Sunday, March 29, 2020

How has the Invention of Contact Lenses affected peoples Sight Essay Example

How has the Invention of Contact Lenses affected peoples Sight Essay People with sight troubles have had the possibility of wearing glasses for a really long time, but the new technology made available contact lenses. In this essay, I am going to look at the different contact lenses types that exist, at who invented them and when, for which vision problems they are solution, at how to take care of them, at how common they are in our society and finally, I will write about my own opinion.What contact lenses areAccording to the Macmillan Dictionary (2002), contact lens may be defined as a plastic lens that you wear in your eye to help you see more clearly.A very wide variety of contact lenses are available in todays society, including hard and soft (even if soft is by far more common now), disposable and extended wear; this makes it easy for each person to chose the appropriate type of contact lens for her. The main types of contact lenses are listed below:* Soft lenses: As these lenses are soft, they are made of a large percentage of water, and this al lows oxygen to pass through the lens and reach the cornea. They are also more comfortable and easier to adapt to.* Rigid-gas permeable lenses: these lenses are not made of water so they are not as comfortable as the soft ones, but they do allow a larger amount of oxygen to pass through them. Their best advantage is that they offer a excellent sight correction.* Disposable lenses: Disposable means that the lenses are worn for a definite period (from two weeks to six months depending on the lenses) of time before being thrown away and replaces by a fresh new pair. The fact of throwing out the lenses helps making sure the lenses are always very clean, so healthier and more comfortable.* Extended wear lenses: these lenses are made to be worn 24h a day, and up to seven days on a row (a new type made of silicone hydrogel allows more oxygen to flow in so that they can be kept for up to 30 days without taking them off).* Bifocal contact lenses: this type of lens has two major functions: to correct distance vision and to correct near vision. There are two main designs: the power or seeing far is concentrated at the top and the one of seeing nearby at the bottom, or the different powers are blended on different parts of the lens.* Coloured contact lenses: they can be used to correct existent sight troubles, but also just to look prettier, as they come in a large variety of colours, from hazel to blue, passing by grey, purple and green.However the lenses type that is mostly used today is a combination of both soft and disposable lenses, simply called the disposable soft contact lenses, because they are the healthiest ones, more comfortable, and major prices differences from an average model of these different types of lenses do not exist.When and by who they were inventedThe famous Italian inventor Leonardo da Vinci was the first one to come up with contact lenses sketches and explanations, at the beginning of the 16th century. It is only in 1801 that Thomas Young develo ped the idea Rene Descartes had had more than 150 years before. Thomas Young, who was a British physician, took small lenses from his microscope, covered the edges of them in soft wax and put them into his own eyes to correct his vision.In 1887, the glassblower F.E. Muller produces the first lens designed to be seen through and tolerated; (however, according to the book 100 greatest medical discoveries, it is the American Louis J. Girard who developed the first contact lens this same year). Almost half a century later, the American William Feinbloom is the first one who creates an US-made contact lens and introduces the use of plastic in it.After few improvements such as making the inner-surface of the corneal lens follow the eyes shape (instead of sitting flat) or also the use of a new material, a softy water absorbing plastic, it is in 1971 that the soft lens became available for commercial distribution in the United States. New models of lenses, each time with more improvement, w ere then created and commercialised (around a new model every two years).In 1987, a great evolution can be established: disposable soft contact lenses and the first multipurpose lens care product (explained in more details further) were available for commercial distribution, as well as a soft contact lens able o change the eye colour: this is the start of contact lens use in fashion.For who (explanation of vision troubles)Contact lenses were designed for people who cannot see properly, and nowadays they are definitely developed enough to be able to correct almost all the vision troubles. The 5 main vision conditions are the following:* Astigmatism: this condition usually affects both nearsightedness and farsightedness because the corneas curvature is rather oval when it should be round. Their sight is not prà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½cised and for example, they can confuse the letters M, N and H, or B and D. It is often associated to myopia or hyperopia.* Hyperopia: this is a long-sightedness cond ition, and people affected by it have difficulties to focus on close objects, while the sight of distant objects stays correct. It might be because the cornea is too bulging, or because the crystalline lens (see eye diagram) of the eye is too flat.* Myopia: also known as short-sightedness, people affected by this condition are able to do tasks that require a vision of nearby objects, such as reading or sewing; but they see distance objects blurred so for example, they cannot read highway signs.* Presbyopia: this long-sightedness condition cannot be avoided because it touches everyone at some point in life (usually around 40-50 years old). It is due to a loss in flexibility of the lens and loss of power of the ciliary muscles and it cause the person to have difficulties in focusing on nearby objects. A person affected by this condition will for example hold her newspapers further away from her eyes to see it better (we say that the arm grows shorter because it is not able to hold the object at a distance long enough for these people to see anymore).* Strabismus: this condition, also called lazy eye, makes us squint; there is a lack of coordination between the muscles of the two eyes, and this means that the vision axes of our two eyes are not parallel so they dont point out at the same direction. This affects our depth perception.The following eye diagram will help understand which parts of the eyes are damaged by the previously explained conditions:How to use themYou definitely need to consult a specialist who will tell you the type of contact lenses that are the most appropriate to your case: the optometrist will prescribe the lenses to you and the oculist will provide them. Your ophthalmologist will explain you how to put them on; it might look hard at the beginning but its just a matter of getting used to it. But two rules are still primordial: to make sure you have clean hands before you put your lenses in your eyes and not to wear them for than the indica ted time.It is very important to take care of you contact lenses; indeed they need regular cleaning and disinfecting to retain clear vision and prevent infections. Eyes were not designed to have a foreign object in them. Plus this foreign object prevents the air to reach the eye, while this sight organ needs to receive oxygen. Contact lenses make your eyes vulnerable to all sorts of things so by cleaning them, they are less likely to breed bacteria and they are more air permeable. A large variety of products is nowadays available to clean, rinse and disinfect your lenses:* Saline solution: once the lens was cleaned, this solution is used to rinse it.