Choicepoint and Sony, an Ethical Analysis Essay Example for Free

Choicepoint and Sony, an Ethical Analysis Essay Ethics refers to what comes off as right or wrong to an individual’s conscience .The internet age has brought about new ethical issues, not only for an individual but for the society as well as it has eased anonymous manipulation and distribution of information, creating new and easier paths for committing crimes like piracy, identity theft, infringement of an individual’s privacy etc. In this paper we will be analyzing the Choice-point case and the ‘Sony data breach ‘case from an ethical point of view. (Laudon Laudon, 2010, p.128) Background: The ChoicePoint Data breach: On September 27 of 2004, ChoicePoint,a company that aggregates and stores personal information, suspected that some of its small business customers were involved in suspicious activities and informed the police. (Paine, Phillips, 2008)On February of 2005, ChoicePoint only notified those residents of California whose data had been leaked to the illegal customers, since a certain law in California requires it. A protest from the public, however, forced the company to notify the details of the breach to the other involved parties residing in the other states. The swindlers who scammed ChoicePoint had created over 50 accounts with previously stolen identities over the course of a year or even longer. (Pantesco, 2006) Look more:  the issues concerning identity theft essay Changes in business practices (Otto, Anton Baumer, 2007): ChoicePoint made numerous changes after the 2004-2005 data breach. The company closed the 50 fake accounts and made a policy to refuse any faxed business licenses in the future .The Company formed a new policy, that all nongovernmental organizations need to be re-credentialed in order to do business with it, and increased its procedures in verifying the identity of the company. More stringent and better business policies in ensuring the safety of their customer’s data, for e.g. partial masking of social security numbers were employed. The company continued its investigations of its databases for further indications of foul play and brought in outsiders to assess and rectify their practices. The Sony Data Breach: The Sony data breach was a result of an intrusion from an outsider party, causing an outage in the PlayStation Network and Qriocity’s services between 17th April 2011 and 19th April, 2011.A confirmation from Sony revealed that pieces of personal information had been stolen from each and every 77 million accounts. This breach resulted in Sony shutting off the PlayStation Network for 23 days. (Hirai, 2011) Sony stated that the chairman of the company had submitted explanations wanted by United States House subcommittee regarding the attack and that they were taking some measures to prevent further breaches. When questioned about the delay in making the breach public, Sony explained that they’d sought help from outside officials to conduct an investigation in order to comprehend the nature and magnitude of the incident; and hence forensic analysis and investigation had caused the delay since they wanted to have all the necessary details before making the breach public. On May 14, 2011, Sony released a security patch called PlayStation 3 firmware version 3.61 requiring users to change their password upon signing into their account in the PlayStation Network. (Seybold, 2011) Compensation: In compensation for this outage, Sony announced hosting of special events for their users. Sony wanted to appreciate the loyalty of the customers who stuck to using Play Station network and didn’t look for other alternatives. Hence Sony announced an extension of free 30 days of its various services for its existing users. Also, few of their games in the PlayStation network were made free, though these games are available only in some regions or countries. In addition to that Sony also offered one year’s worth of â€Å"free identity theft protection’ to all of its customers. (Wesley, 2011) Ethical Analysis According to Culnan and Williams (2009, p.679),the two aspects of morality that are principal to the relationship between information aggregators and information providers are vulnerability and avoiding harm. Aspect of Vulnerability Analysis: Since the customer gives away his data in exchange for something in return, he loses control on how that information would be used in the future.(Culnan Williams, 2009, p. 681) The firm that is aggregating the data has the duty to exercise caution in protecting the consumer’s vulnerability, not only for the sake of the customer but also to build its own reputation. However, in the cases of both ChoicePoint and Sony breach, the consumers were vulnerable. Individuals whose data ChoicePoint and Sony stored lacked knowledge about the risks posed by Choice Point’s credentialing procedures or the way personal information was stored by Sony. Aspect of â€Å"Do No Harm† Analysis: Most ethicists are of the opinion that data aggregators have the minimum duty of doing no harm whenever there is an issue concerning information privacy rights (DeGeorge 2006; Goodpaster 1987; Marcoux 2003; Valesquez 2003 as cited in Culnan Williams, 2009), even more so when their treatment of the consumer’s sensitive personal information makes the consumers unnecessarily vulnerable. (Culnan Williams, 2009, p. 682) In both the cases of ChoicePoint and Sony Data breach however, the ‘DO NO Harm’ principle was violated and moral responsibility was clearly absent in the behavior of the officials of these firms. (Culnan Williams, 2009, p. 682)ChoicePoint’s questionable intentions in delaying the notification of the breach to the public and the fact that ChoicePoint only bothered to search records that were leaked within 15 months to the date of the search ,until pressurized, were criticized heavily.( Evers, 2005)Further investigations revealed that ChoicePoint had been subjected to a similar scam in 2002.