Fad diet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Fad diet - Essay Example She began drinking nothing but a mixture of maple syrup and lemon water for days. She would supplement this with cabbage soup. Occasionally, she would buy The Hollywood forty-eight hour Miracle Diet juice at Walgreens. She would count fat grams, sugar grams, calories and carbohydrates. June became a fad diet junkie. Many young women undergo the same kind of social segregation because of their body sizes and shapes (Moyad, 2005). Other than the potential physical health complications that obesity poses to millions of citizens around the states, the reported social view of the obese adds another danger of psychological health risks to the obese. For this reason, many people, especially the youth and young adults have resorted to fad dieting oblivious of the effects of such choices (Fineberg, 1972). The research looks at the rationale of fad dieting. It gives answers the question: Is fad diet really an effective way of losing weight and becoming slim, attractive and fit or is it just some fantasy people are living in? The topic of study is important given the rumored health risks associated with the practice. There are claims that fad diet is merely an illusion of getting slim. In fact it is hazardous to health and a waste of time and money. In fact later it results in more over weightiness then before. At the same time, some people report that they actually lose weight through fad dieting. Irrespective of the results of fad dieting, there is another problem of inconsistency of the diet one is supposed to stick to. There is need to research the issue of fad dieting so as to help generate a standard, helpful diet or discourage the practice if it poses more dangers than benefits (Calman, Hauser, Lurio, & Pichardo, 2008). With the current state of improved information technology, there is so much information available to people, but that does not enhance people’s knowledge. The internet has myriad of