* Daily cleaner: this cleaner is used once a day, to clean the lenses. With a few droplets of the cleaner on it, the lens is rubbed for about 20 seconds on each side. Long nails mean to be extra careful with the rubbing!* Multipurpose solution: this solution is used for rinsing, disinfecting, cleaning and storing the lenses. It can be us ed only for disinfection and storage if it is associated with another rinsing product (eg: Saline solution) and a cleaning one (eg: daily cleaner).Some products may contain preservatives such as thimerosal. To avoid any kind of problems due to these preservatives (even if many brands no longer use products that contain preservatives), it is safer to chose products with the label for sensitive eyes, and these products usually have an expiration date.How common they are in todays societyContact lenses are greatly used in todays society. Even if they are basically made to cure vision troubles, they are more and more used for appearance aspects: many people would rather wear contact lenses than glasses because they look prettier, and because you have fewer troubles with them. few examples include the nerd stereotype changing from glasses and becomes beautiful, or the athlete who can play sports without fear of shattered glasses, or also the actor able to switch his eye colour from brown to red, passing by blue, depending on the role. Teens are the main people wanting to switch their glasses for contact lenses, for cosmetic reasons: they will feel more self-confident and good looking without their glasses. But before contact lenses are prescribed to this category of people, it is important to make sure that they are responsible enough to take care of their contacts. Teens are also the best costumers to buy colour contact lenses in order to change their appearance: more than just changing the colour of your eye, special contact lenses are now available for special occasions, such as Halloween with contacts that give you cats or vampires eyes.So it is very common nowadays to see people wearing eye contacts even though they dont need them for their sight. However, a prescription is always needed because wearing contact lenses is still considered as a medical application. And the fact that they are more and more common in todays society should not make us forget their first aim was for helping see and so they need special care, even if they are only being used as a fashion accessory. More than that, secondary effects might happen, such as fatigue and headaches, and those are stronger if it takes time for the eyes to adapt to the contacts.Also be careful when putting make up on: always put your contacts before the make up and take them off before you use makeup remover. Also it is preferable to use non-allergenic makeup.Own opinionI personally dont wear contact lenses because I dont have any vision troubles and I dont resent the need to change the colour of my eye or anything, but I really think that they are very useful and helpful. I do know some people who hated wearing glasses, and after they tried contact lenses, they felt prettier and better. I also think that contacts are helpful for people who play sports; even in the schools basketball team, few girls wear contacts and it is very useful because this way they dont get hurt; also there is a French commercial for contact lenses that is performed by three famous French athletes, proving that athletes do use contacts. I also think it is nice that actors are able to change their eye colour in order to add little details that make the character more reliable.Nevertheless, contacts are still foreign objects put into your eyes, they might cause secondary effects (such as headaches, seen before) and they need special cleaning equipment. So I think that we have to be careful because if they become too common only as a fashion accessory, then people are going to forget a little bit the medical side of contacts and so they might damage someones eyes if they are not being used properly.ConclusionIn conclusion, the invention of contact lenses has greatly affected peoples sight: eyeglasses are not the first solution to solve vision troubles anymore, because contact lenses have replaced them. They have been so successful because they are easier to use, more discrete and practical as well. And it is more and more common to see people wearing coloured ones them only for the fashion side.However it is important to remind that their first purpose was for medicine, and they require special care that people have to follow, even if they just contacts as fashion accessories.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Go for It With Pa’lante

Go for It With Pa’lante Palante is not a word you will find in any standard Spanish dictionaries. Spanish teachers might even cringe upon hearing it. It is a Spanish slang word loosely translated as onward, go ahead, or go for it. Where Pa’lante Comes From Palante  is a well-understood  slang  word apparently originally used in Caribbean Spanish-speaking areas and seems to be gaining popularity in other parts of the Spanish-speaking world. Its a shortened version of para  adelante, a fairly common phrase made up of the  preposition  para, often meaning for, and  adelante, an  adverb  (sometimes functioning as other  parts of speech) meaning forward. What is unique about this word and its use is that  contractions and  apostrophes  are rarely used in Spanish. In fact, using apostrophes to indicate letters are missing is usually thought of as an Anglicism. For some inexplicable reason, palante is sometimes spelled as palante and is listed that way as slang in the Collins Spanish Dictionary. But the spelling of palante is far more common. It is not listed in the Royal Spanish Academy Dictionary (known as DRAE for its Spanish initials), the languages most authoritative reference source. Famous Word at Rallies Palante is something commonly heard at rallies usually used to rile up a person or group to action. As evidence of its burgeoning spread outside of the Caribbean, the word was used as part of a slogan at pro-Hugo Chvez rallies in Caracas, Venezuela:  ¡Palante Comandante!  Chvez was the president of Venezuela from 2002 to 2013. A literal translation of the rhyming phrase  ¡Palante Comandante!, would be something like Forward, Commander! although that direct interpretation does not capture the subtle connotation nor the colloquial nature of the phrase. El  CotVmandante  was a popular reference to Chvez. In the context of rallies, other translations of palante might be go ahead, onward, go for it, hang in there or keep on going. Pop Culture References Pop icon and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin brought the word mainstream in his 1995 musical hit,  Marà ­a. A popular line from the song: Un, dos, tres, un pasito palante Maria! The line translates to, One, two, three, one little step forward, Maria!  