( Paine, Phillips, 2008) The fact that ChoicePoint could be duped so easily within two years proved that ChoicePoint hadn’t done anything to improve its practices since the last breach. Similarly, Sony also had a delay in notifying the users of PlayStation network about the breach. The public disputed Sony’s reason for its delay by speculating that, if Sony judged the situation to be so grave that it felt the need to shut down its PlayStation network, then they should have warned the public without any delay as well. Moreover, Sony failed to give any concrete reports regarding the breach and merely stated that they cannot rule out the possibility of a ‘username or password ‘leak. One more thing to be noted is that the fiends could have possibly gotten information like email addresses and first names of the customers who had consented to receiving information about new deals or products from Sony or its partners.Now, there is a pretty good chance that the fiends might send emails in the format of a Sony webpage template and extract valuable information from those customers. Hence this breach indirectly paved the way for more unintentional breaches in the future. (Eddy, 2011) According to, (Laudon Laudon, 2010,p.135),the basic Concepts of ethics are as follows: Responsibility: where the individual or the organization should accept the duties, costs and obligations for the decisions that it made. Accountability: where the organization should be aware of what decision is taken by whom. If it is impossible to find out who was responsible for what action then that organization is basically incapable of ethical analysis. Liability: this basically extends the concept of responsibility to legal actions where the affected individuals should be able to get compensation for their damages. Analysis : In my opinion, both ChoicePoint and Sony showed half-hearted ethics on these incidents as a whole. While Choicepoint did inform officials about the breach as soon as it found out, yet it only felt necessary to inform the public because of the California law. The people in the other states were notified because of public outcry. Also limiting the search results for leaked records to only 15 months prior to the date of the search just because it was necessary by the law was another mistake on ChoicePoint’s part. Thus ChoicePoint violated the ethical concepts of responsibility and accountability yet they seemed to have understood their mistake when they were making changes in their policies and practices after the 2004-2005 breach, and were willing to take corrective actions. But it is debatable whether ChoicePoint’s corrective measures were taken to save its own business or whether it genuinely cared for the affected individuals. Similarly, though Sony did do necessary investigations, it failed to concretely identify which parties had been affected or what kind of information have been stolen. Similar to ChoicePoint, there was a delay in notifying the public regarding the breach. Hence, there is a dearth of responsibility and accountability from Sony’s side as well .The compensations given can similarly be argued to be a ploy for keeping itself in the market. While, ChoicePoint and Sony offered free credit monitoring and free identity theft protection respectively for one year, they disregarded the possibility that the thieves might lie low and take advantage of the stolen information after the passage of a year. Hence these companies showed half-heartedness in being ethically liable as well.

Contemporary Use of Rhetoric Essay Example for Free

Contemporary Use of Rhetoric Essay Aristotle believed that rhetoric is an art that could, and should, be studied and that good rhetoric is not only persuasive but also ethical. I agree with Aristotle’s claim that good rhetoric is not only persuasive but it is ethical. Rhetoric is value neutral in that the principles of rhetoric are not necessarily moral or immoral; it is dependent on how they are utilized. I believe it is unethical when good rhetorical principles are used to persuade the ignorant or the unwary of things which are against their best interest and is used to force the beliefs of the hegemonic group of our society upon other less powerful cultural groups. While many believe public engagement in rhetoric has been geared towards establishing absolute truth applicable to the universal appeals of human nature, I believe the principles of rhetoric are used in this modern era unethically to perpetuate certain dominant ideologies in order to maintain social hierarchies. By analyzing modern media and applying the theories and discoveries of the scholars we have discussed throughout the quarter such as, Nietzsche, Habermas, and Fraser it is apparent how language is currently used unethically in attempt to rhetorically persuade the public. As we learned in class, â€Å"rhetoric is one of the oldest and most studied human arts in Western civilization. † The rhetorical tradition can be traced back to the Sophists who first taught rhetoric in the ancient Mediterranean world and were viewed as controversial figures because of it. The Sophists, and specifically Aristotle, laid the groundwork for modern public communication. The Sophists were the first to systematize rhetoric into a true art or discipline and believed that anyone could become a skilled rhetorician with proper teaching and practice. Aristotle was essentially the ‘father’ of rhetorical study and was the first person to systematize the study of rhetoric into a rational system of argument and presentation. He was the scholar that created the three genres (deliberative, epideictic, forensic) and appeals (ethos, logos, pathos) of rhetoric and many of his ideas still remain extremely relevant today, nearly 2,500 years since his lifetime. Aristotle’s ideas are still considered and applied to many forms of contemporary rhetoric. However, although the Greek rhetorical tradition and Aristotle’s beliefs helped shape and define rhetoric and are grounded in its foundations, it has evolved greatly over the centuries and is now used in unethical manners. As we learned in class, although rhetorical tradition viewed rhetoric as an instrument, persuasion, rational, and public art that was a tool of cultural heroes, the contemporary era of rhetoric started focusing less on how to persuade and more on how public audiences are produced by rhetoric and language. Although I believe that the classical rhetoric as defined by the Greeks was accurate, informative, and ethical, I find that the contemporary beliefs of rhetoric are much more fitting in describing the current relation of rhetoric, public, and ethics. I agree that rhetoric is in fact constitutive rather than instrumental in that it constitutes our social world and creates identities within it. In the contemporary era rhetorical theory became less about how to produce good rhetoric and how to use rhetoric as an effective instrument as the Greeks were concerned with, and instead focuses more on how we are affected by rhetoric and how it constructs and reiterates certain cultural ideologies. This is extremely important to consider when examining how rhetoric is used currently in the media to produce persuasive messages to the public. A major theme of rhetoric in the 20th and 21st centuries is that â€Å"language doesn’t just describe reality. It helps create it and the way we talk about things has real material effects. † This is clear through rhetorical devices such as using language to describe â€Å"communism as cancer. † Not everyone defines communism as a negative concept- yet in our society we use language to compare it to cancer. By doing this our culture learns to associate communism with a terrible and tragic disease that there is no cure for. The rhetorical language used gives the term power and teaches the audience to associate the concept with illness and death- giving