Americas Medicare And Medicaid Healthcare Health And Social Care Essay

Health attention costs in the United States exceed 14 per centum of the entire gross domestic merchandise, far more than in any other state. In the twelvemonth 1992 overall costs were approximately $ 838 billion or over $ 3,000 per individual. Equally good as there were about 6,066 infirmaries with 1.14 million beds in the twelvemonth 1992 in the United States. Hospital attention dominates entire wellness attention disbursement in United States.After decennaries of induction long term attention in America is undergoing enormous alteration in response to increasing Medicare and Medicaid expenditures. As the response to the lifting province and federal outgos in America community based wellness attention options are promoted for long term attention over institutional attention. Despite the fact that persons with really serious and relentless psychiatric upsets are over represented in the population of long term attention and consequences into disproportional sum of psychiatric wellness attention cost, every bit good as there is an alarming deficit of attending to the services for the aged individuals with the persistent and serious mental unwellness. About 2 per centum of individuals aged 55 or above in America are enduring from terrible and relentless psychiatric upset and it is assumed to duplicate in following three coming decennaries. Since the current strategy of long term psychiatric attention for the aged individuals with this upset is missing and service proviso is extensively driven by reimbursement policies, community based attention and managed attention is likely to hold profound consequence on this population. The grounds to twenty-four hours provinces that these proposals can cut down the demand of hospital resources but there remains concern about cost effectivity of community attention compared with infirmary attention.However the wellness policy issues of America is been debated in conformity with community based wellness attention for aged persons and the hereafter challenges of supplying psychiatric wellness services to aged population.Although, small attending has been highlighted on the plausible impact of managed attention on the concatenation of aged individuals with relentless and serious psychiatric upsets who have the most demanding long term attention demands. Service NEEDS: Aged persons with serious and relentless psychiatric upsets are denoted in this survey as individuals age 65 and over with perennial or late-onset terrible psychiatric upset with residuary damage. As by and large defined, terrible and repetitive psychiatric upsets includes diagnosings such as delusional upset, schizophrenic disorder, bipolar upset, and recurrent major depression.Elderly grownups who evolve these upsets in early maturity frequently have unequal societal support systems and lesser fiscal resources than those with late-onset unwellness, but both of them portion many similar clinical characteristics and the common demand for long-run mental wellness attention services. However, latest psychiatric wellness services for aged individuals are mostly disconnected and underutilized and do non adequately turn to their long-run mental wellness demands. Overall, deinstitutionalization has left infinite figure of aged individuals with reduced entree to mental wellness attention in both community and institutional long-run attention scenes.Larger proportion of aged grownups with terrible and relentless mental unwellness who stays in the community receive small support from the mental wellness system except for medicine despite continued demand, and those without household attention are at higher hazard of being institutionalized.These factors highlights the pressing demand to specify and advance place and community based options. LONG TERM CARE REFORM: The sudden shrinkage and closing of province infirmaries over the past few decennaries has resulted in â€Å" trans-institutionalization † into attention places of many dependent aged individuals with terrible and relentless psychiatric unwellness. Eighty-nine per centum of all institutionalized these aged individuals reside in attention places. However, assorted tendencies suggest that establishments will play a diminishing function in future systems of long-run mental wellness attention compared with community-based scenes. First, the bulk of older grownups with mental unwellness resides in the community and favour to stay at that place ( Bartels SJ, Levine KJ, Miles KM, et Al, unpublished manuscript, 1999 ) . The more recent cohort of aging individuals with terrible psychiatric unwellness had spent most of their lives in the community instead than institutional scenes. Therefore trans-institutionalization from long-run province infirmary units to care places will go a vanis hing phenomenon. Equally good as the 2nd tendency suggests the diminishing function for establishments is the execution of nursing place reforms under the federal Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 ( Public Law 100-203 ) , with the purpose of cut downing the use of nursing places for long-run mental wellness attention. This reform ‘s were practiced in response to increased psychiatric admittances to care places after closings of province infirmaries. Last, the lifting outgos for nursing place attention are exciting sudden reforms in policy and reimbursement. They include authorizations by provinces to curtail Medicaid outgos by forestalling the nursing place bed supply and cutting Medicaid reimbursement rates. As the wellness attention system transportations to suit the increasing figure of patients necessitating chronic attention, forthcoming anticipation suggest the greatest success in services will be in home- and community-based scenes.Sudden alterations in the funding and construction of long-run and managed attention are progressing quickly across the provinces, with a practical deficit of attending to the lifting Numberss of aged grownups with serious and relentless mental unwellness who will hold of import service demands. Financing OF MEDICARE AND MEDICAID: Soon, most of the psychiatric wellness and long-term-care services for aged individuals are financed through fee-for-service Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare is the federally financed wellness insurance plan, supplying insurance for persons age 65 and above and handicapped persons under age 65. Medicare is composed of two parts: portion 1covers inmate infirmary attention, 60 yearss of skilled nursing place attention, and place wellness and hospice attention. Separate 2 provides reimbursement for outpatient infirmary services and doctors. Among the major limitations in Medicare coverage of the psychiatric wellness services are a needed 50 per centum copayment for psychotherapeutics services, deficit of general outpatient prescription drug coverage, restricts on inpatient psychiatric yearss, and limited or no coverage of important services such as residential attention, reprieve attention and grownup twenty-four hours attention and place wellness attention. Home wellness attention is an of import permutation to institution-based attention. However, merely acute portion of unwellness instead than long-run attention is cover by Medicare. Psychiatric upsets, including dementedness, constitute merely 2.8 per centum of primary diagnosings for place wellness attention. It is likely that place wellness attention for psychiatric upsets will go barely available in future coming old ages as Medicare reform consequences in cutbacks under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. After passage of these reforms, 14 per centum of U.S. place wellness attention bureaus, a sum of 1,355 bureaus, closed in 1998. However, less than 3 per centum of the entire budget of Medicare is spent on mental wellness, with half less than these outgos ( about 1.5 % ) – traveling to psychiatric wellness services for the aged population. Acute hospitalizations consequences to the huge bulk of these outgos. Medicaid is the main insurance company for long-run attention in nursing places and the of import beginning of reimbursement for state-funded services for handicapped persons, including persons with serious and consistent mental unwellness. Since Medicaid is a combined federal and province plan, with provinces paying up to 50 per centum of the cost, provinces have of import discretion in make up one's minding the eligibility standards and sorts of mental wellness services covered. For case, although legion provinces offer coverage of prescription drugs, most have restrictions in the sort of copayments, limited refills, or other restrictions.States may besides implement restrictions on mental wellness attention, including anterior mandate and restriction on the figure of visits to suppliers. Medicaid reimbursement rates average 20 to 30 per centum beneath bing market rates.Restricting the sum and range of services and paying for psychiatric attention at lesser rates than for medical attention create barriers to adequate psychiatric attention for aged patients. In short, the argument between the federal and province authoritiess over the costs of Medicaid, every bit good as the restrictions in Medicare coverage, leave many spreads in insurance coverage for aged grownups.These spreads result in a disintegrated intervention system and critical load in out-of-pocket costs. In add-on, briskly increasing Medicare and Medicaid outgos are ensuing in the impulse to develop schemes that contain costs. The blend of spreads in coverage and service and intensifying costs under a fee-for-service reimbursement construction has resulted in an eruption of managed attention enterprises in America. CARVED-IN AND CARVED-OUT MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES: The statement over the finest manner to pull off fiscal hazard and to transport mental wellness services in managed attention has resulted in a scope of theoretical accounts that may be loosely classified into two general classs. In some managed attention establishment, mental wellness attention is straight merged into the bundle of general wellness services that are covered and provided, or carved in. In others it is supported through a contract with a separate forte mental wellness establishment that provides services and accepts the hazard, or carved out. CARVED-IN Agreements: Patron of carved-in mental wellness services argue that this form of attention better integrates both physical and mental wellness attention, reduces barriers to mental wellness attention due to stigma, and is more apt to bring forth cost beginnings and overall nest eggs in usual wellness attention expenditures. These characteristics are specifically of import because aged individuals normally have co morbid medical conditions and take multiple medicines that may impact mental upsets ; they typically avoid forte psychiatric wellness scenes and incur important wellness attention disbursals related to psychiatric symptoms. By and large, carved-in agreements promotes communicating and coaction between medical and psychiatric suppliers suppressing arbitrary differentiations about medical versus psychiatric causes of symptoms and functional issues.Carved-in agreements may be advantageous for the many aged individuals with similar sort of upsets who receive the greater part of their mental wellness attention from primary attention suppliers. Despite the fact that, carved-in agreements are assumed to supply fiscal inducements for incorporate medical and psychiatric wellness services, functional integrating is far from guaranteed. Unfortunately, mental wellness forte services for aged persons tend to be a low precedence in managed wellness attention organisations in comparing with surgical and medical forte services. Mental wellness carve-in agreements may besides be economically hazardous. First, if mental wellness net incomes are carved in as portion of a net income bundle, grounds from private-sector wellness programs reveals that without administered para, insurance companies will offer differential coverage of mental wellness attention.In add-on, if remunerators or suppliers contest for enrollees, a healthy inducement will be to forestall those expected to hold higher costs from psychiatric jobs, such as aged persons with serious and consistent unwellness. Finally, process of seting payments to counterbalance for the increased fiscal hazard of supplying attention to more badly sick enrollees under a capitated payment, known as hazard accommodation, are rather hard to use for psychiatric wellness attention. For case, unless reliable hazard accommodation schemes are developed for complex populations such as aged person with mental unwellness, the capableness for significant losingss is likely to perpetuate the present deficiency of enthusiasm and services for this bad group among managed attention organisations. CARVED-OUT Agreements: In comparing, advocates of carved-out agreements for mental wellness services for aged persons argue that stray systems of funding and services are likely to be superior for individuals with particular mental wellness services. Specifically, they advocate that carved-out mental wellness organisations have advanced proficient cognition, a broader array of services, specialised accomplishments, greater Numberss and assortments of mental wellness suppliers with experience handling terrible mental conditions, and committedness and willingness to supply services to bad populations. In add-on, advocates argue that mental wellness carve-out organisations allows economic systems of graduated table in supplying the comprehensive array of rehabilitative and community support mental wellness services necessary to care for elderly terrible mentally sick individuals in the community. At last, an inducement exists to reinvest nest eggs from any decrease in inmate service usage into advanced outpatient options. Although appropriate surveies are missing, plans utilizing carved-out services for younger persons have by and large reported important cost nest eggs and favourable results. Unfortunately, informations are missing on results and costs for aged individuals with serious mental unwellness in mental wellness carve-outs. From a clinical mentality, the downside of a carve-out agreement is an increased hazard for unfavourable results due to atomization of medical and mental wellness attention services. The possible for these inauspicious results is