The song topped the charts at the time and became Martins first international hit single. Before and after Martin, Spanish music artists have been using the slang word in music hits. Other famous titles with the word include Echa  Palante, by  Mexican recording artist, Thalia, made popular in 1997. The song was featured in the 1998 dance competition movie Dance with Me in a memorable scene starring  Vanessa L. Williams  and  Puerto Rican  singer  Chayanne. As an example of the words use in song prior to Martin, Puerto Rican-American Latin jazz great, Tito Puente released a song, Palante, which he subtitled Straight in English.   Palante con Cristina (Palante With Cristina) is a popular show on Telemundo, a U.S. cable TV network. Related Phrases One related phrase that is widespread is echado para adelante. The sentence Estamos echados para adelante can mean something like, Were all ready to go for it. Sometimes echado para adelante is shortened to something like echao padelante. These phrases are not considered formal Spanish, but would most likely be used in the context of colloquial speech or familiar conversation.   Palante in Names of Programs or Groups Palante has become word often used in the names of organizations on programs to help convey they idea of progress. Among them: Mujeres Palante is a cooperative employment organization of and for the benefit of women. It is based in Barcelona, Spain.Palante Harlem is a New York tax-exempt organization devoted to housing issues.Echar PaLante is a campaign devoted to the betterment of Puerto Rico.PaLante Pacà ­fico is a philanthropic effort connected with the University of the Andes (Universidad de los Andes) in Bogot, Colombia.The PaLante Afterschool Program is for elementary children in Allentown, Penn. Key Takeaways Palante is an increasingly common Spanish slang word that isnt listed in most dictionaries.Palante is used to indicate concepts such as encouragement, enthusiasm, resolve, and progress.The word can be found in song titles and names of organizations throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Legacy of Wars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Legacy of Wars - Essay Example The treaty of Versailles is one of the factors that took place in 1919 was one of the legendary factors for the continuation of the First World War. This treaty was a meeting to discuss the various ways in which Germany was to pay for the damages it had done during the First World War. The main terms of the treaty were that Germany was the causes of the First World War because it gave Germany harsh conditions and took away its territorial land, making the Germans unhappy about it. They decided to fight back in order to prove they are still a super power, and this came out during the second world war. Wells (2011 P. 82) states that the reality of the situation was that no German state would be able to accept the treaty in the long term. There were various sanctions that were passed by the League of Nations, but they were not effective. The League of Nations could only impose economic sanctions, which were not effective, For instance, the Locarno Conference was a failed peace treaty be tween Germany and France that failed after Germany invaded France the only way to solve the conflicts, therefore, war to engage into a war, hence the continuation of the First World War. Adolf Hitler wanted Germany to dominate the whole world, and did this by tying to bring all the central European countries together. Hitler wanted Germany to grow and implemented this by annexing Poland. ... With these ambitions, Hitler caused problems to various countries making them resolve to war that was similar or more complicated than the First World War. The failure of America and Britain to stop Hitler during the time he was coming up also made the occurrence of the Second World War because Hitler wanted to oppose the sanctions made to the Germans by the other super powers. Orr (2005), states that the war to end all wars would serve as a prologue to the bigger war to come. Most European countries experienced tension when they saw the various actions that Adolf Hitler was doing. They decided to increase more armies and prepare for a war so that they would not have to suffer the consequences similar to what was experienced during the First World War. The best option that was to be adopted was the use of force in order to prevent themselves from the problems that were caused by the Germans, and this led to the continuation of the First World War. Political, economic and technologica l consequences of the Second World War The Second World War had severe consequences on most of the European countries in terms of its politics, the overall economy and advancement in technology. Towards the end, of the war, Germany became divided into four various zones by the victorious powers while they were waiting for a political settlement that was permanent. Japan ended up in ruins following the Second World War, and several military leaders in that country were tried and convicted of causing war crimes. However, the Emperor was allowed to maintain his position, and the entire Japs came into a temporary military rule by United States. England had experience devastating bombings from the Germans thereby making its economy go down; hence, it had to

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Language Crossing by B. Rampton Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Language Crossing by B. Rampton - Assignment Example According to the research findings, Rampton found that the speakers moved outside the language varieties they normally used and they briefly adapted codes which they didn’t have full and easy access to and that these appropriations of someone else’s language occurred in moments and activities when the world of daily life known in common with others and with others taken for granted. These findings have important implications for the ethnic process and the way social identities are negotiated in interactional code-switching. According to Cutler, Rampton’s book describes how groups of multiracial adolescents in a British working-class community mix their use of Creole, Panjabi, and Asian English. Rampton found that language crossing, in many instances, constitutes an anti-racist practice and is emblematic of young people striving to redefine their identities. The young people he studied used this mixed code to contest racial boundaries and assert a new â€Å"derac inated† ethnicity. Rampton also cited in his book the two types of code-switching namely situational and figurative. Situational code-switching is a standard speech that indicates a shift in a certain situation while figurative code-switching or double-voicing describes the way that utterances can be affected by a plurality of competing languages, discourse, and voices. Under figurative code-switching are metaphorical code-switching (uni-directional) and ironic code-switching (Vari-directional). Rampton defines metaphorical code-switching as a switching that introduces varieties of speech that is harder for the recipients to understand. It is uni-directional because speakers go along with the momentum of the second voice, though it generally retains an element of otherness which makes the appropriation conditional and introduces some reservation into the speakers’ use of it. On the other hand, ironic code-switching (Vari-directional) is a speech in which the speaker spe aks in someone else’s discourse, but introduce into that discourse a semantic intention directly opposed to the original one.