communism negative connotations. However, those in other countries that utilize communism are probably exposed by their media and government to language that teaches the audience to associate communism as a constructive and positive concept that is beneficial. This demonstrates the concept that Nietzsche introduced that language is power. As discussed in class Nietzschean influence introduced he theme that language cannot be separated from its poetic or metaphorical function and that rhetoric is inextricably linked to power. I agree with this concept and think it is important to analyze rhetoric in such a way when considering how rhetorical devices are employed currently in attempts to persuade the public and normalize certain ideologies through our media and pop culture. I believe it is imperative we consider the first persona or who the rhetors are, the historical context that shape rhetorical texts, and the messages they attempt to produce. Who has the authority to speak is extremely important to consider as one is exposed to messages of pop culture. In our society the dominant group is white, heterosexual men. When considering the statistics of who controls our media and pop culture it is overwhelmingly controlled by men included in this hegemonic group. By critically considering the messages constantly reinforced and presented by the media we can see how history has shaped the way media is written and the rhetoric that enables the perpetuation of binaries that divide our society in everyday life. Pop culture and media is driven, run and written by men, for men, and it is in their best interest to promote messages that maintain their place at the top of the hegemonic social hierarchy- demonstrating how the language they choose to use is power for them. The means of promoting messages through rhetorical devices that keep the dominant groups in power are what I consider to be unethical. The public sphere in theory is a positive concept that promotes democracy and equality by providing everyone with the opportunity to be heard and express their opinion. However, one major threat to the public sphere is the commercialization of the media. Media in our culture has become overwhelmingly commercialized which is a major reason I find current rhetorical practices unethical. Media is owned by different corporations that are overwhelmingly controlled by men so they can use their power to influence the messages presented in reporting’s and edge out alternative views and voices. The hegemonic group that controls the media can promote the messages they want to see that are in their best interest. This is apparent when we watch stations such as NBC that are ran by General Electrics. While watching, you can see the constant promotion of GE products everywhere in their broadcasting. Commercialization allows an unethical bias in rhetorical practices and does not allow for equal expressions of opinion or promotion. Instead it is the companies that have power that can promote their products and stay in power, which is an unethical use of rhetoric in that it is not equally accessible by everyone as it should be. The same bias that is apparent in rhetorical product promotion due to commercialization is also used to promote the values of the dominant group in control of the media. In accordance with Fraser’s critique of the public sphere, the public sphere excludes many groups because democracy is more complicated than Habermas accounted for. Access is essential and not everyone has equal access to the public sphere, which is overwhelmingly apparent when considering how minority groups are overtly portrayed in the media . The hegemonic group in control of media messages uses rhetorical devices to present persuasive messages about the other less dominant groups. For example through rhetoric, election coverage tends to portray political issues in a manner that reinforces sexuality, gender, and racial hierarchies in order to protect the privileged positions of those on the dominant side of our culture’s binaries. For example, specifically media rhetorically portrays women as emotional, uninformed, and thoroughly objectifies them. Media focuses on the way a female politician looks and acts rather than her merits or political stances and there is little to no similar coverage of men (the dominant group that has control over the public sphere) in this same way. Rhetorical tactics used to effectively do this include saying a woman â€Å"complained† while saying a man â€Å"stated. † This effectively makes women seem emotional, while men seem stronger. Another common tactic is labeling a female politician â€Å"Mrs. † instead of addressing her by her title such as â€Å"senator. By refusing to label a woman by her position the newspapers are unethically and effectively diminishing her importance and are presenting a rhetorical message about females in our culture. By focusing on a woman’s appearance, media unethically uses rhetoric to put the emphasis on female’s looks rather than policies which make them seem less powerful than men and this is reflected in our daily lives- demo nstrating how rhetoric can be used to create identities and normalizes beliefs while making them appear to be common sense. This concept is also apparent in the unethical representation of racial minorities in our media through rhetoric. For instance, when quoting a person of color the media will sometimes use tactics such as writing with poor grammar. To better explain, they may use the spelling â€Å"cuz† instead of correcting the spelling to â€Å"‘cause† or â€Å"because† to paint a picture that the minority group is ineloquent and uneducated in order to promote unethical messages that reconfirm the power of the dominant group that currently controls our media. Often this unethical use of rhetorical normalization is overlooked and goes unnoticed. This ostracizes anyone who does not fit clearly into the accepted categories by delegitimizing values and beliefs that are not in accordance with our cultures hegemonic ideologies. These concepts relate to Nietzsche’s concept that by abstracting, language tends to do away with differences and abolishes specificity by assuming sameness where there is none. Our society is composed of many unique individuals but the rhetorical language that is constantly presented to us does not account for differences and is responsible for creating binaries in our culture. Not everything is as simple as black and white and there are many shades of grey that need to be considered and accounted for, yet we assume these black and white binaries are common sense and that individuals can easily be grouped into common categories. This is why society views controversial issues such as racism and sexism the way it does- because those stereotypes or ideological norms have been so frequently mentioned throughout history and our culture that we accept them as common sense and feel no need