Law and Morality

Law and Morality Sir John Salmond described the law as ‘the body of principles recognised and applied by the state in the administration of justice’. They are a set of rules and boundaries that are established by authorities which must be obeyed, otherwise, a sanction may be given. Morals are beliefs, values and principles that are set by society or part of a society, determining what is right and wrong. Phil Harris stated that they are â€Å"standards of behaviour†.Unlike legal rules, compliance with moral rules is voluntary, that are often informally enforced through social or domestic pressure. Law and morals are both normative; they specify what should ideally be done and mark the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable conduct. However, the ways in which they both do this are different: laws are codes of conduct which a superior power has decided should be compulsory. They are formally enforced by appointed authorities and relate to all members of soci ety.One example is the ‘smoking ban’ which was introduced by the Smoke-Free (Premises and Enforcement) Regulations 2007 and more recently the proposed change to the legislation regarding same-sex marriage under the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, which previously meant that gay marriage was prohibited. Morals can be seen as a set of values which are not enforced by law. They define how one ought to act not how one must act and whilst they are not subject to moral enforcement, they can be informally imposed.There are significant differences between moral rules and legal rules; whereas Laws can be introduced almost immediately by Parliament or the Courts, morals tend not to be backed by legal sanctions and are often reinforced by social pressures; such as family and friends. They can have powerful influences on people’s behaviour, and develop over many years; often heavily embedded in religious and social history. Compliance with moral rules is voluntary and ther e are often no formal punishments.Today we live in a diverse society which has meant that as morals have developed: they have become pluralistic and between individuals or social groups opinions on moral codes now vary. Within Christianity, acts such as abortion and euthanasia are strongly opposed, while other religious groups may not deem these as wrong. Similarly, in Hindu and Muslim communities arranged marriages are encouraged whilst in non-religious communities these are disfavoured.Furthermore, legal rules can enforce strict liability, such as the requirement of wearing a seatbelt in a car or not exceeding a speed limit, whereas moral rules cannot- they can only be broken voluntarily. Legal and moral codes can coincide; law can often be seen reinforcing and seeking to uphold our moral values. For example, Lord Atkins’ ‘neighbour principle’, which is the basis of the tort of negligence and is thought to have derived from the biblical command to ‘love t hy neighbour’ which is also believed to mean do not harm thy neighbour.However, this can be seen as a major problem as morals will consistently change over time, to reflect a change in attitudes, and the law must attempt to keep up in these situations. An example of this can be seen in R v R (1991), which changed the law, so that rape within marriage became a crime. It was viewed that the wife was legally seen as almost the property of the husband, via the marriage agreement. This was view was morally outdated and wrong, yet the law was very slow in adapting this moral view. Another example of how moral change has led to legal change is the case of Diane Blood. Mrs Blood’s husband died from meningitis.They had been trying to start a family and she arranged for sperm to be extracted from him. Following his death she attempted to use the sperm to become pregnant, but this was banned under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act. She won the right to have the inseminat ion carried out abroad. Under UK law their births had to be registered with a blank where their father’s name should have been. This was held to be incompatible with the human right to private and family life and the law has since been changed. With actions like theft and murder, they are classed as ‘wrong’ both morally and legally.But for crimes such as parking violations they are not seen as immoral, whilst immoral acts such as adultery are not a criminal offence under UK law. If laws enforce morals, then we are faced with the problem that what one person considers immoral, another might not, making it harder to decide which viewpoint it should sanction. This is established in the case of Gillick, where Mrs Gillick sought a declaration that what she saw as an immoral activity (contraceptive advice and treatment available to girls under the age of consent) was illegal regarding its immorality.There was a conflict, as some saw this as immoral (as it would encoura ge underage sex) whilst others felt that it was moral (as underage sex would occur anyway, but this would help prevent unwanted pregnancies). This shows that if such conflict can arise between law and morality, then the two cannot be viewed as equal. There are further disputes that the law should respond to the changing moral attitudes on euthanasia; the British Social Attitudes Survey 2007 found that 80% of people are in favour of legalising it and despite this, there has been no further change.There are various theories on what the relationship of law and morals should be. The first theory is natural law, which is based on morality. This states that there is a higher law to which laws must conform and one should disregard an immoral law, unless doing so would lead to social unrest. Another theory is positivism, which holds a more scientific view of the law and states that if legislation has been correctly made it should be obeyed even if it is immoral. The Hart/Devlin Debate follo wed the publication of the Wolfenden report in 1957.Lord Devlin was a prominent judge and a supporter of natural law whereas the academic Professor Hart was a positivist. The report recommended the legalisation of prostitution and homosexuality ‘should not intervene in the private lives of citizens or seek to enforce any particular pattern of behaviour further than necessary’ to protect others. Hart, who was influenced by the earlier theories of John Stewart Mill, supported the report’s approach, stating that legal enforcement of morals was unnecessary as it interferes with individual liberty.He believed that law and morals should be separate and the state should not intervene to restrict the freedom of individuals. Mill stated that one should not have to follow society’s morals; they should be free to act as they wish, provided their acts do not harm others and Hart only added to this so that their acts also do not harm themselves. Devlin, on the other ha nd, was strongly opposed to the report on a natural law approach. He felt that society had a certain moral standard, which the law had a duty to support, as society would disintegrate without a common morality and this morality should be protected by the law.In this debate Devlin stated â€Å"individual liberty could only flourish in a stable society; disintegration of our society through lack of shared morality would, therefore, threaten individual freedom†. This highlights his beliefs that law and morality are inseparable and the law should in fact intervene in order to support morality. Jeremy Bentham, a philosopher and jurist, rejected natural law theories as ‘nonsense upon stilts’ and concluded that the validity of law does not depend on whether it is good or bad.Ideally, the law should aim to provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, but even if it doesn’t, it may still be a valid law. He added that what the law is and what it should be are different issues. Contrary to Bentham, Aristotle a 4th century Greek philosopher based his ideas on the laws of nature. He stated that ethics is all about learning to be a ‘good person’ and you should not do anything wrong unless there is a very good reason to do so. These views have been perceived as a ‘balancing exercise’ as it is necessary to determine the correct way to behave by weighing up the benefits against the consequences.The Wolfendon Report supported Professor Hart’s view that law and morality should be separate, however, various cases decided since the report show that judges are imposing their moral views in their judgements, such as in the case of R v Brown and Others, the defendants had willingly consented to sado-masochistic practices. Despite that this act was chosen, they were prosecuted and convictions were upheld based on public policy to defend the morality of society. The law is therefore seen to attempt to upho ld what it considers to be public morality, even if some may dispute the correctness of that moral code.This is a contrast to the case of R v Wilson, at her request the defendant branded his initials on his wife with a hot knife. The scars led to him being charged with ABH S47. COA held his conduct amounted to â€Å"tattooing† and that it was not in the public interest to impose a criminal sanction, still showing that the public and their moral views still influence our law. The differing approaches in these cases clearly show that judges are letting their own moral values affect their judgements. The courts often find themselves at the centre of hugely difficult moral decisions involving life and death.They are often forced to decide between individual rights and moral codes. Diane Pretty contracted motor neuron disease and was confined to a wheel chair. She required no treatment to keep her alive, but had great difficulty talking, eating and sleeping. She was concerned that her husband would be convicted of a serious criminal offence if he helped to end her life and sought the permission of the court for active euthanasia. The courts reluctantly refused her request. This relates to euthanasia which can be seen as both morally and legally wrong, reinforcing the idea that certain views in ociety share the same moral and legal opinion. On the other hand, only a year later it was decided that ‘Miss B’, who was suffering from a terminal illness and receiving medical treatment keeping her alive, had the right to refuse to continue with the treatment. This was allowed as it amounted to passive euthanasia which is legally acceptable. Society considers it wrong to take the life of another human being and these two cases reflect this moral viewpoint. In the case of Re A (2000), Siamese twins who had their major organs conjoined were both at risk of dying.However, separation of the twins would have led to the death of one of them. The parents were a gainst the operation and wanted to put the girls fate in the hands of God. The courts however, intervened and decided the operation should go ahead; it was considered a successful operation if one girl survived while her weaker sister died. This follows Bentham’s views that overall more people would benefit if the operation were to go ahead, although this has caused controversy over which individuals moral code should have applied to the situation.The influence of both Hart and Devlin has continued into more recent cases further fuelling the debate as to whether law should enforce moral values or not. In Shaw v DPP the influence of Devlin was seen in the decision with the court describing the ‘fundamental purpose of the law, to conserve not only the safety and order, but also the moral welfare of the state. ’ This was also seen in Knuller v DPP which raised the issue of outraging public decency.Hart has had influence on the infamous Sexual Offences Act 1967 as we ll as reforms in legislation such as the Obscene Publications Act 1968 and the Divorce Law Reform Act 1969. A substantial body of English law is based on moral rules: there is a close relationship between law and morals, as the law does uphold moral values: the existence of laws that serve to defend basic values, such as laws against murder, rape and fraud prove that the two can work together. They both influence each other to a certain extent with the highly moral Ten Commandments being the basis for the UK legal systems most fundamentally important laws.On the other hand, alcohol or smoking restrictions do not reflect a moral code as they have no negative effect on other people. The extent to which law should be influenced by morality remains topical, as mentioned before with laws regarding same-sex marriage and euthanasia. While it can be argued that a significant section of society has come to adopt the view taken by Professor Hart, there nevertheless remains a widely shared bel ief that weakening of the moral basis of the law is dangerous.