Monday, January 27, 2020

The Influence of Police Culture

The Influence of Police Culture In order to appropriately address the topic of discussion, firstly, it is important to understand what is meant by the concept police culture. After establishing its definition, it then becomes a task to assess whether police culture does indeed have a negative influence on the way the police work as an institution or whether it merely ensures that a certain level of consistency in achieved in terms of the way officers conduct themselves in their daily working environment. The term police culture has in itself been a topic of some discussion with sociologists being divided over what the definition should and should not include as there isnt an established, concrete definition of the concept. For example one contributor who has attempted to rectify this problem is Reiner (1992) who describes it as the values, norms, perspectives and craft rules which inform police conduct (Reiner 1992 quoted in Loftus 2009: 3). Whereas another definition comes from Manning (1989) who defines it as accepted practices, rules, and principles of conduct that are situationally applied, and generalised rationales and beliefs (Manning 1989 quoted in Loftus 2009: 3). Although these definitions dont appear too different at first glance, there is in fact a clear distinction between the two that should and must be made mainly the fact that Manning stresses that such principles of conduct are situationally applied, which of course suggests that police culture is not always necessa rily influential to an officers conduct. Some officers can and do hold a certain level of professionalism when taking to the streets and any values which may corrupt such professionalism remains behind closed doors in the company of their colleagues only. Yet Reiners provided definition suggests that the police culture remains with the police officer when they take to the streets and he/she then enforces the informal rules which have been established with their fellow colleagues, which generalises that all police officers act in accordance to the police culture . However what must be taken from both definitions is that there is reason to suggest that there is a network of a shared set of norms and values within police forces which could potentially have an effect on how they operate in a working environment. What also must be stressed is that there is also a distinction between the terms police culture or cop culture (as its otherwise known) and canteen culture which is another concept which crops up time and time again in countless criminology texts. Canteen culture, as mentioned by Waddington (1999), is understood to be the norms and values held by police officers whilst off-duty, whereas police culture is the norms and values which are expressed during the course of their occupational lives (Waddington 1999 cited by Crank 2004: 16-17) Newburn (2007) also makes this a key point by explaining that there is a common tendency to assume that what police choose to say and how they choose to act when off-duty is not only indicative of how police officers think, but also how they act in public. (Newburn 2007: 216) Yet Waddington has a problem with such assumptions, as he claims that this is not the case all of the time. The way officers act and the views they hold whilst off-duty, whether in the pub with friends or work colleagues is but a safety valve to release the pressures of the realities of life as a police officer (Waddington quoted by Newburn 2007: 618) Such an argument claims that in experiencing somewhat controversial views outside of the working sphere, a person is opened up to new perspectives which sociologists such as Waddington would argue helps to avoid them from being over-exposed to a particular ideology which could then influence the way in which they carry out their duties. But what also must be considered is just how valid Waddingtons argument actually is. Yes, of course in some instances exposure to different attitudes and values can be beneficial to an officer in terms of becoming more aware of the possibility of potential new threats, but there are also some officers who would then, due to any extreme views which they may have been subjected to, may target an individual or a group of people because of the stereotypes attached to such persons and not because of genuine suspicion. Police culture, it is claimed by Reiner (1992) has many characteristics in which it can be identified with, with suspicion being just one of them. Suspicion is an absolute necessity in the police force as it is suspicion that helps the police prevent crimes from occurring and therefore everyday working experiences encourage officers to generalise people into particular labels, whether or not this is a legitimate way to suspect possible offenders (Reiner cited by Newburn 2007: 618). Unfortunately there is a strong link between suspicion and ethnicity, with ethnic minorities suspected to engage in criminal activity more than people of white ethnic origin. The 2005/2006 Home Office statistics relating to police searches provide a great example for this. In interpreting the results of stop and search practices, 15.4% of the entire UK Black community were stopped under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE Code A) in comparison to only 1.6% of the entire white population. This d iscrimination however doesnt just end with the police; it branches out into other areas of the criminal justice system such as the prison service. Genders Player in (1989) claimed that prison officers sometimes use active stereotypes and labels to help order their working environments by predicting inmate behaviour in order to maintain authority at all times. Prisoners within the ethnic minority demographic were perceived as having a chip on their shoulder, as they felt they were being victims of racial persecution and thus the officers paid more attention to monitoring their behaviour. Arguably the most problematic characteristic of a police culture in terms of the impact it has on police and community relations is the element of racial prejudice. One of the most notable examples of racial prejudices derives within the Macpherson Report (1999), arguably the most notable report in criminology, which followed the death of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. The report found that the police were institutionally racist after discovering that police were ignoring crucial evidence to the investigation and were displaying discrimination in the interviewing process of suspects suggesting that it was black on black crime, despite Lawrences friend (an eye witness) being adamant that it was a racially motivated murder. Despite the findings of the report and the provisions set out to try and avoid the recurrence of racial controversy within the police, there is evidence to claim minority ethnic recruitment still remains low and there are still continuing problems in terms of pol ice relations with ethnic minorities (Croall 2011: 221-222). The aftermath of the Macphereson Report proved that institutional racism was still rife in police recruitment centres, as four years onwards a BBC documentary titled Secret Policeman was aired which centred on the police recruitment centre, Bruche which was located just outside of Warrington. Consequently after the footage of the documentary went public, the centre was forced to close so as to not further damage the reputation of the police. New police training systems were also introduced nationwide to try and expel racism from the police force as a result of the documentary. (The Observer 2004) How officers are socialised is of another great significance. The next characteristic of a police culture is the degree of solidarity, and it is this element which although is reinforced in numerous police forces, it is an aspect which is initially developed between candidates during the recruitment stages. Due to the intense nature of the job including the long hours which officers are required to work, the intensity of some of the work and the expectation of being the ones to prevent social decline, officers are encouraged to bond strongly and they learn to rely on one another, and as such tend to develop an us-against-them attitude. This resulting mentality, in some situations, leads to not officers making pacts with one another in which they agree not to grass on fellow officers for any discrepancies that they might have witnessed whilst on duty. This is more commonly known as The Blue Code of Silence. Just like any other subculture, in order to ensure cooperation and commitment to the Blue Code, a tribal value system is implemented which makes police culture sort of like a family structure in which members of the system will receive emotional support and security from the other officers upon requirement. Several police departments worldwide have been found to have followed the Blue Code, probably most notably was a New York police department which the Mollen Commission reported were to be covering up infringements of their officers. In such case where an officer was to break the Code, then his/her reputation and essentially his career too would be ruined as he/she would then be ostracised and labelled a whistleblower and thus it is the threat of this tarnished reputation that encourages the officer to obey the unwritten rules. (Loftus 2009: 14) Accusations of excessive force by members of the police force are far from uncommon, particularly in America. And it is the use of excessive for which Manning (1970) claims is a perfect example of police culture and how it can have a negative influence on the way officers carry out their duties. (Manning 1970 cited by Crank 2004: 107) However, excessive force is not detected in all cases. Victims of police brutality may feel that the odds are stacked against them in filing a complaint to an officers superiors and are thus reluctant to do so and may feel that even if a complaint is acknowledged and results in a court case, the judge and jury would overlook excessive force as the perceived perspective would be that the victim shouldnt have gotten his/herself in a position in which the use of force was needed in the first place and thus the consequences of their anti-social behaviour was deserved. Yet with that said, there are of course examples where the victim of police brutality are non-deserving of such treatment and thus the police force as a whole have come under criticism despite it being a minority of officers that participate in such excessive violence. For example a British police constable, PC Simon Harwood, was charged with the manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests in 2009. Tomlinson was finding another route home after his usual route was blocked by the protests when he was struck by PC Harwood with a baton and then pushed to the ground Tomlinson fatally collapsed and an autopsy revealed the cause of death was a heart attack, which the actions of PC Harwood where no doubt a triggering factor. PC Harwood was acquitted of manslaughter, which only strengthens the argument mentioned previously that the courts are sympathetic to the police when the question of reasonable/excessive force is raised. However, it must be stressed that many police forces do have provisions in place to deal with any complaints of unacceptable behaviour regarding their employees in which inquiries will be carried out and, if found guilty, the officer in question may be reprimanded, suspended or permanently dismissed depending on the circumstances. Also, as in the case of PC Harwood they may also, if necessary, face criminal prosecution or at the very least face a civil hearing if the victim wishes to sue for damages caused by the officers ill-considered actions. But how are the police able to get away with these kinds of infringements? Again, it all relates back The Blue Code of Silence. As already mentioned earlier in the essay, officers of some police forces claim ignorance of any wrongdoings of their work partners and in some cases, they testily which is typically an American slang term for when an officer gives false testimony in court. Relating back to the tribal values, not participating in activities such as testilying would lead to an officer being shunned and sometimes even harassed to the point of retirement as they arent assisting their family members, in effect betraying their own kind. In 1994, the Mollen Commission found that some officers within the NYPD fabricated crucial documents such as arrest reports and warrants and some officers were found to have falsified witness statements for the purposes of manipulating the jury as they felt that an accused individual deserved it. This is particularly common in cases of bad character in which an accused has had a history of offences but has escaped punishment. Although corrupt as it is, testilying is merely seen as another way of getting the job done.   In conclusion, there is a huge interest towards police culture due to the impact it can and sometimes does have on society. if it is to have an influence on the way the police go about their work. The police hold a massively important role to society as they are a visible symbol of law and order and are granted various powers such as those which enable them to arrest members of the public who they feel prove a threat to the rest of society. Although most officers do operate in a reasonable manner, it is generally the actions of the minority which enable the public to misconceive that all officers are bigoted and aggressive. Such generalisations lead to a mass distrust of the police and tensions then begin to occur between the police and their publics. You only need to look at the summer riots of 2011 (which were reported to have been sparked by an officers seemingly unauthorised use of deadly force on a suspect) to see just how damaging poor police-community relations can be to the p olices image as a social institution.