Media Violence Causing Social Violence Sociology Essay

Media Violence Causing Social Violence Sociology Essay The above statistics alone should immediately indicate that the negative effects of media violence on the minds of young people cannot help but be substantial, and may in fact lead to social violence on the part of those exposed. However, the fact is that even after decades of ongoing research, there remains a debate as to whether media violence substantially contributes to social violence (Haugen Musser, 2008). To provide context to the ongoing debate, it is helpful to first define the two key terms discussed in this essay, namely media violence and social violence. As noted by North, Wallis and Weingast (2009), the term social violence technically refers to violent activities engaged in by people as a group. This would include violence associated with riots, revolutions, and gang warfare. However, for the purposes of this essay, the term is defined far more broadly as behavior that is aggressive and/or abusive and which results in, or has the potential to result in, some form of injury to one or more others. This is the definition used in most of the existing studies of media violence and social violence. Haugen and Musser (2008) note that there are differing views as to what precisely is meant by the term media violence, but that typically it refers to various gradations of violence presented by differing forms of electronic or film media such as television programs, computer games, and movies. The gradations considered to be within the domain of media violence can and do differ from research study to research study. However, the authors inform that a good deal of the decades long debate over media violence and social violence is more political than scientific. Specifically, Haugen and Musser (2008) state that there are two schools of sociopolitical thought as to whether or not media violence actually causes real-life violenceand these are both trying to use research on media violence to advance their particular perspective. One school of thought blames media violence for social violence and wants to censor certain content in order to protect children. The other side views censorship, even if relatively weak in scope, as a slippery slope to increasingly levels of censorship not only of violence but many other types of expressions within society. It is important to keep this in mind when evaluating the existing research. It can be noted here that the central thesis of this paper is that there is sufficient evidence of a substantial relationship between media violence and social violence; however, social violence is multi-causal and media violence is likely to exert maximal effects if additional causal and contributory factors are operative. This thesis is supported in this paper by an extensive review of the existing research on media violence demonstrating exposure to be followed by engagement in antisocial behavior and aggression. The Connection Between Media Violence and Social Violence Effects on Children and Adolescents Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis (2005) compiled a comprehensive review of the literature on the effects of media violence on the social violence and aggression of both children and adolescents using the findings of five meta-analytic reviews and one quasi-systematic review, all of which were from North America. The studies covered television violence, film violence, and video and computer game violence. Some of the most important of their findings were: 1. In the average home, childrens television programming exposes a child to 20 to 25 violent actions each hour; moreover, violent offenders in childrens programming sometimes go without punishment and the offenders themselves seldom show any remorse for the violence. 2. During both childhood and adolescence, the amount of time watching television violence is positively related to several antisocial behaviors such as threatening aggression, assault or physical fights resulting in injury, and to robbery. In general, the review presented by Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis (2005) led the authors to conclude that violent images in the media can substantially affect children and adolescents thoughts and emotions in a manner that makes them both more fearful and more aggressive. Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis also reported that several other factors figure into the commission of social violence which makes the link between social violence and media violence significant but small. However, they point out that the effect sizes observed in meta-analytic studies of media violence and subsequent social violence show that even this small relationship exerts a substantial effect on the general public health in terms of the consequences of social violence to the victim and to the families of both the victim and the perpetrator of the violence. Regarding the point made by Hamilton-Giachritsis (2005), it is helpful to briefly look at the statistics associated with social violence. In this regard, Santamour (2008) reports that acts of violence are associated with heavy human and economic costs. In his study, Santamour examined violence-related hospitalizations in the United States. He observed that hospital costs as a result of social violence totaled $2.3 billion dollars per year and were primarily the result of assaults and/or physical and emotional abuse. A clear gender difference was also noted which Santamour reports as follows: Boys and men accounted for 82.4 percent of hospital stays resulting from assaults; girls and women accounted for 63.9 percent related to maltreatment and 58.5 percent resulting from self-inflicted violence. Young adults, 18 to 44 years old, made up 68.3 percent of assault-related stays and 62 percent associated with self-inflicted violence. (p. 1) When considering that media violence contributes to statistics such as these, it is difficult to think of any connection between it and social violence is weak. In another study of media violence and social violence, Bushman and Huesmann (2006) found that exposure to media violence was positively related to aggressive behavior, anger, and aggressive ideas in children, teens, and adults. It was also found that media violence had a negative effect on the helping behaviors of all groups, making them far less likely to help others in need. However, it was also found that the group most vulnerable to the effects of media violence were young children. This was said to be because young children were more easily impressionable; also, they had a harder time telling the difference between fantasy and reality. In addition, young children learn best by observing and then imitating behavior, making them more apt to engage in violent behavior. Adding