Osmoregulation in Fish Essay

Osmosis in the movement of water molecules through a selectively permeable membrane. It occurs from a region of high water concentration to a region of low water concentration. The control of water balance in animals is known as osmoregulation. Osmoregulation is a homeostatic mechanism. The body fluids of a salt water fish are hypotonic (higher in water concentration) compared with the surrounding sea water – the sea water is therefore hypertonic. Because of this they constantly lose water by osmosis through its selectively permeable gill and gut membranes. To replace its loses and maintain its water balance, the fish drinks the sea water. The chloride secretory cells in the gills of the fish actively secrete the excess salt – gained from drinking the sea water – back out into the sea by an energy requiring process known as active transport, against a concentration gradient. The kidneys of salt water fish only contain a few small glomeruli, which results in a low filtration rate of blood and only a small volume of urine being formed. In addition, salt water fish convert their nitrogenous waste to a non-toxic form, trimethylamine oxide, which requires minimum amount of water for its removal. Over millions of years of evolution, fresh water fish have adapted to carry out osmoregulation. The body fluids of a fresh water fish are hypertonic compared with the surrounding water and therefore they constantly gain water by osmosis. Fresh water fish gain water through the lining of their stomach and their gut – the same as salt water fish. In order to maintain a water balance, fresh water fish have to constantly remove excess water. Their kidneys possess a number of adaptations which make the constant intake of water easy to cope with; their kidneys possess many large glomeruli allowing rapid filtration of the blood and the tubules reabsorb mineral salts from the glomerular filtrate back into the bloodstream, resulting in a large volume of very dilute urine. Using chloride secretory cells in their gills, fresh water fish area able to actively uptake mineral salts from the water which are lost in the urine.

Applied Problem Solving Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Applied Problem Solving - Essay Example From this discussion it is clear that the structure of centralization will face resistance to change given that some members of the management team would not willingly minimize their power and authority to the subordinates. Another likely hurdle is inadequacy of resources and the necessary finance to oversee the transitional process of change and integration of better approaches such as brainstorming. Further, the time required to develop a delegated system of the company is a constraint given training and repositioning must be conducted while still in operation.This study highlights that the organization structure of the organization was analyzed by the author in order to develop an in depth understanding of the process of decision making and the personnel involved in implementing the derived conclusions, so that constraints can be easily identified. The author reviewed relevant literature relating to the organization and talked to different people such as; key staff in the company, managers in organizations that have introduced and managed similar change and analysts from professional and trade associations.  The author’s organization maximizes its constraint throughput by using the available resources at the time it is discovered. The objective is to establish rapid relief while forming a basis where more complex and advanced analysis of the constraint can do in a later period.

Philosophy of Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Philosophy of Leadership - Essay Example Given the essentiality of a leader, there exists a thirst in groups and organizations that needs to be relieved. This thirst is the constant quest of groups and organizations to have what they deem to be the perfect one. There is this constant desire of groups to have the leader perfectly suited for them. It is always their desire to attain success which lies big in their elected leader. No organization or group will attain success without a competent leader that is leading the way for them. This constant search of organizations and groups in having a good competent leader leads us to question: What is then the essence of a competent leader This paper will try to answer such question and will try to unravel the essence of a true leader in the context of a leader's perspective and the personal leadership philosophy of the author. Without further ado, let us now begin our discussion beginning with a leader's perspective, then looking at the personal philosophy of the author and finally looking at the two perspectives in terms of commonality and try to extract the best way of describing the essence of a leader. The leader interviewed was a calm and humble leader. He was so accommodating that that the interviewer instantly felt ease in dealing with him. He described his leadership as a democratic, facilitative and directive leadership. His leadership style is democratic in a sense that he gives freedom to his members. Freedom is manifested in the fact the he encourages creative thinking from his members. His members are allowed to conceptualize ideas regarding the steps needed by the organization in taking the path towards success. He cited one example in marketing. He said that in selling their products, he does not only rely on his trainings and capability but also solicits methods and ideas from his members. His members are free to suggest action plans on how they will promote and sell their products. As a matter of fact, he requires each member to submit an action plan on marketing. He also emphasized that he promotes an atmosphere of free thinking. He does not give much pressure to his members. He believes that free thinking can promote a healthier environment for his members and will let them achieve better ends in their endeavor of achieving success. He gives tasks in a manner that his members enjoy doing it. But he also emphasized that freedom is limited to the extent that there is always discipline in his members. The freedom that he gives is not absolute because he always wants discipline to be bannered by his members. Too much freedom as he said will at times make a member undisciplined enough to ruin the organization's desire for success. He gave emphasis on discipline because he deemed it very vital to success. It is also in discipline that he sees the reason in achieving a timely goal. Discipline promotes efficiency that will enable the organization to achieve their goals in the estimated amount of time they put in achieving it. Efficiency is significant in order for the organization not to waste money and time in any goal that must be attained. His leadership style also banners a facilitative way. This means that because he is promoting a freedom of thinking in the organization, he does not always direct but most of the time facilitates. Being a

Negophobia by Mark Bauerlein Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Negophobia by Mark Bauerlein - Essay Example The riot was based on color and race discrimination among Blacks and Whites in Atlanta which ultimately spread from Atlanta to Georgia and throughout the United States of America. The actual riot began on 22nd September, 1906 and ended on 26th September, 1906 between White and Black masses, in which Black African lost around 40 lives. The riot didn’t occur suddenly because of any one issue; instead it was an explosion in retaliation of continuous plot weaved on the false accusations made on Blacks in regard of White women by some criminal minded people. Historic Background of Atlanta: In the beginning of the twentieth century, Atlanta was progressing rapidly. White and Blacks had different vision and identities but were parallel in growth and competition. The growth in the Black’s population and their expansion in social intermingling threatened the White elites who then favored Jim Crow’s Segregation concept and stood hard to separate seating arrangement in publ ic transport and discouraged neighborhoods with blacks. On the other hand, Black elites were gaining power, were getting majorly involved in politics and were promoting Black youngsters in almost every walk of life. This cold war started showing its signs and finally surfaced in the middle of the Gubernatorial contest during which desperate leaders played an unethical trick to create racial tension in order to win the favor of the majority. This was done through the instigation of a rumor based campaign focused on â€Å"Negro-Crime†. Here, African American males were accused of sexual crimes against White females, although there was no evidence that this was occurring, and the driving factor was simple prejudice. The air of hatred, racial and sexual inequality diffused in the atmosphere and provoked a claim for a new vision for South Atlanta. Causes: At the end of the civil war, tension remained high between the Whites and the Blacks, with both races unsure of what the years to come would bring. In Atlanta, election hype created enthusiasm between the two majority groups within the State as a consequence of the growing powers of Blacks in jobs, voting rights, and other political realm. The competition between Blacks and Whites was heightened by the growing status differences, and many Whites were concerned that they would no longer be able to think of or treat the Blacks as being inferior. This drove the creation of rumors and threats to demoralize blacks in the society. Whites were charged by the manipulated stories during Gubernatorial Elections of 1906. The main candidates were Hoke Smith and Clark Howell, who were struggling against each other for democratic elections. They both were linked with publishing newspapers and therefore took advantage of their powers in print media and published false stories to attack Black communities who were running successful businesses like saloons and bars. To destabilize Blacks and their businesses, Atlanta Georgi an and Atlanta News began to air false stories of Black men molesting and then raping white women. Both candidates were looking ways to demoralize Blacks and prevent them from voting therefore did multiple attacks narrating that White Women are victimized by the Blacks which made Whites furious and brought them to streets. These stories circulated throughout the city with lurid stories and cartoon sketching saying that White’

Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words - 2

Corporate finance - Essay Example e views that capital structure (debt or equity financing) and dividend policy do not matter in company valuation come from the same theory that made daring assumptions about corporate investment decisions and the efficiency of capital markets. In their classic papers on these issues, Miller and Modigliani (1958 and 1961) used as a starting point that the company has settled on its investment programme and determined how much of the investments would be financed from debt, with the remaining funds required being funded from retained earnings, and any surplus funds would be paid out as dividends. If the company decides to increase dividends without changing the investment and borrowing policy, the funds that would be needed to pay the dividends should come from somewhere. If debt is fixed, the only way it can fund extra dividends is to sell more shares. The new stockholders would invest only if you offer them shares worth as much as they cost, but how can the firm do this when its assets, earnings, investment opportunities, and therefore, market value are all unchanged? The answer is that there must be a transfer of value from the old to the new stockholders, with the new ones getting the new shares, each one worth less than before the dividend change was announced, and the old ones suffering a capital loss on their shares. The capital loss of the old shareholders would just offset the extra cash dividend they receive. Would it matter to the old stockholders to receive extra dividends plus an offsetting capital loss? It would if that were the only way they can get cash. But as long as there are efficient capital markets, they can raise the cash by selling shares. Thus, the old shareholders can â€Å"cash in† either by persuading management to pay a higher dividend or by selling some of their shares. In either case, there will be a transfer of value from old to new shareholders, and the only difference is that in the former case (higher dividends) this