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French painter, printmaker, and sculptor. He is one of the most prominent founders and leading exponents of the Impressionist style of painting from the late 1860s. â€Å"Renoir’s art is a celebration of the beauty of women and nature; his images both of modern Parisian life and of idealized figures in a timeless landscape suggest an enchanted and radiant world†. (Langdon) In 1878, Renoir broke away from the Impressionist exhibitions to return to the official Salon, where he achieved great success for his work, Madame Charpentier and her Children. Renoir is the modern painter of femininity. In Madame Charpentier and Her Children, he reflects an expression of beauty that is not easy to understand at first glance. He has gone beneath the surface of life and depicts in the characters some â€Å"unexpected, elemental and ineradicable instincts which link us, in spite of all our sophistication, with wild nature. In Madame Charpentier and Her Children, we can see that motherhood is something more than respectable. (Fry) Renoir adds an element of interest in human beings which distinguishes him from the rest of his Impressionist practitioners. Renoir was greatly influenced by Monet in such works as La Grenouillere (1869). His use of large broken brushstrokes and delicately applied flecks of paint suggest atmosphere, and shows his fascination of the true effect and importance of light on the surface of things without restraint. â€Å"Renoir is not like the majority, but a revolutionary. He is not analytical, scientific and destructi ve. He is a purely poetical and constructive genius. He has followed a certain inspiration with naive directness and simplicity of spirit. † (Fry) Renoir sympathizes with the human element between himself and his models which is visible in Madame Charpentier and Her Children. Madame Charpentier was Renoir’s most influential friend and commissioner. She was the wife of Georges Charpentier, who was a famous publisher of the works of the best young authors of the time. It is through Madame Charpentier that Renoir was able to meet all the important figures in art, iterature, music, and politics. Renoir’s son, Jean, wrote â€Å"Her salon was celebrated and deservedly so, for she was indeed a great lady and had succeeded in reviving the atmosphere of the famous salons of the past. Every one of note in the literary world attended those Friday gatherings. Charpentier was definitely on the side of the young painters, even before they came to be known as Impressionists. † (Renoir) The scale of Madame Charpentier and Her Children is grande, measuring at 157. 7 X 190. 2 centimeters. One historian claimed that Renoir worked, â€Å"slowly and patiently†¦ and required a great many sittings. † (Bailey) In this painting, the thirty-year-old, Madame Charpentier is seated on a sofa covered in floral tapestry, the train of her black dress spread out full length to one side with traditionally designed white lace. Her corsage is decorated by a brooch in the form of a daisy or chrysanthemum, and in her left hand she clasps a small golden ornamental ladies case or bag. She rests a protective arm above the head of her three-year-old son, Paul Emile Charles. Like his eldest sister, Georgette Berthe, he wears the same blue and white frilly dress, which was in accordance with the fashion at the time. â€Å"Her daughter Georgette sits atop Porthos, the indulgent Newfoundland that accompanied the family on its lengthy holidays. † (Bailey) Colin B. Bailey explicitly describes the background of Madame Charpentier and Her Children in his book, Renoir’s Portaits: Impressions of an Age; â€Å" Renoir filled in the background with a Japanese screen and an arrangement of fruit and flowers on a small table. The room itself appears to be spacious, but somewhat furnished for the time. In the background to the right, in front of the curtains through which one enters and beyond which can be glimpsed the well-polished floorboards of an adjoining salon, is placed a bamboo tea table and a single bamboo-and-wicker chair. The table is set with a bowl of grapes and a service of desert wineglasses that rest on a red lacquer tray. On the red walls behind Madame Charpentier and her children hang what would appear to be three sections of a dismembered Japanese screen, possibly of the Rimpa School, although only the central panel is shown in its entirety and the panes have vertical lines running hrough them and wavy edges. Reading from the left, we see a pair of peacocks looking down from a branch onto water below; the middle section (less easy to make out) shows branches and foliage; and on the right a splendid crane, with white plumage, swoops to the ground. Next to the screen, attached to a panel of red lacquer at right angles to the wall, is a hanging scroll that shows a s ingle figure in bright and green robes. † Renoir places the characters in an upward right-diagonal position with Madame Charpentier in the center of the canvas. There is a deep sense of humanity seen as her daughter looks lovingly at Madame Charpentier. The children have a soft innocence, sweetness and vulnerability in their faces, further alluding that Madame Charpentier is their protector and keeper. â€Å"In this group portrait, the chic of the sitter’s dress and the fashionable furnishings are secondary to the romance of mother and children â€Å"at home†. An essentially bourgeois, Parisian romance, admittedly, but so well crafted by Renoir’s â€Å"poetical and constructive genius†Ã¢â‚¬ . Bailey) Renoir uses his creative technique handling the vivid colors of paint by taking the Impressionist approach and uses large but soft brushstrokes. There are no definite and precise lines separating one color or object from the next. The somewhat sketchiness of the painting allows the colors to become even more vibrant. The setting has been said to have taken place in a smoking area within the Charpentier house, theref ore Renoir concentrated on the effects of the artificial light and shadow on the models and background to make the scene appear more genuine to the viewer. Renoir shared with his son these words, â€Å"‘Madame Charpentier reminded me of my early love, the women Fragonard painted. The little girls had charming dimples in their cheeks. † (Renoir) He deliberately set out to paint this family portrait in order to please the conventional taste of the Salon, but without sacrificing or lowering his standards for the Impressionist style. The Charpentier family was well known by the time of Renoir’s commission for the large-scale portrait. Their dress and Madame Charpentier’s jewelry, hairstyle, and the background automatically suggest that the Charpentiers are a modern and wealthy family. The bamboo table, wicker chair, and Japanese screens suggest modernity as well, but not in the material sense of the word. Modernity here can be meant to be the passage of one place to another, one city to another, one culture to another. Renoir must have studied, been familiar, or at least been exposed to Japanese art in order to paint