to the idea that media violence is directly related to social violence, Haugen and Musser (2008) report that the connection between media violence and social violence has already been accepted as fairly substantial by six major medical groups. These groups are the: American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Psychiatric Association. Further, the authors also noted that each of these medical organizations hold that media violence leads children to increase their levels of antisocial behavior and to become less sensitive to violence as well as victims of violence. Haugen and Musser (2008) also states that these medical groups warn that children exposed to long-term and frequent media violence are likely to develop a view of the world as violent and mean and to become more fearful of being a victim of the worlds violence than children who are not exposed to frequent/long-term media violence. Even more alarming is that the children who are exposed to frequent media violence over a lengthy period of time often show a desire to see yet more violence in their entertainment as well as in real life, and they come to see violence as a legitimate way to settle conflicts. These desires and attitudes, in turn, make them more likely to engage in social violence both as children and as adolescents and, in some cases, even as adults. The foregoing literature provides fairly strong support for the idea that even a weak causal contribution between media violence and social violence can be viewed as substantial in terms of its costs and its escalating effects on people over time. However, this effect does have to be considered in light of all of the factors that drive people to commit violent acts against others. The next section of this essay considers the effects of media violence in relation to the other contributors of social violence. Multifactorial Nature of Social Violence and Contribution of Media Violence Kirsh (2006) reports that many factors are involved in the commission of social violence and as just demonstrated in the above review, one of these factors is media violence. However, its effects can vary depending upon the manner in which the violence is presented. If the violence presented in the media lacks consequences and/or is justified, and/or is associated with reward, it can have a very negative effect on children and teens, making them more likely to engage in such behavior. However, if the presented media violence shows that the offender is punished for the violence, then it can lessen childrens tendencies toward aggressive behavior. In addition, the type of character or personality that engages in the presented violence can also have an effect. According to Kirsh (2006), if the violence is undertaken by an attractive person or by a charismatic heroand the child or adolescent identifies with the perpetratorthen it is likely that the negative effect of the violence will be stronger, making the viewer more likely to engage in similar behavior. Furthermore, Kirsh reports that if the childs full attention is focused on the screen presenting the violence with minimal or no distractions breaking this focus, the impact will be greater. Finally, if the child views the show and its violence as realistic and reflective of real life, then the effects will be stronger. In what is now considered a seminal study of media violence, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Surgeon General (2001) concluded that there is a relationship between media violence and some social violence including homicide, forcible rape, aggravated assault, and robbery. However, it was also noted that there is a problem with the research that makes knowing whether there is a causal connection between media violence and social violence difficult to scientifically report. Regarding the nature of the problem, it is stated that: Although there is clear scientific evidence of a correlation between exposure to media violence and some violent behaviors, randomized experiments-the research methodology best suited to determining causality-cannot ethically be used in studies of violent behavior. (p. 1) It was stated that the best that could be done is to study the effects of media violence and how it affects certain aggressive behaviors in children and adolescence. These studies were said to provide at least indirect evidence of causality. For example, the Surgeon General (2001) reports that longitudinal studies reliably show that if children are exposed to media violence, as they grow older they become more likely to exhibit aggressiveness due to the increase in the amount of media violence exposure. This connection makes it seem very reasonable to believe that there is also some causal contribution of media violence to social violence in various forms of violent antisocial behavior and crime. But if there is a causal connection, how strong is it and what other factors also contribute to social violence? According to the Surgeon Generals (2001) early study of youth violence, as well as a more recent study by Coyne (2007), what makes media violence likely to impact on any given child is its relationship to a host of several social violence risk factors. These risk factors include: individual risk factors; family risk factors; school risk factors; peer group risk factors; and neighborhood and community risk factors. Specifically, to the extent that one or more of these factors is present in a childs life, they are likely to make the child more prone to both violent behavior as well as the negative effects of media violence. The social violence risk factors discussed by both the Surgeon General (2001) and Coyne (2007) can be delineated as follows: 1. Individual factors A child and/or adolescent is most likely to be at risk for the negative effects of media violence and social violence if the child is male, if there is substance use, if the childs personality or temperament is already somewhat aggressive possibly as a result of a health condition such as hyperactivity, if the IQ is low, and if the child is generally antisocial in attitudes and beliefs. One point that can be noted here is that the Council on Communications and Media (2009) states that individual factors can also protect a child from the negative effects of media violence. These protective factors include the child having a high IQ, and a positive social orientation. Further, if the child shows a low tolerance for deviance and views transgressions as usually punished, this also would reduce or even eradicate any negative effects of media violence. 2. Neighborhood and Community Factors Living in a deteriorating community or neighborhood can put a child or adolescent more at risk for the negative effects of media violence. For example, poor neighborhoods where drugs and gangs are present increase the risk. High crime areas also place a child at risk for social violence that is exacerbated by exposure to media violence. 