Crime and Individual Choice Essay Example for Free

Crime and Individual Choice Essay Crime is a common phenomenon. Huge investments of any government go towards the containment and apprehension of crime offenders. The more crime acquires various forms and becomes prevalent, the more studies and theories are brought out to analyze the causes and motivations. A look at Australia in the recent past indicates public outcry over increased incidences of crime, although incidences of organized crime are becoming rare, the same cannot be said of petty thefts. Criminologists have over the years stepped up their efforts in examining the motivations of crime. This is an issue that sparks controversy as some sociologists blame it on the society, pointing out that it is the prevalent circumstances in the society that are behind crime. In the light of this row, this paper maintains that crime is as a result of individual choices rather that the prevalent social circumstances. A study of the possible causes of crime is core to understanding crime, the information generated is crucial as afar as government’s response and approaches to fighting crime is concerned. A dearth of information on such a common problem means that law enforcement agencies spend valuable resources and time on addressing the symptoms rather than the causes. It is this fact that motivates criminologists to dig out the real causes of crime. Economists traditionally have not been involved in the analysis of crime, the issue of causes and prevention was seen as being outside the realm of economics. It was seen as a preserve of sociologists and criminologists. This however changed in the late 1960s when economists brought in an argument that represented a radical paradigm shift from afore recognized sociological and criminological theories. They deviated from the societal foundations of the motivation of crime to a more individualized approach. A good theory of crime according to Becker (1968) has to â€Å"dispense with special theories of anomie, psychological inadequacies or inheritance of special traits and simply extend the economist’s usual analysis of choice. † The economic theory of crime focuses on the aspect of an individual’s rational choice as the key motivation behind crime. This is a theory that is based on the assumption that each and every individual engages in crime in their bid to increase their utility. Crime should be regarded as a venture; it is an enterprise which an individual engages in with an intention of gaining something just like in business. This hence means that any one can become a criminal, there is no particular group that is inherently criminal, it is just that people tend to move in and out of crime when there is an opportunity and there are ample conditions for a crime. Just like in business ventures, a potential criminal takes time to plan his activities and also makes decision in regard to the amount of time to be appropriated in each activity so as to maximize the gains. In making a decision of whether or not to engage in crime, an individual takes into account all the possible benefits and also the likely costs. People engage in criminal activities not because they have some natural or psychological motivations but because they have amply taken into consideration the perceived benefits and costs. This means that a certain crime will not be committed if the costs exceed the benefits. In such a case hence it is possible to see a particular crime being the most preferred in comparison to another due to the net benefits associated with that crime. Indeed crime is driven by the resultant benefits and decreased if the punishment meted out is harsh in comparison to the crime. According to the economic theory, â€Å"an increase in the probability and/or severity of punishment (representing costs of criminal behavior) will reduce the potential criminal’s participation in illegitimate activities. † (Philip Cameron) This is what motivates the deterrence theory. It is important to point out that the issue of costs and benefits must be carefully analyzed, the cost does not only revolve around the aspect of incarceration but also encompasses the social cost, this applies even to the perceived benefits. A rational individual wishing to engage in crime hence puts into consideration all these factors and weighs his options, his decision and choice is influenced by the resultant weight, either towards the benefits or towards the costs. If the costs outweigh the benefits, the individuals is unlikely to engage in the crime; the vice versa is also true (Gottfredson Hirschi, 1990). The Rational Choice Theory, on which the economics theory is founded, is derived from the utilitarian belief that indeed human beings are rational; their decisions are independently influenced by the factors of costs and benefits. In the propagation of this theory, several assumptions are made. There is the assumption that people are driven by utility; they are motivated by the urge to increase their happiness which mostly is in terms of wealth. they also are supposed to have goals and they pick the choice that enables them to accomplish such goals. The theory of rational choice can be traced to the early works of Cesare Beccaria who set out to explain crime using the enlightment ideas. According to Cessare, â€Å"people want to experience pleasure and avoid pain, and while criminal acts can bring pleasure of various sorts, possible punishment can bring pain. † (Laura, 2007, 231) This is a theory that has immensely been used in the justice system; it is based on the thinking that for crime to be prevented, punishment must outweigh the benefits of the crime. This is because if the pain is less than the benefits, then there is no motivation to quit crime. Bentham also was in agreement over the aspect of crime boiling down to individual choice, and influenced by the perceived benefits. He noted that â€Å"the profit of the crime is the force which urges a man to delinquency. The pain of the punishment is the force employed to restrain him from it. If the first of these forces is greater, the crime will be committed; if the second, the crime will not be committed. † (Cited in Maurice, 1993, 311) An important aspect that has to be looked at is why some people or groups show a higher prevalence to crime. Indeed, people can not have a similar response to crime. This is so as people have individual differences that affect their preferences. There are those that may prefer honesty, have a higher income and hence value their reputation. The perceived gains and costs are also regarded differently. The prospects of experiencing a certain level of pain might be motivating enough to some people to avoid crime. The decision to engage in one sort of crime and avoid others also follows a similar pattern. It is influenced by opportunity, available information, costs and benefits (Loftin, McDowell, 1982). The view that crime is influenced by rational individual choices has most often than not been put into disrepute by a flurry of other available studies done on the subject. A majority of the existing studies are influenced by the social conditions and environment rather than the individual choice. One of the existing schools of thought that points at the relationship between social factors and crime is the positivist school of thought. According to this thinking, crime and criminality is influence by internal and external factors that are beyond the control of an individual. The answer to criminality lies in the biological, psychological and social foundations. Those that propagate the thinking that crime can be explained by physiological factors do it on the basis that those individuals that have a higher affinity towards crime tend to have some specific physiological traits. This thinking influenced the thought that crime is a natural trait and hence cannot be individually controlled. Some individuals are born criminals and they cannot change this. It is this argument of inherent criminality that was used to fuel the arguments behind the abolishment of capital punishment, on the basis that criminals were being punished for things they had no control on. There is also the thinking that crime can be closely linked to neuroticism and psychotism. In this, crime is seen as a mental disease where the criminal develops a psychotic compulsion to engage in crime. The prevalent theory that challenges the aspect of individual choice in crime is the sociological positivism. This is a theory that traces crime to societal factors such as poverty, subcultures and lack of education. The social disorganization theory for example has been able to establish a positive link between the collapse of important social institutions and crime. The society is held together by institutions such as religion and also the justice system. The collapse of these core institutions contributes to an increase in crime. Poverty and lack of economic development fuels an increase in crime. As the theory claims, places that are characterized by neighborhoods with high population and failed social structure record high instances of crime compared to others. Poverty leads to social disorder and is characterized by physical evidences of collapsed buildings and deteriorating neighborhoods. This leads to what has been referred to as the deterioration concentration effects. Such neighborhoods attract crime (Maurice, 1993). It is important to observe that social factors can indeed fuel crime. There exist immense studies that have focused on crime and ethnicity and have come to conclude that there are certain social conditions that influence such communities to commit crime. Poverty has been pointed out as one of the leading factor, where people resort to crime as a means of acquiring wealth and prosperity. This however does not mean that the role of an individual in making such a choice diminishes. People are influenced by their own rational choice to engage in crime, in consideration of the existing benefits and costs of such a crime, should the cost override the benefits; then crime is reduced. References Maurice P. F. (1993) The psychology of crime: a social science textbook. Cambridge University Press. Laura L. F. (2007) Encyclopedia of juvenile violence. Greenwood Publishing Group. Brantingham, P. J. Brantingham, P. L. (1991). Environmental criminology. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press. Gottfredson, M. , T. Hirschi (1990). A General Theory of Crime. Stanford University Press. Becker, G. S. (1968) Crime and punishment: an economic approach. Journal of Political Economy, Loftin, C. and McDowell, D. (1982) The police, crime and economic theory. American. Sociological Review Philip M. B Cameron M. Crime, punishment and deterrence in Australia: A further empirical investigation. International Journal of Social Economics retrieved on April 28, 2009 from http://www. uq. edu. au/~ecpbodma/ijse. pdf.