it with such exact quality. The loose brush-stroke also suggest movement. The colors are not flat, but alive, as seen by looking at the dog’s hairs, the folds of the train of Mme Charpentier’s dress, and the tussled-look hair of the children. This new visuality into humanity was a great success. With her influence, Madame Charpentier forced the jury of the Salon to admit Renoir’s piece, after a decade of being excluded from acceptance because of his rejected Impressionist style. â€Å"The picture was a great success, and Mme Charpentier used all her influence to force the jury to admit it into the Salon of 1879. After an absence of almost a decade Renoir was again included in the Salon. † (Fry) It was cleverly placed in an open and favorably position in the Salon, across from only one other major artwork. The richness of Renoir’s palette, the liveliness of his touch, the freshness of luminosity of the canvas, the harmoniousness of the composition was all mentioned approvingly. Both Burty and Chesneau analyzed Renoir’s manner of modeling through color and light, without the assistance of lines. † (Benidite) Madame Charpentier and Her Children may be one of Renoir’s finest if not his best work complimenting both contemporary and Impressionist tastes and style. As with other Impressionist artwork of the time, Madame Charpentier and Her Children was paid with a rather feeble commission. The Charpentier’s claimed to have paid a mere 1,500 francs for the portrait. However, art historian Anne Distel writes, â€Å"Renoir mentioned an even lower figure to Vollard, â€Å"around 1,000 francs. † The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired the painting thirty years later for 84,000 francs. Still today, Renoir’s work touches the hearts of its viewers and calls for a more sensual and human view towards Impressionist styled work. The idea of motherhood and family is something all people can relate to and appreciate, besides being wrapped up with the alluring techniques, and Renoir’s use of color and effect of light on the canvas.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Explain the Different Types of Discrimination Essay

Discrimination has many meaning and many different ways people can discriminate against others. Discriminations can be as simple as a person making a judgment against someone else by the way they dress or the way they speak or it can be the people are discriminated against (out casted/left out) because they choose to be different or have a disability or different colour of skin or even religion. Discrimination is unfair treatment of a person action based on prejudice which someone has of that individual and it can affect the targeted individual physically, this could be self-harm or eating disorders, intellectually, the individual won’t want to go to work because of how they are being treated, emotionally, which could be depression, anxiety, aggression, stress or fear, and finally, it can also affect them socially, because they might isolate themselves from the people around them which could result in the loss of friends and it may make some of their relationships with others strained because they think that everyone they know is going to treat them in the same way. The types of discrimination are: culture, disability, age, social class, gender, sexuality, health status and cognitive ability. The first type of discrimination is culture. This can be very important to some individuals because it shows their identity to other people and it is also the way in which they lead their life no matter what country they’re living in. Cultural discrimination means that when an individual from a different background or culture follows their cultures rules strictly; they are disliked by some people because they have a different lifestyle, following and they do not follow the same rules because of how they’ve been raised by their family. It is developed within the social group which they have been raised in; and it can change when they become mature enough to decide for themselves which culture best suited for them. In a profession in Health and Social Care it is important for everyone who is concerned to respect other people’s cultures. It is important for the individual because it gives them a sense of understanding and support, promotes their well-being and can also help their health. Also it is important to health and social care professionals because they see the benefits of their care value base and it underlines the importance of respecting an individual’s culture. Sometimes people see this as if the individual is receiving special treatment because they are different; which can make them feel angry or strong jealousy and as a result they will make the individual from a different culture feel isolated; which might make any relationships which the individual has strained and it can make them feel like they have no respect from anyone around them because of how they look or behave. In health and social care a lot of people work with and support people with varying degrees of disabilities. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) makes it unlawful to discriminate against someone who has a disability. The act covers employment, access to goods, facilities and services of organisations, education, buying and renting a property and transportation services. There has to be full access ability for anyone with a disability. However, people who are part of the same establishment might discriminate against a disabled person in a wheel chair or with a severe disability; by calling them disrespectful names and say that they don’t deserve to be a part of the establishment just because they are disabled in some way; and this can make the disabled person feel depressed and suffer from anxiety problems because if the same thing has been said enough times then they will believe that they don’t deserve an education or have the right to same things which a non-disabled person has the right to. Age discrimination occurs â€Å"when someone is treated unfavourably because of their age, without justification, or is harassed or victimised because of their age†. There have been some controversies regarding the dispensing of certain very expensive drugs to older people because of their shorter life expectancy due to their age. And as a result some people have argued that the money would be better spent on drugs for younger people. However, this would be denying a drug due to their age and would open the health service to considerable legal risk, and legal advice would be needed before discussions like this could happen. Also, sometimes when there are a lot of elderly people and only a few teenagers waiting to get on a bus and when the bus arrives at their stop the teenagers get onto the bus before the elderly people; the elderly people may decide to talk aggressively to the teenagers just because they are older and they feel that they are more important because they might have a disability. Social discrimination is the actual behaviour of