has been widely observed that there is no fix method of conducting a research but a research should answer the question and should be relevant to the available data (Hussey and Hussey 1997). According to Schindler and Cooper (2001); Collins and Hussey (2003); Denscombre (2003) the result outcomes should be the main centre focus point for any research methodology. Substantiation of adopted research technique is briefly discussed in this section. Research design has been carefully selected to discuss the issues of the research for this particular research. The following plan is adopted: Research Philosophy: This will explain that which philosophy is used to develop the understanding of research. Research Design: This will provide with the design that is used to conduct the research. Research Approaches: this will discuss the major kinds of approaches and which one is adopted for this research. Research Data collection: this section will define the steps involved in the collection of the data For the purpose of this research we have used the research ONION which was introduced by Saunders et al. in 2000 and then it kept on modifying. According to Saunders et al., (2009) the last shape of Onion is given below: Research Philosophy: As we have discussed in order to go around this dissertation, the Onion process is used. So first of all the requirement of explaining the research philosophy is a must (Saunders et al., 2009). Research philosophy is basically an embarkation for the understanding of the knowledge upon which the research is based (Saunders et al., 2009). In summary we agree with Johnson and Clark (2006:108) that its not important how philosophical the research is and how well it is delivered but the way on how we reflect ourselves through those philosophies. There are many types of philosophies which are explained by Saunders et al. (2009) and are shown in the table below Table 5: Types of Philosophies Type Meaning Pragmatism Do you have to adopt one position? Ontology What assumptions do we make about the way in which world works? Objectivism How social entities exist independent of social actors? Subjectivism Understanding the meanings that individuals attach to social phenomena Epistemology What is acceptable knowledge in a particular field of study? Positivism Working in the tradition of the natural scientist Realism Do objects exist independently of our knowledge of their existence? Interpretivism Understanding differences between humans as social actors Axiology What roles do our values play in our research? Source: (Author) However for the purpose of this research we will only briefly discuss four main kinds of research philosophies. Positivism This kind of approaches provides researcher with a feeling of a scientist and it is conducted in the same way as any normal scientist will conduct a research (Saunders et al., 2009). Remenyi et al. (1998) has supported this idea that a research creates a hypothesis just like a scientist does when conducting a natural research. Realism Realism approach means that the philosophical things are different then the reality (Saunders et al., 2009). He explains it in detail by saying that realism is a branch of epistemology and it has two sub divisions in business and management research which are direct realism and critical realism. According to Saunders et al (2009) by focusing on the knowhow of generating a common understanding of humans and basing it on the experience of external factors that have at one point impacted a business research can be conducted. However these factors that have impacted an organization may not provide suitable evidence to the exact situation. Interpretivism This kind of research is explained by Saunders et al. (2009) as a research in which the researcher has to bear in mind that all the humans are social actors and they all have a viewpoint towards things. He further explains that in this kind of research, a research has to get involved into details of the social world of the research question and has to observe the point through their i.e. social actors point of view. Pragmatism Saunders et al. (2009) argues that pragmatism is that the most important factor is that what type of question you adopt for research and one may be more important than the other in order to achieve the answer. He further uses the support of Tashakkori and Teddlie (1998) who suggests that it is more appropriate for the researcher in a particular study to think of the philosophy adopted as a continuum rather than opposite positions (Saunders et al., 2009, pp 109). Saunders et al. (2009) says that the research philosophies can be explained in more detail by the use of a concept known as research paradigms. Furthermore, this terminology, paradigm, is usually used in social science researchers and can become a cause of confusion as it gives birth to many meanings of one things. Research Design There are many ways to conduct a business research and there is as such no limitation which says that one research is superior over another (Hair et al, 2003). One may think that the data is qualitative or quantitative or may be both but again its all on how you want it to be (Jankowicz, 2003; Stevenson and Cooper, 1997). EXPLORATORY RESEARCH This can be used by people who are not highly knowledgeable and is completely based on the exploration. On the other hand, this research can be used for companies and industries which are highly innovative and are always evolving into new things. The importance of this type of research can be determined by the words of Swaddling and Zobel (1996) in the following pattern: When conducted well, exploratory research provides a window into consumer perceptions, behaviours, and needs. It enables companies to produce new products and make them successful easily. Highly level decision and a better understanding of market can be gained by such research. This type of research leads company into the innovation of new products and these products being a result of exploration is always very beneficial and profitable for companies. Research Approaches There are many kinds of researches approaches and any of them can be used to attain the answer of ones research (Saunders et al., 2003; 2009). The selected approach basically reflects the way theory was built when the project was initiated and is most critical selection (Creswell, 2003; Saunders et al., 2009). In general there are 5 major approaches and any of them can be adopted. According to Zikmund (2003) there are two major approaches i.e. Theoretical and Methodological and both of these are divided into sub category of Inductive/Deductive and qualitative/quantitative, respectively. While on the other hand Collis and