Showalter’s Analysis of Chopin’s The Awakening Essay -- Chopin Awakeni

Showalter’s Analysis of Chopin’s The Awakening In â€Å"Tradition and the Female Talent: The Awakening as a Solitary Book,† Elaine Showalter makes a compelling argument that â€Å"Edna Pontellier’s ‘unfocused yearning’ for an autonomous life is akin to Kate Chopin’s yearning to write works that go beyond female plots and feminine endings† (204). Urging her reader to read The Awakening â€Å"in the context of literary tradition,† Showalter demonstrates the ways in which Chopin’s novel both builds upon and departs from the tradition of American women’s writing up to that point. Showalter begins with the antebellum novelists’ themes of women’s roles as mothers—especially the importance of the mother-daughter relationship—and women’s attachments with one another and then moves to the local colorists of the post-Civil War who claimed male and female models but who wrote that motherhood was not a suitable partner for the true artist. Accord ing to these women writers, a woman had to choose to be either an artist or a wife and mother; one negatively affected the other. The literary history then delves...

History of Eastern State Penitentiary Essay

I think that a prisoner in the Eastern State Penitentiary has the dullest daily routine that any human could ever have. Picture a prisoner living behind a cell with a heavy dungeon-door and thick walls. Literally, speaking, the daily routine revolves around the cell. As†¦notes, a prisoner â€Å"is led to the cell from which he never again comes forth, until his whole term of imprisonment has expired† (Dickens, n. d, pg. 13). A prisoner typically wakes up, takes a bath and turns the bed up and against his cell wall to create space for working on it. The works include personal interests ranging from painting to manufacturing a Dutch clock. He receives food through the grated iron door in the cell and at the end of the day lies on the bed in despair. He moans, and tries to listen to identify if a cell similar to the one he is in exists besides him. He wonders how the person in the next cell, if exists, would be doing, walking, dressed and his emotional status until sleep tak es him away. I find that I have difficulty describing a daily routine of a prisoner in Eastern State Penitentiary because it literally does not exist. The prisoners are in confinement, thus restricted to have a typical life. They simply live in misery. I think that this could be attributed to the contradicting effects of the prison structure that deviates from the intended outcomes. As Eastern State Penitentiary (2014) notes, the prison was simply meant to facilitate a shift from punishing offenders to rehabilitating them through change and spiritual reflection. The proponents of the prison believed that solitary would provoke criminals to think about their behavior and unacceptable crimes, thus driving them towards penitence.  Each prisoner was to have his own cell with running water, a skylight, central heat system and a flush toilet to facilitate penitence at a time that the U.S. president lacked running water and a central heating system at the White House. Nonetheless, I think that the resulting structure and its execution did not align to the original intent. Dickens indicates that even though the idea of the prison was human, kind and meant to reform the prison system, the manner in which it was designed and executed is not appropriate. The miseries that the prisoners get from confinement are worse than physical torture. It is a dangerous punishment, which the prisoners suffer silently because the typical eye cannot see their miseries. I tend to agree on Dickens based on the encounters he has with the prisons. Dickens describes the prison as hopeless solitary confinement with wrong and cruel effects and there are justifiable reasons for that. Upon entry, prisoners lose their identity as cell numbers become their identity. Some prisoners have to have illusions of having a wife or manufacturing Dutch watches, indication of dreams lost inside the cells. More disheartening is that people with crimes deserving less punishment, such as receiving stolen goods are driven to confinement. The prisoners cannot receive outside visitors, letters from home, books or contact the outside world in any way. I believe that the solitary confinement can only be summed up in Dickens way, â€Å"mental anguish†¦so acute and so tremendous, that all imagination of it must fall far short of the reality† (Dickens, n. d, pg. 13). In entirety, I would say that attempting to describe the daily routine at the prison is difficult. The hopeless solitary confinement psychologically affects prisoners and robs them off a normal life in which they would have a daily routing. They just live in their despair without the rehabilitation promised by the original intent of the prison. References Dickens, C. (n. d). _Philadelphia, and its solitary prison_. Retrieved from https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dickens/charles/d54an/chapter7.htm Eastern State Penitentiary. (2014). _Short history of Eastern State Penitentiary._ Retrieved from http://www.easternstate.o r g/learn/research-library/history