for action to challenge and change these beliefs. As Nietzsche described there is no truth, truth is only to lie with the herd. To me, this theory can be applied to hegemonic ideologies. Our media promotes sameness in our culture where there is none making it seem like â€Å"common sense† and not accounting for the fact that our society is comprised of unique individuals. Social ideologies are constructed by society and are in no way innate. We are constantly exposed to these constructions from the moment we are born without even being aware. For instance, simple acts such as dressing girls in pink and boys in blue assume sameness about gender preferences where there is none. There is nothing predetermined that says boys cannot like pink yet our culture creates this assumption. Our pop culture, such as Disney reiterates these messages of â€Å"sameness† and â€Å"norms† as well by rhetorically promoting patriarchal ideologies that teach girls their goal in life should be to get married and depend on a man, since that is what the heroin characters of their stories all ultimately do. We are so often constantly exposed to these messages overtly that we start to view them as common sense and normalize them but the majority’s way is not the ONLY way there is to view the important issues of our society; we just tend to see things in accordance with the norms of the â€Å"herd† that are constantly reinforced. That is why I comply with postmodernist views that there is no truth- because everyone has a different idea of â€Å"truth† and we should not accept the version that is unethically reiterated in society and normalized through the media. In conclusion, it is extremely difficult to define rhetoric. Having been in existence for over three thousand years, one cannot hold rhetoric in the same light, as it is constantly shifting and evolving over time. We use rhetoric to help us explain things and mobilize action. Recognizing that rhetoric is a necessarily public deployment of discourse shows the crucial distinction between rhetoric and all other forms of language, which is the fact that rhetoric is utilized specifically to motivate action on the part of an audience. Rhetoric is a very useful and powerful tool that artfully can be used to persuade audiences. However, in my opinion it is currently used unethically in our society to push the beliefs of the hegemonic group in order to keep social hierarchies in place and make them appear as a normal â€Å"truth. † There are many opinions that are often not represented in our society through the language portrayed in our media. Rhetorical devices are used unethically to push what is presented to us as â€Å"common sense† or â€Å"truth† but true equality and equal representation can only exist when it’s reflected in the language of our media. This is why invitational rhetoric is an important concept to consider rather than rhetoric as merely a form of persuasion. In order to act as ethical rhetors in a world without universal truths we must acknowledge all cultural groups and beliefs in our use of rhetoric presented to the public and not just the dominant values of society. Rhetoric should be a tool used to promote democracy and equal representation of opinions instead of used unethically to hinder such attempts by reiterating and normalizing the hegemonic values of our culture.

Developing a Moral Community with Limited Resources

Developing a Moral Community with Limited Resources Dwayne Potenteau During one of my experiences in hospital I was assigned to a nurse in Telemetry. The nurse (we will call her Susan) had been on shift for about an hour and was already working at a torrid pace. In addition to the clients she had to monitor which were 8 in total, the Rn was also assigned 6 patients to care for. Most of the clients were from ICU or had been assigned to her due to the overflow from the emergency department. One patient in particular (Mrs. Smith) had multiple symptoms starting with hepatic encephalitis with ascites and varices, diabetes, and had been admitted due to atrial fibrillation which had been downgraded to a controlled rate of atrial fibrillation when the nurse came on. The time needed to care for this complex client had to be somehow scheduled into the nurses’ duties to care for the clients on telemetry in conjunction with the other 5 clients. The new order for Mrs Smith had also been changed and a new large dose of 22 units of rapid and 42 units of NPH i nsulin had been modified by the physician. The nurse questioned the order and stated her concerns over the dosage but was told to administer and monitor the client. The dosage along with the limited amount of time to monitor the client posed a larger concern for developing hypoglycemia. The nurse then called in her manager stating the issues of providing care with limited time and nursing complex patients. The manager stated that the nurse just has to deal with it as there was no help available at this time. Reflecting on the experience I felt stressed and a little overwhelmed at the idea of being responsible for so many patients with little time, resources and support. I responded to the situation by providing some relational practice as this was a community experience and I could not actually do much but shadow the nurse. The nurse did not have the time or adequate support in staff to care for the clients other than their immediate urgent needs. The biggest ethical issue I had was determining how could a nurse fulfill their nursing duty to provide safe, compassionate competent care with limited resources. The rising costs of health care have increased the number of clients the nurses must care for and are under stress to keep costs down. As a future nurse, this means taking on a larger workload. When resources are low nurses face the problem of fulfilling the ethical responsibility of prioritizing care while trying to maintain a high professional standard of client centered care for all patients(Canadian Nurses Association[CNA], 2008). The other ethical concern is where do we go to express our concerns when issues such as limited resources prevent us from performing our ethical duties? The last is the amount and quality of care we give when our nursing values are compromised by limited resources. Rationing Care The aforementioned issue revolves around the allocation of resources also known as rationing of care. In nursing, rationing of care can be defined as the withdrawal of necessary components due to the lack of resources (Carryer, 2014; Tonnessen, Nortvedt, Forde, 2011).The reasons for rationing of resources for health care can be linked to 3 main levels. Societal where funding for health care is provided from the government, Institutional, where health authorities and agencies determine which programs receive funding, and individual where professionals determine how to treat individual clients (CNA, 2000). Nurses face the scarcity of resources