Hussey (2003); Gray (2004); Hussey and Hussey (1997); Mangan et al. (2004) all agree that there are two major kinds of approaches which are Deductive and Inductive. Now in recent years another researchers introduced a new kind of research which is known as Abductive (Kovacs and Spens 2005; Saunders et al., 2009). We will discuss each approach briefly and will select the one that is most suitable for the purpose of this research. DATA COLLECTION: One of the most important parts of any research is the data collection method. There are several methods of collecting data but the method is completely dependent upon how the research is conducted (Creswell, 2003). Due to the nature of this research deductive technique is used and to collect data for such technique is defined by different researchers in a different way. Amongst all the methods researchers agree upon few like Sampling, Secondary data, Observation, interviews and Questionnaire (Saunders et al., 2003; Yin, 2003; Collis and Hussey, 2003; Saunders et al, 2009). Each step is discussed briefly as following: Secondary Data collection: The data which is collected by someone else and not by user is generally referred to as a secondary data (Saunders et al., 2009). The secondary data can be qualitative or quantitative (Collis and Hussey, 2003). Secondary data is beneficial if the cost issues exist or the time is not trying to be wasted and this kid of data can also be descriptive or exploratory (Saunders et al., 2009). Data collection technique: Initial information would be collected by the communication with the strategic level manager of TECO Dotcom Greenford and the website of the Dotcom Stores Tesco and the main website of the Tesco Plc. These websites would be used to collect the general background of the company. Later on Warehouse Manager of Tesco Dotcom Greenford will be provided with the some information which includes the current situations of the Warehouse Management of the store and the interaction between its clients. The literature review will be providing the support on the research on overall basis as well. Primary Data Collection: secondary data is usually not always enough to understand and answer the research (Saunders et al., 2009). This kind of data can only be collected by having a deeper understanding of the issues and is usually targeted to answer the specific issues (Ghauri, 2005 and Saunders et al., 2009). Furthermore, it is explained that there are three major ways to collect primary data i.e. in depth interviews, questionnaires and observations which usually reflects the situation in detail and gives a researcher with a clearer picture of the situation (Creswell, 2003; Saunders et al., 2009). Data collection technique: Primary data would be collected by paying visits to the Tesco Dotcom Greenford, conducting in depth face-to-face interviews with the managers at Tesco Dotcom Greenford and then a detailed telephonic interview with the Warehouse Manager at Aylesford Dotcom Only Store, as they are directly involved in the issues faced by Tesco Dotcom Greenford at the moment (a good reason why Aylesford is involved with the problems faced by Greenford store is because it is the only relevant store of the type in UK and is up and running successfully). The interviews would be provided with the great deal of understanding of the situation. Later on, observation would be made about the processes happening at Tesco Dotcom Greenford and the email conversations between Tesco Dotcom Greenford and its suppliers. The issue with the palletisation and inventory is the major issue between Tesco Dotcom Greenford and Suppliers. Once the data would be collected then the communication through email will continue in order to fulfil any other requirement to conduct this research. TIMESCALE: GANTT CHART Jan Feb Mar Apr May June Problem Identification Proposal preparation and submission Literature Review Research Design Choice of Methodology Data Sources Data Collection Data Analysis Writing up Draft Editing Final Document Binding of Document

Solving Violence in the Media Essay -- Social Issues

This game is so cool! I can do whatever I want. I can rob the bank, I can hit other people with a baseball bat, and I can kill people. Why do I kill? Because I'm the boss and because I can! This is just a game! These are some thoughts that come into my mind when I play Grand Theft Auto. Many kids in America play many violent games. In fact, forty-two percent of children play at least an hour per day ("Video Games Cause Aggressive†¦ 2). Many people believe that violence in the media doesn't affect a child's behavior at all. Well, I am opposing that viewpoint. Getting rid of some violence in the media will greatly affect children behavior. Many people don’t believe that viewing some violent acts in the media doesn't really influence the way a person acts. Children learn by observing, imitating, and making behaviors by themselves, which are greatly influenced by the media (Clark 1). Children learn very easily. They spend many of their free time in front of the T.V. Parents tend to use T.V. as a babysitter for kids. Televisions are colorful and fun! Most human are drawn into the mysterious world of the media, starting since they were a little baby. "When television debut in the 1990's, two-third of television sets were owned by families with children less than twelve years of age". Children are theoretically more susceptible to behavioral  influences when they are actively participating than when they are observers ( Clark 2). I spend most of my after school time locking myself in my room, playing video games. Not just fun video game, but I play violent video games. The amount of time that children spend playing video games is increasing. Research shows that sixty percent of children report that they can play video game longer th... ...heir bedroom  (Violent Video Games Are†¦" 1). So, when a parent thinks that their child is asleep in his room dreaming of sweet dreams, he might actually be playing games that involve hurting other people. Parents do not pay attention to relevant researches, and ratings. Every single parent should start using the ratings. They will join the ninety four percent of parents that find the rating helpful (Video Games Cause Aggressive†¦" 4). There are many other options than viewing violent entertainment. A kid should play sports and enjoy outdoor. For example, a kid can lose can calories playing tennis than watching movies that are violent. Bloods and gores are for adults who are mature enough to handle them. It is not appropriate for children. So, make kids active rather than making them violent. It will be great for children to grow healthy and violence less.