those who treat others differently depending on their social situation, to pigeon-hole someone socially, such that someone on benefits is treated unfairly compared to that of someone who works for a living. Invariably it’s a dysfunctional psychology re-enforced by peer pressure to gear an individual’s thought processes to fail to take into account or assess another individuals sole circumstances before passing judgement. It is not really seen as a problem by the bearer of the discrimination unless the bearer directly experiences some similar discrimination. The social class of an individual is apparent from the area in which they live with their family; the higher the social class, the better the place is kept and maintained. This form of inequality has also infiltrated health and social care. In the foreword to a Department of Health education, the former Secretary of State for Health stated that the poor are more likely to get cancer than the rich, and their chances of survival are lower too; this letter carries on to say that health care is essentially a postcode lottery, which means that having access to health care is often determined by where an individual lives. However, in the Equality and Human Rights Commission it states â€Å"At the heart of human rights is the belief everybody should be treated equally and with dignity – no matter what their circumstances†. An individual cannot be discriminated against because of their gender; if they are however it refers to a bias towards one gender. In the vast majority of careers, this bias means that women do not obtain the same opportunities as men for everything from their initial health care education right through to the hiring process and workplace environment. Their career advancement is also smaller and slower in comparison with career advancement for men. On top of that, women and men may perform the same jobs, but women will receive fewer benefits and less pay than men. Under the Gender Equality Duty 2007, all organisations, including health and social care services, cannot discriminate unfairly due to a person’s gender. Equal rights of access, health care and rights must be adhered to. Sexuality is a very individual thing; although most people are ‘straight’, heterosexual, a significant percentage of the population are gay, bisexual, celibate or asexual. Unfair treatment on the basis of someone’s sexuality – or assumptions about their sexuality – is discrimination and has no place in the sport’s environment. Sexuality discrimination happens when someone is treated unfairly compared with others, because of their sexuality. It can also occur because someone makes assumptions about someone else’s sexuality. Under the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (the Act), it can be unlawful to do this. Under federal legislation, it can also be unlawful. The Act says it is against the law to treat people unfairly because of their sexuality, whether they are gay, lesbian, heterosexual or bisexual. The law also protects a person who identifies, or has identified, as a member of the opposite sex by living or seeking to live as a member of that sex. The law also protects sex workers working lawfully. Health status discrimination often occurs when an individual is diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. Sources of stigma include fear of illness, fear of contagion, and fear of death. Fear of illness and fear of contagion is a common reaction among health workers, co-workers, and caregivers, as well as the general population. Stigma is one means of coping with the fear that contact with a member of an affected group; by caring for or sharing utensils with a PLHA will result in contracting the disease. HIV-stigma is often layered on top of many other stigmas associated with such specific groups as homosexuals and commercial sex workers and such behaviours as drug abuse by using needles and casual sex. These behaviours are perceived as controllable and are therefore assigned more blame, receive less sympathy, but instead, more anger and are less likely to receive assistance as opposed to people with AIDS who were infected through circumstances where there was no control, such as receiving a blood transfusion. However, sometimes it can be difficult to make decisions regarding a person’s medical treatment; their expected quality of life after the treatment has been given and their overall life expectancy have to be seriously considered. And the people who are making these decisions for someone should always keep questioning their own assumptions and prejudices; and also do their best to balance the welfare of individual patients with broader funding considerations. Under section 2 of the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance (â€Å"FSDO†), family status means the status of a person who has the responsibility for the care of an immediate family member. An immediate family member is a person who is related by blood, marriage, adoption or affinity. However, this can lead to a variety of discriminations against members of the family; they can be against gay or lesbian parents, single parents, parents of different genders, parents of different races with mixed-race children and other family groupings. It can either direct or indirect discrimination, direct discrimination means that a person is treated unfavorably because of their family status and indirect discrimination means when a condition or requirement, that is not justifiable, is applied to everyone but in practice adversely affects persons who have family status; an example of this would be a company insists that all its employees work overtime and a widower who has responsibility for care of his young children cannot comply with that condition. The company then dismisses him. The complainant feels aggrieved because as a single parent he cannot comply with that condition. If the company cannot justify why each and every employee must meet that condition, it could be a case of indirect discrimination on the ground of family status. Cognitive disability is defined by some as bellow average intellectual function that adversely affects educational and adaptive performance. There are a broad range of disabilities that fit into this criterion. Cognition is the mental process of understanding and acquiring knowledge through the senses, thought and perception. A person with a cognitive disability may have difficulty with some or all of the following cognitive areas: memory formation or retrieval; attention span; reading and comprehension; problem solving; and visual input. Discriminating against someone because of their cognitive ability might arise because of a brain injury, a learning disability or difficulty or a person’s social class or education. It can be easy to determinate against people with cognitive disabilities but care must be taken not to do so. Valuing People Now is a government strategy which aims to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities and those of their families and carers.