significantly pronounced for aged individuals, who are frequently taking multiple medicines and who have complex medical upsets. Unsuccessful communicating or deficit of coaction between mental wellness and medical suppliers places the aged individuals at peculiar hazard of medicine, misdiagnosis, interaction, inaccurate premises about medical versus psychiatric causes of symptoms, and ambiguity about whose duty it is to vouch that appropriate community-based services are provided. From a fiscal mentality, foremost and most important, mental wellness carve-out organisations predicts the hazard of supplying services for a specific given population at a set negotiated fee. Downward pressures to incorporate or cut down costs may take into a one-sided decrease in the proportion of the overall wellness attention dollar allocated for mental wellness services. Second, a fiscal inducement exists for medical suppliers to switch and delegate duty for co-morbid conditions to mental wellness suppliers and frailty versa. For case, since the allotments for medical and psychiatric services are fixed and dispersed, it may be in the fiscal attractive force of a medical supplier organisation to inaccurately tie in the cause of a complex medical-psychiatric job to mental unwellness, which would take into unequal attention and switch the cost load to the mental wellness supplier organisation. A 3rd exposure of carve-out agreements is the hardship that they pose in finding the benefits or cost nest eggs of mental wellness services. Increased usage of mental wellness services may look to be more dearly-won in a carve-out agreement. At last, the physical and mental co-morbidity found in aged grownups with serious and relentless mental unwellness may cut down any awaited fiscal advantages of carved-out services. If the mental wellness supplier can non every bit pull off services and costs related with the combination of medical and mental wellness upsets, anticipated nest eggs may non happen. INNOVATIVE PATTERNOF MANAGED LONG TERM CARE: The demand of keeping intensifying outgos of long-run attention while supplying home- and community-based options to institutional attention has been the focal point of s experiments in long-run attention reform, including societal HMOs, the Program for All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly ( PACE ) , and state-managed long-term-care presentations. Initially initiated as a four-site long term attention presentation undertaking in the mid-1980s, societal HMOs are determined to intermix ague attention and long-run attention within a managed attention model. The implicit in plan is to supply both ague and chronic attention net income under a individual organisation at fiscal hazard, based on a postpaid capitation payment pooled from different beginnings including Medicare, Medicaid, and copayments. In comparing, PACE largely pay attending on persons who meet eligibility standards for nursing place attention and suspects high hazard under capitation for all long-term-care services, financed by monthly capitated payments from Medicare and Medicaid. Elite characteristics of the PACE plan include a multidisciplinary squad attack, service proviso in a separate grownup twenty-four hours wellness centre, chronic attention without caps on long-term-care outgos, and everyday one-year wellness showing and preventative attention. These theoretical account plans involves many elements that might be adapted to the demands of aged individuals with rigorous and grim mental unwellness to better future long-run attention for this population, including instance direction and multidisciplinary squads. Imaginative state-initiated managed long-term-care presentations include plans for people dually entitled for Medicaid and Medicare, who are among the premier users of acute and long-run wellness services. This group includes old individuals with serious and consistent mental unwellness. At present, multistate proposals are being constructed to unite Medicaid and Medicare resources under a capitated program that provides a full scope of services, including community-based and institutional ague and long-run attention. These enterprises have the possible to supply comprehensive long-run medical and mental wellness attention through public insurance to a population with high rates of chronic mental and wellness upsets. However, with few exclusions, presently planned proposals do non have mental wellness attention as a nucleus constituent or supplier of services. An alternate system of managed attention with the prospective to supply wide-ranging services is exemplified by a single-payer national wellness attention system. However, statistics from national comparings are assorted. Single-payer wellness attention systems in other states are more likely to function persons with lower incomes and more terrible mental unwellness than in the U.S. , but overall entree to specialty mental wellness services is no better and frequently involves longer waiting periods. Deduction FOR THE FUTURE: How will elder individuals necessitating long-run mental wellness attention menu in an epoch of managed attention? Existing issues reviewed here suggest that there is cause for dismay ; at the same clip, new attacks to funding services hold promise if they are suitably developed and harnessed. However, this sum-up of the literature suggests several specific instructions and steering rules for future theoretical accounts. Integration of mental wellness and medical services: Optimal services for older individuals with terrible and changeless mental unwellness require a close association of primary medical attention and mental wellness services. The high prevalence of medical and cognitive comorbidity in this group necessitates a clinical attack that recognizes the complex mixture of medical and psychiatric upsets and the value of a collaborative medical-psychiatric attack. A array of attacks to incorporating medical and mental wellness attention have been described, but run intoing the demands of persons with serious and changeless mental unwellness is particularly debatable. Promising theoretical accounts of incorporate attention consist of location of medical and mental wellness suppliers at the same site, multidisciplinary medical-psychiatric intervention squads, proviso of primary attention in mental wellness clinics, proviso of specialised mental wellness services in primary attention clinics, and cross-trained medical-psychiatric suppliers. The cardinal clinical topic here is the formation of a collaborative attention theoretical account across medical and mental wellness suppliers, of whether the services are financially incorporate ( carved in ) or separate ( carved out ) . For illustration, the literature describes booming theoretical accounts of community-based mental wellness services that include a primary wellness attention supplier as an built-in portion of a mental wellness outreach squad for senior grownups with terrible and relentless mental unwellness ( Levine KJ, Bartels SJ, unpublished manuscript, 1999 ) and the development of an associated primary attention medical clinic specifically for persons with terrible and changeless mental unwellness. Integration of specialised services and community-based attention Rising systems of community-based long-run attention across the provinces promise to supply many indispensable supports and services indispensable to keep frail aged individuals with several medical upsets in place scenes. These theoretical accounts of home- and community-based long-run attention offer advanced attacks to supplying medical and societal services to elder individuals, yet by and large do non include specialised services for long-run mental wellness attention of individuals with serious and continual mental unwellness. To undertake these demands, such plans will necessitate to spouse with specialised geropsychiatric and community support services. Although empirical informations are missing, a restricted descriptive literature suggests that theoretical account plans must hold specific clinical constituents to successfully keep senior grownups with terrible and continual mental unwellness in the community. These constituents consist of intensive instance direction, general medical attention, 24-hour crisis engagement, home-based mental wellness attention, residential and household support services, caregiver preparation, multidisciplinary squads, active instance determination and outreach, and psychosocial rehabilitation ( Levine KJ, Bartels SJ, unpublished manuscript, 1999 ) . Descriptions of results for these plans suggest that with sufficient supports, the bulk of senior individuals with terrible and continual mental unwellness can be maintained in the community at lower cost than in establishments and with equal or enhanced quality of life. Blended funding and seting for unwellness badness The greatest challenge to run intoing the long-term-care demands of the increasing Numberss of aging individuals with terrible mental unwellness will be fiscal. Predictions of the bankruptcy of the Medicare trust fund and current projections for Medicaid expenditures require advanced and resourceful usage of these and other fiscal resources. Meeting the complex long-run medical and mental wellness attention demands of senior individuals with terrible and continual mental unwellness under fee-for-service support will necessitate originative pooling of resources, including Medicare, Medicaid, and funding for aging services under federal and province block grant plans, every bit good as private insurance and limited personal financess. However, even with these steps, in the deficiency of singular reforms in the funding of wellness and long-run attention for senior individuals, financess may be deficient. Capitated attention agreements may be necessary to incorporate costs and to promote usage of the most cost-efficient services. A major aspiration of financing long-run attention will be the reallocation of outgos to back up the development of home- and community-based options. The most striving theoretical accounts of forming and funding services for open populations of senior individuals provide integrated services under a individual system responsible for both acute and long-run attention. PACE, societal HMOs, and province proposals for senior individuals who are dually suited for Medicare and Medicaid blend these beginnings of support to make systems of acute and long-run attention. All of these attacks portion the common purpose of redeploying financess from current dearly-won nursing place attention and hospital-based attention to supported community options. The end of such plans is to intermix these fiscal resources under capitation with an accent on back uping the least restrictive and least dearly-won long-term-care services. Managed attention plans functioning senior individuals with terrible and changeless mental unwellness will necessitate to integrate hazard accommodation schemes that account for the significant costs associated with combined hazards of older age, long-run mental disablement, and medical comorbidity. For case, current reforms under the 1997 Balanced Budget Act include programs to finally associate Medicare capitation rates to wellness position through risk-adjusted payments. Guaranting answerability, protagonism, and results At last, it is of import to admit that senior individuals with terrible and changeless mental unwellness typify the most complex, susceptible, resource-poor, and bad long-term-care patients. Service organisations that presume the fiscal hazard for ague and long-run psychiatric and medical attention will necessitate to be suitably reimbursed and held responsible for quality of attention. In the absence of mechanisms to finance these services, adjust for hazard, and step results, managed attention agreements will be in struggle with the ends of supplying high-quality attention for senior individuals with terrible and continual mental unwellness. Decision: We have no simple replies to the inquiry of how to outdo organize, finance, and present mental wellness and long-term-care services to elder individuals with terrible and continual mental unwellness. The integrated funding and organisation of services promised in germinating theoretical accounts of managed long-run attention offer the possible to eliminate atomization and inefficiencies and to make a much-needed continuum of medical, mental wellness, and societal support services. Yet bing theoretical accounts fail to supply the specialised mental wellness services that are critical for functioning this population in the community.REFRENCES:1 } Jonas & A ; Kovner ‘s Health Care Delivery in the United StatesA edited by Anthony Kovner, PhD, Steven Jonas, James Knickman, PhD. 2 } Hand book of Health Economics by Anthony J.Culyer and Joseph P.New house. 3 } The Economicss of Health and Health attention by Folland Goodman Stano. 4 } The Economic and Budget Outlook: Fiscal Old ages 1998-2007. Washington, DC, Congressional Budget Office, 1997. 5 } Bartels SJ, Miles KM, Levine K, et Al: Bettering psychiatric attention of the older patient, in Clinical Practice Improvement Methodology: Effective Evaluation and Management of Health Care Delivery.Edited by Horn SD. New York, Faulkner & A ; Gray, 1997. 6 } Kane RL: Managed attention as a vehicle for presenting more effectual chronic attention for olderpersons. Journal of the American Geriatric Society 46:1034-1039, 1998. 7 } Frank R, McGuire T, Newhouse J: Hazard contracts in managed mental wellness care.Health Affairs 14 ( 3 ) :50-64, 1995. 8 } Bartels SJ, Colenda CC: Mental wellness services for Alzheimer ‘s disease: current tendencies in reimbursement, public policy, and the hereafter under managed care.AmericanJournal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 9 } Jencks S, Goldman H: Deductions of research for psychiatric prospective payment.Medical Care 25:542-551, 1987. 10 } Miller R, Luft H: Does managed attention leadto better or worse quality of attention? Health Affairs 16 ( 5 ) :7-25, 1997. 11 } Wells KB: Cost containment and mental wellness results: experiences from US surveies. British Journal of Psychiatry 166 ( suppl 27 ) :43-51, 1995. 12 } Felker B, Yazel J, Short D, et Al: Mortalityand medical comorbidity among psychiatricpatients: a reappraisal. Psychiatric Services 47:1356-1362, 1996. 13 } Sturm R, Wells KB: How can care for depression become more cost-efficient? JAMA 273:51-58, 1995.

