Surrogate Mothering essays

Surrogate Mothering essays Motherhood - Nine Months vs. A Lifetime "You're about ten meters dilated...it's time to push!" You grab hold onto your husband's hand a little tighter. Take a deep breath...and the labor process begins. This is a common everyday scenario that happens thousands of times a day in hospitals all over the world. Yet sometimes, women will never be able to go through this process, due to circumstances beyond their control. Imagine never being able to have a child. Imagine infertility. Month after month, dozens of negative pregnancy tests, hundreds of dollars, infinite heartaches. What is a couple to do? Who can they trust? What are their options? One option that is becoming more and more popular in today's society is surrogate motherhood. Why? Some believe it is because of the continuous decreasing numbers of adoptable infants, especially healthy Caucasian infants. The advantage of surrogacy is that the child is usually related to one of the intended parents and can be the product of both genetic parents. Yet the reason that many Americans don't look for this as an option first is because of the large percentage of unsuccessful cases. A majority of the negative feelings towards surrogacy is mainly due to the uncertainty of the outcome. There is not a 100% guarantee that everything will work out as planned. There are many controversial topics surrounding surrogate motherhood. One is whether or not the surrogate mother has the right to change her mind, that is, to keep the baby. Take a look at adoption for a minute, although the two may be extremely different. In adoption the mother has usually become involuntarily pregnant, while in surrogacy, the pregnancy is voluntary. Yet whom would you consider the true mother of the child? The mother who gave birth yet, chose to give the child up, or the one who has raised him/her? To me, the answer is simple. The couple who adopted the child is the "true" mother and father, and in mo...

Globalization and Worldwide Poverty Dissertation

Globalization and Worldwide Poverty - Dissertation Example As the discussion stresses globalisation provides a wide-ranging and an all-embracing set of opportunities for worldwide development but evidently, is not progressing uniformly. A few countries have assimilated into the global economy swiftly more than others. Countries that have been able to assimilate are experiencing faster growth and reduced poverty. Likewise, outward-oriented strategies resulted into added economic vitality and wealth to much of East Asia, converting the region from one of the most pitiable territories of the world forty years ago. Together with the ascent of living standards, it became possible to make progress on democracy and economic matters such as work standards and the environment. According to the research findings poverty incidence escalated and high inflation became the norm. In several circumstances, especially Africa, hostile and unfavourable developments made the problems worse. However, as these territories changed their economic policies, their incomes began to rise and vital transformations were on track. They found out that promoting this trend and fostering such economic scenario and not quashing it is the best course for propping up growth, development and poverty reduction. As globalisation made its way into every fiber of human life and human activity, it can be safely deduced that it has both increased and reduced poverty. ... So, how can the developing countries, especially the poorest, be assisted to pull alongside its more affluent neighbors Does globalisation aggravate inequality or can it help reduce poverty What about those countries that assimilate into the global economy, are they inexorably vulnerable to instability These are some of the imperative questions that need to be answered. Literature Review As globalisation made its way into every fiber of human life and human activity, it can be safely deduced that it has both increased and reduced poverty. A process involving the intricate sequence of events - symbolized by the surge of privatisation in public utilities and state-controlled industries, changes in domestic financial markets, taxation systems and liberalised labour markets -- resulted into an unmatched swiftness of international trade and FDI flows (United Nations, 1999; Sala-i-Martin 2002a and 2002b). When social outcomes of globalisation have been closely investigated and deeply scrutinised, academics and logicians have recognised the direction, significance and repercussions of this correlation. And as its effects have been evaluated and analysed, reference was made to two diverse components in the literature - one that connects growth to poverty and inequality and the other pertains to the association of trade to growth. Academic analysis and pragmatic evidence result from the blend of contentions utilised in each sphere of study, one is if 1) growth is distribution neutral as asserted and 2) trade enhances growth, so much so that it can be claimed that 3) trade is helpful in order to alleviate poverty. The notion that growth