Linguistics writing Essay

Literacy is the ability to read and write[1]. The inability to do so is called illiteracy or analphabetism. Visual literacy includes in addition the ability to understand visual forms of communication such as body language,[2] pictures, maps, and video. Evolving definitions of literacy often include all the symbol systems relevant to a particular community. Literacy encompasses a complex set of abilities to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture for personal and community development. In a technological society, the concept of literacy is expanding to include the media and electronic text, in addition to alphabetic and number systems. These abilities vary in different social and cultural contexts according to need, demand and education. The primary sense of literacy still represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of the written or printed text. Key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text. Reading development involves a range of complex language underpinnings including awareness of speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), grammar (syntax) and patterns of word formation (morphology), all of which provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and comprehension. Once these skills are acquired the reader can attain full language literacy, which includes the abilities to approach printed material with critical analysis, inference and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to use information and insights from text as the basis for informed decisions and creative thought. [3] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the â€Å"ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. â€Å"[4]Literacy is the ability to read and write[1]. The inability to do so is called illiteracy or analphabetism. Visual literacy includes in addition the ability to understand visual forms of communication such as body language,[2] pictures, maps, and video. Evolving definitions of literacy often include all the symbol systems relevant to a particular community. Literacy encompasses a complex set of abilities to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture for personal and community development. In a technological society, the concept of literacy is expanding to include the media and electronic text, in addition to alphabetic and number systems. These abilities vary in different social and cultural contexts according to need, demand and education. The primary sense of literacy still represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of the written or printed text. Key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text. Reading development involves a range of complex language underpinnings including awareness of speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), grammar (syntax) and patterns of word formation (morphology), all of which provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and comprehension. Once these skills are acquired the reader can attain full language literacy, which includes the abilities to approach printed material with critical analysis, inference and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to use information and insights from text as the basis for informed decisions and creative thought. [3] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the â€Å"ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. â€Å"[4] Literacy is the ability to read and write[1]. The inability to do so is called illiteracy or analphabetism. Visual literacy includes in addition the ability to understand visual forms of communication such as body language,[2] pictures, maps, and video. Evolving definitions of literacy often include all the symbol systems relevant to a particular community. Literacy encompasses a complex set of abilities to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture for personal and community development. In a technological society, the concept of literacy is expanding to include the media and electronic text, in addition to alphabetic and number systems. These abilities vary in different social and cultural contexts according to need, demand and education. The primary sense of literacy still represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of the written or printed text. Key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text. Reading development involves a range of complex language underpinnings including awareness of speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), grammar (syntax) and patterns of word formation (morphology), all of which provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and comprehension. Once these skills are acquired the reader can attain full language literacy, which includes the abilities to approach printed material with critical analysis, inference and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to use information and insights from text as the basis for informed decisions and creative thought. [3] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the â€Å"ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. â€Å"[4] Literacy is the ability to read and write[1]. The inability to do so is called illiteracy or analphabetism. Visual literacy includes in addition the ability to understand visual forms of communication such as body language,[2] pictures, maps, and video. Evolving definitions of literacy often include all the symbol systems relevant to a particular community. Literacy encompasses a complex set of abilities to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture for personal and community development. In a technological society, the concept of literacy is expanding to include the media and electronic text, in addition to alphabetic and number systems. These abilities vary in different social and cultural contexts according to need, demand and education. The primary sense of literacy still represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of the written or printed text. Key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text. Reading development involves a range of complex language underpinnings including awareness of speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), grammar (syntax) and patterns of word formation (morphology), all of which provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and comprehension. Once these skills are acquired the reader can attain full language literacy, which includes the abilities to approach printed material with critical analysis, inference and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to use information and insights from text as the basis for informed decisions and creative thought. [3] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the â€Å"ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. â€Å"[4]