Child Pornography: Canada vs. Japan Essay

â€Å"We think that child pornography, in any form, promotes values and sends the message that it is OK to sexually abuse children. It helps paedophiles to justify their ideas or behaviour and it desensitizes society as a whole.† ( 1995. John Carr, a United Kingdom government adviser. ) The classification of sexual exploration , the governments laws, and landmark cases all play a part in how the people perceive child pornography. â€Å"Japan is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of child pornography and the second biggest consumer after the U.S.† (Justin McCurry, Japan to Outlaw Possession of Child Porn, GUARDIAN, Mar. 10,2008) In Japan they have a very lose definition of child pornography where as in Canada it is firm and unbending. There are many different types of sexual exploitation in Japan involving minors, some are considered illegal and wrong but most comply with the country’s laws. Adult anime or Hentai is one of the most popular forms of pornography in Japan. It is in a cartoon format and can therefore show graphic sexual activities without being subject to the same laws as live films. They feature mainly young school girls or boys and are not considered child porn. Since it is not classified as illegal anime pushes many boundaries that movies could not. Hentai commonly involves rape(Goukan Purei â€Å"Rape play†) , bondage( Broken Dolls), and Lolicon with involves sexual encounters with prepubescent girls. There are video games based on these fantasies called â€Å"bishÃ… jo games† or â€Å" pretty girl games†. Many Asian cultures have an obsession with child like women. Women show in all media are small and frail, helpless and have very high voices. This shows a value message in Japan, that women are meant to seem young and child like and innocent . In Canada there is a rigid definition of pornography written in the Code. It includes all material computer generated or actors. It can be defined depicting or promoting sexual abuse of a child, a sexual act or the genital organs of children. It exists in three main forms, visual, audio and text. Canada is very intolerant of it and has strict laws in place to prevent the production, distribution, and possession of child pornographic materials. Under article 175 in the Criminal Code , Japanese laws states that it is illegal to sell, display to the public, and distribute child pornographic material. Child pornography was banned in Japan in 1998 by the Act on Punishment of Activities Relating to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. The enforcement of this act began in 1999 and it was first amended in 2003. Films and pictures depicting sexual organs are against the law but company’s have found ways around it that are perfectly legal and just as inappropriate. The body parts are merely made fuzzy and according to the law may be sold to the public. Many of the Japanese politicians appear to be indifferent to this issue unfortunately. They believe that it would contravene with the fundamental freedom of speech and expression. The Japanese have historically be lax on this subject in 1996 it was brought before the UN conference in Sweden. The public began to put heavy pressure on Japan to reform their laws and the government was forced to act. Despite the law stating that the sale, display, and distribution of the pornography is illegal the possession of it is not. In 2008 the government begin a campaign to amend the act to pronounce the possession of child pornographic items illegal as well. This change was spearheaded by former American ambassador to Japan, J. Thomas Schieffer and the bill is waiting at the Japanese parliament ( Diet) since 2009. While the government in Japan struggles to control the controversial media with new bills and enforcement of the laws Canada is very sure of its position in this matter. The Canadian Criminal Code includes child pornographic material under Part 5 : Sexual Offences, Public Morals and Disorderly Conduct: Offences Tending to Corrupt Morals. Section 163 of the Code describes child porn as â€Å"a visual representation, whether or not it was made by electronic or mechanical means†, that â€Å"shows a person who is or is depicted as being under the age of eighteen years and is engaged in or is depicted as engaged in explicit sexual activity†, or â€Å"the dominant characteristic of which is the depiction, for a sexual purpose, of a sexual organ or the anal region of a person under the age of eighteen years.† ( C-64. Canadian Criminal Code. Section 163.1) Canadian government has recently introduced a bill to crack down on child porn on the internet, if passed it would b ecome on of the only countries in the world to restrict access to child porn online. This bill includes accessing, creating, and selling the material and would carry a possible 5 year prison sentence. Japan is the official child pornography capital of the world. It produces about four fifths of all the films, books, and magazines that are distributed worldwide. The Japanese National Police recently composed a report showing that there was a dramatic rise in criminal cases last year surrounding child pornography. There was 1455 reported cases involving children under 18. In Canada unlike Japan, Hentai is considered a form of child pornography and can be charged in court for the possession of it. On Monday January 20th 2012. Jeffrey Bedford, 41 , was sentenced to six months in jail for having over 1,100 images of animated child pornography on his computer. Police confiscated his laptop and found 1,135 sexual pictures of young girls aged four to fourteen. Bedford pleaded guilty but his lawyer asked the judge to consider that the girl were electronic cartoon and not real people. â€Å"It’s not the situation where an actual young person is victimized,’’ said his lawyer, Bruce Ritter. However the judge disagreed and stated that anime is the same as actually photographs and the purpose of the photos are the same. This is the problem that plagues Japan, is adult amine porn? Most people in North America would argue yes but it has been so deeply entwined in Japanese society that it is not seen as an illegal act. The contrast between Japan and Canada when discussing child pornography is extremely apparent . Japan has few laws and even fewer that are strictly enforced while Canada abides by a solid definition and set of laws restricting any contract with the taboo material. The numerous aliases of child porn , the country’s laws, and important legal cases are factors in shaping the country’s view on child pornography. Works Cited Umeda, Sayuri. â€Å"Japan: child pornography–Child Pornography Law Amendment discussed.† Global Legal Monitor (2010). Gale Power Search. Web. 1 June 2012 â€Å"Child porn law struck down.† Canadian News Facts 1 Jan. 1999: 5804. Gale Power Search. Web. 1 June 2012 â€Å"The darker side of cuteness.† The Economist [US] 8 May 1999: 32. Gale Power Search. Web. 1 June 2012 Page, Barnaby. â€Å"Canada Considers Tough Online Child Porn Laws.† TechWeb 16 Mar. 2001. Gale Power Search. Web. 1 June 2012 â€Å"Tough on child porn.† Maclean’s 7 Dec. 2009: 8. Gale Power Search. Web. 1 June 2012 â€Å"Outraged innocence; Child pornography in Japan.† The Economist [US] 20 Mar. 2010: 55EU. Gale Power Search. Web. 1 June 2012 â€Å"Child-porn case goes to top court.† Canadian News Facts 16 June 1999: 5892. Gale Power Search. Web. 1 June 2012 http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/663204–six-month-sentence-sends-strong-message-about-animated-child-porn

US Foreign Policy and Nuclear Proliferation Research Paper

US Foreign Policy and Nuclear Proliferation - Research Paper Example An examination of the US foreign policy in modern times highlights the significant role of nuclear weapons. The reason is that nuclear weapons constitute an important part in the achievement of the United States foreign policy and defense policy goals. There are two arguments that rationalize this. First, is that nuclear weapons are seen as valuable instruments of statecraft and the foundation of global stability by serving as a deterrent to a wide range of threats. Secondly, the American Cold War policy still has its imprint on modern foreign policy particularly in regard to the emphasis on the importance of being ready to deliver a quick and massive attack against opposing nuclear forces. According to a Harvard Nuclear Study Group: [The United States] wants from them many of the same things it wants from its conventional military forces. The basic goal is to protect the security of the United States and its allies from attack or coercion by a hostile power. Nuclear weapons should serve that primary purpose. (Carnesale & the Harvard Nuclear Security Group 134) During the Cold War nuclear weapons is at the center of the American security strategies. The US, as part of this strategy, developed large, diverse and dispersed nuclear forces that were maintained at high alert levels. The officially stated rationales for these forces were to deter the Soviet Union from attacking the United States and its allies with either conventional or nuclear weapons. The disintegration of the Soviet Union after the Cold War changed the nuclear policy due to three fundamental factors: 1) the likelihood of all-out war between the United States and Russia has drastically diminished; 2) the increase in regional conflicts no longer calls for nuclear deterrence; and, 3) the conventional forces are sufficient to deal with potential adversaries. (National Academy of Sciences 16-18) And

Policy Proposal to Institute Ethics in Business Essay

Policy Proposal to Institute Ethics in Business - Essay Example I am sure that you have been briefed by your staff about the capital surplus that was just parked last year that amounted to a couple of trilion dollars that instead of reinvesting to expand the operation of business and create jobs (that would have helped us recover from the recession) businessmen and investors alike just waited and see. That is more devastating than what Enron and company did to the US economy for it is already a crisis of confidence of which we will not know when it will be over. I cannot stress enough how important it is for businesses to act ethically and responsibly. It is not just about being proper as a corporate entity but to avoid the economic consequences if business will misbehave. I am well aware that government cannot alter how people thinks and behaves but it has the power and resources to restructure the corporate and legal environs that would rehabilitate corporate behaviour and align its actions to a desirable corporate citizenship that is wanted by all through its various legal and policy instrumentalities that would make it act ethical. To achieve this, there are two policy proposals that I would like to suggest. This two pronged proposal is based on two principles. First, instilling business ethics at a preparatory level to make it as part of discipline that business professionals has to learn and imbue. Second is to make corporate malfeasance less advantageous by imposing heavy penalties to the level of economic sabotage to those corporations and individuals who will transgress the ethical law therefore serving it as a deterrence towards corporate malfeasance. At present, the punishment and aggravation against white collar crimes particularly corporate malfeasance is lesser than the benefits that the benefits that corporations and benefits will reap from it. For example, an executive and a business entity who is found guilty of corporate malfeasance amassed hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars only to be sentenc ed to few years of prison and/or few million dollars fine which in effect incentivize them to commit crimes. The recent laws enacted to prevent corporate malfeasance while needed were reactive to the present realities of business. For example, the Sabarnes Oxley Act is just a reaction to whistleblowing at Worldcom and intends to protect other whistleblowers in the future. While the law is good, it is limited and does not cover the entire gamut of corporate malfeasance nor encourages business to act ethically. My suggested proposals are as follows; first, require universities through the mandate of the law to include in their syllabi business ethics. Each student must be required to have an Ethics subject at least once per school year. The rational for this is not just to react for every corporate transgression that catches our attention but preventing it right from the source, when professionals are still learning the ropes of business. Second, disincentivize corporate crimes. Eleva te corporate malfesance to the level of economic sabotage applying the principles of general deterrence of which I will explain at length later. But for now, let me elaborate my first suggested proposal. Incorporate Business Ethics In School Curricula Intensively I believe that given the recent scandals that rocked the business and financial world, it now becomes an imperative that each individual entering into the corporate and financial industry must have a