3. Family Risk Factors If the childs family is poor, he or she is more at risk for the negative effects of media violence. If his/her parents are antisocial and/or have a poor relationship with the child, these factors can also increase the risk. Other family factors that place children at risk for the negative effects of media violence include: parental separation (broken home), abusive parents, neglect, harsh discipline and/or a lack of discipline, poor mental health of parents, and the presence of a good deal of conflict in the home. As with individual factors, there are some familial/parental factors that can give the child some protection from the negative effects of media violence (as well as other forms of violence). According to Ferguson, San Miguel and Hartley (2009), these protective family factors include having good relationships with parents, and positive evaluations from peers. Steady and consistent, but not overly harsh, parental monitoring and discipline can also be protective. 4. School Factors How a child feels about school can also affect the impact of media violence on the child. If his or her attitude is positive, the child will be less likely to be impacted; but if the attitude is negative, the risk is increased. Academic performance operates in a similar manner. School failure and low grades make a child more vulnerable to the negative effects of media violence, while good school performance has the opposite effects. Lee and Kim (2004) points out that one of the strongest school risk factors is bullying. If a child is bullied, he becomes very vulnerable to seeing some form of retributive violence as the answer to his problem and this tendency can be strongly exacerbated by media violence. 5. Peer Risk Factors The nature of a child or adolescents peers can have a significant impact on the effects of media violence. If the child has strong ties to antisocial peers, then the impact is more negative. However, if most of the childs friends behave in prosocial ways, then this will act as a protective factor. Media Violence and Crime The foregoing section of the review indicated that media violence operates conjointly with other factors to elevate a childs risk for social violence. However, there are many forms of social violence, one of which is violent crime. This section of the essay examines the question: Is media violence directly related to the commission of violent crime? According to Coyne (2007), while many studies of media violence and violent crime do show at least a weak connection, they suffer from the fact that they are, in large part, laboratory-based investigations. Furthermore, such studies primarily rest on studies of aggressive urges or tendencies rather than examining real criminal behavior to see if those engaging in it have a history of watching violence in the media. Coyne (2007) attempted to remedy the forgoing problem by examining longitudinal research with offender populations. It was stated that, When integrated with other long-term studies on the development of crime, it is concluded that the link between media violence and crime is weak after other environmental factors are taken into account. However, the fact remains that until there can be some good control for other contributors to criminal violence, it will remain difficult to know the extent to which there is a direct causal relationship between media violence and criminal violence. Failure to definitively establish a causal link is due to the fact that in studies which are significant statistically, these other factors often act as confounding variables. Nonetheless, it seems reasonable to state that the ongoing, now decades long, findings of elevations in aggressiveness in relation to media violence strongly suggest that there may be more than a weak connection. Conclusions The central thesis of this essay was that media violence substantially contributes to social violence where social violence was defined in the broad sense of aggressive and/or antisocial behavior that results in or can result in injury to one or more others. The key question that must be asked is whether the reviewed literature on media violence supported this thesis? The answer to the above question is somewhat complex. The literature clearly indicated that media violence can lead to children and adolescents engaging in aggression and violent behavior. Moreover, it also showed that the degree to which said behavior is engaged in can differ depending on length of media violence exposure. The reviewed literature also demonstrated that the nature of the violence presentation and the strength of distracted focus can both operate to make it more likely that social violence will be engaged in by children and/or adolescents. This indicates that there is a real effect being exerted by media violence on children. However this conclusion needs some modification. Social violence, as defined in this essay, is multi-determined which means that there are many contributors which, taken together or in part, operate to make a child and/or adolescent engage in social violence. Media violence is one of these and indications are that it can substantially contribute to social violence in the sense that it exacerbates the effects on social violence caused by other factors such as having conflict in the family, living in a gang ridden and poor neighborhood, doing poorly in school, and so forth. Media violence not only exerts a substantial contribution to social violence in this manner, it also exerts an effect in terms of the negative outcomes of social violence on the lives of the people who are involved in it. Thus, it seems reasonable to conclude that based on all of the reviewed findings, media violence does exert a substantial effect on social violence even though it is not the only contributor.

Fibromyalgia True Disease Or Make Believe One Philosophy Essay