Persian Wars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Persian Wars - Essay Example However, the spark igniting this into war with the Persians was a revolt of the Ionian Greeks. The Ionian Greeks had peacefully submitted to Persian rule and lived under Persian appointed Greek tyrants since the time of Cyrus the Great. Then in 5l0 B.C.E., the Ionian Greeks raised the standard of revolt and drove their tyrants out. Realizing they needed help against the mighty Great King, Darius, they appealed to their cousins across the Aegean for aid. Sparta, ever wary of a Helot revolt, refused to help. However, Athens and another city-state, Eretria, did send ships and troops who joined the Ionians, marched inland, and burned the provincial capital, Sardis, to the ground. After a Persian force defeated the Greeks as they were returning from Sardis, the Ionian Greeks decided to stake everything on a naval battle at Lade (494 B.C.E.). Therefore, it is the Ionian revolt that has sparked the Persian Wars. (Cited from FC23A: Persian Wars) The first Persian invasion of Greece, during t he Persian Wars, began in 492 BC, and ended with the decisive Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. The invasion, consisting of two distinct campaigns, was ordered by the Persian king Darius I primarily in order to punish the city-states of Athens and Eretria. These cities had supported the cities of Iona during their revolt against Persian rule, thus incurring the wrath of Darius. Darius also saw the opportunity to extend his empire into Europe, and to secure its western frontier. The first campaign in 492 BC, led by Mardonius, re-subjugated Thrace and forced Macedon to become a client kingdom of Persia. However, further progress was prevented when Mardonius’ fleet was wrecked in a storm off the coast of Mount Athos. The following year, having demonstrated his intentions, Darius sent ambassadors to all parts of Greece, demanding their submission. He received it from almost all of them, excepting Athens and Sparta, both of whom executed the ambassadors. With A thens still defiant, and Sparta now effectively at war with him, Darius ordered a further military campaign for the following year. The second campaign, in 490 BC, was under the command of Datis and Artaphernes. The expedition headed first to the island Naxos, which it captured and burnt. It then island-hopped between the rest of the Cycladic Islands, annexing each into the Persian Empire. Reaching Greece, the expedition landed at Eretria, which it besieged, and after a brief time, captured. Eretria was razed and its citizens enslaved. Finally, the task force headed to Attica, landing at Marathon, en route for Athens. There, it was met by a smaller Athenian army, which nevertheless proceeded to win a remarkable victory at the Battle of Marathon This defeat prevented the successful conclusion of the campaign, and the task force returned to Asia. Nevertheless, the expedition had fulfilled most of its aims, punishing Naxos and Eretria, and bringing much of the Aegean under Persian rule . The unfinished business from this campaign led Darius to prepare for a much larger invasion of Greece, to firmly subjugate it, and to punish Athens and Sparta. However, internal strife within the empire delayed this expedition, and Darius then died of old age. It was thus left to his son Xerxes I to lead the second Persian invasion of Greece, beginning in 480 BC. The second Persian invasion of Greece (480-479 BC) occurred during the Greco-Persian Wars, as King Xerxes I of Persia sought to

647 W6D Project metrics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

647 W6D Project metrics - Essay Example The two most effect project metrics are retrospective metrics and diagnostics metrics. 1. Diagnostic Metrics: These are drawn from the existing information to analyse the current situation of the project. Using this metric, project managers may detect anomalies or forecast risks that might surface in the future (Kendrick, 2003). Diagnostic and retrospective metrics are used when the project is running and can be used to solve issues there and then. Diagnostic metrics alert the project managers regarding risks that are emerging during the course of the project. Retrospective metrics provide conclusions to the project reports and tell the managers if there are any risks expected in the future. Both types of metrics make the processes more efficient and risk free. Scarlat. E. et. al, n.d, ‘Indicators And Metrics Used In The Enterprise Risk Management (ERM),’ Department of Informatics and Economic Cybernetics, Acessed online, < http://www.ecocyb.ase.ro/20124pdf/Emil%20Scarlat%20%28T%29.pdf

For this assignment you are required to write a feature piece about Essay

For this assignment you are required to write a feature piece about one of the statements provided below - Essay Example Although the Games, once brought forward from their dusty past in antiquity, were initially held in mostly Western European nations, the Olympic Museum (2007) reports that they â€Å"have now been held on every continent except Africa.† However, Africa, as a continent, could use the attention, and the money, more than any other continent today. The Western World tends to think of Africa in terms of the images we see on TV. These images are full of small children with distended tummies as they sit on the dirt floors of their tiny huts trying to ignore the flies that gather around their starving and barely-clad bodies. As was pointed out by Enwezor (2005), a scholar on the subject of photojournalism, â€Å"The global media almost never depict contemporary Africans in ordinary situations; images of crisis frequently eclipse other representations.† Contrary to this impression, though, there are numerous Africans who live lives very similar to the experiences to be found in the West, complete with brick houses, running water and full-time electricity. However, the limited space available for international news combined with the desperate conditions of Africa’s poor have convinced many in the mainstream media that this poverty is where the attention should be focused. In the past, African countries have been rejected in their Olympic bids citing lack of appropriate facilities for hosting. However, some feel this is more rhetoric than reality. There are a number of more developed African cities preparing to make a bid for future Olympic Games. These include cities in Egypt and Kenya as well as the South African cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. South Africa also has some precedent set regarding their ability to host larger events. Since 1994 (and the fall of Apartheid), the nation has hosted the Rugby World Cup, the African Cup of

Use of Information Technology to Support the Drive E-Business in Research Paper

Use of Information Technology to Support the Drive E-Business in Organizations - Research Paper Example When introducing changes to the business model, staff must be retrained and the work culture managed to ensure successful implementation of a new system. Challenges in the integration of new information systems into business processes and information needs of an organization are inevitable. These challenges include training, outsourcing expertise and selecting appropriate systems. Therefore, it is important for organizational managers to identify these challenges and overcome them so that the advantages of applying information systems in business processes are achieved. Information systems and their incorporation in business functions enhance business activities. Through e-commerce for example, web based information systems are able to increase efficiency and effectiveness in transactions, communication, collaboration and information sharing within the supply chain. Information system adoption and implementation is the most viable business solution for organizations especially those which are experiencing increased growth. It is through the information systems that management is enhanced and efficiency in transactions is achieved via e-business. On deciding to use information technology, the organizations must develop a system that will help integrate all the activities involved in the flow of goods from the suppliers to the customer. The system developed should be web-based given that e-commerce is conducted in distributed networks and must assure all the user of the security of the transactions. This is enforced by use of various components of an IT system. Given the dynamic nature of technology, the system needs to be periodically upgraded and therefore the organization must develop strategies to ensure smooth transitions. Businesses seeking to integrate their operations and processes should use competitive intelligence systems which gather i nformation from all the components of the supply chain thereby guiding the innovation process in a company. However, there are challenges which organizations face in their attempt to integrate new information systems into business processes and information needs. These challenges include deciding on the right information system as presented by vendors to the management. An ideal information system must be in line with business needs and processes including congruency to the goals and objectives of the organization. Organizations also face a challenge f training users to integrate and apply new systems especially when such organizations are large. Outsourcing of technical staff is another challenge in integration because the outsourced companies may not be familiar with the culture, goals and objectives of an organization when integrating the new system. Use of IT to integrate the sales and supply chain management (a) System Requirements To enhance supply chain management which will help companies integrate their relationship with customers and suppliers, there is need to ensure that the system meets some certain requirements. Supply

Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology Essay Example for Free

Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology Essay The mobile phone has many advantages and disadvantages. It is easy to contact friends and family. Since the first mobile was created we have been able to make calls to anywhere in the world by the click of a button. You are able to get in touch with people nearly 24/7. You have access to constant internet. Having the internet at your finger tips any time you need it has many advantages. Need to find out want time a movie is on in the cinema? No problem. Need to look up the number of a restaurant you fancy having dinner at? Just use your phone. A mobile phone is an all in one device. Having music, a camera, GPS, phone and mini laptop all in one device is handy. Nowadays we use our phones as our calculator, flashlight and fax machine. Many people do not even own a camera anymore as who needs one when you can high quality shots with you camera phone. Mobile phones also allow us to facetime or Skype family and friends. Skype and facetime allow us to view our friends and family members no matter where they are in the world. These apps also allow you to choose between making a video and a voice call. You can connect with anyone else who has internet connection. People survived for years without carrying a phone with them. Its becoming a necessity for people to carry portable phones with them. Having a phone which is portable is handy for those situations where you break down on a country road; a portable phone can help make sure you are never stuck. Phones nowadays work almost everywhere, there are very few locations where phones dont work. Read more:  Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology Essay A phone helps ensure business people are always in touch with their clients and those who they need to talk to right away, from work or even at home. A portable phone works if charged during power outs, after accidents or whenever an emergency arises, a phone can be a lifesaver. Portable phones are becoming entertainment on the go. From television and movie downloads to games. Portable phones are great for helping people organize their lives. Some phones can handle e-mail addresses, appointments and more. Its like carrying a personal computer with you on the go. Mobile phones do so much that we find ourselves glued to them almost every day instead of people interacting with each other they sit with their eyes stuck to their phones having virtual conversations instead of real ones.  When trying to do work it is hard to concentrate when there is a mobile sitting staring at you as the temptation to have a look on facebook or other websites is huge. Mobile phones can actually cost lives when drivers, focused on their mobile phones lose control of their vehicles and cause major accidents. Not as serious but you could fall down stairs, trip or run into something or someone when you’re stuck on facebook. Most phones nowadays have passwords on them but if you leave your phone unlocked and someone gets a hold of it them all your details are exposed – your contacts, messages, social media accounts and maybe even your bank details. Even if your phone is protected with a password a hacker can still access your information if they really want to. There is a lot of evidence that mobile phones cause damage to the brain. Phones produce radiation and should not be left near you when sleeping. They also affect a lot of people’s sleeping patterns which result in sleeplessness and insomnia. Many people like to be constantly upgraded with the newest phone. Some people want a different phone every month, as well as all the accessories that are now on the market for each mobile phone. Also what is the point of a phone without credit? Mobile phones are bottomless money pits. The landline also has many advantages and disadvantages. A landline always has coverage making it totally reliable and easy to access in the case of an emergency. In case of an unfortunate event of an earthquake or landslide, the mobile phone receives no network while the landline stays active. The reliability of a land line makes them advantageous when it comes to emergencies. For example, if someone is hurt and needs immediate medical care, you do not have to worry about poor reception. Landlines also provide a fixed location that emergency responders can rush to. If there is no power and a mobile phone dies, the user is without a phone completely if there is no landline connected to a wired phone. A landline home phones will rescue a user when their mobile phone dies. The larger size of a landline phone allows you to more easily cradle the phone between your head and shoulder. In general, landlines are much less expensive than mobile phones. The setup costs, hardware costs and calling costs of mobile phones are all typically higher. Most landline service providers offer free local calls. Keeping a landline at home can help reduce your phone bill and allow you to talk as  long as you want without worrying about racking up charges. Landlines do not meet the needs of people today. Most people spend more time outside the home. Using their mobile phone allows freedom from checking the home recorder for messages. Nowadays if someone is waiting on an important call they do not have to sit at home and wait for the call. They can send and receive calls from anywhere there is phone service. A landline is not portable and it cannot travel with you. Landline service only works inside the home and it also limits the callers ability to move around while on a call. Landline services offer fewer options than mobile phone services. Many mobile phone companies include internet access, text messaging, voice mail and a whole range of applications. Landlines however do not include these options. If you have a landline phone, your number and home address is in the phone book. While there are benefits to having your number listed, theres also one huge disadvantage which is telemarketers. Landline phones are more likely to get calls from telemarketers trying to sell you something at all hours. Thats because many calling centres will scroll through the phone book, calling listed number after number. These can be annoying to phone owners. Landlines consume more energy than cell phones, as they remain plugged in at all times. This is true of cordless landline phones as well, because of the charger required. While mobile phones do not last as long as landlines they are easier to recycle. The Internet has been the greatest means of communication yet. It is now faster and more reliable than ever. Nowadays it is possible to use video, chat and messenger services. There are many ‘chat rooms’ on the web that can be accessed to meet new people, make new friends, as well as to stay in touch with old friends. Social networking has become so popular amongst youth that it might one day replace physical networking. It has evolved as a great way to connect with millions of people with similar interests. Apart from finding long-lost friends, you can also look for a job, business opportunities. The Internet has made life very convenient. With numerous online services you can now perform all your transactions online. You can book tickets for a movie, transfer funds, pay utility bills, taxes etc., and right from your home. Entertainment is another popular reason why many  people prefer to surf the Internet. The internet has even become some peoples TV as you can watch endless programmes at the click of a button. Also downloading games or just surfing the celebrity websites are some of the uses people have discovered. The Internet has any kind of information on any topic under the sun. The search engines help you to find data on any subject that you need. You can also shop online, there are many online stores and sites that can be used to look for products as well as buy them using your credit card. You do not need to leave your house and can do all your shopping from the convenience of your home. E-mail is another advantage, with e-mail you can send and receive instant electronic messages. Your messages are delivered instantly to people anywhere in the world. If you use the Internet for online banking, social networking or other services, you may risk a theft to your personal information such as name, address, credit card number etc. People can access this information through unsecured connections then use your personal details for their benefit. Internet users are often plagued by virus attacks on their systems. Virus programs may get activated if you click a seemingly harmless link. Computers connected to the Internet are very prone to targeted virus attacks and may end up crashing. People are drifting apart from their friends and family because of the internet. Even children prefer to play online games rather than going out and mingling with other kids. The Internet can be harmful to little children. Children nowadays use the Internet on a daily basis. The Internet has provided a way for children to gain access to all sorts of websites. Cyber bullying is also another huge disadvantage when it comes to the internet. There are now many more ways that people can be harassed and bullied when they have access to the internet. Cyber bullying is one of the worst as it invades the victims’ life in a place they are comfortable in and think they are safe, because they are being harassed in their personal area, cyber bullying leads to more depression decreased self esteem, loneliness and suicide which are all big disadvantages. Another disadvantage of the internet is that it has allowed a great deal of anonymity to a large number of people who have access to different websites and chat rooms available. This has allowed perverted individuals to take advantage of innocent people and abuse their trust. We can always hear from news that paedophiles used  the internet to make crimes. With all its falls the internet has the potential to ma ke your life simple and convenient, as well as wreak havoc in your life. Having a fax machine certainly has its benefits, there are also disadvantages associated with relying on this sending tool. With a fax machine, you can quickly send documents from one building to another without any cost. Not only does a fax machine make this rapid transfer easier and more cost-effective, it also allows for the transfer to take place more quickly. Fax machines provide senders with a receipt after the document has finished the fax process; the user has some evidence that they did, in fact, send the document. Faxes are delivered immediately to around the globe. This method of data transmission is effective when access to email or file share are unattainable or unfeasible. Fax machines are very inexpensive and several are part of multifunction systems. Just like all technology, fax machines can fail. If a company depends too heavily upon the fax machine and the machine fails to operate, the people using the machine may experience some difficulty. Also you cannot send a fax to someone who does not also have a fax machine; the receiver must have a fax machine to get the document. Documents you sent may not be as safe and secure. Information thieves have ways of pulling information from old fax machines or discarded printing cartridges. Any time you send a document, via fax or otherwise, you open up the possibility of someone accessing your data, putting you at risk. Fax machines take up space and also create an opportunity for mechanical failures that may require costly repairs. Emailing documents takes no additional hardware besides an existing computer, and files can be stored digitally rather than taking up space in paper form. Fax machines need regular maintenance. You have to stock the machines with paper and also supply toner, which are the powdered ink fax machines use to print. There is also the possibility that once a document has been faxed and the information is read or entered into a computer, the paper will be thrown away or recycled. Finally, like every machine, fax machines require occasional cleaning.

A view from the Bridge Essay Example for Free

A view from the Bridge Essay Eddie Carbone is in love with his niece by marriage, Catherine or Katie as he affectionately calls her. He has bought up the orphaned child as his own, loved her unconditionally. However, on the cusp of womanhood he has fallen in love with her, something he cannot admit to himself, as it is too terrible to acknowledge. The first clue to this unlawful love is his obsessive concern for her appearance Katie, you are walkin wavy! I dont like the looks theyre givin you in the candy store. And with them new high heels on the sidewalk clack, clack, clack. The heads are turnin like windmills. Without realising quite why he has done it, he has delayed her oncoming womanhood by keeping her at school and secretarial college. This way he can protect her from external influences keeping her wings clipped. This is why he is so keen to dissuade her from taking a job offered to her. I know shell be in the office but that aint what I had in mind We are afforded here a confirmation of the tragedy that is likely to unfold by the way Eddies wife; Beatrice reacts to Eddies dismay at Katies first steps to freedom. We feel her sense of urgency in her attempting to put distance between Katie and Eddie, she remonstrates with Eddie I dont understand you; shes seventeen years old you gonna keep her in the house all her life? To re enforce our understanding of Eddies true feelings another character fills us in on ensuring drama. This part belongs to Alfieri the lawyer / narrator of the play who in the traditional tragedy takes the part of the Greek chorus. More educated and yet part of the community, he tries to forestall the inevitably tragic ending even though he knows he is powerless to stop it. As the play progresses a monstrous change creeps up on Eddie. He is violently opposed to this romance between Rudolpho and Catherine. Eddie is not intelligent enough to realise that this opposition is not motivated, as he thinks, by a dislike of the boy and the suspicion that he is a homosexual. Not even the Alfieri can persuade Eddie to let go of the girl. Most ancient tragedies have a recognition scene wherein self-realisation dawns on the protagonist, in this case Eddie as it happened with Oedipus Rex. All of Shakespeares tragedies have recognition scenes. In this play there is no formal recognition scene. Only after Eddie has given Marco and Rudolpho up to the immigration service and he knows that he is facing certain death, due to his jealous desperate behaviour, does he begin to realise his faults and this is when the recognition scene takes place. This is similar in Millers A Death of a Salesman. He is adamant about wanting his name back, and he knows that he is in an impossible situation so he sees no other way out, and this is when everything comes crashing down around Eddie because he realises what he has done and cannot change anything. In my opinion what makes this play such an important and textbook modern tragedy is the way the viewer or reader is made aware of the inevitability of a tragic outcome given the setting and cast of characters. We are aware of the importance of name to the Italians, and the system men are judged by in the ethnic group in America. As Eddie loses more and more control over his feelings for Katie and thereby causing the problem to worsen he is in desperate need of some other focus, hence the significance of his blinding desire to clear his name of traitor which Marco has accused him of being. He feels if this can be sorted out so will his life. Hes gonna take that back, hes gonna take that back of Ill kill him! You hear me? Ill kill him! Ill kill him. This point is further emphasised by Eddies point blank refusal to accept Rodolphos apology which would help to sort things out. Eddie knows that if he and Rodolpho were seen to have made up that things between Marco and Eddie may possibly be patched up. Eddies near hysterical response is I want my name! He didnt take my name; hes only a punk. Marcos got my name By refusing the option that would have diffused the situation, the way is cleared for the inevitable outcome, his sense of self righteousness over Marco taking his name obscures his vision as to the real villainy of the piece his wrongful love for Catherine. The audience now knows that he truly would rather die than admit his true feelings showed in his horrified utterance of Beatrice in response to her accusation of you want somethin else Eddie, and you can never have her! The outcome of this disaster is one man killed, one facing deportation and therefore financial ruin for his family. Two families are ruined. All this has come about from the combination of one mans psychological make up and the circumstances ensuing from his social background. A truly modern tragedy. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Human cloning