on a daily basis. This type of infrastructure pressures have forced nurses to make ethical decisions such as distributive justice(Tonnessin et al. 2011). Tonnessin et al. (2011) states that distributive justice is the allocation of resources to those who need it most. The In order to decipher who receives care nurses often need to make these deci sions quickly and effectively. To make these decisions, nurses often call upon their own prioritize their clinical judgements. The hastened assessments and interventions increase the chance of reduced patient care outcomes (Papastravou, Andreou, Vryonides, 2014). The imbalance between time to care for the client and the stresses of limited resources leads to moral distress in deciding what is best for the client as the individual or community as client. Susan had shown that she was torn between serving all her clients and attending to the most critical. Corporate Influence Allocation Utilitarianism is defined as the benefit of the whole outweighs the benefits of the individual. By maximizing time allotted for in caring for the client, the nurse performs only the most necessary procedures. This process deviates from the individualistic care that is required in nursing. Reduction in time allocated for patients, reduced beds, and lengths of stay all lead to reduced care and capacity for choice in a client’s health (CNA, 2000). Part of the reason for the stresses can be linked to the health care system that determines allocation of resources. According to the CNA, corporate values and resulting policy are determine resource allocation through the ideology of economics and scarcity (CNA, 2000). The ideology revolves around the notion that economics and unattainable resources contribute to and justify limited resources for nurses(CNA, 2000). Urban (2014) furthers the corporate culture of scarcity by noting that nurses have come to accept the idea of reduced time , staff, and resources as part of their normal working environment. The fact that nurses had to work with inadequate resources while still being fiscally responsible and giving safe effective care had to has lead many nurses to a state of moral/ethical distress. Moral/Ethical Distress The concept of moral/ethical distress is changing. Even the Code of Ethics which is the governing body for assisting nurses in their decision making has modified over the years. According to the CNA the word â€Å"expectation† had been removed in the 2008 definition of ethical/moral distress (CNA, 2002). Although the definition encompasses what nurses feel when working with limited resources the removal of the word shows an acceptance of the changing culture. The actual definition for ethical/moral distress has changed so has the duty to â€Å"assist persons to achieve their optimum level of health in situations of normal health, illness, injury, or in the process of dying† (CNA, 1997, p.8). The removal of this component of nursing duty clearly shows the effects of limited resources. In particular the omission of the word â€Å"optimal† has been removed from the standards, and only found in the definition of global health (CNA, 2008). The removal of the word opti mal contradicts the actualization of limited beds for patients and bedside care. The contradiction can heighten the difference in how nurses have been educated in providing care and the care they actually give. The discrepancy in giving care due to limited resources leads directly to moral distress. The leading element of moral distress is the lack of time spent with the patient (CNA, 2000). Limited time leads to reduced care, opposing ethical values of how a patient ought to be treated. Moral Community for Nurses Moral Community is defined as a community where values are understood and used to guide ethical actions of the community (CNA, 2008). Although the actual issue of limited resources may not be directly addresses at the nursing level within a hospital, setting up a moral community in the department is a good first step. Nurses have knowledge in direct patient care and the education to determine what role and working environment they want to participate in. In order to address moral distress due to limited resources nurses need to work with their fellow nurses, managers, and policy makers to make these changes. Examples are nurses communicating on ethical issues through their unit and ethical committees in the hospital. Park notes that nurses tend to deal with ethical issues using their own beliefs and values rather than using ethical committees. In addition Kalish (2009) notes that repercussions on speaking about on ethical issues may deter nurses from participating in ethical discussi on or committees. To have the courage to face the stresses of the current nursing environment nurses must embrace moral courage. Moral courage is the ability of a nurse to remain loyal to their moral belief or principle when faced with fear or threats (CNA, 2008). The role of moral courage and ways to address ethical concerns, and moral ethical dilemmas can also be found in nursing associations such as ARNBC (Association of Registered Nurses of BC), and CRNBC (College of Registered Nurses of BC). Since 2005 CRNBC had moved from an association towards a regulatory body and in doing so, had left gaps in how nurses can communicate ethical issues such as limited resources. One of the resources that has been available since 2013 is ARNBC. ARNBC’s mandate to provide communication and act as a voice for the nurses of BC, and also work towards sustainable practices and support structures for nurses (ARNBC, 2015). Since 2005, nurses had no real place to communicate ethical issues such as limited resources and although they had the union, no real avenue to tackle the policy issues or to influence change in their community. In order to improve working conditions ARNBC can support nurses through inter collaboration, and supporting professional prac tice and advancement of the profession. Through these avenues, nurses now have a way to address their ethical concerns not solely focused on limited resources. Another avenue to address limited resources is through CRNBC. Through crnbc nurses can address the limited resources by defining the issue, communication, documentation, and intercollaboration. Defining the issue in the case with susan, claritfication on allocation of 6 patients which is more than the standard amount of patients. Nurses should communicate their problems with their managers and coordinators. Conclusion When providing patient care, observation to what is present and what is influencing nursing practice is crucial to improving overall care. Limited resources leads to rationing of care resulting in less bedside care for patients and presents and ethical dilemma in upholding our References Association of Registered Nurses of BC. (2015). Retrieved February 24, 2015, from http://www.arnbc.ca/about-us/about-us.php Burston, A., Tuckett, A. (2012). Moral distress in nursing: Contributing factors, outcomes, and interventions. Nursing ethics (20).3. 