Fibromyalgia True Disease Or Make Believe One Philosophy Essay The Fibromyalgia syndrome also known af FMS is a rheumatic condition which is often misunderstood or not diagnosed. Some doctors say Fibromyalgia isnt a true disease, and that the pain fibromyalgia patients have is not real. The disease did not have a name upto 1990, but since more people appear to have the symptoms of this disease in question some doctors started to research it. Since some of them claimed to have biochemical evidence to support the patients their pains a controversy formed Is fibromyalgia a true disease or a make-believe disease? What is Fibromyalgia? First of all, what is Fibromyalgia? As far as doctors know, fibromyalgia is a chronic condition which cannot be cured. People with FMS undergo daily pains in their tenderness muscles, stiffness, tenderness joints (between muscles), sleepless nights, depressions and anxiety. Those pains are often located around the neck, shoulder, back, knees and hips of the patient. As already mentioned FMS is often seen as a rheumatic condition, which often have the same symptoms. The only difference is that FMS does not cause damage to the internal organs, and other rheumas do (such as arthritis). The cause of FMS is still not known. Fibromyalgia is a make-believe disease The first side of the controversy says that fibromyalgia is not a true disease. So says Frederick Wolfe, who is a one of the most cited fibromyalgia researchers. In 2009 he wrote: the tendency to respond with distress to physical and mental stressors is part of the human condition. labeling fibromyalgia as a disease simply legitimizes patients sickness behavior, slowing their recovery and harming them. (Dr. Frederick Wolfe and fellow researchers, 2009) . With this he the former writer of the American College of Rheumatology outlines for the diagnosis Fibromyalgia claims that FMS is a reaction to economic and social stress. With which he says that the symptoms are part of every humans normal life. Other scientists clame that Fibromyalgia is an invented disease. Invented by psychiatrists to sell sleeping pills, and other psychiatric drugs. Doctors also say that vague complaints of a disease do not add up to a disease. Since the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia can not be proved by blood test s, or other biological tests and there are no biological or environmental causes for the disease, some doctors say it basically cant be a disease. Fibromyalgia is a true disease Since this is a controversy, there are also doctors who say that fibromyalgia is a true disease. As mentioned in the introduction of this essay, doctors went to reasearch the disease. So did Dr. E. Guedj, he took brainscans of 20 women with Fibromyalgia and 10 without. He concluded out of his results that the brains of women with Fibromyalgia all showed abnormalities in bloodflow through the brain. In some parts of the brain the blood flow was below normal, and in some parts of the brain it was far above normal. The women without fibromyalgia did not show abnormalities in the brain. He also let all the participiants answer questions to assess measures of pain, anxiety, depression and disability. Those answers were for all fibromyalgia patients almost the same, but did not differed that much with the results of the women without the condition. Therefore anxiety, depression and disbility could not be linked to the abnormalities in blood flow. Those results most likely point to fibromya lgia being a true disease.(Dr. E. Guedj, Nov. 3 2008, Research to abnormalities of blood flow in brain). Many doctors also say that Fibromyalgia is a disease because the World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized the disease for many years. Other doctors, one of them is Dr. I. Jon Russels, claim that there is a biochemical evidence to support patients their clames of what they feel (Dr. I. Jon Russels, March 3, 2001, interview with Janice Billingsley). Since a few years the diagnosis fibromyalgia can be given by a doctor when all the patients symptoms satisfy the outlines written by the ACR (American College of Rheumatology). When is a disease a disease, and who decides that it is? This controversy also carries huge ethical aspects. First of all, who decides that a series of symptoms form an actual disease? And who decides whether different conditions are not diseases but conditions? What is the difference between those conditions and diseases? It cant be that conditions are chronic and diseases will eventually leave the body since we know chronic diseases and temporary conditions as well. Who decides that a disease or condition is mental and not physical? What if scientific limits block fellow research to a disease, which means nothing physical can be found, but might be present, does this automatically mean that the patient has a mental ailment? How does the controversy influence patients social lives? Since the Fibromyalgia controversy got more publicity and interest of doctors, many people within the social environment of the patient follow the controversy. This means that they might form conclusions such as She exaggerates. It is all in her head. This might make other people, also within the social environment of the patient, think that the patient does not really feel the pains he or she claims to experience and feel. This might cause that the patients contacts might find her implausible, and do not trust her or take her seriously. This is emotionally a heavy thing to deal with. Therefore many doctors, but also patients, think it is important that there is more intelligibility and understandability around the syndrom/disease/condition. Conclusion Fibromyalgia is a pain condition from which more and more people suffer. The patients of fibromyalgia experience pains in their joints, muscle(s) stiffness and undergo depressions, sleepless nights and anxiety. But since it got its name doctors have been hesistating about the disease its existence. Some doctors clame that FMS is a mental reaction on social and economical stress and social anxiety. And probably is a physical reaction on what many people experience on daily basis. Some doctors also say that the by the WHO (world Health organization) recognized disease cant be a disease since it does not have any environmental or biological causes, and cannot be proved by biological tests. Others say that fibromyalgia is a disease. Since some researchers have found brain abnormalities in the brains of fibromyalgia patients they claim that it is most likely a disease in combination with the other symptoms of fibromyalgia. Also, other doctors claim to have found biochemical evidence to th e existence of fibromyalgia. There is also the fact that it is very difficult to decide when a series of symptoms, or a physical pain condition can be called a disease. Who is allowed to do so? And there might be another problem based on the development of our science. There might be a physical prove of the existence of fibromyalgia, but we might not have the equipment yet to see it. Which means that scientific limitations block the research to the condition. It is important that more intelligibility and understandibility forms around the syndrom. Since it might affect the social lives of the patients adding a huge emotional deal to the pains they already have to deal with. Out of this essay I can conclude that we need a scientific prove to solve this controversy and to say whether the disease exists or not. But to make this prove approachible more complex scientific appratus have to be invented and more observations of the patients pains need to be researched.