About physical therapy Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

About physical therapy - Personal Statement Example My father gave me a simple reply, â€Å"Because they need it.† My father was never a man of many words so I knew that I needed to seek the answer to my question from my cousin. His reply was to set the career path that I would eventually follow. He explained to me that the people in the clinic had all been physically injured either by playing sports, a work accident, or just a stroke of bad luck. Their injury damaged their body physically so they could not move like a normal person would. Pointing out the others who had their arms in slings or casts, and some people with amputated arms, he told me that â€Å"They all need help in learning how to move like a normal person. That is what I help them with.† Since we had time to spare before having to leave, I intently watched my cousin do his job. Trying to understand what exactly it was that he was trying to do for these people. When I asked him what he called what he was doing to them, he responded â€Å"Physical therapy†. I told myself that I would remember those two words because I wanted to be like my cousin when I grew up. So while I spent my time being a voracious reader, I made sure to read as many books as i could about the foundation of a physical therapists career aside from many other book genres that I liked to read. I made sure to spend as much free time as I could throughout my high school years observing my cousin in his workplace. Learning as much as I could and asking as many questions that I could about what he was doing to the patients. I will always be grateful to him for never tiring of answering the thousand and one questions that I kept asking him. I became such a regular fixture at his clinic that even the patients already knew me by name and some even considered me a friend already. When I was not observing at the physical therapy clinic, I spent whatever time I could doing volunteer work for the needy and less fortunate in my city. One of the places that I volunteered at

Media Torrent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Media Torrent - Essay Example In his article â€Å"Supersaturation, or The Media Torrent and Disposable Feeling†, Todd Gitlin states his observation and provides sufficient evidence supporting the fact that media has great influence on our lives. Right from the time of emergence of television and internet, media has been influencing the lives of individuals whether it is through print, television, films or social networking websites. However one may take into account the fact that the notion of media saturation has gone through several significant amendments since the time Gitlin’s article was published. There are many evidences illustrated by Gitlin that support his ideas of â€Å"super-saturation† and â€Å"disposable feeling†. The literal meaning of â€Å"super-saturation† is to increase the concentration of solution beyond saturation. The word â€Å"super-saturation† is used by Gitlin for defining the notion that how the modern society has completely absorbed the internet and media. The society is completely immersed in the images and gossips that are being displayed by media. There is no clear line present, which distinguishes living space from working space. Outer world has invaded the inner world of people. Gitlin uses the phrase â€Å"disposable feeling† because individuals today are easily switching from one feeling to another, one scandal to another, without making effort to actually find out the hidden truth. I completely agree with Gitlin’s idea that media has its impact on our lives through several means and its component have gr adually immersed in our daily. We can easily observe the amount of movies and TV shows being watched and quantity of CD’s and cameras being used in today’s modern world. Gitlin states that the extensive use of internet has not diminished the use of media but has affected the flow of unlimited media. I do support the fact presented by Gitlin that Internet has revolutionized the use of media. Our hyper-mediated world is affected by internet to a great extent converting us from media users to media producers (Gitlin). Gitlin’s article to some extent downplays the massive influence that internet had on the society at the time it was penned. Despite of this fact many of the points suggested by Gitlin are still valid in today’s world. The emergence of the social networking website â€Å"Facebook† is the example of the actualization of Gitlin’s observation. This website is known for providing its users with hyper-mediated experience as it allows th em to upload photos, videos, texts and provide them variety of ways through which they are allowed to express themselves. Facebook media is different from the inherent media as on this social networking website a mass population is acting of watching other people’s activities. 600 million Facebook users actively participate in this process of acting and watching. They create their own replicas through their profiles. People become kings, queens, demons, angels and adopt the character of their choice, which is far away from reality. These websites have created a virtual world that is far from reality. Gitlin has also stated that individuals today have the authority to create their own content. This proposition of Gitlin can be easily implied to the communicative quality of Facebook where individuals develop their original content and portray it in a way different from reality. The experience of their life is no

Gulf War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gulf War - Essay Example The US military had done away with the war draft and so it is mainly a volunteer army. As such, it relies usually on people who freely and voluntarily join the military service and the people who enter the military are mostly poor people (the traditional party base of the Democratic Party). The sons and daughters of rich people do not join the military service. It is only the poor kids who join as a way out of poverty, get a sure job and obtain education. In other words, it is the lower social and economic classes which had borne the greatest burden of prosecuting the wars in Iraq in disproportionate numbers compared to the rich classes. However, the main reason why labor unions today are opposed to the Iraq war was it was a war that was not properly explained to them. The original objectives of going into Iraq were hazy at best which was to remove Iraq from Kuwait which is a recognized member of the United Nations as a sovereign nation. But more than that, the ordinary Americans are now more wary of getting involved in other people’s domestic affairs when the American citizens themselves are in deep trouble regarding their own issues about the economy, health care, education and many other concerns such as high crime rates. Americans today do not want to get involved because they had a bad experience with the Vietnam War (Brier 1).

How Do The Specific Course Materials Connect, Align, Support, and Term Paper

How Do The Specific Course Materials Connect, Align, Support, and Intersect With Concepts Addressed In The Book The Servant - Term Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that effective leadership is one of the major attributes of organizational success. Northouse has described leadership as a process that assists individual to influence a group of people in terms of achieving a common goal. Leadership acts as a catalyst to influence four fundamental factors of an organization’s productivity such as labor, land, entrepreneurship, and capital. The leadership style of management or owners is very important for effectively structuring the culture of the organization. There are a number of leadership styles that have been evaluated and examined by researchers overall period of time. As per Selznick, the style of leadership must differ according to the structure of the organization, work culture and personality as well as tolerance of subordinates. Hunter has described the effectiveness and importance of servant leadership for organizational management in his book â€Å"The Servant†. The theory of s ervant leadership illustrates that in order to increase the effectiveness of leadership activities a leader needs to serve first. Rather than a leadership style or technique, servant leadership can be described as a pattern of behavior that can assist management to gather long-term benefit. Hunter has described the impact and application of this leadership style through the tale of a business executive and his failure as a boss, coach, father, and husband.  

Subsidence Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Subsidence - Coursework Example The crystalline rocks in which most metals are mined have greater strength and are less likely to settle or collapse. Subsidence can also occur where underground water has dissolved subsurface materials or has been withdrawn by wells. Sinking caused by the caving in of underground mine workings. Subsidence can result in serious structural damage to buildings, roads, irrigation ditches, underground utilities and pipelines. It can disrupt and alter the flow of surface or underground water. Surface depressions created by subsidence may be filled in, only to sink further because the underground void has not been completely closed. Areas may appear to be free of subsidence for many years and then undergo renewed gradual or even drastic subsidence Weight, including surface developments such as roads, reservoirs, and buildings, and man-made vibrations from such activities as blasting, heavy truck or train traffic can accelerate the natural processes of subsidence. Fluctuations in the level of underground waters caused by pumping or by injecting fluids into the earth can initiate sinking to fill the empty space previously occupied by water or soluble minerals. In general, the type and severity of surface subsidence is governed by the amount ground surface and the location of removal or compression, and the geologic conditions of a particular site. Withdrawal of pore fluids, usually ground water, is a common cause of ground subsidence. Massive lowering of the groundwater table by "mining" of ground water* in a poorly consolidated aquifer results in subsidence of the ground surface. Hydrocompaction produces ground surface collapse from excessive wetting of certain low-density weak soils. This can occur in two general types of soil, a) wind deposited silts b) predominantly fine-grained colluvial soils. In either case, collapse occurs from excessive wetting of previously dry, collapsible soils. Wetting of these materials weakens the already weak or unstable soil structure, which undergoes internal collapse and densification (reduction of air voids). Densification of the weak soil column produces ground surface collapse and subsidence in the v icinity of excessive wetting. Removal of fine material by piping* is probably an additional factor in some cases of subsidence by wetting. Such excessive wetting can occur from irrigation, broken water lines, surface ponding, or drainage diversions. Dissolution of soluble rock or soil materials also results in ground subsidence. This occurs in areas underlain by highly soluble rock formations-especially gypsum (CaSo4. 2H2O), or halite (NaC1); and to lesser extent in limestone (CaCO3) materials. Removal of earth materials by water solution leads to surface collapse. Hydrologic factors that may cause the solution and removal of material may be natural or man-induced. Natural solution is the result of the normal hydrologic processes of downward percolation of surface water and/or lateral movement of ground water within the water table (either the main ground water table or a perched water table). Man-induced hydrologic changes or activities can have much the same effect on soluble eart h materials. Such activities include temporary or permanent stream channel changes, irrigation ditches, land irrigation leaking or broken pipes, temporary or perm

INtro to rela dbase Business Intelligence and Data Warehouses week 9 Assignment

INtro to rela dbase Business Intelligence and Data Warehouses week 9 - Assignment Example Since it operates with such huge data sets, an OLAP database is substantial on CPU and plate bandwidth. A data warehouse is intended to handle extensive investigative inquiries. An OLTP database system emphasizes extremely complex tables and joins because the data is standardized. In other terms, it is organized in a manner that no data is copied. Using this method to make data relational conveys storage and handling efficiencies. In addition, this method also permits those sub-second reaction times (Rahman, 2011). In an OLAP database framework, data is composed particularly to encourage reporting and examination, not for rapid value-based needs. The information is de-normalized to improve explanatory inquiry reaction times and give usability to business clients. Fewer tables and an easier structure bring about simpler reporting and examination. Operational data and decision support data serve diverse purposes. Most operational information is put away in a social database whereby the structures have a tendency to be profoundly standardized. Operational data stockpiling is improved to help transactions that concern day by day operations. To compel the performances given, operational frameworks store data in numerous tables, each with a base count of fields. Decision support data contrast from operational data in three fundamental ranges Operational data are ordinarily stored in numerous tables, and the information stored concern the data around a certain transaction only. Decision support data are put away in relatively fewer tables that store information obtained from operational data. The decision support data do exclude the subtle elements of every operational transaction. The operational databases continuous and fast information renewal make data irregularities a conceivably devastating issue. Accordingly, the data neces sities in a common transaction framework for the