The Truth about Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide :: Free Euthanasia Essay

The Truth about Euthanasia      Ã‚   Euthanasia news apparently sells big in the media. Barred from conducting an on-camera interview with Jack Kevorkian in prison, ABC News is waging a court battle against the Michigan Department of Corrections; they have refused a request from the ABC program "20/20" to let Barbara Walters interview Kevorkian. Corrections invoked a state prisons policy that took effect last March, barring TV crews except for stock footage and scenes of inmates taking part in prison activities. A county circuit judge found in favor of ABC on July 13, saying the prison policy infringes on First Amendment rights [AP, 7/13]. However, this ruling was blocked two weeks later by a state appellate court [Washington Times, 7/30]. Kevorkian is serving a 10-to-25-year sentence. Media hype surrounding euthanasia clouds the issues involved in the euthanasia debate.    Numerous US studies have established that the Americans most directly affected by the issue of physician-assisted suicide -- those who are frail, elderly and suffering from terminal illness -- are also more opposed to legalizing the practice than others are:    * A poll conducted for the Washington Post on March 22-26, 1996, found 50% support for legalizing physician-assisted suicide (Washington A18) Voters aged 35-44 supported legalization, 57% to 33%. But these figures reversed for voters aged 65 and older, who opposed legalization 54% to 38%. Majority opposition was also found among those with incomes under $15,000 (54%), and black Americans (70%).    * An August 1993 Roper poll funded by the Hemlock Society and other euthanasia supporters indicated that voters aged 18-29 supported "physician-aided suicide" 47% to 35%; voters aged 60 and older opposed it 45% to 35%. Hemlock's newsletter commented that "the younger the person, the more likely he or she is to favor this legislation." The newsletter added that "this is somewhat at odds with how Hemlock views its membership," since it sees itself as defending the interests of elderly citizens. (Humphry; Poll 9) A study of cancer patients found that terminally ill patients experiencing significant pain are more opposed to physician-assisted suicide than other terminally ill patients or the general public. The patients who did tend to favor assisted suicide were those who had been diagnosed with clinical depression. The researchers commented: "Patients with pain do not seem to view euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide as the appropriate response to poor pain management.

Andro & Steroids :: essays research papers

In the passed few years there has been an increase in the popularity of performance-enhancing supplements that are used by athletes. Some of the most popular of these supplements are creatine and androstenedione. They are used by some very famous athletes in professional sports. There are many problems that go along with using these supplements that are not only health-wise, but also the message that is being sent to children involved in youth athletics. Athletes today are not thinking of what kind effects will happen to them in the long run. However, they are looking for easier ways of training and enhancing their performance. They are under a great deal of pressure to succeed and win all the time that it must be easier to find a short cut to being an elite athlete. In this paper I will explore the risks with these supplements, some regulations that are placed on athletes to, and if they truly work. Also I will give an overview of what both creatine and androstenedione are.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For as long as I can remember I have been involved in athletics of all kinds and have always loved the atmosphere that sports provide. Being involved in both high school basketball and golf and now finally playing golf for Xavier, I have been subjected to rigorous training and conditioning. Never once did I have the aid of any type of artificial supplement or performance-enhancing drug helping me condition or build muscles faster. However, when I was in high school I was Griffith 2 aware of may guys who were taking these supplements such as creatine and androstenedione and getting very muscular, extremely fast. â€Å"Creatine and androstenedione† were common words used around the halls of my school. Hearing these words made me curious about what exactly they were, what the effects they had on athletes, and if they were illegal. I found it very interesting that these supplements were somehow all over the news and that some really famous athletes had used them. I wondered if they were safe to use and if they had any side effects. In researching this topic of artificial supplements and performance-enhancing drugs, I had many mixed feelings about how I felt about their use by athletes. However, after my research was completed I have a firm opinion that these supplements should be banned from athletics all together.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many questions came up during my research of these performance-enhancing supplements. Among one of my first questions was, â€Å"What exactly are creatine and androstenedione?† This and many of the other questions I had about the supplements

Bloodlines Chapter Ten

MY PHONE RANG JUST THEN, saving me from the awkwardness of figuring out what to do about Jill. I answered without bothering to check the caller ID. â€Å"Miss Melbourne? Your services are needed immediately.† â€Å"Ma'am?† I asked in surprise. Ms. Terwilliger's frantic voice was not what I'd been expecting. â€Å"What's wrong?† â€Å"I need you to get me a caramel sauce cappuccino from Spencer's. There is absolutely no way I can finish translating this document if you don't.† There were a million responses I could make to that, none of which were very polite, so I went with the obvious point of logic. â€Å"I don't think I can,† I said. â€Å"You have off-campus privileges, don't you?† â€Å"Well, yes, ma'am, but it's almost campus curfew. I don't know where Spencer's is, but I don't think I can make it back in time.† â€Å"Nonsense. Who's running your dorm? That Weathers woman? I'll call down and get you an exception. I'm working in one of the library offices. Meet me there.† Despite my personal devotion to coffee, getting an â€Å"exception† to the school's curfew seemed kind of excessive for an errand like this. I didn't like to bend the rules. On the other hand, I was Ms. Terwilliger's assistant. Wasn't this part of my job description? All the old Alchemist instincts to follow orders kicked in. â€Å"Well, yes, ma'am, I suppose I – â€Å" She disconnected, and I stared at the phone in astonishment. â€Å"I have to go,† I told Jill. â€Å"Hopefully I'll be back soon. Maybe very soon since I'll be surprised if she remembers to call Mrs. Weathers.