Development and application of a diatom-inferred pH model Research Paper

Development and application of a diatom-inferred pH model - Research Paper Example The RMSE gives a measure of the ‘apparent’ error in the model and thus over-optimistic while the RMSE calculated using bootstrap is a more reliable indicator of the true predictive ability of a transfer function. Analysis of the dataset with both simple weighted averaging (WA) and weighted averaging with tolerance down-weighting (WA(tol)) resulted in the selection of WA for pH reconstructions as it gave lower estimates of the RMSEP (Table 2). After having decided on criteria that maximize the performance of the model, I have applied it to a lake sediment core, Llyn Hir to perform a pH reconstruction. In WA reconstructions, averages are taken twice, once in WA regression and once in WA calibration. The resulting shrinkage of the inferred environmental variable is corrected for using inverse or classical deshrinking regression (Birks et al., 1990). Following analyses using both methods, trends in residuals revealed that inverse deshrinking was more prone to be biased than classical deshrinking technique (Table 3). The resulting WA classical deshrinked transfer function was applied to fossil diatom assemblages enumerated from the Llyn Hir sediment core. WA regression and calibration (both with and without tolerance down-weighting) were performed using C2 Programme. The WA model shows a strong predicted relationship between observed pH and diatom-inferred pH values (r2 = 0.83) (Figure 2). Statistical results for both simple and tolerance down-weighted WA show that the predictive ability of the WA and WA(tol) models, in terms of the predicted r2 and the RMSEP, are comparable (Table 2). Simple WA was chosen as it gives slightly higher predicted correlation between measured and diatom-inferred pH and lower predicted estimates of the error in this model. A total of 124 diatom taxa were observed throughout the Llyn Hir core, 8 of which did not occur in the training dataset. This means that over 90% of the diatoms occurred in training set which makes our

History Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

History Questions - Assignment Example S. and Soviet Union. A rapprochement would have worked better by using confidence-building measures like better communications but instead he started new proxy wars in Laos and Vietnam (Freedman 285). An optimism engendered by liberalism produced a backlash in terms of conservative anger in the form of McCarthyism in which there was a massive witch hunt of the suspected communists and their supposed sympathizers. People saw the excesses of liberalism and had wanted to go back to conservative values like family relationships. People thought America was infiltrated by communists everywhere: in government, academe and Hollywood. The culture wars produced the so-called â€Å"generation gap† between the youth and the older generations, especially their parents and elders (ONeill 5). Focal point in society where the youth were molded shifted from the high schools to colleges and universities. The country was engulfed in the youth repudiating their status and value systems while an older generation saw these trends as a threat to their lives. A few critics of the counter-culture resorted to using censorship and other controls to re-impose cherished values and social norms. Music became a medium for political messages (jazz, rap, slam poetry,); politicians now faced