Ec Assignment for Microbiology Essay Example for Free

Ec Assignment for Microbiology Essay 1) First, the urine sample container should be labeled accordingly. Urine samples and transport containers should be free of any particles or anything that may interfere with the sample. The sample should be in a secure container with a leak resistant lid; this will also prevent exposure to the person handling the sample while also protecting the sample from being contaminated. It is important to not reuse any specimen container to insure that the sample is in a sterile environment and is not at risk from being contaminated. Nurses can encourage the patient to wash their hands before and after they provide the sample. The patient can also be advised to replace the lid on the specimen as soon as the sample has been collected to keep contaminates from getting in the sample. Nurses should explain that these steps will ensure the most accurate results. Nurses should also follow protocol to avoid contamination. Nurses should wear gloves at all times and wash their hands regularly. Urine should be stored properly as to avoid any additional growth of bacteria. (Becton, 2004) 2) This protocol is for samples analyzed in a doctor’s office or for a routine laboratory culture that were midstream samples for urine culture or for urinary tract infections. Negative macroscopic screened urines do not routinely require microscopic examination of urine sediment. Microscopic examination of urine sediment may be warranted when macroscopic examination is positive for blood (Hb), protein (greater than a trace), nitrite, leukocyte esterase, turbidity, or glucose concentration greater than 55mmol/l. Choices for urinalysis are urine culture only, Macroscopic microscopic if dipstick positive, Macroscopic urine culture if pyuric or nitrite present, Macroscopic dipstick, Microscopic, or special case. (Association, 2011) 3) The most common symptoms of a urinary tract infection are pain or burning feeling during urination, feeling of urgency to urinate, altered appearance of the urine, pain or pressure in the rectum for men or in the area of the pubic bone for women, and only passing a tiny amount of urine even when the urge to urinate is strong. (Net, 2011) Edith is more susceptible to a urinary tract infection because she is a female. Women have shorter urethras therefore it is easier for bacteria to enter the urinary tract. Men are much less likely than women to get UTIs and when they do it is often related to another underlying medical condition, such as kidney stone or an enlarged prostate. (WebMD, 2005-2012) 4) Cipro is short for ciprofloxacin. Ciprofloxacin is an antibiotic that is used to treat bacterial infections. Ciprofloxacin belongs to the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics. Cipro stops the multiplication of bacteria by inhibiting the reproduction and repair of their genetic material. (Net, ciprofloaxin (Cipro, Cipro XR) drug class, medical uses, medication side effects, and drug interactions by MedicineNet.com , 2012) 5) Clindamycin inhibits protein synthesis by reversibly binding to the 50s subunit of the ribosomal thus blocking the transpeptidation or translocation reactions of susceptible organisms resulting to stunted cell growth. (LLC) 6) Most antibiotics are taken in a pill form and they can kill many of different strains of good bacteria in the digestive tract. A common complaint of taking antibiotics is stomach upset and diarrhea. Eating yogurt while taking antibiotics may help prevent some of the discomfort of antibiotic use because yogurt is made from milk and fermented with live cultures of the same types of bacteria that are normally present in a healthy digestive tract. Continuing to eat yogurt several days after discontinuing the antibiotics may help to replace good bacteria in the intestines. (Strong) 7) The warnings in using Clindamycin include but are not limited to diarrhea, colitis, and pseudo membranous colitis. These symptoms can persist for several weeks after discontinuing the use of the antibiotic. (A.D.A.M.) 8) The bad bacteria, that can cause diarrhea in people taking antibiotics, are called C difficile and its numbers are normally kept at low levels by the healthy flora in the gut. When a person is treated with antibiotics and the amount of healthy bacteria is decreased, C difficile may begin to multiply and produce a substance that is toxic and can cause diarrhea. This is known as pseudo membranous colitis. (About.com) The Clostridium difficile bacteria are normally present in the intestine; however, it may overgrow when antibiotics are taken. The bacteria release a powerful toxin that causes the symptoms. The lining of the colon becomes inflamed and bleeds, and takes on a characteristic appearance called pseudo membranes. (A.D.A.M) 15) C. difficile often relapses because it passes through a life cycle in which the actively dividing form transforms itself into the spore stage. Spores are inert and metabolically inactive, so they do not cause disease. At the same time though spores are very tough and are hard to kill even with the most powerful antibiotics. (Publications, 2000-2012) 16) A nonsocomial infection can be spread by cross-infection (from one patient to another), endogenous infection (a patient’s own flora), or environmental transfer (an object being used on a patient that is already contaminated). A patient’s risk may be increased due to age, decreased immune resistance, underlying disease, and therapeutic or diagnostic interventions. (Broaddus, 1997) 17) Clostridium difficile was first described in 1935 as a component of the intestinal flora in healthy newborn infants. The active role of C. difficile in human disease was not recognized until the 1970s when it was identified as the causative agent of pseudo membranous colitis. Additional studies demonstrated that C. difficile-associated disease encompasses a range of disease severity from colitis to toxic megacolon.

Cross-Cultural Perspectives Essay Example for Free

Cross-Cultural Perspectives Essay The Coca Cola Company, the world’s largest multinational beverage manufacturer and corporation, operates bottling plants and sells its products in more than 200 countries across the globe (The Coca Cola Company, 2014). Coca Cola’s massive global presence requires the organization to understand the different cultures of its many host countries; the laws within each country; and the business norms, styles, as well as practices of each country it conducts business operations in. The company has developed and implemented numerous policies, regulations, and guidelines for its suppliers, operation management, and employees in its various host countries. But, all of this detailed undertaking to address transparencies in the corporation’s supply chains throughout the world did not stop its El Salvadoran bottling and manufacturing plant’s management from purchasing refined sugar from a mill which used child labor. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), up to one third of the workers on El Salvador’s sugarcane plantations are under the age of 18, with many starting to work in the fields between the ages of eight and eleven (HRW, 2004). Even though, the national and international child labor authorities prohibit minors under the age of 18 from performing hazardous or harmful work, plantation owners define these young children and teenagers who work with their parents as â€Å"helpers† instead of the workers they actually are (Veracity, 2006). The above paragraph represents one of the many cross-cultural issues facing Coca Cola and the myriad of other multinational organizations interactions outside the United States. In these various host countries having your children working beside you is considered common cultural practices; it provides additional income for the family’s survival because the poor state of many of their country’s economy (such as El Salvador) allows these injustices to continue. Regardless, of why these children are working in the sugarcane fields, and the fact that Coca Cola does not actually purchase its  refined sugar directly from the plantations, the company is in direct violation of its own â€Å"Guiding Principles for Suppliers to Coca Cola Company† policy. The policy states that, â€Å"Suppliers will not use child labor as defined by local law,† but Coca Cola fails to extend this policy one step further in the supply chain to include the supplier’s supplier of raw material (Veracity, 2006). So, in the long-term means that the organization is just as socially and ethically responsible for the use of child labor as well as the harm working in the field create as the suppliers and the plantation owners. The Coca Cola formula was invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia; and the formula as well as the brand was purchased in 1889 by Asa Griggs Chandler who incorporated The Coca Cola Company in 1892 (The Coca Cola Company, 2014). Throughout its many years of operations the business always demonstrated strong market orientation; exhibited strategic decision making processes; and took actions to attract, satisfy, and retain customers. All of these positive actions have just added to company’ s advantage and profitability over competitors in the beverage industry, which is why they are number one in the world. Nevertheless, as the organization began to expand its operations into more and more host countries around the globe it has been involve with quite a number of misconduct and questionable unethical behavior. As a result, these legal and ethical problems have had an impact on the corporation’s financial performances, investor trust, and reduced its sales levels. Today’s Coca Cola Company is now engaging in an operation to rebuild its brand image and credibility, improve its sells, and reinforce its reputation by developing and implementing stronger company ethical and social responsibility throughout its entire global marketplace (The Coca Cola Company, 2014). There have been a number of events other than child labor in El Salvador where Coca Cola has been involved and held accountable in unethical behavior. In Colombia, Turkey, and Guatemala bottling plants the company has been accused of hiring paramilitary mercenaries to assassinate, torture, and coerce workers, their family members, and union leaders as they attempted to unionize to protect workers from unfair treatment and abuse by the host countries’ employers. These incidents sparked an campaign entitled, â€Å"Stop Killer Coke†, and a 2009 PBS documentary filmed by German Gutierezz and Carmen Garcia entitled, â€Å"The Coca-Cola Case†Ã‚  to reveal the company’s practices to consumers around the world (Huff, E. A., 2010). Of course, Coca Cola denied the allegations against the company and its bottling partners, where cleared of any wrong doing in the foreign courts. When the case was brought to the United States, Coca Cola fought and succeeded in having its name removed from the lawsuit (Huff, E. A., 2010). Another ethical and social responsibility issue the company encountered, actually there are two environmental issues concerning the depletion of groundwater and polluting of water in India. Coca Cola operates 52 water intensive bottling plants in India using 3.8 liters of freshwater to generate a liter of carbonated drink. While in the Southern Indian village of Plachimada in Kerala state groundwater along with loca l wells dried up forcing residents to rely on water supplies trucked in daily by the government due to persistent droughts, and the company’s bottling plants. In the rural Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where farming is the primary industry the residents have been experiencing similar conditions, only the government is not supplying enough water for the crops. As a result of the groundwater depletion situations the business is not only responsible for the loss of livelihood and hunger for the many citizens across India, but the creation of thirst. In 2003, the other issues of polluted water were discovered near the Kerala and Uttar Pradesh bottling plants. Sludge containing high levels of cadmium, lead, and chromium was given to farmers as free fertilizer to tribal farmers who lived near the plants, but the need for fresh water was overlooked by Coca Cola. As a side note, an Indian nonprofit group tested 57 carbonated beverages made by both Coca Cola and Pepsi at 25 bottling plants were found to be contaminated with between three and five different pesticides (The Corporation, 2009). Although, the organization denied creating the problems, the Indian government ordered Coca Cola to shut down one of its $25 million plants. The organization then thought long and hard about its corporate social responsibility (and lost revenue); and decided to improve their business practices in the local communities, reduced the water usage by 34%, started rainwater harvesting, and returned substantial amounts of water to depleted aquifers. They also stopped distributing sludge, joined with the Indian government to develop additional solid waste disposal sites, and began treating the water used to make soft drinks with activated carbon filtration (The Corporation, 2009). Coca Cola conducted all of these improvements to regain the trust of the local communities and the Indian government. But, my question would be, why not practice these ethical and corporate responsibility policies from the beginning? As more and more organizations are utilizing the opportunity of transitioning into multinational operations, they will have to research how business is conducted, the local laws, as well as the government policies and operation methods of every host country they wish to operate in. Then they will have to incorporate and implement all of their ethical and corporate social responsibility they employ in their home country universally throughout the entire business operation. Creating a unified culture that will adhere to a high level of business behavior in all global operations, respecting all of the local workforces’ cultures and traditions, and eliminating the use of any unethical values or behaviors from home and abroad. References Huff, E. A. (2010, May, 22). Coca Cola’s Murderous Record of Anti-Union Activity Exposed Retrieved from http://www.naturalnews.com/028844_coca-cola_html. The Coca Cola Company (2014). Retrieved from http://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company. The Corporation (2009). Ethical Issues Concerning Coca-Cola in India. Retrieved from http://imaginecorporation.blogspot.com/ethical-issues-concerning-cocacola-in.html Veracity, D. (2006). Coca-Cola, Human Rights and Child Labor Retrieved from http://www.naturalmatters.net/article.asp?article=1301cat=219