Cyanide Mining essays

Cyanide Mining essays On January 30, 2000, Aural Gold Plant, in Romania, spilled an estimated 3.5 million cubic feet of cyanide-contaminated waste into the Tisza River, eventually poisoning the Danube and infecting over 250 miles of rivers in Romania, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. The spill was described by Hungarian officials as Europes worst environmental disaster since the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl. The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, February 15, 2000, that The cyanide spilled when heavy snow and winter rain caused holding basin[s] to overflow at the mine in northwestern Romania on the border with Hungary. A representative from Esmeralda Exploration Ltd., the Australian co-owner of the Aural Gold Plant, claimed that estimates of the damage were grossly exaggerated while the Serbian minister of forestry and water resources warned riverside residents east of Belgrade to not use the water for anything. It is unknown exactly how much damage the Aural Gold spill caused to the Tisza river syst em, though Branislav Blazic, environment minister of Serbia, commented that the Tisza is dead. This example so thoroughly denounces the safety of cyanide mining that it seems absurd that Montanans would even consider reversing the decision of I-137 and allow more cyanide to be carelessly dumped into Montanas waterways. It is not a far-fetched idea that allowing cyanide mining back into Montana will result in spills of contaminated waste given the cyanide mining industrys track record. At the Zortman-Landusky Mine 52,000 gallons of cyanide solution spilled over the course of the mines operation, poisoning the freshwater supply of Zortman, Montana. A truck carrying 2 tons of sodium cyanide crashed into the Barskoon River in Kyrgystan at the Kumtor Gold Mine causing 2600 reported poisonings and four deaths. The Cyanide Leach Mining Packet, published by D.C. based Mineral...

Free Essays on Cold War & American Defense Spending

The Soviet Union Lost the Cold War, but American Defense Spending did not Defeat it. A critical analysis of the Soviet Economy’s effect on the end of the Cold War Introduction The end of the Cold War is heralded as one of the defining moments of the 1980s. For all it grew to represent in its existence, its end was certainly a celebrated and monumental event. The Cold War commanded both Russian and American foreign policy for several years, as well as the minds of both countries’ leaders. As nuclear power became increasingly used, both governments began to fear one another- and from that fear came increased arms buildup. For both Americans and Russians, the fear of nuclear war was a reality. Later, as the war finally drew to a close in the late 1980s many theorists and scholars rushed to call a winner. In his book, How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader, Dinesh D’Souza pronounces Reagan the clear winner due to his hard line stance on foreign policy towards the USSR. However, upon critical inspection, one can see that this contention is false and not encompassing of key changes happening in Russia both before and during the war. The collapse of the Russian economy and the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev were the primary reasons that lead to end of the Cold War. Both of these factors were independent of any US foreign policy. Decline of the USSR The roots of the Soviet economic collapse pre-dated the Cold War. Long before Gorbachev rose to power, he observed that, â€Å"since the late 1950s certain difficulties began to be felt in [Russia’s] economic development.† According to the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) the annual growth of the Soviet Gross National Product (GNP) dropped from nearly four percent in the early sixties to less than three percent in the seventies. This percentage dropped to a mere two percent in the 1980s. Figures reported by the Soviets were higher but showed the same downward trend in ... Free Essays on Cold War & American Defense Spending Free Essays on Cold War & American Defense Spending The Soviet Union Lost the Cold War, but American Defense Spending did not Defeat it. A critical analysis of the Soviet Economy’s effect on the end of the Cold War Introduction The end of the Cold War is heralded as one of the defining moments of the 1980s. For all it grew to represent in its existence, its end was certainly a celebrated and monumental event. The Cold War commanded both Russian and American foreign policy for several years, as well as the minds of both countries’ leaders. As nuclear power became increasingly used, both governments began to fear one another- and from that fear came increased arms buildup. For both Americans and Russians, the fear of nuclear war was a reality. Later, as the war finally drew to a close in the late 1980s many theorists and scholars rushed to call a winner. In his book, How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader, Dinesh D’Souza pronounces Reagan the clear winner due to his hard line stance on foreign policy towards the USSR. However, upon critical inspection, one can see that this contention is false and not encompassing of key changes happening in Russia both before and during the war. The collapse of the Russian economy and the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev were the primary reasons that lead to end of the Cold War. Both of these factors were independent of any US foreign policy. Decline of the USSR The roots of the Soviet economic collapse pre-dated the Cold War. Long before Gorbachev rose to power, he observed that, â€Å"since the late 1950s certain difficulties began to be felt in [Russia’s] economic development.† According to the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) the annual growth of the Soviet Gross National Product (GNP) dropped from nearly four percent in the early sixties to less than three percent in the seventies. This percentage dropped to a mere two percent in the 1980s. Figures reported by the Soviets were higher but showed the same downward trend in ...