Human cloning Brief History In 1952, the first successful animal cloning took place when Robert Briggs and Thomas J.King cloned a tadpole. After almost four decades, the first cloned mammal, a sheep named Dolly, was born in 1996. Following the creation of Dolly, scientists started to think about developing human clones. However, scepticism and hesitation began to grow among scientists when Dolly died at the age of six in 2003. This event, combined with the religious communitys disapproval of human cloning, resulted in the enactment of the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2009. According to this law, human cloning is unethical, immoral, and unlawful; hence, it is illegal. Today, human cloning is banned in 23 countries. Nevertheless, pro-cloning scientists and researchers are seeking to legalise human cloning in order to progress research and achieve more in this field (Naik, 2010). Introduction Do not come down for or against cloning until you have consulted it stated David Sharp in the New Statesman (2000). What Michael Bay, the Hollywood director, eloquently shows in his sci-fi film, The Island, is what many people in the 21st century are debating. This movie brilliantly portrays the type of influences that a human cloning factory can have on society. A mother becomes pregnant and delivers her baby, but her life will be terminated by scientists because she is just a clone of the original mother who could not become pregnant or who did not want to go through the pain of being pregnant. The human cloning technology that is shown in the movie has not been reached yet. However, what this movie is trying to show is the selfishness of mankind who is willing to spend considerable amounts of money in order to create genetically identical replicas of themselves and massacre the self-made clones to fulfil their own goals in life like having a baby, undergoing organ transplantation, etc. This is one of the most controversial issues in the world today. After creation of Dolly (the sheep clone) by Ian Willmut and colleagues at the Roslin Institute in Scotland, which was a great success in animal cloning, the debate about the concept of cloning, both scientifically and ethically, was raised among scientists (Bose, 2009). However, the main debate today is whether humans should be cloned or not. In order to realise why some views are against and some are for this issue, it is important to know some background about this concept first. Background The simplest explanation of human cloning is that it is the production of a replicate (clone) of a human being asexually and without any fertilisation of sperms and eggs (Bose, 2009). The technique used in cloning is called somatic (non-sex) cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Through SCNT, the nucleus of an egg is removed and replaced by the nucleus of the donor (who wants to be cloned), which is already isolated from the donor cell. An electrical shock (or, sometimes, the application of chemicals) results in the fusion of the donor nucleus and the host egg, which, in turn, starts the cell division process. When the cell division reaches a certain limit (blastocyst developed), it is embedded in the surrogate mothers uterus by in vitro fertilisation. This method of cloning, which was also used to create Dolly, is known as reproductive cloning (Bose, 2009). It is important to bear in mind that artificial insemination, in vitro fertilisation (IVF), and cryopreservation are all known as standard reproductive cloning techniques. However, the aforementioned technologies involve sexual reproduction of the embryo, i.e. fertilisation of sperms and eggs. In cloning, SCNT technology is used in the first phase in order to asexually produce a zygote (with fusion, not fertilisation) and next through the in vitro fertilisation technique; the resultant blastocyst (early embryo) is implanted in the mothers womb only if the aim is to produce a human being (reproductiove cloning), otherwise the blastocyst is used to extract stem cells from it (therapeutic cloning) which these cells, in turn, grow into various types of cells, such as pancreatic or nerve cells as demonstrated in Figure 2. (Wilmut et al., 2001) Another type of cloning is called therapeutic cloning. As explained above, in this case, after the fusion of patients (donors) nucleus with the hosts egg and development of blastocyst, the inner cell layer of the blastocyst, which is full of undifferentiated stem cells, is used for stem cell research. Therefore, in therapeutic cloning and unlike reproductive cloning, the embryo is not embedded into the mothers uterus and, instead, it is used to isolate stem cells from it as shown in Figure 1 and 2 (Explorestemcells, 2010). These stem cells could then be used within different human body organs, such as the liver, heart, and skin. The advantage of using this method is that since the stem cells have been developed from the nucleus of the patient (i.e., have the same genetic information), the new developed organ will be used to replace the dysfunctional patients organ without the patients body rejecting the new organ (Bose, 2009). Many scientists believe that, with therapeutic cloning and embryonic stem cell research, many disorders, especially degenerative nervous system diseases like Alzheimers and Parkinsons can be treated. This is a very big promise that one can give to the mankind; however, the ethical issues related to this study must not be neglected (Bose, 2009). The benefits and problems of using these two main types of cloning are more discussed in the scientific issues section later on in this dissertation. Nevertheless, there are important realities that must be uncovered about human cloning. It is important to understand that a clone can never be a perfect copy of the donor. Although the genetic material in the nucleus of the donor is used to create the clone, the mitochondrial DNA of the donor is not passed onto the clone. Also, the environment and experiences that builds up someones character would be different for the donor and his/her clone (Bose, 2009). Due to the lack of sexual reproduction of the clone, it would not have biological parents and he/she would always be called a clone of the DNA donor instead of a son or daughter of the donor. However, like any other human being, it will start its life as a baby despite the fact that it is generated from the cell of an adult (Bose, 2009). The act of human cloning (reproductive cloning) is banned in many countries today; however, some countries like the UK have legalised human cloning research only for therapeutic purposes. Furthermore, even therapeutic cloning is not completely allowed in many countries as most of the religious organisations are against diverting the fate of an embryo in any form and for any purpose (Bose, 2009). The question that may be raised is why anyone would want to clone a human in the first place. There are four different reasons why some people desire to clone a defunct or living person. There are people who would like simply to replicate themselves. This may be due to the fact that some might think that, by cloning themselves, they will become immortal somehow. This argument clearly shows that it is arisen from a wrong interpretation of cloning. Others might want to be cloned just because they are vain. Some want to replace their deceased loved ones by cloning them. For instance, this could be parents who desire to clone a child and use the cloned child as an organ donor for their dying child or to replace that child. Others believe that, with this technology, famous people can be recreated. Some of the nominees were Einstein, Mozart, Ghandi and Marilyn Monroe. Finally, human cloning can bring another option to provide an opportunity for infertile couples, including homosexuals, to have their own genetic child. However, at present, none of these suggestions are technically practical. For example, of course, it is impossible to reproduce Ghandi as his DNA is probably decayed a long time ago. Nevertheless, what Ghandi did throughout humankind made him the outstanding Ghandi rather than his actual body (Wilmut et al., 2001). To date, there has not been any success in cloning human beings despite several announcements from different scientists like Panayiotis Zavos in 2001 (Bose, 2009). In the next sections, the pros and cons of human cloning will be discussed both in terms of ethical and scientific implications which will make it easier to formulate a logical opinion about this issue. Discussion Ethical issues There are many ethical concerns, surrounding human cloning, and there is no consensus yet about these ethical issues. Most of the ethical implications are theological concerns and different religious views that believe that human cloning is the act of changing what God wants and changing the way human babies would normally born. Many religious organisations believe that the embryo must be considered as a human being and the act of therapeutic cloning, where stem cells are extracted from the embryo, therefore, is the same as murdering a human being. As a result of this belief, what many people are against about human cloning is the act of terminating one persons life in order for another person to live longer (Putatunda, 2007). This so-called instrumentalization view states, with regard to therapeutic cloning, that embryos must not be treated like an instrument and be produced only to help others to survive, but they should have an opportunity to experience the life like any other hum an beings who were an embryo (Kuhse Singer, 2006). Many views concern the social problems that human cloning may create. There is, no doubt that, a child who is created through cloning would face countless challenges in society. How such a child can grow up in a society where there are notand never wereany parents for him/her is a real challenge. The criminal misuse of this technology and insulting human dignity by creating human clones for other reasons can influence human values in society in many destructive ways (Bose, 2009). Some of the other morally argumentative discussions are raised against the inhumanity side of human cloning. Some of the main ethical dilemmas are whether human beings have the right to have children regardless of how they are created or whether it is moral to replace our defective organs with the new healthy ones from clones. Terminating the life of an embryo in order to isolate stem cells from them in therapeutic cloning is condemned by some humanitarian organisations (Putatunda, 2007). The next sections will discuss specific segments that relate to ethical issues on human cloning. These sections cover some of the main views on using embryos and stem cells in therapeutic purposes, and a brief overview of different perspectives on the concept of human dignity, autonomy, and reproductive cloning. About embryos The current UK rules and regulations states that embryos more than fourteen days old must not be used in research. This does not mean that a balostocyst younger than two weeks should not be respected. In fact, the rules clearly state that early embryos should be used in research only if there are no alternatives, such as adult stem cells, and only with consent. A precise record keeping must also be carried out to ensure that all embryos are treated the same (Wilmut et al., 2007). On the other hand, from a different perspective and as opposed to what many theological associations believe, the embryo is just a ball of cells and must not be considered to be a person. In other words, the embryo is not equivalent to a human being and, as a result of this, human rights should not apply to a bunch of cells that have no brain, personality, character, self-awareness, memory, etc. Therefore, the act of therapeutic cloning is not immoral as it uses a bunch of cells that contain DNA like human s kin cells to extract stem cells from and save thousands of lives. It only becomes wrong when the embryo is starting to develop a brain (mental life) and shows the appearance of the capacity to think. However, at this stage, an embryo is just a cluster of cells (Putatunda, 2007). Therefore, whilst many people believe that an embryo has the potential to become a human and, hence, must be respected, others believe that this does not mean that just because the embryo has this potential and must be authorised to have the same rights as a person. As John Harris stated in The Value of Life, We are all potentially dead but that does not mean we should be treated as if we are dead (Wilmut et al., 2007). As a result of this, many scientists justify the use of blastocysts in research. Nevertheless, this, in turn, raises other uncertainties like whether the blastocyst is aware or whether the blastocyst feels pain (Wilmut et al., 2007). Therapeutic cloning and stem cells In order to rationally investigate the ethical issues surrounding therapeutic cloning using embryonic stem cells in research and therapy, it is important to briefly look at some of the main ethical issues raised over the past few years. Technically, stem cells can be isolated from adults (e.g. skin), from umbilical cord blood, from foetal tissue, and from embryonic tissue. However, scientists believe that embryos are the best sources of stem cells for therapeutic cloning today. Therefore, this raises the question of whether, in future, embryos will be created just to be used as a source to harvest stem cells. Another issue that has been raised by the European Group on Ethics is the womans right since mothers are the means necessary to create embryos. There are also issues regarding the anonymity and security of the donors and the confidentiality of their genetic information. The commercial uses and transport of the donated tissues and genetic material globally, which could result in many criminal cases are crucial issues which are linked to peoples safety and security and must be attentively considered (Kuhse Singer, 2006). A similar debate is currently taking place, in the UK, on whether everyones DNA must be kept on the database or only criminals DNA. Replication not reproduction With regard to reproductive cloning, since creating an individual using SCNT technology is a process of replication and not reproduction, some believe that this is not natural and completely disregards human dignity. However, this might be a kind of eluding technique that especially political systems would use nowadays in order to avoid the controversial arguments that surround an issue, such as human cloning. It is always easier to justify a banning policy by claiming that a particular law is issued