A Look At Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe English Literature Essay

A Look At Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe English Literature Essay Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe (1719) is regarded as the most notable forerunner of the English Novel or to some extent the first English Novel. It was written at the beginning a century that witnessed great changes in the economic order. The cognoscenti have dealt with the character of Robinson Crusoe, bringing out several points of view. The motive of this piece of work is to study Crusoes philosophy about trade, religion and non-Europeans in its historical background. These three facets of Crusoes personality are inherently connected with each other and are thus fundamental to an appreciation of Crusoes mindset and character. His disposition towards dealings and religion is prompted by realistic considerations. He capitalizes on non-Europeans and is backed by spiritual beliefs in his discriminating treatment. The next consideration of the three main aspects of Crusoes nature will help us to grasp his character and inform us of the prevalent trends of the Eighteenth Century. Right from the beginning, Crusoe appears to be a star-crossed navigator and tradesman, however his ambitions are not impeded by shipwrecks and captivity. He is not the archetype of a man who could be impelled to abandon his Marxist principles by bad luck; contrariwise these misfortunes and his defencelessness tend to become a driving force. Robinson has the personality of a well-bred dealer whom setback or hardship does not break but whose perseverance and composure are magnified. Such mischance adds to his wisdom and predisposes him to future challenges. He never omits any scope for investment and commerce. In Brazil, besides exploring other opportunities for making money, he cautiously inspects the land, the plantations, and the regulation of the country. Crusoe undoubtedly inherited his methodical and businesslike way of living from his natal home in York. To put down roots as a planter in Brazil, it is needed to acquire property and obtain an allowable license. He makes profits on the situation and starts out to contemplate future prospects as a prosperous planter. Crusoe is the only one who survives from the hapless shipwreck. Although the craft is filled with water, he takes all the useful items to the island. He dwells on this remote island thanks to his remarkable shrewdness. His living the supervision of the resources on the isle and his discrimination in the dreariest details of everyday life are germane to his mercantile interests. Albeit he calls money a Drug and nasty, sorry, useless Stuff he does not get rid of it but rather encases it in a piece of canvas and preserves it for the future. Robinson Crusoes life as a dynamic trader arises out of his arrival in Lisbon after having spent more than twenty-eight years on the island. It is as though he were leading off a new life from scratch inquiring about the state of his plantation in Brazil and aiming at renewing his old trade contacts. He discovers that his plantation is still thriving and earns from its profits over five thousand pounds in sterling silver. Thenceforth, he disposes of his plantings and takes up residence in England. Crusoes feeling about nature is likewise practical. He exploits the island exclusively for his own subsistence and satisfaction and feels no aesthetic gladness form its magnificent scenery. He just fusses about the improvement of his land and has no leisure to notice that the island provides a beautiful landscape. Crusoes sole pleasure comes from examining his goods: I had everything so ready at my Hand and that is was a great Pleasure to me to see all my Goods in such order and especially to find my Stock of all Necessaries so great. He always pleaded for his freedom when he was on the Island of Despair. But after his deliverance, and on getting back home, he is not inclined to overlook the investment he has made in the island. Apart from his nostalgic association for him, the island is linked to his commercial motives. He writes: Besides this I shard the island into parts with em, reservd to myself the Property of the whole, but gave them such Parts respectively as they agred on; and having settld all Things with them, and engagd them not to leave the Place, I left them there. Crusoes penchant for mercantilism proves to be surprisingly realistic and precautionary; his thrifty investments have brought him a substantial coming back. He is an affluent tradesman and his adventures represent the virtues of individualism and absolute economic, social and intellectual freedom for the individual. Despite the recurrent religious cogitations in Defoes story, we are aware that it would be inaccurate to take the purpose of the novel or even its central theme as being pious in nature. Intuitively assessed, the book looks secular, more instantly and more steadily concerned with a mans earthly fulfillment than with his duty towards the Providence under the guidance of religion. After returning to England, Crusoes comparison of himself to the biblical character Job in chapter XXIX displays much about how he gives his martyrdom religious meaning: I might well say now indeed, that the latter End of Job was better than the Beginning. It is impossible to express here the Flutterings of my very Heart when I looked over these Letters and especially when I found all my Wealth about me; for as the Brazil Ships come all in Fleets, the same Ships which brought my Letters brought my Goodsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . Like Job, whose religious devotion was gauged by God through the deprivation of family and wealth, Crusoe is dispossessed of his money while nonetheless pledging allegiance to the Deity. In a similar way, the protagonists pride in escaping the middle Station is a mark of Greek mythology in which the characters suffer from hubris and are therefore scourged by their sin. His fathers dictum sounds like a prophetic statement for Crusoes predicament: Boy might be happy if he would stay at Home, but if he goes abroad he will be the most miserable Wretch that was ever born. He unremittingly ponders over his connection with the Lord throughout the novel and how much God is penalizing him for his wicked Days. Halfway through the novel, Robinson, after a long rumination on whether religion allowed him to murder without warning or provoking the cannibals on the island, ends by observing that they might kill him. His observation is: Religion joyned in with this prudentialà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦me. Religion has a way of concurring with the protection and comfort of Defoes fictional character. As we said previously, Crusoes maiden imprudence is going off to sea without his fathers consent, which is viewed by him and is considered to be so viewed by us, as deliberate insubordination to God, that these calamities are meant to lead him into remorse for his offence and into the pardon and kindness of God, and that his ultimate prosperity is a proof of Gods care for him. Despite the dramatic events, Crusoes temperament does not seem to alter, even if he is in a state of sin or of repentance. The necessity of repentance is a key element in the novel. The Preface indicates the moral and religious dimensions of the story, which states that Crusoes travelogue is published to instruct others in Gods wisdom and the importance of repenting ones sins: The Story is told with Modesty, with Seriousness, and with a religious application of Events to the Uses to which wise Men always apply them to the Instruction of others by this Example, and to justify and honour the Wisdom of Providence in all the Variety of our Circumstances, let them happen how they will. Crusoe needs compunction most when he is told from the fiery angelic figure that comes to him during a feverish hallucination and says: Seeing all these Things have not brought you to repentance, now you shall die. He believes that his major sin is his rebellious behaviour towards his father, which he compares to a biblical reference: I have been in all my Circumstances a Memento to those who are touched with the general Plague of Mankind, whence, for ought I know, one half of their Miseries flow; I mean, that of not being satisfyd with the Station wherein God and Nature has placd them; for not to look back upon my primitive Condition, and the excellent Advice of my Father, the Opposition to which was, as I may call it, my original Sin. It is akin to Adam and Eves defiance of God, which may suggest that Crusoes exile from civilization symbolizes Adam and Eves expulsion from Eden. According to Robinson, contrition consists of acknowledging his desolation and his complete reliance upon the Lord. A main part of the plot of the novel relies on the fact that Crusoe is shipwrecked on the island as Gods way of bringing him to repentance and redemption. On several occasions in the novel, Defoe achieved a kind of grandeur of vision; in which the might and majesty of God are praised: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I had now brought my state of lifeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦next to miraculous. Here the Puritan sense of the grace of God for an unworthy sinner is well-expressed. It is unlikely that a hypocrite would pen these lines. If the intensity of religious belief appears less in Defoe and the concern with substantial success greater than in the works of his puritan predecessors, that intensity of feeling is yet anything but missing. This may seem the mark of a hypocritical religious belief, despising the wealthy yet labouring to achieve them, but to the Puritan, there is nothing contradictory in this. The most unpleasant leitmotiv in Defoes novel is the way Crusoe behaves towards non-Europeans. The fact that his attitude is very repulsive arouses our interest, for it assures us to understand the foundations of British Imperialism that were being laid at when the novel was written. There is no possibility but that the opinions expressed by Crusoe are those of the author as well. We know enough of Defoes own political career as an agent of the Prime Minister who made the treaty endowing Great Britain with its slaving rights, Sir Robert Harely, to be certain he was in concord with British policy. Moreover it is obvious that Defoe is manifesting his casual sense of superiority to non-Europeans, as shown by his readers sympathy, even to the point of making native humour one of the interests of the novel. We shall consider four aspects of Robinson Crusoe before trying to come to some conclusion: the jocular use of language to characterize non-Europeans; the prejudice practiced by Crusoe; Crusoes belief that other peoples should work for him; and his reflections on nationality. The first part of the demonstration seems innocuous, but it is not. The problem lies in the fact that both Xury and Friday speak very bad English indeed. Concerning Xury, the thing that may surprise us is that he speaks English, because we are told that Crusoe had no fellow-Europeans to communicate with while he was at Sallee. We should expect that he and his fellow slaves would speak Turkish or Arabic or Berber, some language that is used in the Maghreb. Nevertheless Xury speaks bad English in conversing with Crusoe. As for Friday, he could not utter a word in English before meeting Crusoe. Yet, his English is no better than Xurys, even after some three or four years of continual conversation in English. Despite this, other foreigners, from Europe like the Portuguese sea-captain, speak completely good English. Now the vernacular is one mark, a most meaningful sign, of the equivalence between human beings. That Defoe presents Xury and Friday thus, making funny use of their defective English, has the insidious effect of making us perceive them as somehow inferior to Crusoe and to Englishmen in general. The second thing to clarify is another token of Crusoes discrimination. In the episode where Crusoe, after having decided not to interfere in the cannibalistic customs of the Indians on the island, changes his mind on the spur of the moment and does interfere, the reason of his intervention is that one of the victims is a European. This could be abstractly justified, on the basis of Crusoes concept of nationalities. Still, this would be too insubstantial to account for the strength of Crusoes reaction. Fridays pronouncement that one of the victims is a European fired all the very Soul within him. He was filled with Horror at the very Naming of the white bearded man, whom he saw vividly was a European, and had clothes on. Such a fact clearly unfolds Crusoes real sympathy for Europeans, whatever he might say in calmer moments. The coming idea we have referred to is not easy to elaborate. We can pay attention to the fact that Crusoe is never disposed to acknowledge a relation on equal terms with non-Europeans. He purposely strives for appearing to them awe-inspiring and assumes, as a matter of course, that they should be willing to offer up their lives for his privilege. Lastly, the fourth aspect to expound is that Crusoes concept of nationalities, though not racist, seems to be prejudiced against the bulk of native peoples who are seen as evil and deserving of Gods punishment. It is true that he leaves it to God to punish them, but the expression of the theory is meant to limit our empathy for them. In the following paragraph Crusoe goes on to observe: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦we did not know by what Light and Law these should be condemned; but that as God was necessarily, and by the Nature of His Being, infinitely holy and just, so it could not be, but that if these Creatures were all sentenced to Absence from himself; it was on Account of sinning against the Lightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.