† She didn't look up. With a shrug, I packed my laptop and some homework, just in case Ms. Terwilliger thought of something else for me to do. With coffee on the line, my teacher's memory was good, and I found I did indeed have clearance to leave when I went downstairs. Mrs. Weathers even gave me directions to Spencer's, a coffee shop that was a few miles away. I got the cappuccino, wondering if I'd be reimbursed, and picked up something for myself as well. The library staff at Amberwood gave me a hard time about carrying in beverages when I returned, but when I explained my errand, they waved me on through to the back offices. Apparently, Ms. Terwilliger's addiction was well known. The library was surprisingly busy, and I quickly deduced why. After a certain point each night, guys and girls were banned from each other's dorms. The library was open later, so this was the place to go to hang out with the opposite sex. Lots of people were just there to study too, including Julia and Kristin. â€Å"Sydney! Over here!† called Kristin in a stage whisper. â€Å"Break free of Terwilliger,† added Julia. â€Å"You can do it.† I held up the coffee as I passed them. â€Å"Are you kidding? If she doesn't get her caffeine soon, there'll be no escaping her. I'll come back if I can.† As I continued walking through, I saw a small cluster of students gathered around someone – and heard a familiar and annoying voice. Greg Slade's. Curious in spite of myself, I walked over to the edge of the crowd. Slade was showing off something on his upper arm: a tattoo. The design itself was nothing special. It was an eagle in flight, the kind of generic art all tattoo shops had in stock and copied en masse. What caught my attention was the color. It was all done in a rich, metallic silver. Metallics like that weren't easy to pull off, not with that sheen and intensity. I knew the chemicals that went into my own gold tattoo, and the formula was complex and composed of several rare ingredients. Slade made a halfhearted effort to keep his voice low – tattoos were forbidden around here, after all – but it was clear he was enjoying the attention. I observed quietly, glad others were asking some of my questions for me. Of course, those questions only left me with more questions. â€Å"That's brighter than the ones they used to do,† one of his friends noted. Slade tilted his arm so the light caught it. â€Å"Something new. They say these are better than the ones from last year. Not sure if that's true, but it wasn't cheap, I can tell you that.† The friend who'd spoken grinned. â€Å"You'll find out at tryouts.† Laurel – the red-haired girl who'd been interested in Micah – stretched out her leg beside Slade, revealing a slim ankle adorned with a faded butterfly tattoo. No metallics there. â€Å"I might get mine touched up, maybe for homecoming if I can get the money from my parents. Do you know if the celestial ones are better this year too?† She tossed back her hair as she spoke. From what I'd observed in my brief time at Amberwood, Laurel was very vain about her hair and made sure to throw it around at least every ten minutes. Slade shrugged. â€Å"Didn't ask.† Laurel noticed me watching. â€Å"Oh, hey. Aren't you vampire girl's sister?† My heart stopped. â€Å"Vampire?† â€Å"Vampire?† echoed Slade. How did she find out? What am I going to do? I had just begun making a list of the Alchemists I had to call when one of Laurel's friends snickered. Laurel looked at them and laughed haughtily, then turned back to me. â€Å"That's what we've decided to call her. No one human could possibly have skin that pale.† I nearly sagged in relief. It was a joke – one that hit painfully close to the truth, but a joke nonetheless. Still, Laurel didn't seem like someone to cross, and it'd be better for all of us if it was a joke soon forgotten. I admittedly blurted out the first distracting comment that came to mind. â€Å"Hey, stranger things have happened. When I first saw you, I didn't think anyone could have hair that long or that red. But you don't hear me talking about extensions or dye.† Slade nearly doubled over with laugher. â€Å"I knew it! I knew it was fake!† Laurel flushed nearly as red as her hair. â€Å"It is not! It's real!† â€Å"Miss Melbourne?† I jumped at the voice behind me and found Ms. Terwilliger there, watching me with bemusement. â€Å"You aren't getting credit for chatting, especially when my coffee's on the line. Come on.† I skulked away, though hardly anyone noticed. Laurel's friends were having too much fun teasing her. I hoped I had diffused the vampire jokes. Meanwhile, I couldn't get the image of Greg's tattoo out of my mind. I let my thoughts wander to the mystery of what components would be needed for that silver color. I almost had it figured out – at least, I had one possibility figured out – and wished I had access to Alchemist ingredients to do some experiments. Ms. Terwilliger took the coffee gratefully when we reached a small workroom. â€Å"Thank God,† she said, after taking a long sip. She nodded at mine. â€Å"Is that a backup one? Excellent thinking.† â€Å"No, ma'am,† I said. â€Å"It's mine. Do you want me to start in on those?† A familiar stack of books sat on the table, ones I'd seen in her classroom. They were core parts of her research, and she'd told me I'd eventually need to outline and document them for her. I reached for the top one, but she stopped me. â€Å"No,† she said, moving toward a large briefcase. She rifled through papers and assorted office supplies, finally digging out an old leather book. â€Å"Do this one instead.† I took the book. â€Å"Can I work out there?† I was hoping if I went back to the main study area, I could talk to Kristin and Julia. Ms. Terwilliger considered. â€Å"The library won't let you have the coffee. You should probably leave it in here.† I waffled, debating whether my desire to talk to Kristin and Julia outweighed the likelihood that Ms. Terwilliger would drink my coffee before I got back. I decided to take the risk and bid my coffee a painful farewell as I hauled my books and gear back out to the library. Julia eyed Ms. Terwilliger's beat-up book with disdain. â€Å"Isn't that just on the internet somewhere?† â€Å"Probably not. I'm guessing no one's even looked at this since before the internet was invented.† I opened the cover. Dust fluttered out. â€Å"Way before.† Kristin had math homework open in front of her but didn't look particularly interested in it. She tapped a pen absentmindedly against the textbook's cover. â€Å"So you saw Slade's tattoo?† â€Å"Hard not to,† I said, getting out my laptop. I glanced across the screen. â€Å"He's still showing it off.† â€Å"He's wanted one for a while but never had the money,† explained Julia. â€Å"Last year, all the big athletes had them. Well, except for Trey Juarez.† â€Å"Trey almost doesn't need one,† pointed out Kristin. â€Å"He's that good.