Judith Anne Neelley Essay Example for Free

Judith Anne Neelley Essay Judith Anne Neelley belongs to the growing list of women offenders convicted for heinous crimes. Just 18 years old, she was convicted in 1983 in Alabama for the brutal murder of a young girl and was meted the death penalty. However, contrasting views of whether the death penalty should be implemented and racial bias as well, influenced a former governor of the state to commute her sentence to life imprisonment in 1999 (ProsandCons.us, 2009). Her Crimes Sometime in 1980, she robbed a woman inside a mall at gunpoint (Ramsland, 2007). Two years later, she lured and kidnapped Lisa Ann Millican, 13 years old of Rome, Georgia, who was under the auspices of a home for neglected girls (Ramsland, 2007). She was sexually assaulted, stabbed, injected with drain cleaner, shot to death and her body pushed down a mountain where it was found days later (Ashley, 1999). After this, she persuaded a man and his companion to ride with her and show her around the town because she was new there. She then shot but did not kill the man John Hancock and took her girlfriend Janice Chatman to a motel where she and her husband molested and raped her (O’Shea, 1999). Over-all, she was involved in 15 murders that occurred not only in Georgia but also in Tennessee and Alabama (O’Shea, 1999). She also continually committed minor offenses such as swindling, car theft, petty theft, robbery and minor assaults (Furio, 2001). Social Background Judith Neelley did not attend middle school or high school and she was not known to hold any permanent job, doing odd jobs and also swindling and robbing in order to survive (Wetsch, 2005). As a teenager, she spent time in a youth center, having been abandoned by her parents. There she claimed that she was sexually assaulted (Wetsch, 2005). She was pregnant during her detention for armed robbery and at 15-years old she gave birth to twins (O’Shea, 1999). Her third child was also born in prison just before her trial for the murder of Lisa Millican. There is no mention of her family or childhood in the literature encountered as she was not fond of giving interviews. Marriage and Family Life At a very early age, she married Alvin Neelley who was twice her age, an ex-convict who served time for shooting his first wife. With their common behavior of being violent towards women, Alvin figured as a partner in the crimes she instigated. They referred to themselves as The Nightrider and Lady Sundance (Ramsland, 2007). Following his release from prison for their robbery in 1980, Alvin took a job at a gas station and used his earnings to buy two cars with CB radios installed (Wetsch, 2005). Judith will drive around to look for the next victim and will radio Alvin to join her when the victim is in the car. Their relationship, though sexual in nature, was at times violent and lasted because of this partnership. Â  According to her husband, Judith’s personality was very dominant and she was violent which accounted for her strong influence over him. Alvin Neelley later stated that he went along because his wife had such power over other people and he was left with no choice (Ramsland, 2007). On the other hand, Judith stated during the trial that she took women and young girls to please her husband because he wanted them, that he willingly planned and executed the acts, that he battered her and threatened her children to force her to take part (O’Shea, 1999). However, investigators and the jury eventually agreed that Judith actively participated in the killing sprees as the brains behind the murders (Kelleher Kelleher, 1998). While on predating sprees, she brought her children along. They helped her earn the trust of the people she lured. The toddlers witnessed the sexual molestation and torture of Lisa Millican and the other victims by their mother. This type of parenting, husband and wife relationship and over-all family life deviates from what is typical. Contributing Factors She was not found by the jury to be mentally disturbed or to be an abused wife factors which could help explain her brutal behavior. After her conviction, she appealed to the court but exhausted the appeals process with futility (ProsandCons.us, 2009). Does this person fit the profile of the typical offender for this type of crime? Judith Neelley did not fit the profile of the typical murderer. She was female, white, a young mother, slim and blond. Females were generally regarded as soft, caring or docile and not aggressive or violent (Schurman-Kauflin, 2000). At the time she committed murder, the stereotype of persons who had the capacity to perform such crimes was male and probably black. For this reason, it was not seriously believed at first that she perpetrated the murders (Texas AM International University, 2004). Initially, the burden of accountability for the acts was brought heavily on her husband because he was the male. At the end of the trial, she got the death penalty while her husband got two life terms. Based on current information on criminal behavior however, Judith Anne Neelley fits the profile of a female serial team killer. Because she lacked the strength to subdue victims or carry dead bodies, she raped and killed together with her husband who was also a sexual killer (Kelleher Kelleher, 1998). Only one thing sets her apart from other females in serial team killing she had already attempted to kill a man by shooting him before she even met her husband (Furio, 2001). She was delinquent as a teenager and before age 20, performed her first serial killing. Very sociable, she was able to talk her victims, either when they were alone or with their companions, into going for a ride with her in her car (TAMIU, 2004). She felt herself superior over others and called the authorities about Lisa Millican and where her body could be found, implicating a warden as the one responsible. She was cruel, merciless and delighted in the suffering and death of her victims. During the trial, she played the role of victim in saying that she was a battered wife so that her husband would get the maximum penalty while she will serve time only as an accomplice (TAMIU, 2004). Which crime theory that we have studied comes closest to explaining this offender’s behavior? The strain theory of crime causation comes closest to explaining Judith Neelley’s behavior. The extreme stress from social and economic factors that she experienced as a young girl being abandoned by her family, her poverty and then being sexually molested while in a juvenile center, all contributed in pushing her to commit crime. Unsuccessful in obtaining power from money or education, she killed others to feel powerful. List of References Ashley, D. (1999). Woman Loses Death Row Appeal. Retrieved 9 April 2009 from http://www.equaljustice.ca/cgi-bin/forum.cgi/noframes/read/6290. Furio, J. (2001). Team Killers: A Comparative Study of Collaborative Criminals. New York: Algora. Kelleher, M. and Kelleher, C.L. (1998). Murder Most Rare: The Female Serial Killer. Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. Â  O’Shea, K. (1999). Women and the Death Penalty in the United States: 1900-1998. Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. ProsandCons.us (2009). Conversion of a Killer. Retrieved 9 April 2009 from http://prosandcons.us/?cat=61

Life Happens :: Essays Papers

Life Happens For just about every kid you really enjoy high school and really don’t think about what you are going to do after you graduate other than the fact that you know you are going to continue or to college of some kind. Well then there are the others who are not thinking about where they are going to go to college, but what job they are going to find so that they can support your child that they just found out that their girlfriend is having. You talk about an eye opener for those kids. Yes they may be eighteen years old and getting ready to move out on their own, but they are still kids getting ready to raise a kid. This is where it gets scary. It is the half way through your junior year and you have been having a great time. This is when the first slap in the face comes. You are talking to your girlfriend and she tells you that she is late. The first thing that runs through your mind is, â€Å"Late for what?† No sooner does that go through your brain and it hits you what she is late for, and that is when your heart hits the floor and like every other guy in the same situation you open your mouth, â€Å"Are you sure?† Like a girl not knowing when she is late for her period is kind of like a guy not knowing if he had an orgasm. After some guys have a few more beers and freak out for a few minutes, or hours, they think that they can not do this and that the girl should get an abortion. Sometimes the girl is right on board with this, and the baby is aborted and the teens lives go on like nothing ever happened. At least until the girl gets a conscious and starts thinking about what she has done and what could hav e been. This will bother the girl at least sometimes. It might bother the guy but not usually. Then there are other guys who after their freak out period they decide to take responsibility for their actions and tell the girl we will make it through this, we can do this. This is where the real story begins. Not only do we have two kids getting ready to leave the nest for the first time and learn how to spread their wings and fly, but they already have their own baby to teach how to do this also.