due to breaching human dignity moralities rather than basing it on religious views (Caulfield, 2003). Eugenics, human dignity and autonomy In addition, the autonomy and uniqueness of an individual are other factors that must be considered. The genetic information of a person is what makes the person unique and different from others. From the human dignity defenders perspective, who believe autonomy and uniqueness are the precursors of human dignity, the act of reproductive cloning not only disregards the clones autonomy, but it also ruins the uniqueness of the donor, which is unacceptable and immoral. Again, some might say these arguments are scientifically wrong as genomes role in human uniqueness is only in terms of human appearance and not personalities in terms of defining individuals. Hence, the act of copying someones genome does not necessarily ruin his/her uniqueness or his/her human dignity. For example, identical twins dignity and uniqueness are not jeopardised only because of having identical genomes (Williamson, 1999). Reproductive cloning Apart from the social and religious views, some scientist involved in cloning and embryology researches like Ian Wilmut and Richard Gardner have clearly explained some of the serious ethical problems that human cloning can bring about. For example, with regard to the act of reproductive cloning, there is still lack of sufficient and satisfactory amount of knowledge in order to clone a human being (as explained below). Reproductive cloning has yet to be completely proved by scientists. Even during the process of creating Dolly, 272 embryos were wasted. In other words, Dolly was created after trying to clone a sheep 272 times. .This means that 272 embryos for various reasons were either not developed normally or were eliminated for being imperfect. From those embryos that were developed properly, some of them miscarried and a significant number of the sheep born were severely abnormal and, as a result of this, died shortly after delivery or had to be euthanized (Wilmut et al., 2001). To date, no clone including Dolly has lived to a ripe old age. Dolly was euthanized by lethal injection as she had been suffering from lung cancer and crippling arthritis and died at the age of six. This happened whilst most Finn Dorset sheep live to the age of 11 or 12. Just imagining treating a human embryo the same way would create so many ethical dilemmas (HGPI, 2009). Scientific issues Human cloning is not as simple as just replicating a person. There are various scientific and technological obstacles to performing this study. In terms of science, human cloning has its own benefits and problems, especially therapeutic cloning. One of the main advantages of using stem cells isolated from embryos is that the cells are pluripotent. This means that these cells are able to differentiate into any cell type in the human body except embryo cells. Hence, pluripotent cells have the potential to grow and produce healthy organs or to treat any body organ (tissue) diseases by replacing defective cells; for instance, this could involve using pluripotent cells to replace abnormal red blood cells in sickle-celled anaemia disease or to replace damaged heart tissue, thereby preventing cardiovascular diseases (Explorestemcells, 2010). Another major benefit of therapeutic cloning is that, as mentioned in the introduction, since the patients own genetic material is used to produce the cloned embryo and stem cells isolated from it, the risk of rejection by the immune system of the patient during organ transplantation is reduced. Otherwise, if the cells are from another donor, the patients immune system would recognise the foreign proteins on the transplanted cells and start to attack these cells and reject the transplanted organ (Explorestemcells, 2010). Therapeutic cloning can also help scientists to progress in stem cell research, which, in turn, will open many doors to treating different diseases (Explorestemcells, 2010). Furthermore, gene therapy is one of the major development procedures that can be achieved by cloning. Gene therapy allows the replacement of defective and abnormal genes with healthy and normal ones. Rejuvenation is another factor that many scientists believe can be achieved through production of clone tissues (Pakhare, 2007). One of the main advantages of using reproductive cloning is infertility treatment. Through human cloning technology, many infertile couples can have a chance to have a child without going through many painful procedures that are currently used for infertile couples (Pakhare, 2007). This is due to the fact that, in reproductive cloning, the fusion of sex cells is not involved and, instead, SCNT methods are used. However, some of these positive features mentioned about human cloning are just a theory like rejuvenation, and it is not completely approved by all scientists. Human cloning is not as simple as just replicating a person. There are various scientific and technological obstacles to performing this study. A number of drawbacks and risks from using human cloning are mentioned below. Risks One of the main problems of using therapeutic cloning is that the success rate in producing a viable egg is very low. As explained in the case of Dolly, 277 SCNT attempts took place to create a stable, fused egg that resulted in a somewhat viable offspring. Statistics shows that almost 90% of the attempts to produce viable animal clones have failed (Pakhare, 2007). This shows that the cloning technology of today is not very highly advanced and the process of SCNT is not as easy as it may sound. It also means that cloning, especially with this high rate of failure, could be a very expensive technique. It can take hundreds of attempts and thousands or even millions of dollars to attain a viable zygote (Explorestemcells, 2010). Furthermore, the cloned animals tend to die prematurely after cloning. This is due to their fragile immune system, which results in the progression of many disorders and infectious activities after creation, such as tumours, arthritis (in Dolly), etc. Some of the cloned animals die early because they have Large Offspring Syndrome in which their organs are abnormal and often larger than their counterparts organs. This results in the disorganisation of metabolic activities, which, in turn, leads to the development of many other disturbances and, ultimately, causes death (Pakhare, 2007). Another risk of cloning that concerns scientists is the telomere shortening mechanism. Telomeres are DNA sequences located at either ends of chromosomes, which shorten in sequence each time DNA replication occurs. Hence, the overall length of chromosome is reduced after each replication. Studies show that, as the animals (or humans) age increases, its telomeres contract further (Betts et al., 2006). Therefore, the clone that arises from a nucleus, taken from an old donor through SCNT, must die early as the chromosomes of this newly created clone are already old (Yang et al., 2000). For instance, in the case of Dolly, the chromosomes seemed to have been shrunk and, hence, it aged faster than its counterparts. However, this phenomenon is still not completely proven as, in some cases, such as in a cloned cow and a mouse, it has been seen that telomeres are quite longer than their counterparts (Pakhare, 2007). Some more ethical issues in science The process of extracting stem cells from the embryo during therapeutic cloning results in the destruction of the embryo being used. This is the main reason why many views are against stem cell research as they believe killing an embryo is equivalent to killing a human being. However, some people believe that equalising a cluster of cells with a human is completely wrong and advantages of therapeutic cloning with regards to treatment of many diseases outweigh the disadvantages of it (Explorestemcells, 2010). In addition, since reproductive cloning also uses SCNT to create an embryo, there is still the concern that a scientist may take therapeutic cloning further to clone a human being. As described above, no one has ever been successful in cloning a human being; however, it is still alarming for the political, scientific, and religious communities that, with the current knowledge of cloning today, some may attempt to go beyond therapeutic cloning (Explorestemcells, 2010). Possible future developments As explained previously, the main issues surrounding human embryonic stem cell (HESC) research are raised only due to the fact that the embryo is destroyed in the process of extracting stem cells from it. If an alternative way to obtain non-embryonic pluripotent stem cells could be developed, this problem could be overcome. This research is mainly crucial in the U.S. due to different policies that are raised against the federal funding of HESC research. One of the newest ways to approach these alternative pathways is by using the Altered Nuclear Transfer (ANT) technique. Through ANT, the somatic cell nucleus and egg cytoplasm are modified first and, subsequently via SCNT technique, the somatic nucleus is transferred to the egg. The advantage of this method is that it prevents the resultant zygote from developing the potential capabilities of becoming an embryo whilst simultaneously allowing it to produce pluripotent stem cells. ANT has already been experimented on with mice by silenc ing the Cdx2 gene of the somatic cell nucleus before transferring it to the egg. The result was the production of non-embryonic biological entity that contained healthy and normal pluripotent stem cells. Other studies show that this is also achievable by silencing Cdx2 genes in the egg prior to nuclear transfer. Therefore, finding alternative ways are also possible solutions to get around this problem (Hurlbut, 2007). Another idea that scientists brought forth for discussion after cloning Dolly that they hope to apply in medical centres in the near future is the idea of creating designer babies. This idea was mainly proposed in order to help humankind by using the combination of nuclear transfer and genetic modification. This theory believes that the prevention of children with severe genetic disorders being born can be done by artificial selection of the best possible genetic information, using genetic engineering and IVF techniques. Designer babies ensure the presence and absence of particular wanted and unwanted genes ameliorating the offsprings characteristics (Steinbock, 2008). Since IVF was finally accepted by many public organisations after extreme debate, the action of genetically modifying human embryos may also be accepted one day as routine even if it is not applied on a large scale. However, surely moral issues surrounding this technology would make it difficult to carry on this techni que. Some believe that the designer babies technique, like human cloning, is playing God. Others believe that this is a kind of prejudice and discrimination to disallow a disabled child to be born. Many fear the negative long-term effects that this can have on society. For instance, a childs sense of independence might change knowing that his parents had interfered with his birth to change his natural birth in some ways (Wilmut et al., 2007). Nowadays, several other techniques are being offered to patients with genetic diseases in medical centres, such as gene therapy. Therefore, some people believe that the genetic make-up of an individual must not be manipulated before birth; however, it is fine to do that after birth, such as through gene therapy. Conclusion Having discussed some of the main ethical and scientific issues, there are still some unreasonable and illogical criticisms about cloning that have been raised due to the lack of understanding and knowledge about this issue. Misconceptions about human cloning in terms of confusing it with other biomedical and genetically-related techniques, such as designer babies and genetic selection results in false information and judgment about this procedure. As opposed to what many people believe, human cloning is not able to select perfect genes or sex and result in a self-designed perfect human being. Therefore, so many arguments about human cloning, especially religious ones that are based on these perspectives and similar information, are due to superficial and shallow thinking (Vaknin, 2003). In conclusion, a government needs to completely analyse an issue like human cloning before proposing different laws about it and banning it. Restricting research about the issue not only does not solve the problem, but it also makes the conflicts of this matter worse, and it may result in the abstruse and secret execution of illegal human cloning. I, too, have instinctive concerns regarding the application of reproductive cloning. I believe that not only does this type of cloning not have many scientific uses that can help humanity, but it also only brings psychological and mental problems to society. Therefore, there is no doubt why reproductive cloning must be banned and tightly regulated. Regarding stem cell research I believe the ethical guidelines and boundaries must be identified instead of banning the research completely. As mentioned in the context of this dissertation, there are many advantages that can be achieved through stem cell research that must not be neglected. For example, in China, the investment in stem cell science is growing whilst the instruction and rules about this study are also tightly controlled (Sample, 2005). Furthermore, using human dignity and sanctity of life as the centre of the arguments does not help to logically analyse and investigate the benefits and drawbacks of the technique. As nobody is anti-human dignity, such arguments can only act as a barrier that does not allow further study of this technology. As Beyleveld and Brownsword noted (1998), From any perspective that values rational debate about human genetics, it is an abuse of the concept of human dignity to operate it as a veto on any practice that is intuitively disliked. Finally, we need to make use of advantages that this technology can bring to mankind. As noted by Wilmut et al, (2001), Human cloning is now on the spectrum of future possibilities and we, more than anyone else, helped to put it there. We wish this were not the case, but there it is and will remain for as long as civilisation lasts. Of course, we can use alternatives if there are any, but if the only way to save thousands of lives is by using therapeutic cloning, as long as the benefits of such process outweighs the ethical and moral issues, we need to rethink our policies in terms of what we ban and what we limit.