† â€Å"He will now – if he wants to keep up with Slade,† said Julia. Kristin shook her head. â€Å"He still won't do it. He's against them. He tried reporting them to Mr. Green last year, but no one believed him.† I looked back and forth between them, more lost than ever. â€Å"Are we still talking about tattoos? About Trey ‘needing' one or not?† â€Å"You really haven't found out yet?† asked Julia. â€Å"It's my second day,† I pointed out with frustration. Remembering I was in a library, I spoke more softly. â€Å"The only people who have really talked about them are Trey and you guys – and you haven't said much of anything.† They had the grace to look embarrassed by that, at least. Kristin opened her mouth, paused, and then seemed to change what she was going to say. â€Å"You're sure yours doesn't do anything?† â€Å"Positive,† I lied. â€Å"How is that even possible?† Julia cast a glance around the library and twisted in her chair. She rolled her shirt up a little, exposing her lower back – and a faded tattoo of a swallow in flight. Satisfied that I'd seen it, she turned back around. â€Å"I got this last spring break – and it was the best spring break ever.† â€Å"Because of the tattoo?† I asked skeptically. â€Å"When I got it, it didn't look like this. It was metallic†¦ not like yours. Or Slade's. More like†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Copper,† provided Kristin. Julia thought about it and nodded. â€Å"Yeah, like reddish-goldish. The color only lasted a week, and while it did, it was amazing. Like, I have never felt that good. It was inhumanly good. The best high ever.† â€Å"I swear, there's some kind of drug in those celestials,† said Kristin. She was trying to sound disapproving, but I thought I detected a note of envy. â€Å"If you had one, you'd understand,† Julia told her. â€Å"Celestials†¦ I heard that girl over there talk about them,† I said. â€Å"Laurel?† asked Julia. â€Å"Yeah, that's what they call the copper ones. Because they make you feel out of this world.† She looked almost embarrassed about her enthusiasm. â€Å"Stupid name, huh?† â€Å"Is that what Slade's does?† I asked, stunned at what was unfolding before me. â€Å"No, he's got a steel one,† said Kristin. â€Å"Those give you a big athletic boost. Like, you're stronger, faster. Stuff like that. They last longer than the celestials – more like two weeks. Sometimes three, but the effect fades. They call them steel because they're tough, I guess. And maybe because there's steel in them.† Not steel, I thought. A silver compound. The art of using metal to bind certain properties in skin was one the Alchemists had perfected a long time ago. Gold was the absolute best, which was why we used it. Other metals – when formulated in the proper ways – achieved similar effects, but neither silver nor copper would bind the way gold could. The copper tattoo was easy to understand. Any number of feel-good substances or drugs could be combined with that for a short-term effect. The silver one was more difficult for me to understand – or rather, the effects of the silver one. What they were describing sounded like some kind of athletic steroid. Would silver hold that? I'd have to check. â€Å"How many people have these?† I asked them, awestruck. I couldn't believe that such complicated tattoos were so popular here. It was also beginning to sink in just how wealthy the student body here really was. The materials alone would cost a fortune, let alone any of the alleged side effects. â€Å"Everyone,† said Julia. Kristin scowled. â€Å"Not everyone. I've almost got enough saved up, though.† â€Å"I'd say half the school's at least tried a celestial,† said Julia, flashing her friend a comforting look. â€Å"You can get them touched up again later – but it still costs money.† â€Å"Half the school?† I repeated incredulously. I looked around, wondering how many shirts and pants concealed tattoos. â€Å"This is crazy. I can't believe a tattoo can do any of that.† I hoped I was doing an okay job of hiding how much I really knew. â€Å"Get a celestial,† said Julia with a grin. â€Å"Then you'll believe.† â€Å"Where do you get them?† â€Å"It's a place called Nevermore,† said Kristin. â€Å"They're selective, though, and don't give them out easily.† Not that selective, I thought, if half the school had them. â€Å"They got a lot more cautious after Trey tried to turn them in.† There was Trey's name again. It now made sense that he'd been so disdainful of my tattoo when we met. But I wondered why he cared so much – enough to try to get them shut down. That wasn't just a casual disagreement. â€Å"I guess he thinks it's unfair?† I offered diplomatically. â€Å"I think he's just jealous that he can't afford one,† said Julia. â€Å"He's got a tattoo, you know. It's a sun on his back. But it's just a regular black one – not gold like yours. I've never seen anything like yours.† â€Å"So that's why you thought mine made me smart,† I said. â€Å"That could've been really useful during finals,† said Julia wistfully. â€Å"You're sure that's not why you know so much?† I smiled, despite how appalled I was by what I'd just learned. â€Å"I wish. It might make getting through this book easier. Which,† I added, glancing at the clock. â€Å"I should get to.† It was on Greco-Roman priests and magicians, a kind of grimoire detailing the kinds of spells and rituals they'd worked with. It wasn't terrible reading material, but it was long. I'd thought Ms. Terwilliger's research was more focused on mainstream religions in that era, so the book seemed like a weird choice. Maybe she was hoping to include a section on alternative magical practices. Regardless, who was I to question? If she asked, I'd do it. I outlasted both Kristin and Julia in the library, since I had to stay as long as Ms. Terwilliger stayed, which was until the library closed. She seemed pleased that I'd gotten so far with the notes and told me she'd like the whole book completed in three days. â€Å"Yes, ma'am,† I said automatically, as if I didn't have any other classes at this school. Why did I always agree without thinking? I returned to East Campus, bleary-eyed from all the work I'd done and exhausted over the thought of the homework remaining. Jill was fast asleep, which I took as a small blessing. I wouldn't have to face her accusing stare or figure out how to handle the awkward silence. I got ready for bed quickly and quietly and fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the pillow. I woke at around three to the sound of crying. Shaking off my sleepy haze, I was able to make out Jill sitting up in her bed, her face buried in her hands. Great, shaking sobs racked her body. â€Å"Jill?† I asked uncertainly. â€Å"What's wrong?