312 324 Canadian Nurses Association. (2008). Code of ethics for registered nurses. Retrieved from http://www.cna-aiic.ca/ CNA/documents/pdf/publications/Code_of_Ethics_2008_e.pdf Canadian Nurses Association. (2000). Working with limited resources: Nurses moral constraints. Ethics in practice. ISSN 1480 – 9990. Ottawa. ON Carryer, J. (2014) The consequences of rationing care. Kai tiaki nursing new Zealand. (20). 6 Kalisch., B. Landstrom., G. Hinshaw., A. (2009). Missed nursing care: A concept analysis. Journal of advanced nursing (65) 7, 1509 1517 Papastravou., E. Andreou., P. Vryonides., S. (2014). The hidden ethical element of nursing care rationing. Nursing ethics. (21) 5 583 – 593 Park, M. (2009). Ethical issues in nursing practice. Journal of nursing law. (13).3. 68 77 Tonnessin., S. Nortvdet., P. Forde., R. (2011). Rationing home based nursing care: Professional ethical implications. Nursing Ethics (18), 3. 386 – 396 Urban, A. (2014). Taken for granted: Normalizing nurses’ work in hospitals. Nursing inquiry. (21). 1. 69 78

At-Risk Students :: essays papers

At-Risk Students Historical Overview Overall â€Å"student performance was lower in the early 1900s than it is today, quite possibly because schools felt much less pressure than they do today to achieve equity and excellence among students† (Rossi, 1994, p.4). While many of the challenges schools encountered during the early 20th century are the same challenges in present day schools, they were not addressed back then because they were not a priority. The focus on equity and excellence that has been developed since the turn of the century is worthy of praise (Rossi, 1994, p.4). Throughout much of U.S. history, the separate and unequal schooling of diverse groups has been reinforced. Ethnicity and class have been perhaps the most obvious basis for discrimination, but other student characteristics, such as gender and disability, have also been used to separate students and place them into appropriate courses regardless of their potential or interest (Rossi, 1994). Soon, reform movements, dating back to the 19th century, to provide all students with a common and equal education that cut across differences in class, ethnicity and religion became a focus. Diversity among students including differences in culture, language and socioeconomic stance is not a new trend. The difference, however, is that today, the school system realizes that all students, including those who differ in some way from the "average" student, or those â€Å"at-risk† must be provided with an equal, opportune education (Morris, 1991). Defining Students At-Risk Sometimes, determining when students are at risk can be a difficult task. The term â€Å"at-risk† has been used to describe a particular category of students who, on the basis of several risk factors, are unlikely to graduate from high school (Land, Stringfield, 2002). Yet educators are also confronted with children who have other at-risk conditions. For example, educators will be responsible for working with students who are at risk due to health problems, substance abuse, disabilities, socioeconomic status and other various reasons. These conditions can make students academically at-risk, or in danger of not meeting their educational potential. The use of the term â€Å"at-risk† to describe learners is often controversial and deserves consideration, as the at-risk label can convey a negative connotation. Causes of At-Risk Conditions Determining the cause of at risk conditions can be helpful and can contribute to the development of reform programs. First, school conditions might actually be creating at-risk conditions. â€Å" Inappropriate instruction, competitive learning environments, ability grouping and hostile classroom environments are just a few ways schools contribute to the problem† (Muller, 2001, p.

Nostradamus Essay -- essays research papers fc

Nostradamus   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the 16th century, a French doctor and prophet, Michel de Nostradame, was born. He gained his fame when his predictions of the death of King Henry II of France came true. Nostradamus, as he is also known, wrote a ten volume book, The Centuries, filled with prophecies. He became a man that people from all over the world came to see to seek his counsel. Nostradamus had a life filled with many twists and turns and has made many prophecies that have come true during the twentieth century.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  His grandfathers were the first people to notice his display of talent for prophecy when Nostradamus was very young. His grandfathers taught him a wide range of subjects: classical literature, history, medicine, astrology, and herbal folk medicine. At the age of fourteen, he went to study in the city of Avignon. In 1522, at the age of nineteen, he enrolled in the University of Montpellier as a medical student. After only three years, he passed the oral and written examinations for his degree (Hogue 12-5).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With his medicine license in his hand, Nostradamus went to practice in the countryside, far away from his professors. During the 1500’s, Southern France suffered from a chronic form of the bubonic plague. Nostradamus started going to plague-stricken households to try to help the sick. He followed the plague through Southern France and he never left a town until everyone sick was well (Hogue 15).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nostradamus was also a master astrologer who studied the movements of the stars and planets in relation to each other. He believed his gift of sight had â€Å"divine intervention.† He was sought out by wealthy citizens to tell them their horoscopes â€Å"and by their wives for his advice on cosmetics.† (Hogue 15). He wrote a book on the doctors and pharmacists he met throughout his travels in Southern Europe. He would stay with some of them during the day helping them heal the sick. By night, he became their pupil.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1529, Nostradamus returned to Montpellier for his doctorate degree. After this he decided to set up a more permanent practice in 1534 in Toulouse. He then decided to move to the town of Agen. He soon became the town of Agen’s most eligible bachelor. In Agen, he married and had two children, a boy and a girl. It was ... ...re money without having any gold and silver to back it up. Some feel that this has been fulfilled and possibly will be fulfilled again in the future. (Hogue 149.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  November 22, 1963. The assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) in Dallas, Texas. Nostradamus not only saw the death of a man who could have been America’s greatest leader, but he also saw events and people that no one today is certain of, the killers. He gives hints that JFK was to be a great president. One quatrain describes Kennedy as a two term president.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nostradamus led a very interesting life. I personally believe that he was a wonderful man and could really see into the future. Read his quatrains and you too will be convinced that this man predicted even some of the events that have occurred in mine and your lifetimes, during the 20th century. 6 Works Cited Hogue, John. Nostradamus and the Millennium. New York: Doubleday and Company,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inc., 1987. Roberts, Henry C. The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus. New York: Nostradamus,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inc., 1979.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Lobby Groups Essay -- Government Politics Political Lobbying Essays