Tennis Essay -- essays research papers

As we all know, America is a nation of sports enthusiasts. Most Americans participate is some kind of sporting event, either as a spectator or as a competitor. In the pantheon of great American sports, there is one that stands out. It has been called the great American pastime. Yes, that great sport known as tennis. Tennis requires a mastery of many skills to be able to play competitively, but the primary skill needed to win in tennis is the serve. The serve is the primary offensive weapon used I tennis, because it is the only time when a player gets to put a ball into play. The player controls the speed, the placement, and the spin of the ball. With proper procedure, the serve can win many points and games for the server. The technique I will demonstrate is used by most professional ten...

Dark Energy: The Mystery of This Millennium :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Dark Energy: The Mystery of This Millennium Billions of years ago, the universe was nothing but an infinitesimally small particle. Then, in less time than the blink of an eye, the universe expanded and increased in size by a factor of 1050. Expansion eventually began to slow down, allowing galaxies, star clusters, and so on, to form. Theoretically, expansion should still be slowing down; but to the contrary, expansion is in fact accelerating (10). Some scientists theorize that an unknown force, called Dark Energy, may be the cause of this accelerated expansion, while others disagree. For some time, exploding stars, or supernovas, were used as a "cosmic measuring stick" (4). That is, scientists used these supernovas to calculate the age of the universe. In 1998, two groups of astronomers surveyed supernovas in very distant galaxies. These supernovas were much dimmer than expected to be, and calculations proved that the stars were over ten billion light years away, much farther away than they should be had the universe been expanding at a slowing rate, or even a constant rate, as previously theorized (5). This discovery proved that the cosmos are not expanding at a slowing or a constant rate, but instead they are expanding at an accelerated rate (4). Since this discovery, scientists have been trying to uncover what it is that accounts for this accelerated expansion. Scientists have calculated the density of the cosmos, and they have also calculated the total mass of all visible galaxies. However, the galaxies make up less than one-third of the density needed to satisfy the current calculations of the early universe (2). Simple logic tells us that there must be something else in the universe, with some kind of mass, which accounts for over two-thirds of the density of the cosmos. The new theory incorporates a different force called Dark Energy. At first, scientists did not know how Dark Energy works or what it is physically made up of. Some proposed ideas of Dark Energy are: a cosmic field associated with inflation, a low-energy field called "quintessence," and the cosmological constant, or a negative pressure, as suggested by Albert Einstein (7). In July of 2003, scientists confirmed that Dark Energy exists, but they still cannot truly explain it (6). They do know that Dark Energy is different from every other kind of energy found. Some say it is a negative gravity (1), while others say that it does not necessarily act opposite to gravity, but, instead, it acts more like a negative pressure (5).

The Shy Girl Essay -- Personal Narrative Writing

The Shy Girl Ever since I can remember, I was naturally quiet and shy. I constantly repeated myself because people could not hear me the first time. Even then, I seldom made eye contact with others. When I entered high school, nothing changed. Soon afterward, I disliked the way my classmates thought of me. If someone had to make an announcement in class, I was not chosen; my classmates believed I was not vocal enough. If someone threw a party, I was not invited because they thought "Shy girls" would not want to come. Most of my classmates attracted a great deal of attention. No one willingly associated with me. Not only did my classmates see me as quiet and shy, but they made me start believing it, too. Ashamed, I wanted some way out. I wanted my words to stick with people. I wanted them to think, "Louisa said†¦." I tried participating in class more and sharing my opinions, but that did not help. Whenever I made a comment, one of two things happened: I did not get the credit for my comment, or no one took me seriously. I felt helpless. The ninth grade production of The Tempest changed my life. My teacher, Mrs. Massand, gave me a part in the play and I no longer appeared quiet and shy. Although Mrs. Massand assigned the whole class a part in the play, she appointed me as, Stephano, the drunk, a major role. Her choice surprised me and my classmates. Stephano's character seemed so unlike mine; he was loud and silly. My first thought was, "How is a quiet girl like me going to play the part of a boisterous drunk?" Until now my classmates convinced me that I was simply quiet and shy. Now the play required me to show another side of myself. We began the play by reading the text out loud and becoming comfortable with t... ...t scene, I was marching around in a circle shouting, "Ban, ban, Ca-Caliban!" At the end of the performance, the audience was bursting with cheer. Then Mrs. Massand had us individually take a bow. When it was my turn to bow, the audience gave me the standing ovation. I was never more excited. As I exited the stage, almost every classmate stopped me to say, "Wow Louisa, you were the best!" At that moment I realized I could be loud, silly, and talented. My ninth grade performance in The Tempest made my last years in high school a success; acting and reciting the words of Stephano made my growth in confidence possible. What I once thought was an everlasting label of shyness proved removable after all. My classmates saw another side to me, and I was glad that I was not labeled as a quiet and shy girl anymore. That year I came in like a lamb and went out like a lion.