Adolf Hitler Leadership Case Study

Adolf Hitler’s leadership style cannot be narrowed down to one.   While he was a dictator who adopted a commanding style that sought tight control even if it created dissension among   his army of generals, he also showed an uncanny ability to sense   people’s inner workings   and concerns.This worked to his advantage and added to the compelling nature of his personality which stirred his followers to support and be loyal to him. A pedantic military strategist who attacked his enemies and even his own allies from within, Adolf Hitler was one who exhausted all means, notably violence and mass extermination of races, to further his goals.For him, the all-consuming end of expanding and transforming Germany into a world power   clouded his vision of   other matters which he deemed inferior.   That Hitler was fanatical in a viciously evil kind of way does not diminish the fact that he was a great strategist and leader who left an indelible imprint on other worl d leaders.The way he formed alliances, his unstoppable will to conquer and reinforce his logistics and methods for waging war, and the unrelenting spirit he displayed even when defeat was imminent all point to how tenacious Hitler was in overcoming obstacles to his overarching goal of world domination.Yet despite his sharp memory, keen attention for detail, and strong leadership traits, Adolf Hitler did have some weaknesses, notably an impatience for individuals with weak or retreating, unfocused character, and some rash decision-making.â€Å"He presents himself to the viewer with considerable dignity and complacency†¦ But this respectability overlaid an obviously unstable temperament marked by a propensity for impulsive decisions† (Fest, 1974, p. 16).Nonetheless, he displayed a singlehanded focus revolving around an expansionist subjugation of other nations to assert Germany’s dominance, and he manifested a consistent unbending policy of warfare towards attaining this end. In the end, this may have been a major factor that led to his eventual downfall. Indeed, despite his all-consuming thirst for absolute power and personal flaws and oversights, no other great leader has perhaps shaped world history in a colossal manner the way Adolf Hitler did.Mission & Vision StatementsAdolf Hitler’s mission statement was to establish allies, fortify his troops and launch an all-out offensive against those who would get in his way of shaping the destiny of Germany – by propelling it to great stature and letting it emerge as a world power.The vision statement was to command obedience and unwavering loyalty and support from followers and the entire citizenry because only Adolf Hitler could handle Germany’s unique problems. The citizenry was called upon to take a stand in the transformation of a new nation.Hitler prevailed upon the masses, who were swayed by his eloquent speech and charismatic leadership, and impressed on them that he wa s the answer to Germany’s socio-economic ills and that he wielded the power to reunite Germany and make it rise above its impoverished state.Main IssueThe main issue of this leadership case study is that notwithstanding his despotic character, Adolf Hitler was a skillful and compelling leader who moved the masses.He honed his political decision-making process with such impetus that it â€Å"laid the foundation for World War II† (Braunbeck, 1997, p. 5).   Though he advocated a fierce and inhuman kind of nationalism, he evoked an unyielding stance and a resolute view to achieve his goal.He totally believed that â€Å"only he had the vision, the will-power, the combination of military and political, political and `world-historical’ insight†¦ to restore the lost German empire to her greatness† (Braunbeck, 1997, p. 9).Environmental AnalysisIn the early 1930s, the era when Adolf Hitler rose to power as Chancellor of Germany, the German empire was saddled with socio-economic problems and the political machinery was on the brink of chaos. The situation clearly called for a leader with an iron fist, but then â€Å"President von Hindendburg stubbornly resisted offering the chancellorship to Adolf Hitler, a volatile political upstart whose followers were considered†¦ coarse, violent and undisciplined† (â€Å"Hartwick Classic Leadership Cases,† 2001, p. 1).The ensuing events illustrated that even if the odds were not in his favor, Hitler had utilized every means and power, including political conspiracy, to ascend to the highest office.   The circumstances he figured in and the way he used these to his advantage ensured that he remained his in much sought-after position. As noted in the Hartwick Leadership Cases:By the late thirties, Hitler was the commanding figure in Europe, possibly the most   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   powerful political figure in the world. The renewal of full employment in Germany   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã ‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   subdued domestic opposition to Nazism†¦ Hitler was, quintessentially, a charismatic   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   leader. He inspired awe, devotion, loyalty, and obedience in an ever-increasing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   portion of the German population† (2001, p. 2).It will be noted that one of Adolf Hitler’s self-confessed