Lobby Groups In this comparison between David B. Truman and V.O. Key, Jr.’s views on lobby groups they have different interpretations on role and interaction of these groups in government. In a democratic system there is bound to be resentment and desire for change because it is impossible to satisfy everybody. Truman and Key describe how those individuals try to be recognized while forming groups for â€Å"strength in numbers†. In the comparison of interest and pressure groups it is apparent that although they created resentment in the inner layers of government, they were necessary to the development and progress of the political system.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to David B. Truman in the excerpt from The Governmental Process he demonstrates the need, influence and the importance of containment of lobby groups. Although lobby groups are separated into organized groups and unofficial groups, he considers them both equally important and dangerous interest groups. Through his writings he also demonstrates his opinion that political parties are only a large form of an interest group. Political parties don’t have as many concurrent attitudes because of its influence on impressionable people and its size, but nevertheless it is an interest group. The small, either unofficial or official interest groups usually have influence upon various members of the political parties and use their influence to infiltrate their attitudes to the National Government. Both interest groups and political parties have played a large impact on the development of the governmental system and it is noticeable because although they are n ot the group that obtained the control and power of the operation, many of their proposals have been put into existence. They were not incorporated into the government because of the people’s constant fear or losing the ideal of democracy and the threat of becoming too socialistic. Therefore it was important to have individuals representing their groups (states) in the government. The establishment of interest groups was necessary because â€Å"We do not, in fact, find individuals otherwise than in groups†. Interest groups were only a means for influential powerful people to be able to gain recognition from the government by obtaining a following. It is essential in the democratic process to have the individual’s interaction and as a result of having a large complex ... .... Political parties are an example of interest groups because they have specific ideas which they reinforce. However, the diversity and size of the political parties usually makes the members not agreed upon many issues. Therefore the members sustain their interests until they gain power in the government where they are able to act upon their previous intentions. This has been the cause of many political figures actually supporting the other political party than the one they were selected from on many issues. All interest and pressure groups contain a small group of enthusiast leaders and a mass of either indifferent or inactive members. Therefore it is not an act of socialism or political takeover of the government because they are pushing for an issue with a small group.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lobby groups are essential in the functioning of the government as a whole. They could never replace government but through V.O.Key, Jr. and David B. Truman’s analysis on the importance of lobby groups in government functions it shows that they are necessary. They demonstrate that lobby groups represent the people and are an establishment that helps facilitate individual interaction with the government.

Religion in Ancient China and Egypt Essay

Religion has played a very important role in society and the history of mankind for over thousands of years. Originally created by ancient peoples as a way to explain the unknown, religion has greatly evolved and spread across the globe. As new religions have formed and spread, the diversity and similarities between these new religions have also increased, especially due to their geographic locations. Two civilizations in particular with both similar and distinct religions are ancient China, and ancient Egypt. Ancient Chinese religion and ancient Egyptian religion share many things in common with each other, yet at the same time they are also vastly from one another. Even though there are similarities between many of their gods, beliefs, ideas, and practices, the differences between the two religions helps clearly separate one from the other, and also helps identify their origins. In ancient Egypt, people were constantly faced against natural disasters, famines, droughts, and plenty of other natural phenomena. Without an explanation for all of these events, ancient Egyptians had to create an explanation of their own, and by doing so ended up creating their own religion. By creating a religion, these ancient Egyptians were able to provide explanations to each other for these natural phenomena by making them appear as if they were actions of the gods. In ancient Egypt, religion became a tool to help the Egyptians go about their daily lives without having to worry about disaster striking all the time. The Egyptians began to believe that if they honored the gods correctly everything would be fine and nothing would go badly for them. One key part of the ancient religion was called maat, which was the order of the universe created by the gods at the start of time. Maat was crucial to the daily life of the  Egyptians, and consisted of ideas about truth, justice, an d moderation. The Egyptians were polytheistic, and believed in hundreds of different gods. Of these gods some were lesser and not as important while others were more important and powerful. The king of the Egyptian gods was called Amen-Re. He was accredited for all military victories, and was one of the most powerful gods. Another very important god in ancient Egyptian religion was Aten the minor