The Golden Lily Chapter 24

BECAUSE THIS DAY couldn't get any weirder, I decided to stop by Adrian's. There was something I was dying to know but hadn't had a chance to ask. He opened the door when I knocked, a paintbrush in hand. â€Å"Oh,† he said. â€Å"Unexpected.† â€Å"Am I interrupting anything?† â€Å"Just homework.† He stepped aside to let me in. â€Å"Don't worry. It's not the crisis for me that it would be for you.† I entered the living room and was happy to see it filled with canvases and easels once again. â€Å"You've got your art studio back.† â€Å"Yup.† He set the brush down and wiped his hands on a rag. â€Å"Now that this place is no longer research central, I can return it to its normal artistic state.† He leaned against the back of the plaid sofa and watched me as I strolled from canvas to canvas. One of them gave me pause. â€Å"What's this? It looks like a lily.† â€Å"It is,† he said. â€Å"No offense, but this lily is kind of more badass than yours. If the Alchemists want to buy the rights to this and start using it, I'm willing to negotiate.† â€Å"Noted,† I said. I was still smiling from Brayden's breakup, and this only added to my good mood. Although, admittedly, the painting kind of lost me a little – as the abstract nature of his art often did. The lily, despite being more stylized and â€Å"badass† than the prim one on my cheek, was still clearly identifiable. It was even done in gold paint. Splashes of free-form scarlet paint surrounded it, and around the red was an almost crystalline pattern in ice blue. It was striking, but if there was some deeper meaning, it was beyond me. â€Å"You're in an awfully good mood,† he observed. â€Å"Was there a sale at Khakis-R-Us?† I gave up on my artistic interpretation and turned to him. â€Å"Nope. Brayden broke up with me.† Adrian's smirk faded. â€Å"Oh. Shit. I'm sorry. Are you†¦ I mean, do you need a drink? Do you need to, uh, cry or anything?† I laughed. â€Å"No. Weirdly, I'm fine. It really doesn't bother me at all. But it should, right? Maybe there's something wrong with me.† Adrian's green eyes weighed me. â€Å"I don't think so. Not every breakup is a tragedy. Still†¦ you might be due for some kind of comfort.† He straightened and walked over to the kitchen. Puzzled, I watched as he pulled something from the freezer and rifled through his silverware drawer. He returned to the living room and presented me with a pint of pomegranate gelato and a spoon. â€Å"What's this for?† I asked, accepting the offering out of shock alone. â€Å"For you, obviously. You wanted pomegranate, right?† I thought back to the night at the Italian restaurant. â€Å"Well, yeah†¦ but you didn't need to do this†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Well, you wanted it,† he said reasonably. â€Å"That, and a deal's a deal.† â€Å"What deal?† â€Å"Remember when you said you'd drink a regular can of pop if I didn't smoke for a day? Well, I calculated the calories, and that's the same as a serving of this. If you can believe there are four servings in that tiny thing.† I nearly dropped the gelato. â€Å"You†¦ you went a day without smoking?† â€Å"Almost a week, actually,† he said. â€Å"So you can eat the whole thing if you want.† â€Å"Why on earth would you do that?† I asked. He shrugged. â€Å"Hey, you laid out the challenge. Besides, smoking's an unhealthy habit, right?† â€Å"Right†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I was still stunned. â€Å"Eat up. It's going to melt.† I handed the gelato back. â€Å"I can't. Not with you watching. It's too weird. Can I eat it later?† â€Å"Sure,† he said, returning it to the freezer. â€Å"If you'll really eat it. I know how you are.† I crossed my arms as he stood opposite me. â€Å"Oh?† He fixed me with a disconcertingly hard look. â€Å"Maybe everyone else thinks your aversion to food is cute – but not me. I've watched you watch Jill. Here's some tough love: you will never, ever have her body. Ever. It's impossible. She's Moroi. You're human. That's biology. You have a great one, one that most humans would kill for – and you'd look even better if you put on a little weight. Five pounds would be a good start. Hide the ribs. Get a bigger bra size.† â€Å"Adrian!† I was aghast. â€Å"You†¦ are you out of your mind? You have no right to tell me that! None at all.† He scoffed. â€Å"I have every right, Sage. I'm your friend, and no one else is going to do it. Besides, I'm the king of unhealthy habits. Do you think I don't know one when I see it? I don't know where this came from – your family, too many Moroi, or just your own OCD nature – but I'm telling you, you don't have to do it.† â€Å"So this is some kind of intervention.† â€Å"This is the truth,† he said simply. â€Å"From someone who cares and wants your body to be as healthy and amazing as your mind.† â€Å"I'm not listening to this,† I said, turning away. A mix of emotions churned in me. Anger. Outrage. And weirdly, a little relief. â€Å"I'm going. I never should have come by.† His hand on my shoulder stopped me. â€Å"Wait†¦ listen to me.† Reluctantly, I turned. His expression was still stern, but his voice had softened. â€Å"I'm not trying to be mean. You're the last person I want to hurt†¦ but I don't want you hurting yourself either. You can ignore everything I just said, but I had to get it out, okay? I won't mention it again. You're the one in control of your life.† I looked away and blinked back tears. â€Å"Thanks,† I said. I should have been happy he was going to back off. Instead, there was an ache inside me, like he'd torn something open that I was trying to ignore and keep shut away. An ugly truth I didn't want to admit to myself, which I knew was hypocritical for someone who claimed to deal in facts and data. And whether I wanted to agree with him or not, I knew without a doubt he was right about one thing: no one else would've told me what he just had. â€Å"Why did you come by anyway?† he asked. â€Å"You sure you don't want to make my awesome painting the new Alchemist logo?† I couldn't help a small laugh. I looked back up at him, willing to help him with the abrupt change in subject. â€Å"No. Something much more serious.† He looked relieved at my smile and gave me one of his smirky ones in return. â€Å"Must be really serious.† â€Å"That night at the compound. How did you know how to drive the Mustang?† His smile vanished. â€Å"Because you did,† I said. â€Å"You drove it without any hesitation. As good as I could have. I started to wonder if maybe someone else had been showing you how to do it. But even if you'd had lessons every day since you got the car, you couldn't have driven like that. You shifted like you've been driving manual your whole life.† Adrian turned abruptly away and walked to the opposite side of the living room. â€Å"Maybe I'm a natural,† he said, not looking at me. It was funny how quickly the tables had turned. One minute he had me backed into a corner, forcing me to face issues I didn't want. Now it was my turn. I followed him over to the window and made him meet my gaze. â€Å"I'm right, aren't I?† I pushed. â€Å"You've been driving one your whole life!† â€Å"Not even Moroi give licenses to infants, Sage,† he said wryly. â€Å"Don't dodge this. You know what I mean. You've known how to drive stick for years.† His silence answered for him, telling me I was right, even if his face was hard to read. â€Å"Why?† I demanded. Now I was nearly pleading. Everyone said I was so exceptionally smart, I could string random things together and make remarkable conclusions. But this was beyond me, and I couldn't handle something that made so little sense. â€Å"Why would you do that? Why would you act like you didn't know how to drive?† A million thoughts seemed to cross his mind, none of which he wanted to share. At last, he shook his head in exasperation. â€Å"Isn't it obvious, Sage? No, of course it isn't. I did it so I'd have a reason to be around you – one I knew you couldn't refuse.† I was more confused than ever. â€Å"But†¦ why? Why would you want to do that?† â€Å"Why?† he asked. â€Å"Because it was the closest I could get to doing this.† He reached out and pulled me to him, one hand on my waist and the other behind my neck. He tipped my head up and lowered his lips to mine. I closed my eyes and melted as my whole body was consumed in that kiss. I was nothing. I was everything. Chills ran over my skin, and fire burned inside me. His body pressed closer to mine, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. His lips were warmer and softer than anything I could have ever imagined, yet fierce and powerful at the same time. Mine responded hungrily, and I tightened my hold on him. His fingers slid down the back of my neck, tracing its shape, and every place they touched was electric. But perhaps the best part of all was that I, Sydney Katherine Sage, guilty of constantly analyzing the world around me, well, I stopped thinking. And it was glorious. At least, it was until I started thinking again. My mind and all its worries and considerations suddenly took over. I pulled away from Adrian, despite my body's protests. I backed up from him, knowing my eyes were terrified and wide. â€Å"What†¦ what are you doing?† â€Å"I don't know,† he said with a grin. He took a step toward me. â€Å"But I'm pretty sure you were doing it too.† â€Å"No. No. Don't get any closer! You can't do that again. Do you understand? We can't ever†¦ we shouldn't have†¦ oh my God. No. Never again. That was wrong.† I put my fingers to my lips, as though I would wipe away what had just happened, but mostly I was reminded again of the sweetness and heat of his mouth against mine. I promptly dropped my hand. â€Å"Wrong? I don't know, Sage. Honestly, that was the most right thing that's happened to me in a while.† Nonetheless, he kept his distance. I shook my head frantically. â€Å"How can you say that? You know how it is! There's no†¦ well, you know. Humans and vampires can't†¦ no. There can't be anything between them. Between us.† â€Å"Well, there had to have been at one point,† he said, attempting a reasonable tone. â€Å"Or there wouldn't be dhampirs today. Besides, what about the Keepers?† â€Å"The Keepers?† I nearly laughed, but no part of this was funny. â€Å"The Keepers live in caves and wage campfire battles over possum stew. If you want to go live that life, you're more than welcome to. If you want to live in the civilized world with the rest of us, then do not touch me again. And what about Rose? Aren't you madly in love with her?† Adrian looked way too calm for this situation. â€Å"Maybe I was once. But it's been†¦ what, nearly three months? And honestly, I haven't thought much about her in a while. Yeah, I'm still hurt and feel kind of used, but†¦ really, she's not the one I'm always thinking about anymore. I don't see her face when I go to sleep. I don't wonder about – â€Å" â€Å"No!† I backed up even further. â€Å"I don't want to hear this. I'm not going to listen to any more.† With a few swift steps, Adrian stood in front of me again. The wall was only a couple inches behind me, and I had nowhere to go. He made no threatening moves, but he did clasp my hands and hold them to his chest while leaning down to me. â€Å"No, you will listen. For once, you're going to hear something that doesn't fit into your neat, compartmentalized world of order and logic and reason. Because this isn't reasonable. If you're terrified, believe me – this scares the hell out of me, too. You asked about Rose? I tried to be a better person for her – but it was to impress her, to get her to want me. But when I'm around you, I want to be better because†¦ well, because it feels right. Because I want to. You make me want to become something greater than myself. I want to excel. You inspire me in every act, every word, every glance. I look at you, and you're like†¦ like light made into flesh. I said it on Halloween and meant every word: you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen walking this earth. And you don't even know it. You have no clue how beautiful you are or how brightly you shine.† I knew I needed to break away, to jerk my hands from his. But I couldn't. Not yet. â€Å"Adrian – â€Å" â€Å"And I know, Sage,† he continued, his eyes filled with fire. â€Å"I know how you guys feel about us. I'm not stupid, and believe me, I've tried to get you out of my head. But there isn't enough liquor or art or any other distraction in the world to do it. I had to stop going to Wolfe's because it was too hard being that close to you, even if it was all just pretend fighting. I couldn't stand the touching. It was agonizing because it meant something to me – and I knew it meant nothing to you. I kept telling myself to stay away altogether, and then I'd find excuses†¦ like the car†¦ anything to be around you again. Hayden was an asshole, but at least as long as you were involved with him, I had a reason to keep my distance.† Adrian was still holding my hands, his face eager and panicked and desperate as he spilled his heart before me. My own heart was beating uncontrollably, and any number of emotions could have been to blame. He had that distracted, enraptured look†¦ the one that he held when spirit seized him and made him ramble. I prayed that's what this was, some spirit-induced fit of insanity. It had to be. Right? â€Å"His name is Brayden,† I said at last. Slowly, I was able to quiet my anxiety and gain some control. â€Å"And even without him, you have a million reasons to keep your distance. You say you know how we feel. But do you? Do you really?† I pulled my hands from his and pointed at my cheek. â€Å"Do you know what the golden lily truly means? It's a promise, a vow to a lifestyle and a belief system. You can't throw something like that away. This won't let me, even if I wanted to. And truthfully, I don't want to! I believe in what we do.† Adrian regarded me levelly. He didn't try to take my hands again, but he didn't back away either. My hands felt painfully empty without his. â€Å"This ‘lifestyle' and ‘belief system' you're defending have used you and keep using you. They treat you like a piece in a machine, one that's not allowed to think – and you're better than that.† â€Å"Some parts of the system are flawed,† I admitted. â€Å"But the principles are sound, and I believe in them. There's a divide between humans and vampires – between you and me – that can never be breached. We're too different. We're not meant to be†¦ like this. Like anything.† â€Å"None of us are meant to be or do anything,† he said. â€Å"We decide what we're going to be. You told me once that there are no victims here, that we all have the power to choose what we want.† â€Å"Don't try to use my own words against me,† I warned. â€Å"Why?† he asked, a slight smile on his lips. â€Å"They were damned good ones. You're not a victim. You're not a captive to that lily. You can be what you want. You can choose what you want.† â€Å"You're right.† I slipped away, finding no resistance from him at all. â€Å"And I don't choose you. That's what you're missing in all of this.† Adrian stilled. His smile dropped. â€Å"I don't believe you.† I scoffed. â€Å"Let me guess. Because I kissed you back?† That kiss had made me feel more alive than I had in weeks, and I had a feeling he knew that. He shook his head. â€Å"No. Because there's no one else out there who understands you like I do.† I waited for more. â€Å"That's it? You're not going to elaborate on what that means?† Those green eyes held me. â€Å"I don't think I need to.† I had to look away, though I was unsure why. â€Å"If you know me so well, then you'll understand why I'm leaving.† â€Å"Sydney – â€Å" I moved quickly toward the door. â€Å"Goodbye, Adrian.† I hurried toward the door, half-afraid he'd try to hold me again. If he did, I wasn't sure I could leave. But no touch came. No effort at all was made to stop me. It wasn't until I was halfway out on the lawn in front of his building that I dared a peek back. Adrian stood there leaning against the doorframe, watching me with his heart in his eyes. In my chest, my own heart was breaking. On my cheek, the lily reminded me who I was. I turned from him and walked away, refusing to look back.