Hitler And The Nazi Party :: essays research papers

History Assignment Hitler attained power in 1933 as the result of a complex set of factors. He was the right man at the right time to take advantage of the problems that had arisen in Germany in the post war years. In the post war years of the 1920's to the 1930's, the German people had many grievances. The biggest of which was the economy. The hyperinflation of the early 1920's, in January 1921 the German mark was 65 marks to the American dollar and on November 1923 it was worth 4 200 000 000 000 to the American dollar. Over a 12 week period the German currency lost 99.3% of it's value. This meant that the price for eggs was 80 billion marks each. The hyperinflation meant that 90% of people's savings were destroyed. Germany lacked faith in democracy. The reason being was the corruption and mismanagement, which characterised the Weimar Republic (inflation). The Democrats were reasonable and well-meaning men, representing the inflation impoverished middle class and business. They relied on chronic credit inflation (which put them more and more into debt. The Germans were also upset by the loss of World War 1, but the thing that made them the maddest, is the punishment enforced on them as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. Such as redistribution of territory, reduction of Germany's fighting power and imposition of harsh conditions, which meant Germany had to pay 6600 million-pound to the Allies in 1921. Germany thought that the punishment was too harsh. The masses in Germany were crushed by the problems that they had, especially the Treaty of Versailles, which left Germany in debt. The hyperinflation left a lot of people unemployed. People were looking for answers and someone to blame. The Nazi party had the policies that the German people wanted to hear. Hitler offered the easy answer for Germany's problems. The skills that Hitler had were that he was a manipulator, and could trick people into believing his views, which they did. He answered their problems in a way, which left him with advantages. As I have said, Hitler was a manipulator. What he said, people believed, and those who didn't, were killed. The ideas that he had (quote SOSE textbook page 57) 'to be a strong nation, Germany had to have a strong leader, struggle was the basis of history and struggle occurred between different races and the main struggle for Germany, was with the Jewish race.

Miss Wright :: essays research papers

Tuskegee To Voorhees   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the book, â€Å"Tuskegee To Voorhees†, I learned about the life of Elizabeth Evelyn Wright. Elizabeth was born on August 18, 1872 to Virginia and Wesley Wright. She was one of twenty-one children who many within her community thought of her as a child to be of no great promise because she was black and female. Elizabeth proved everyone to be wrong. She had a vision. Elizabeth’s vision was to serve her people where she felt her service was most needed. She wanted to provide an educational training that would enable boys and girls a foundation to obtain an honest and respectable living that would be recognized by all races. Elizabeth had a vision but first she needed to educate herself in order to carry out her vision.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Elizabeth’s education began at the age of seven or eight and because she was an inquisitive child she learned a lot. Her mind was constantly wondering and thirsting for knowledge. While attending school and sitting down on a bench during her break, a gust of wind brought a raggedy piece of paper to Elizabeth’s feet and she picked it up. The piece of paper succinctly told how poor colored boys and girls could get an education by working their way through school. The idea of being able to pay for school intrigued Elizabeth and she kept the paper until it was time for her to attend school for a useful career. The school was Tuskegee Industrial Institute.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It took a lot of convincing and coercion from Elizabeth’s teacher-friend to get permission from her guardians who were her uncle and grandmother to let her attend Tuskegee. They felt that she was too young and innocent to be attending a school so far away from home. They also believed that she was setting herself up for failure. After much consideration, they decide to let Elizabeth go to Tuskegee to further her training.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Upon arrival to Tuskegee, Elizabeth was amazed at what she saw. She saw intelligent young men and women of her race. She quickly decided that she must find her place there and adjust herself to her new surroundings in the best possible way. She began evening classes since her money could not afford her day classes.

Essay --

Divorce is not an exception anymore. In fact, with the rate of marriage decreasing over the past decade, and the divorce rate remaining steady, we are likely to know more people who are divorced than those who are legally bound. During this semester we read four novels. Divorce was a common theme in all of them. Only a few generations ago, American culture rejected divorce as scandalous. Today, law, behavior, and culture embrace and even celebrate it. It got me to wondering about the children of divorced parents. It got me to wondering, what about the children? Being concerned about them, I decided to research the Disruption of many traditional households. What happens during and after the process of divorce, predominantly to the children. Does parents’ divorce have negative impact on their later outcomes. After considerable research, I found that an increased social acceptance of divorce over the years has not reduced the negative effects experienced by the children of divorced parents. Every year, more than a million of American children suffer the divorce of their parents. Divorce causes pain to all involved, but most especially to the children. Though it is showed to be more accepted by society, it may put children in a downward trajectory from which they might never fully recover. A 2011 study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that children of divorced parents often fall behind their classmates in math and social skills, and are more likely to suffer anxiety, stress, and low self-esteem. The reason that math skills are affected is likely because learning math is cumulative. "If I do not understand that one plus one is two," lead researcher and a Ph.D. candidate in sociology Hyun Sik Kim says, "then I cannot unde... ...ge formation behavior and educational attainment. Wolfinger's research is based on the National Survey of Families and Households, which included detailed information on family background for 13,000 people, and the General Social Survey, which surveyed 20,000 people over a 30-year period. In conclusion, children of divorce are often subject to many negative effects. â€Å"Broken† homes are a tough situation to deal with. Divorce causes many problems and should not always be the solution to family problems, there is counseling and many other solutions to look into before automatically switching to divorce. As was discussed in this research, there are many educational, psychological and emotional effects on children of divorce. The best solution to all this pain is to be open and honest with children as well as try to seek out help. Divorce should be a last resort.