Bach; Brandenberg Concertos Essay -- essays research papers

The Brandenburg Concertos   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the most profoundly inspired and masterful composers in history, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750), was born into a musical family in Eisenach, Germany. Born into a musical family his father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was a talented violinist, and taught his son the basic skills of string-playing. Another relation, the organist at Eisenach’s most important church, intructed the young boy on the organ.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1695, Johann Sebastian was orphaned; he went to live with his older brother, Johann Christoph, in Ohrdruf. Johann Christoph was a professional organist, and continued his younger brother’s education on that instrument, as well as on the harpsichord. After several years in this arrangement, Johann Sebastian won a scholarship to study in Luneberg, Northern Germany, and so left his brothers tutelage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A master of several instruments while still in his teens, Johann Sebastian first found employment at the age of 18 as a violinist in a court orchestra in Weimar. Soon after, he took a job as an organist at a church in Arnstadt (1703-1707). Here, as in later posts, his perfectionist tendencies and high expectations of other musicians – for example, the church choir – rubbed his colleagues the wrong way, and he was embroiled in a number of hot disputes during his short tenure. In 1707, at the age of 22, Bach became fed up with the lousy musical standards of Ar...

Cross Cultural Negotiations :: essays research papers

Cross cultural negotiation is one of many specialized areas within the wider field of cross cultural communications. By taking cross cultural negotiation training, negotiators and sales personnel give themselves an advantage over competitors. There is an argument that proposes that culture is inconsequential to cross cultural negotiation. It maintains that as long as a proposal is financially attractive it will succeed. However, this is a naà ¯ve way of approaching international business. Let us look at a brief example of how cross cultural negotiation training can benefit the international business person: There are two negotiators dealing with the same potential client in the Middle East. Both have identical proposals and packages. One ignores the importance of cross cultural negotiation training believing the proposal will speak for itself. The other undertakes some cross cultural training. He/she learns about the culture, values, beliefs, etiquette and approaches to business, meetings and negotiations. Nine times out of ten the latter will succeed over the rival. This is because 1) it is likely they would have endeared themselves more to the host negotiation team and 2) they would be able to tailor their approach to the negotiations in a way that maximises the potential of a positive outcome. Cross cultural negotiations is about more than just how foreigners close deals. It involves looking at all factors that can influence the proceedings. By way of highlighting this, a few brief examples of topics covered in cross cultural negotiation training shall be offered. Eye Contact : In the US, UK and much of northern Europe, strong, direct eye contact conveys confidence and sincerity. In South America it is a sign of trustworthiness. However, in some cultures such as the Japanese, prolonged eye contact is considered rude and is generally avoided. Personal Space & Touch: In Europe and North America, business people will usually leave a certain amount of distance between themselves when interacting. Touching only takes place between friends. In South America or the Middle East, business people are tactile and like to get up close. In Japan or China, it is not uncommon for people to leave a gap of four feet when conversing. Touching only takes place between close friends and family members. Time: Western societies are very ‘clock conscious? Time is money and punctuality is crucial. This is also the case in countries such as Japan or China where being late would be taken as an insult. However, in South America, southern Europe and the Middle East, being on time for a meeting does not carry the same sense of urgency.

Who Is To Blame For Our Actions :: essays research papers

Assumption of Risk: Who is to Blame For Our Actions The doctrine of "assumption of risk" clearly defines the responsibility of all voluntary actions taken on by individuals, independent of the inherent risk or danger involved with such actions. Are we only to assume responsibility for the positive outcomes of our actions, without also accepting the negative outcomes as well? Most individuals only claim responsibility in cases in which they are fully responsible for their actions. Living within a country which houses a large amount of private enterprise, we often find ourselves relying on outside help. In many occasions we, the individual seeking assistance, hold the power to choose which avenue of help will be taken. In these cases in which we have the choice, should we not also be held responsible for the outcomes of our decisions, especially in cases in which we have been pre-warned about any inherent risks or dangers? For example, When we take it upon ourselves to drive on a private road, smoke cigarettes, work for a mining company, or fly on a discount airline at our own volition, do we tacitly consent to take responsibility for any outcome these actions may hold? The "assumption of risk" doctrine seems to ignore the fundamental obligation of entities to ensure their natural goals. The distinguishing factor in deciding responsibility in faultless cases which call on the "assumption of risk" doctrine is the control held by individuals after the situation has begun. In accordance, companies such as discount airlines and cigarette companies must take on the responsibility of completing their duties, while individuals who chose to work in a mine or drive on a private road must accept the responsibility of their actions to do so. All airlines hold the responsibility of transporting their customers from a point of origin to a previously designated destination. The person who agrees to buy a discount airline ticket, which warns to "fly at your own risk," is entitled to receive the minimum service of transportation provided by the airline. The individual traveler should assume no other benefits other than transportation. The airline company claims this act of transportation to be its goal of services rendered. Independent of difficulties which may arise in completing this goal, the airline may not alter the basic duty which it is contractually obligated to perform. The airline tacitly consented to perform this basic duty the moment they began transporting individuals for an accepted payment. Once an individual has boarded the airplane they render all control over their safety to the accepting airline which holds the minimum responsibility of returning the individual back to a state of safety once their

Assess How Martin Gaite Takes on the Task of Confronting Recent History Both Aesthetically and Ethically in El Cuarto de Atras.