sun god. At one point Aten was decreed the only god in Egypt by the pharaoh Akenhaten and was to be the only god worshipped, however, after his death Egypt returned to worshipping all of its old gods. A few other gods that were important to Egyptian religion were Osiris; the god of fertility and the underworld, Isis; the goddess of funerals, Anubis; the god of embalming and burial, and Thoth; the god of wisdom and learning. Along with gods, another important part of ancient Egyptian religion was burial rituals. Burial rituals held a lot of significance to the ancient Egyptians because they believed that t heir buildings, prayers, and burial ceremonies were designed to reflect and keep the status of the dead person in their next life. Just like the people of ancient Egypt, the people of ancient China also used religion as a way to explain the unknown and natural phenomena that they encountered. People in the Shang Dynasty worshipped many different types of gods as well including weather gods, sky gods, and river gods, however the most powerful god was Shang-Ti. Shang-Ti was the supreme god who ruled over all of the other gods. Similar to Shang-Ti was T’ien, which translates to â€Å"Heaven†, who also ruled over the other gods, but T’ien also decided who would be the emperor or empress of China by giving them the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven was the right to rule granted to the emperor or empress from the gods, and it was believed that whenever an emperor or empress lost power it was because T’ien had revoked the Mandate of Heaven. While the people of ancient China worshipped many gods, another very important part of ancient Chinese religion was ancestor worship. The people who lived under the Shang Dynasty strongly believed that whenever their ancestors died, they became similar to gods, and deserved to be worshipped as if they too were gods. Each family in  the Shang Dynasty would not only worship the gods, but would also worship their own ancestors. Along with ancestor worship, during the late Shang Dynasty, people in ancient China also began to use written oracle bones to try to predict the future and also to communicate with the gods. Ancient China and ancient Egypt were both two sophisticated civilizations that created a religion as a way to explain the natural phenomena they encountered and the unknown. Although different in many ways, their religions do share many similarities with each other. One of these similarities is that both of the religions are polytheistic. In both Chinese and Egyptian religion, there are many different gods, and each god rules in their own domain. However, not only do both religions have more than one god in them, but also many of the gods from both religions are very similar to each other in the sense that they rule over the exact same thing. For example in ancient Chinese religion there is a sky god, just like the sky god in ancient Egyptian religion. Another similarity that both religions have in common with each other is that each religion has it’s own â€Å"high god† that rules above all of the other gods. For the Chinese it is Shang-Ti, the supreme god who rules above all of the others, and for the Egyptians the supreme god is Amen- Re. Along with similarities between their gods, both ancient Chinese and Egyptian religion also share a lot in common  amongst their burial rituals. In ancient China and ancient Egypt the people held a strong belief in an afterlife after death. Which is why in both ancient China and ancient Egypt, during the of burials of their leaders, pharaohs and emperors were buried with large amounts of treasures and other material items to help prepare them for their next lives. One more similarity between the two religions is that in both ancient China and in ancient Egypt the rulers were viewed as gods. In Egypt the pharaoh was viewed as being the direct descendent from the gods and was seen as a god himself. In ancient China the king of the Zhou dynasty was also viewed as the descendent of the spirit god, and was also seen as a godlike figure. While there are many similarities between the religions of ancient China  and ancient Egypt, there are also many differences between the two that clearly separate them from each other. One of the main differences between the two religions is the practice of ancestor worship. To the ancient Chinese ancestor worship played an extremely important and essential part in their religion. While the ancient Egyptians did have plenty of respect for their ancestors, ancestor worship did not occur amongst them on the scale that it did amongst the ancient Chinese. Along with ancestor worship, another difference that clearly separates the two religions is in their burial practices. While there are some similarities between their burial practices, there are also differences. One difference between the two burial practices is that the Egyptians preferred to preserve their dead because they believed the dead would need their bodies in the afterlife where as the Chinese tended to either bury or cremate their dead. On top of different burial practices, the ancient Egyptians also spent immense amounts of resources building elaborate pyramids to house their dead pharaohs. Even though the ancient Chinese did build elaborate tombs for their dead emperors, they did not spend nearly as much effort or time as the Egyptians did. Furthermore, the ancient Egyptians tended to clean out the organs of their deceased before wrapping them up in linens where as the Chinese would wrap up the bodies of their deceased in silk and would not remove the internal organs. Originally used as an explanation for the unknown, religion evolved into a huge part of society. Two societies where religion became a very significant part of daily life were ancient Egypt and ancient China. Both of their religions appear to have similar origins, and purposes and share similarities in practices, gods, beliefs, and customs. While there is much in common between the religions of the two civilizations, there are also many differences between the two religions including their worshipping and burial practices. Separated by thousands of miles, these two civilizations created their own religions that held many similarities with each other, but also had significant differences to help clearly separate the two. Bibliography: Bellah, Robert N. Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2011. Print. Pu, Muzhou. In Search of Personal Welfare: A View of Ancient Chinese Religion. Albany: State University of New York, 1998. Print. Teeter, Emily. Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2011. Print. â€Å"An Introduction to the History and Culture of Pharaonic Egypt.† Ancient Egypt: An Introduction to Its History and Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. â€Å"Egypt’s Golden Empire. New Kingdom. Religion.† PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.