† In the faint light coming in from outside, I saw Jill raise her head and look at me. Unable to answer, she shook her head and began crying once more, this time more loudly. I got up and came to sit on the edge of her bed. I couldn't quite bring myself to hug or touch her for comfort. Nonetheless, I felt terrible. I knew this had to be my fault. â€Å"Jill, I'm so sorry. I never should have gone to see Adrian. When Lee mentioned you, I should've just stopped it there and told him to talk to you if he was interested. I should've just talked to you in the first place†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The words came out in a jumble. When I looked at her, all I could think of was Zoe and her horrible accusations on the night I'd left. Somehow, my help always backfired. Jill sniffled and managed to get out a few words before breaking down again. â€Å"It's not†¦ it's not that†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I stared helplessly at her tears, frustrated at myself. Kristin and Julia thought I was superhumanly smart. Yet I guaranteed one of them would've been able to comfort Jill a hundred times better than I could. I reached out my hand and nearly patted her arm – but pulled back at the last moment. No, I couldn't do that. That Alchemist voice in me, the voice that always warned me to keep my distance from vampires, wouldn't let me touch one in a way that was so personal. â€Å"Then what is it?† I asked at last. She shook her head. â€Å"It's not†¦ I can't tell†¦ you wouldn't understand.† With Jill, I thought, any number of things could be wrong. The uncertainty of her royal status. The threats against her. Being sent away from all her family and friends, trapped among humans in the perpetual sun. I really didn't know where to start. Last night, there had been a chilling, desperate terror in her eyes when she woke up. But this was different. This was sorrow. This was from the heart. â€Å"What can I do to help?† I asked at last. It took her a few moments to pull herself together. â€Å"You're already doing plenty,† she managed. â€Å"We all appreciate it – really. Especially after what Keith said to you.† Was there nothing Adrian hadn't told her? â€Å"And I'm sorry – I'm sorry I was so bitchy to you earlier. You didn't deserve that. You were just trying to help.† â€Å"No†¦ don't apologize. I messed up.† â€Å"You don't have to worry, you know,† she added. â€Å"About Micah. I understand. I only want to be his friend.† I was pretty sure that I still wasn't doing a great job at making her feel better. But I had to admit, apologizing to me at least seemed to be distracting her from whatever had woken her to so much pain. â€Å"I know,† I said. â€Å"I should never have worried about you.† She assured me again that she was fine, with no more explanation about why she'd woken up crying. I felt like I should have done more to help, but instead, I made my way back to my own bed. I didn't hear any more sobs for the rest of the night, but once, when I woke up a couple hours later, I stole a glance at her. Her features were just barely discernible in the early light. She lay there, eyes wide open and staring off into nothingness, a haunted look on her face.

Environment on Darfur After the Conflict Essay

The world has experienced a lot of conflicts for quite a long time throughout history. All the time there is a conflict, the damages caused is mostly documented in terms of how many casualties have been reported, and the impact it has caused on the economy. It is however rare to hear people talking on the effects these conflicts can have on the natural environment or which steps have been taken to protect the natural environment from such conflicts. The natural environment for a long time has been a silent victim of the conflicts that occurs either locally or internationally leaving the repercussions to be felt for quite some time. In many cases, the impact the war and other conflicts have been having on the environment has been generally very devastating. There are many pollutants that are released in the environment during the war which can end up affecting the natural resources. On the other hand, there are other natural resources that are depleted during the conflict leaving the environment at a worse position. A major problem is that most of the current conflicts are witnessed in the developing countries which do not have the economic capacity to deal with the environmental problems hence causing a major setback. Africa has had quite long cases of civil wars some which started during the colonial period and still taking place to now. These countries have been mostly been fighting over the borders which were drawn by the colonial powers for their on interests. Most of the wars taking place in Africa are as a cause of fighting for natural resources such as fertile farming land or water. Due to the long history of these civil wars in Africa, it is difficult to know exactly what these conflicts have caused to the environment. However, looking at the rate of the loss of biodiversity in the affected regions, it can be easy to realize how serious the situation has left the damage to the environment. Darfur Conflict and the Impact It Has Caused on the Environment Southern Sudan has witnessed along civil war that has caused many nations through the United Nations body and the African unity to try and broker peace in the region and bring things to the normal situation. The conflict that is being witnessed in the region right now is considered as a war between the different ethnic and tribal lines (IRIN, para 2). The sides that are mostly conflicting are the government’s military and the Janjaweed group. There are other rebel groups that have also made the situation to be worse. The major cause of the war in Sudan has been attributed to fighting for water between the Baggara nomads who moved to the south, a region mostly occupied by the farming communities to search for water. This conflict has led to many casualties being reported throughout. Despite putting in place a government of national unity, and increasing the presence of the African Union Peace keepers, the situation has not improved in any way (Borger, para 2). There have been many reasons given as a source to the Darfur conflict, though the major reasons have been cited to be the increasing population which the current natural resources can not hold, hence making these people to fight for the scarce resources. On the other hand, there have been claims that the conflict is as a result of the Arab dominants intention to wipe out the black Africans. This has even made the United States to refer to this as a form of genocide in the area. Whichever the cause of the war, it has caused so many untold damages. The focus on this conflict has always been the number of people who have died in the region, or the number of those displaced. It is important that people’s life and welfare is put first. This is what has been the major concern of many bodies, organizations and other nations. However, like many other conflicts, little concern has put on what effect this conflict is causing to the environment (AP, para 