Emergency And Disaster Management Essay

There has been an increase in disasters in the world as exhibited in the recent past. Since time immemorial, disasters have been known to occur causing emergency situations in many parts of the world. As a result of disasters, there is loss of life, destruction of properties worth million of shillings, mass displacement of millions of people leading to refuge status, psychological trauma among other issues (Cuny, 1983, p. 29). However, the severity of the above results depends on a country’s disaster preparedness and mitigation measures that have been put in place. The modern world calls for quick response to disasters and various governments have formulated policies on how to deal with disasters and most importantly how to avoid them. Funds have been set aside that caters for any emergency situations that warrant a quick response by all sectors. According to Alexander (2002, p. 20), a disaster is a calamity which can be as a result of humans or can be natural and disposes a high risk to loss of life, deterioration of the health status of the affected, loss and destruction of properties and most at often causes environmental deterioration through loss of habitat and ecological imbalance. Disasters result from a failure to handle a risk factor in the vulnerable environment or people. It is unfortunate, that most disasters with tragic and greater consequences affect the so called developing countries as compared to industrialized nations. Hoffman & Smith (2002, p. 20), notes that greater than 95% of fatal cases as a result of disaster occurs in less industrialized nations. Furthermore, natural disasters account for more than 20 times the losses in developing countries as compared to the industrialized nations. Read more:Â  Role of State Government in Disaster Management Theses observations beg the question; what needs to be done in these developing nations so as to reduce the consequences of disasters. The answer can be found in developing an effective disaster management program to cater for emergencies. This essay focuses on development of a disaster management program specifically for China which is prone to disasters. It will tackle issues to do with hazard analysis, prevention, preparedness, response and the recovery plans in case of a disaster. Frequency and impact of disasters in China China as a country in the far eastern side of the Asian continent is prone to many natural and man-made disasters. In the recent past, it has topped in disaster occurrences in the world with rise in the death toll and destruction of properties. China has an occurrence of six of disasters in the world which are classified as deadly due to their severe consequences. Among this top six disasters, the leading three affected China leading to deaths calculated to be in millions of people (CRED, 2009, para. 4). Historically, the China floods of 1931 had the greatest death toll of over 2 million people followed by the Yellow River floods of 1887 which had a death toll of over 0. 9 million. Thirdly, the Shaanxi earthquake which occurred in 1556 claimed 0. 83 million lives. The frequency of occurrence of disasters in China has hindered both economic and social development of the country due to the resulting consequences. This has posed a challenge to the government of China in its effort to alleviate poverty mostly in the rural populations and in highly populated provinces. Efforts have been put in maintaining a data base for the disaster prone areas by organizations like International Disease Database (EM-DAT) and the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. This data helps in identifying the most disaster prone areas so as efforts are enhanced to reduce the risks involved therefore mitigating the hazard (CRED, 2009, para. 3-6). China has had an increased risk to occurrence of disasters than any other in the continent of Asia. Recently in August of 2010, China has been affected by landslides that resulted in the death of at least 127 people while thousands were missing and many people had to be evacuated to safer grounds. In this same year hundreds of people were feared dead in the mountainous area of Qinnghai after a 6. 9 earthquake struck the area. The area is inhabited by poor people who are highly prone to this kind of disaster. In 2009, there was also earthquake that killed more than 5000 students. Also, mine blasts were recorded to have caused deaths in this same year (Poyzner, 2010, para. 5). In the year 2008, several earthquakes were reported that caused deaths that amounted to thousands of people. In the same year land slides were reported causing destruction of property and loss of lives. The year 2005 was marked by mine blasts that consumed several lives of mine workers. Virulent outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome were recorded which also consumed several lives. As observed from the above data, three major disasters affecting China are Earthquakes, landslides and floods (Ponserre & Hoyois, 2006, para. 2-7). Frequency and impacts of earthquakes, landslides and floods in China According to Young et al. (2007, p. 299), China is one of the countries that experiences very strong intra-continental seismicity that leads to the frequent occurrence of earthquakes in the country. High frequency has been noted in the Northern parts of China which have resulted into deaths of many people in that area. Occurrence of earthquakes in China is always catastrophic with china topping the list of the world’s earthquakes that have caused many loss of life. Since 1976, the Sichuan earthquake tops the list of casualties having caused the death of close to 70,000 people. Since then, the government of the People’s Republic of China took upon itself to come up with an earth quake administration that operated nationally. Among the duties of this institution were to conduct monitoring of occurrence of earthquakes, conduct research in areas that were recorded to be prone or vulnerable especially in the north. Additionally, they had the responsibility of coordinating all emergency efforts in case an earthquake occurred. The institution changed its name after being legally mandated by an Act in their legislative laws. In 1998, it became the China Earthquake Administration that oversees the independent earthquake administrations in the provinces and regions. The well coordinated efforts of this institution have seen quick emergency response to earthquake disasters thus minimizing the number of deaths. Earthquake occurrence in China is high compared to other nations around it. In this year alone, 300 people perished in April as a result of a 2. 