Assess how Martin Gaite takes on the task of confronting recent history both aesthetically and ethically in El cuarto de atras. El cuarto de atras is Carmen Martin Gaite’s first post-Franco novel. Encompassing two very distinct genres, it is a fantastical novel, whilst in the same framework, a realist memoir of a woman growing up in post-war Spain. Through the use of the fantastic mode, the author approaches the real social history of the Civil War and post war period.This essay, will explore how Martin Gaite confronts this recent history, illustrating the hostile political environment of her youth and the anxiety it engendered. Through aesthetic techniques, particularly the fantastic mode, the novel facilitates a recollection of memories, which for many, were tarred with pain and anger. What we discover is that Martin Gaite’s intended purpose for her novel is not direct criticism of the fascist regime, but rather she aims to capture the collective memory of a generatio n, a memory which is often difficult to yield.To begin, it necessary to understand Martin Gaite’s decision to write her novel in this way, by gaining a sense of the climate of opinion which prevailed among the leading writers at the end of Franco’s rule, the time when Martin Gaite wrote El cuarto de atras. One of her contemporaries, the influential Juan Goytisolo, published an essay in 1967, which criticises the insipid realistic literature that was written in post-war Spain. He warns that Spanish novelists seem to have lost the ability to smile, despite belonging to a literary tradition that can draw on Cervantes and Larra.Goytisolo claims that, preoccupied with fighting Franco with words, he and his contemporaries have failed to serve either their cause or the wider interests of literature itself. In his essay, he writes: Digamoslo con claridad: las generaciones venideras nos pediran cuentas, sin duda, de nuestra actual conducta civica, pero no tomaran a esta en cons ideracion si, paralelamente a nuestra responsabilidad moral de ciudadanos, no manifestamos nuestra responsabilidad artistica como escritores.No basta, en efecto, reclamar la libertad: tenemos que probarla desde ahora con la autenticidad y responsabilidad de nuestras obras (Wood 2012: 48). Martin Gaite acknowledged and responded to this need for a new form of literature that did not rely solely on politics and realism. On November 23, 1975, the day that Franco died, she set out to write El cuarto de atras. Her novel would focus on two main literary goals; Firstly, to write a social history of the post-war era and secondly to write a fantastic novel.The novel is narrated by a woman called ‘C’, similar to Martin Gaite herself, who tells the story of an unexpected visit by a mysterious man, in the middle of the night. He has come to interview her. During their night-long conversation, the interviewer encourages the narrator in her recollection of her past. During the course of the conversation, the two protagonists notice that in the corner of the room, there is a pile of papers, which continues to grow. At the end of the novel, we learn that this stack of pages comprises the novel itself, even entitled ‘El cuarto de atras’.Their conversation has produced a novel. This powerful metafictional image of the written manuscript of the novel appearing within the novel itself creates a sense of participation amongst her readers. In the final pages, when the protagonist picks up the manuscript, we suddenly become aware of the novel we hold in our hands, and see it now as a mere artefact, the product of the conversation to which we have been aesthetically participating. The mystery behind this metafiction helps in establishing the ‘fantastic’ genre of the novel.Todorov gives a three-part definition of the fantastic genre, all three met in El cuarto de atras, ‘the reader considers the fictional world as real, the reader and the n arrator share a hesitation over whether or not what they perceive derives from commonly-held definitions of reality, and no allegorical interpretation of the unexplainable is advanced’ (Brown 1987: 41). Throughout the novel, the narrator mentions Todorov and quotes several times from his works. The narrator literally stumbles over Todorov’s book at the very start of the novel and later on, she spills water on the book, in doing so, making it more real.She even comes across a note she made when finishing reading the book, promising that one day ‘voy a escribir una novela fantastica’ (p 27). By the end of the novel, when she picks up the manuscript entitled ‘El cuarto de atras’, we realise that this is in fact, the fantastic novel which she promised she would write. The following description constructed by Todorov himself indicates why Martin Gaite decided to use the fantastic mode in her novel: ‘The supernatural thereby becomes a symbol o f language, just as the figures of rhetoric do, and the figure is, as we have seen, the purest form of literality’ (Brown 1987: 153).As well as heightening the creativity of her realist memoirs, Martin Gaite depends on the fantastic genre to uncover certain truths, which lie in hidden memories. Explaining, ‘cuando se traspasa esa frontera entre lo que estas convencido de que es verdad y lo que ya sabes si es verdad o mentira, puede ser posible todo’[1], it is apparent that in using the fantastic, mixing reality with mystery, she makes possible the difficult task of confronting painful, distressing memories experienced during the Civil war in Spain. The fantastic genre of El cuarto de atras is actually determined by the interviewer, the â€Å"man in the black hat†.The mystery of this nocturnal visitor remains unresolved and we finish the novel not knowing if his visit was real or dreamt-up by the narrator. From his very arrival, a fantastic apparition mater ialises, with the huge cockroach on the stairway, whose eyes, she will later note, exactly resemble his. ‘With its monstrous appearance [†¦ ] the insect summons the reader to anticipate the unknown. While the insect is described in detail, the man whose entry follows is not’ (Brown 1987: 151). The absent description of this character is one of several unresolved ambiguities of the novel, taking us in to the territory of the fantastic.It is in this territory and through her conversation with this ghostly character, that the narrator is able to recall her memories. The narrator realises that her difficulty in writing the memoir was due to the fact that she wanted to recapture more than just facts, ‘lo que yo queria rescatar era algo mas inaprensible, eran las miguitas, no las piedrecitas blancas’ (p. 120). With the image of white pebbles and breadcrumbs, a symbol from Perrault’s stories, we learn that she grasps how the truth about history, identi ty and collective memory, is made up of fragments, like pieces of a puzzle.Acting as her conscience, the interviewer certifies this in saying ‘tendria que aprender a escribir como habla’ (p. 120). This reflects Martin Gaite’s view that historical narrative does not suffice if and when constructing a novel which successfully approaches such a painful past. For the narrator, rather than assisting her, facts and historical data have acted as an obstacle. Martin Gaite creates a fantastic memoir, with dimensions of both reality and mystery, allowing the readers to find some form of escapism in her novel. As Robert C.Spires notes, the fantastic ‘frees both writer and reader from a one-dimensional, cause and effect, view of existence’ (1984:120). This creative release, which Martin Gaite seeks in her employment of the fantastic, hints at Spain’s sudden release from the Franco regime. In a further metafictional reference, the narrator explains how, si nce her childhood, she has experienced a form of escape through literature and fantasy. In her composition, as a child, of a novel revolving around a mythical island called Bergai, she demonstrates her desire to escape the strict silence of the regime.By declaring her own search for freedom through literature, Martin Gaite hopes that her novel will encourage the freeing of unspoken memories that her own generation has been hiding. The very title of the novel and the plurality of it’s meaning, indicates Martin Gaite’s desire to liberate memories. The narrator recalls how, ‘El cuarto de atras’ was the place where she used to play as a child, enjoying its freedom to develop her creative imagination. With the war, ‘el cuarto de atras’ begins to be appropriated by adults to store ‘articulos de primera necesidad’ (p. 157).The narrator explains, ‘hasta que dejamos de tener cuarto para jugar, porque los articulos de primera necesida d desplazaron y arrinconaron nuestra infancia, el juego y la subsistencia coexistieron en una convivencia agria de olores incompatibles’ (p. 160). ‘Politics seemed to be part of the adult world and the changes brought about by war seemed like rules for an unexplained new game’ (O’leary and Ribeiro de Menezes 2008:114). Her description reveals her imagination, yet at the same time, serves to depict the ways in which the war impeded on such basic aspects of everyday life.Through her innocence as a child, she does not politically criticise the war, but instead, discusses its inconveniences on her life as she grew up. The plurality of meaning that surrounds ‘El cuarto de atras’ surfaces in a further description of this space: ‘me lo imagino tambien como un desvan del cerebro [†¦ ] separado [†¦ ] por una cortina que solo se descorre de vez en cuando; los recuerdos que pueden darnos alguna sorpresa viven agazapados en el cuarto de at ras, siempre salen de alli, y solo cuando quieren, no sirve hostigarlos† (p. 83).In the novel, the task of pulling back the curtain is undertaken by the interviewer, as it can be perceived that his role is to help the narrator reveal hidden memories. This task of confronting past experiences is not an easy one, as it can un-surface deep fear and anger. ‘It must be remembered that government repression was a formalised expression of the psychological mechanisms adopted by a people whose horror had to be assuaged’ (Brown 1987:162). In establishing the mode of the fantastic, Martin Gaite pulls back the curtain on past realities, and in doing so, captures collective memory.The novel gives a realistic account of life as a child growing up in Spain in 1930’s and 40’s. The narrator points out that Franco came to power when she was only nine years old and she speaks openly about the effects the Civil War had on her. She recalls personal experiences such as h er uncle’s murder because he was a Socialist and the imprisonment of her friend’s parents because they were ‘Rojos’. Her recollections originate from her perception of them as a child, for example, trips to the bomb shelter are just another game.This innocence and political ignorance of her childhood memories help Martin Gaite to steer away from the blame game and political motives, giving instead, an account of what she experienced and how she perceived things as a child. The compelling image which most effectively achieves this is that of Franco’s daughter. The narrator remembers envying her but also feeling sorry for her. We see her sympathising with Carmencita’s grief as a daughter during the dictator’s funeral. Stating that ‘en mi casa, no eran franquistas’, we learn that the narrator is subtle when probed on Franco himself.Although critique on his leadership is inevitable, she avoids using her novel to directly attac k Franco, but rather to give an account of the effect of his dominance on society. As she watches Carmencita Franco at her father’s funeral, the narrator thinks about what they have in common and realises that they share the same collective memory as women who grew up in a patriarchal society. The novel explores the importance of the ‘Seccion Femenina’ and of romantic fiction to her generation of women. Martin Gaite offers the reader an insight, often overlooked in history books, into the ideological inculcation of women during the Franco period’ (O’Leary and Ribeiro de Menezes 2008: 115). She explains, Todas las arengas que monitores y camaradas nos lanzaban en aquellos locales inhospitos, mezcla de hangar y de cine de pueblo, donde cumpli a reganadientes el Servicio Social, cosiendo dobladillos, haciendo gimnasia y jugando al baloncesto, se encaminaban, en definitiva, al mismo objetivo: a que aceptasemos con alegria y orgullo [†¦] nuestra con dicion de mujeres fuertes, complemento y espejo del varon. p. 85) This description has been structured in such a way as to sarcastically signify what was expected on women during the regime. She is able to look back with humour on the expectations of the society she grew up in. As Brown suggests, ‘Luckily, she learned at an early age that the sentiments of the Fascists ruling party were not those of her own family, and that there was a dichotomy between what was thought at home and what was valued outside’ (Brown 1987: 158).Martin Gaite discretely ignored the inhibitions to freedom imposed by the Government’s restrictions and with the support of her mother, she attended university, surpassing the limited, narrow parameters of women’s lives. However, it is apparent that she was in fact influenced by the social tendencies of the time. Through her references to Hollywood stars such as Garbo, and her vision of the interviewer as the hero of a romantic novel, w e discover that her thoughts and behaviour are influenced by romantic literature and Hollywood glamour.The fantasy of each of these became a reality and something these women were expected to aspire towards as a sort of model of behaviour. Sharing such memories with her reader, providing an insight into the social customs of recent history, collective memory is captured. The narrator explains her difficulty in writing her memoirs because her memories of the war and post-war years are disordered and confused. She describes the post war period as ‘un panorama tan ancho y tan revuelto, como una habitacion donde cada cosa esta en su sitio precisamente al haberse salido de su sitio’ (p. 93).Her desire to write these memoirs arises when she is watching Franco’s funeral. As she watches the funeral procession, she summarises what she recalled of Franco’s dominance in the society she grew up in, ‘Franco pescando truchas, Franco en el Pazo de Mieras, Franco en los sellos, Franco en el NO-DO’ (p. 119). The image of Franco was everywhere. As she watches his funeral, the narrator states ‘el tiempo se desbloqueaba’ (p. 119). ‘Franco’s death set time in motion again, as well as language, thus allowing the author to explore the recent past and personal history (O’Leary and Ribeiro 2008:113).The disorder of time and space, in El cuarto de atras, brings forth a revelation in ethically confronting recent history, establishing a contrast with the imposed order of the regime whose end has inspired this fantastic memoir. As a final point, attention should be drawn to the tension that Martin Gaite creates in her depiction of life in Franco’s Spain. This tension lies between her description of the stasis of life under Franco and the life that she managed to live. During this ‘frozen’ time period, the narrator succeeds in becoming both a novelist and a mother.Despite the limitations, obligatio ns and deprivation of the dictatorship, she recalls how her childhood and adolescence were happy. The juxtaposition between stasis and dynamism is most brilliantly described in her comparison of the Franco dictatorship with that of the game ‘escondite ingles’. Under the threatening eye of the dictatorship, people stood still and froze but behind the back of the regime, when and where they had the opportunity, they strove to run their lives as they pleased. In using a popular childhood game to highlight uch tension, her readers are able to return to their past, focusing not on their pain and anger, but rather on the rhythm of life during this period. To conclude, Martin Gaite’s novel, succeeds in offering a new style of writing when confronting recent history. The complex interaction between reality and fantasy, produces a creative and gripping memoir which attempts to capture the collective memory of a generation. In recalling her memories as a child and depictin g the role expected of women, Martin Gaite provides us with an insight of what it was like to experience life under Franco.El cuarto de atras succeeds as a work that enables us to lift the curtain on painful memories that have been hidden away by so many. The recovery of this memory is a difficult task, but by taking us into the world of the fantastic, these memories can find a path to escape. Bibliography Martin Gaite, Carmen. 2009. El cuarto de atras, (Madrid: Libros del Tiempo, Ediciones Siruela). Adrian M. Garcia, 2000. Silence in the Novels of Carmen Martin Gaite (New York: Peter Lang). Lipman Brown, Jo. 1987. Secrets from the Back Room: the Fiction of Carmen Martin Gaite’ (Valencia: University of Mississippi Press).O’Leary and Ribeiro de Menezes, 2008. A Companion to Carmen Martin Gaite (Woodbridge: Tamesis). Robert C. Spires, 1984. Beyond the Metafictional Mode – Directions in the Modern Spanish Novel (Lexington: Kentucky University Press, 1984). Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic – A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre trans. Richard Howard (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975). Wood, Gareth J. 2012. Javier Marias’s Debt to translation (Oxford: Oxford University Press). ———————– [1] Martin Gaite, quoted in Gazarian Gautier ‘Conversacion con Carmen Martin Gaite en Nueva York’, 11.