6). As earlier argued, the war in Sudan was triggered by the environmental problems which led to the communities to fight over scarce resources. It is however a worrying trend that the continued conflict is further endangering the environment that is supposed to support the whole population. The environment has been made worse by this conflict and made the land to become uninhabitable. This means that the tension between the conflicting communities gets to be more intense when it occurs that the natural resources are not going to support all of them as expected (Beyrer, & Pizer pp 67). Environmental degradation in Darfur has been on the rise due to the continued conflict. It means that the conflict that started as a result of the environmental problems is being escalated by destroying the environment further. The issues in Sudan over the environment indicate how complex the environmental matters can be in the causing breach to peace. This region has witnessed the decreased cases of traditional methods of environmental management systems, and in some places being disregarded completely. The conflict over resources in Darfur was at a local level but expanded to national level where political and economic marginalization was heightened. Ethnic differences have contributed to making the matters worse to the situation. Therefore, despite having the political and economic factors leading to the problems in Darfur, the major issue surrounds natural resources (de Montesquiou, para 8). The Sudanese Arabs moved to the south to look for pasture for their animals due to the prolonged drought that was experienced in their regions. This led to them conflicting with the black farmers whose land the Arabs were grazing on. The grazing of the animals on the farming land worsened the situation as there was increased soil erosion which made land to be poor for farming. When the black farmers realized that the Khartoum government was indifferent in solving the matter, they rebelled against them. By rebelling, the people started to fight destroying many manmade and natural resources that were on the way (Borger, para 7). When the nomads inhabited the farming areas, they started to cut down the trees. To the farmers, the cut trees were very important as they provided shade for their crops and holding together the soil to avoid erosion. Due to the conflict of interest, these important natural resources were destroyed as they were caught in between the fighting. With no trees cover, the problem of lack of rainfall becomes even heightened, which is a big trouble to both the farmers and the nomads since they cannot be able to get rain that is important for the crops and animals respectively. Due to the bare land caused by the cutting of the trees, it has become harder for the farmers at the refugee camps to go back to their homes as they can not carry out any meaningful activities to such bare lands. With this kind of the situation, it becomes difficult to control human suffering without further harm to the environment (HPN, para 3) Many people have been killed in the conflict while millions of others have been living in the camps after being left homeless. At the camps, the refugees need to be given their basic needs. Water is a very important commodity that no human beings can do without. In fact as argued throughout, the conflict has been surrounding fighting for water resources. Therefore, while at the camps, the refugees have to be provided with water. This has led to the humanitarian organizations to dig boreholes to help the refugees get water. Considering that the land in Darfur is largely dominated by hard rocks, it means that the rains that fall in the short season mostly wash away, hence, the boreholes depends on the underground reserves. Considering the rate at which the reserves are being used, it is tough to imagine the consequences that await the Darfur people when the reserves will finally be depleted. The situation might lead to the refugees being moved to another region that can support them. There are already some areas that have reported the drying up of the boreholes. Apart from water, the refugees also need other resources for their daily work. There have been many trees that have been cut by the refugees near the camps to provide them with firewood. The trees are also cut and used to construct and reinforce the makeshift houses of the refugees. This implies that trees are being used at a higher rate than they are being replaced. There are some refugees who are involved in some economic activities. The common economic activity that the refugees are involved with is making mud bricks. The refugees are involved with this activity mostly because it does not need skilled labor, and the materials are readily available. A lot of water is usually used in the making of the bricks. A lot of water is used considering the dryness on most of the camp soils. Furthermore, since the refugees want to make a lot of money, they try to make as many bricks as possible. The more work they do, the many materials are required. The areas that the soil for making the bricks is dug usually leaves many holes indicating the rate at which the soil is being depleted. The formation of a layer of soil takes many years, however, the refugees depletes many layers in a very short time. It is very bad to notice that the fertile soils that can be used for agricultural production is actually used for the making bricks. These soils can not be replenished in the short run as it is being depleted. In the areas that the refugees remove the soils to make the bricks, they leave the tree roots exposed which contributes to the wilting of the trees (Homer-Dixon, pp 19). Therefore, this still adds the woes the refuges already have. Furthermore, since to make the bricks requires a lot of water, it means that the refugees have to compete on how to use the water for the domestic work and the production of the bricks. In the end, the action contributes to the hastened depletion of the water resources. The bricks cannot be complete if they have not been burnt in the kiln. The kiln requires using a lot of firewood. This means several trees have to be felled to be used in the kiln. One kiln can take as many as 35 trees for the bricks to be ready. This shows the impact this single activity can have on the important natural resources. There have been increased sand dunes in the areas that had once been covered by trees just a few years ago. This is all because of the refugees activities in trying to earn a living. Most of the dams in Sudan are drying and having a lot of sedimentation as a result of deforestation. Many dams have lost their holding capacity due to these reasons (HPN, para 8). Once the war comes to an end as is presupposed, the refugees will have to go back to their homes to start a new life. They will first need to rebuild their damaged homes, which