9 earthquake. The year 2009 also recorded deaths from earthquakes. The year 2008 will remain remembered by many in China as in the month of May, over 50,000 people perished in southern China. The same quake caused a lot of destruction to infrastructure with 80% of buildings collapsing in one county. Earthquakes have a high occurrence in China with hardly a year passing without any reports of earthquake. Joint efforts are called for in case of emergencies. In China the army is involved in conducting evacuation of the victims, providing medical services to the ailing evacuees, they undertake construction works to open communication and provide temporary shelters to the affected. China has been said to be geologically vulnerable to occurrence of landslides mainly due its topography. Several factors come into play that influences the occurrence of landslides. This includes the climatic conditions mainly targeting on rainfall patterns, the soil type and its qualities and off course the soil covering in the said areas (Reilly, 2010, para. 5). Recently, there have been heavy rains in China which has resulted into a landslide in the hilly areas of Gansu. The landslide that occurred in the second week of August killed at least 127 people and left thousands missing. In addition, thousands of people had to be evacuated to safer grounds to reduce the casualty. In July, still several people were reported missing as a result of a landslide in the southern parts of China. In the year 2009, southern China also experienced a major landslide that caused a lot of destruction to buildings and infrastrures such as roads and bridges. The year 2008 was not left behind, with a landslide that occurred in a mine without an operating license killing 254 people. As indicated above the impacts of these disasters are many with death topping the list, loss of properties and infrastructure and movement of people thus having a percentage of people who are homeless in their own country? Nationally, theses disasters are a hindrance to economic growth and prosperity. They create disharmony in efforts to develop and are time and money consuming which would have been otherwise used somewhere else. Also, they create psychological stress and the people’s productivity is lowered. This has left many in poverty and relying on aid from well wishers and the government. The climatic conditions experienced in China exposes it to flooding. China experiences heavy rains in some seasons in the years causing breaking of river banks and the drainage system. What follows is flood waters everywhere especially in the low lying areas sometimes reaching heights of over one meter. Currently in the month of August, China has experienced heavy summer rains causing flooding and mudslides in the provinces of Gansu and Yunnan. In the recent months alone, floods and landslides have caused the death of more than 1,500 residents who were unlucky and failed to be evacuated. In the months of June and July, more than 4200 people had to be evacuated to safer grounds in a government coordinated rescue mission. A critical observation of flood data points the southern parts of China as the most vulnerable to flooding. China alone tops the world in the top six slots of the most catastrophic floods and landslides to be recorded in history. In the year 1931, the most catastrophic landslide in the world was recorded with deaths ranging from 2-4 million people. This flood also secures the first position as the top natural disaster in history having caused the highest number of loss of lives. Despite China being faced with lots of torrential rains in summer which cause floods, it produces a record grain harvest. However, the yields have been affected by the floods. Apart from deaths caused by floods, they also impact negatively on crop yield by destroying crops in the farming fields. This has led to loss of millions of yuans in the export market and also confounded poverty index in China (Watts, 2010, para. 6). Apart from this, the floods have left millions of the Chinese people who live in the low level farm lands homeless and without a source of livelihood. There have been government efforts to construct levees and also hydroelectric projects from the flood waters. The government has involved planners in developing projects that will see water being diversified into regions that receive less rainfall in the northern parts of the country. This will enable the excess water to be channeled to the arid regions. This will serve two purposes of controlling floods and trying to improve the agricultural activities in the north. Differences in frequencies and impacts of disasters The northern part of China has a diffuse zone which is prone to seismic activities as compared to other parts of China or even other countries. The plate tectonics theory as is known by geologists helps in understanding seismic actions in China. There are tectonic movements due to the influence of the Indo-Asian collision due to motions in the crust in the continental China. There is gravitational movement leading to spreading of the tectonic plates which has a major influence in the deformation of the crust in much of Asia. The northern China block experiences higher seismicity than the southern parts due to high stress forces in the northern plates. The south China lacks this stress forces and moves together as one block hence reduced or no seismic activity. Research has also shown that, as a result of previous seismic activity, an area is left prone to occurrences of similar stresses and seismic activity (Yang, 2007, p. 3). This explains the frequency of occurrence of tectonic earthquakes in the northern parts unlike in other areas of the continental Asia. China as indicated above has been faced by many catastrophic floods that have resulted into many losses. There are many causes of floods which lead to China being more vulnerable to them in comparison to other nations. First and foremost, China experiences heavy torrential rains in summer most in the southern parts of the country. The rains come in flashes which often supersedes the holding capacity of China’s drainage system. Most of the rivers in the affected areas break their banks leading to water spreading in the low lying areas which are mainly inhabited by the farmers. This causes havoc to their crops and their dwellings. In its efforts to industrialization, China has many factories and motor vehicles in their roads (Hilhorst, Dijkzeul & Herman, 2010, p. 122) This has led to pollution of the air and hence the ozone layer is destroyed. As a result global warming is accelerated and this has led to snowmelt in spring and the water going into the sea. The rise in sea level consequently causes a rise in the river levels which then breaks and cause flooding. The relief of China also hastens flooding. In the lowlands, the rivers will flow much slowly and any change in the water volume will cause flooding in the low lying areas. China borders the