will basically require that they cut more trees to build these homes. Considering the already cut trees in their former homes, there are therefore no trees left behind to cater for their needs. This implies the building materials will have to be sourced somewhere else, which automatically will be increasing the base of the damage to other regions. Having realized the impact the conflict is leading to the refugees affecting the environment, especially on trees, several organizations like the US aid have helped the refugees to design the cooking stoves that uses a completely reduced amount of fuel as a way of the saving the environment. This stoves though taken as a move to save the environment, it has a big impact on the social and cultural life (de Montesquiou, para 11). Since the conflict is between two ethnic groups with two distinct lifestyles, each group undertakes an activity that they think will destroy the other. For instance, the nomads usually graze their animals on the farmers’ crops. This leaves the farmers with nothing as their crops are destroyed by the animals. On the other hand, the farmers on their side burn the grazing lands for the nomads. This is even a worse action to take as it does not only affect the nomads in terms of lacking food, but it affects the farmers themselves in that the burning of the ground destroys the important living organisms that are found in the soil which helps in improving the soil fertility. This means that the soil is left unproductive which will affect both the nomads and the farmers in the long run. Furthermore, the nomads are used to grazing their animals and moving from one region to another after the feeds in that area have reduced. However, due to the conflict, the migration routes for the nomads were blocked by the farmers. This made it impossible for the nomads to move from one region to another with their animals, hence meaning overgrazing in one region. The overgrazed areas will generally have very poor production as there will be increased soil erosion (Homer-Dixon, pp 29). In general, humanitarian issues are usually given much priority over the environment as a short term solution to any crisis. Therefore, whatever actions that are taken by the involved bodies do not give much or even any consideration to the environment. For instance, when the refugee camps are set up, it is aimed at providing security and a better life to the refugees. No consideration is put on what activities the refugees are going to carry out that might affect the environment whether in the long or short run. This is being evidenced by the number of boreholes drying up in various refugee camps (HPN, para 16). There are hundreds of thousands of the Darfur refugees who have been granted asylum in Chad. The Chadian locals are thus forced to compete for the natural resources in their territory with the refugees. Putting in mind the activities the refugees are engaged with, and the major aims of the organization that are associated with the taking care of the refugees which are just humanitarian care, the refugees can have a very big impact on the environment of the host country. The refugees in the camps hopes for someday to go back home. This implies they cannot have long term projects that will help in the development and taking care of the region that has granted them asylum. This might make them to be at loggerheads with the host country and thus be denied the asylum (Gouroukoun, para 7). Furthermore, as the refugees enter the Chadian soil, it is not guaranteed that they have their safety. The Janjaweed have been following the refugees in their camps attacking them. This has also posed danger to the Chadian nationals making them to move closer to where there is security in their country. In essence, the Chadian people are not even free in their own land because of hosting the refugees. As the Chadian moves to the place they feel is more secure, they also cause congestion and constraint to the resources that are supposed to host them. There are many other effects that the conflict has caused to the environment. As the conflict rages on, both sides are heavily armed. The weapons used to attack one group leave a lot of damages to the environment. For instance, there have been many crops, homesteads and the grazing grounds for each group that have been burnt by the opposing group. The oils and chemicals used to burn these properties, and the residue of the burnt products find their ways into the water bodies contaminating them. This on the other hand affects the lives in the water bodies. Furthermore, as the crisis continues, weapons used like bombs have continued to pollute the environment and their effect left in the environment for along time affecting the quality of life. It is very difficult to find crops growing in a region that has experienced a battle field. This is because of the effect that the weapons and chemicals used in the process have on the environment. It is common to find that the areas that had been bombed can not sustain any agricultural activity. It thus means that as the communities fight over the scarce natural resources and keep on destroying them during the fight, it only helps in escalating the problem they are already facing (Homer-Dixon, pp 41). The Janjaweed and the other militias in the Darfur conflict are always in the hideout. Most of the hideouts are in the forests. This implies that they have to depend so much on the forests for their own needs. For instance, they have to cut down the trees to use for fuel, hunt wild animals for food, and all these activities upsets the natural environment settings. There are many regions that used to be occupied by trees and wild animals like the elephants and the antelopes but when looked at now are bare because of the activities that have been taking place in the regions. Conclusion The Darfur crisis has actually been said to have started for over three decades ago. However, it only escalated in 2003 when the current crisis became out of control. The major cause of the war has been attributed to lack of enough natural resources. The problem is that because the fights were due to the protection and the need to acquire more natural resources, it is ironical that the same resources are being destroyed. In essence, this seems to increase the problems already faced. This has created the vicious cycle of the war in the Darfur region. Therefore, unless the concerned bodies look for a way of dealing with the problem of these natural resources, it is not possible to stop this war despite the many peace agreements that might be signed by the leaders of the region. Work Cited AP. Darfur conflict worsens environment, 2007. Retrieved on October 29, 2008 from http://platform. blogs. com/passionofthepresent/2007/06/darfur-conflict. html. Beyrer, Chris & Pizer, Hank. 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