ocean in a very large area unlike other countries. The coastal areas experiences high tides and heavy storms that leads to rise in the sea level. If the level surpasses the level of the low lands at the coast, flooding occurs in these areas. In addition, the high population in China also may exacerbate the problem of flooding. The high population needs life necessities like food and shelter. As a result, they cultivate and inhabit the low lying areas which are prone to flooding. Their uncontrolled cultivation of the land will lead to soil erosion and the land cover is destroyed. The land is therefore left bare and with increased risks of floods during heavy rains. Many forces do interplay to hold the land surfaces together. The force of critical importance is friction which holds the various layers of the soil in a compact nature. Any interruption to this force of friction causes a slippery motion and results in landslides. Gravity plays the key factor in causation of landslides. If at any time the force of gravity supersedes the force of friction, a landslide will occur. Water is the common trigger of landslide since the sippage of water into the ground causes reduction of friction that exists between the bedrock and the upper sediment layers of soil. When this happens, debris of soil is sent downhill. Due to the torrential rainfall in China, landslides are imminent especially in the sloppy areas. China experiences a high frequency of earthquakes as compared to any other country. Consequently, the seismic waves cause vibration in the earth’s surface which upsets the existing frictional forces and causes landslides (Helmer & Hilhorst, 2006, p. 106). Landslides are therefore common in earthquake regions as well as areas prone to flooding. Volcanic eruptions have also been shown to result in landslides in areas that have recently experienced volcanic activity. In addition, human activities like blasting during mining process and vibrations as a result of heavy traffic also cause earthquakes. China has had its citizens lose their lives as a result of mine blasting activities as the mines collapse burying the miners alive. China has had its exceptional share of these disasters as a result of these predisposing factors. Conclusion In conclusion, disasters have continued affecting many parts of this world. Despite the preparations that are put in place a lot deserves to be enhanced to minimize the tendency of occurrence of disasters. While some natural disasters are inevitable as they are beyond human control, mitigational measures should be enhanced to take care of the rise in these cases. China tops the list of most fatal disasters that have been recorded in historical times. The top three have been the frequent earthquakes in the northern parts, deadly floods in the low lying areas which have brought havoc to the people inhabiting these areas and finally the landslides which also have caused destruction of property. With these disasters occurring frequently in china, the government has had to come up with an authority that is concerned with disaster management. It has a well established system of disaster mitigation which tends to prevent the disposing hazards turning into disasters. Secondly, they have preparedness measures that involve enhancing their capabilities to fight disasters. They also do have a well developed disaster response system (Harrald, 2006, p. 256). Finally, recovery measures are enhanced to return into normalcy. Whatever they do all efforts must be directed towards saving lives. References Alexander, D. (2002). Principles of Emergency planning and Management. Harpended: Terra publishing. CRED (2009). The International Disaster Database: EM-DAT. Retrieved 18/08/2010 from: http://www. unisdr. org/disaster-statistics/impact-killed. htm Cuny, F. (1983). Disasters and Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Harrald, J. (2006). Agility and Discipline: Critical Success Factors for Disaster Response. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 604, 256. Helmer, M. & Hilhorst, D. (2006). Natural Disasters and Climate Change. Disasters, 30 (3), 100- 107 Hilhorst, D, Dijkzeul, D. & Herman, J. (2010). Social Dynamics of Humanitarian Action. Disasters, 34 (3), 120-125. Hoffman. S. & Smith, A. (2002). Catastrophe and Culture: The Anthropology of Disaster. Santa Fe NM: School of American Research Press. Ponserre, S. & Hoyois, P. (2006). Disaster statistics 1991-2005. Internationa; Strategy for Disaster Reduction. Retrieved 18/08/2010 from: http://www. unisdr. org/disaster-statistics/introduction. htm Poyzner, M. (2010). China, Disasters Timeline. Retrieved 18/08/2010 from: http://www. mapreport. com/subtopics/d/countries/china. html Reilly, M. (2010). China’s Giant Landslide: Natural or Man-made Disaster? Discovery News. Retrieved 18/08/2010 from: http://news. discovery. com/earth/chinas-giant-landslide-natural-or-man-made-disaster. html Watts, J. (2010). China Devastated by Floods. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 18/08/2010 from: http://www. guardian. co. uk/world/2010/jun/20/china-devastated-floods Yang, M. et al. (2007), Active Tectonics and Intracontinental Earthquakes in China: The Kinematics and Geodynamics. The Geology Society of America, 20 (5), 299-306.

Online Shop System Problem Statement Essay

Customer can browser through the product catalog and add the items to shopping cart. He can proceed to checkout as long as his shopping cart is not empty. Customer will require to login to the system when he proceed to checkout, or he can create an account if he not yet have one. The order will charge to the credit card registered in customer’s account. Customer need to provides full name, email address, phone number, credit card and billing address details when creating an account. Customer can login to the system to maintain his account information, such as changing phone number, address, and credit card details, and check the status of his orders. Upon order received, the sales staff will process the order by charge to customer’s credit card. Once the order has been charged, he will then mark the order as paid and pass to courier company and deliver them to customer. If the items customer ordered is out of stock, then the order will mark as on hold. Once the item(s) arrived, the order will pass to courier company for delivery. Courier company will pack the item with standard packaging, but if the order is marked as gift, then the the items will pack as gift. If the items arrived with damage, customer can return it by register in the online shop. Courier company will collect the item from customer and sales staff will refund the money for that item. Marketing staff responsible to maintain the product catalog. He can also setup the promotion item list and send promotion email to customer.