capabilities which helped him accomplish his ends â€Å"was the ability to judge men†¦ what sort, how he could best be used† (Schramm, 2007, p. 32). He also rode with the prevailing public outlook and opinions. Hitler harnessed the â€Å"awesome power he achieved over the German people†¦to attain his political goals† (Braunbeck, 1997, p. 6).The events in Germany during the period he ascended to the highest office, his way with people, and the personal magnetism he inspired among the masses whose gripes and sentiments he played on all worked together to set the stage for a leadership that thri ved with terrorism and a well-oiled propagandist machinery, on one hand, and a â€Å"feeling for order, rules and respectability† (Fest, 1974, p. 14) on the other.Key StrengthsOne of Adolf Hitler’s major strengths was â€Å"his uncanny ability to appeal to the subconscious and irrational needs of his audience and (ability) to solicit the desired response† (Braunbeck, 1997, p. 7).By audience we may refer not just to the masses who listened to him speak with conviction and fervor but to the generals and other members of his troops. Hitler displayed strong oratorical skills that greatly helped him win favor with the masses. At the same time, his speeches reflected his racial ideologies, like when he expressed in one instance:We are socialists, we are enemies of today's capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   evaluation of a human being according to wealth and pr operty instead of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   responsibility and performance, and we are all determined to destroy this system   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   under all conditions (Toland, 1976, p. 306).During trying circumstances, his perseverance worked to his advantage too, although there came a point when his all-out offensives to conquer turned out futile.As a military strategist, Hitler displayed that he can be quite knowledgeable.   â€Å"However, as his success continued to mount, he became more and more involved in the intricacies of battlefield tactics and strategy† (Braunbeck, 1997, p. 5) but tended to be over focused on the caliber of a weapon, technical capacity and speed of warships, and what may be expected of fortification lines.WeaknessesThat Hitler has a flawed personality is something just about everyone acknowledged. History recounts how Adolf Hitler was given to angry outbursts and uncontrolled rage, especially when he felt that people questioned his authority.   He restricted, rather than provided, the freedom of subordinate commanders to rely on their own judgment when a sudden crisis occurred.   He had to have a say on the matter.As far as his early experience in running state matters was concerned, Hitler displayed â€Å"complete unfamiliarity with the daily workings of government† (Schramm, 2007, p. 57).As a commanding leader in the battlefield, Hitler adopted a rigid stance.   For him, his â€Å"troops should never be given occasion for uncertainty by offering them the option to retreat† (Schramm, 2007, p. 108).Hitler was unbending in his ways, and insisted on doing things his way to the point of not consulting his generals, and in the process he made some blunders, like mounting an offensive against countries that were stronger than   Germany.Hitler is a clear-cut illustration of a study in contrast, because while he relentlessly sought to cultivate allies from other countries and acq uiesced to harmonizing relations with powerful countries like the US, he was too devious and consumed with desire to conquer that he strained such international relations.OpportunitiesHitler wielded great power and accomplished one of the things he aspired for Germany – lebensraum or more living space, using the opportunities for learning and politicking that being in power presented.Hitler had vast opportunities to shape a nation’s destiny and bequeath a lasting legacy, but his thirst for power so consumed him that it led to his ultimate downfall, leaving behind no contribution in the material or moral sense.Being a master manipulator, he was able to gain concessions from ranking officials of powerful countries and he scored some diplomatic victories, but he himself negated any headway he made in this aspect.   In short, Hitler wasted many opportunities that came his way, with the exemption of the opportunities that brought him to power.ThreatsHitler encountered opp osition within and outside the totalitarian state he established that were potential threats to his reign but their divisiveness did not create any real impediment.In the arena of international politics, there were countries that refused to have an alliance with Germany, thereby posing a threat to the actualization of his expansionist goals. Hitler also encountered some other challenges.   Economic problems became widely felt in Germany in the late 1930s, prompting Hitler forced to order, albeit hesitatingly, major defense cuts.AlternativesOn hindsight, Adolf Hitler, deranged as he may be, had actually let many opportunities and alternatives to running Germany in a way that many generations down the line would have been able to acknowledge with pride, pass him by.â€Å"Throughout his entire life, and particularly since the First World War, Hitler was dominated by a strong feeling of comradeship, loyalty and gratitude with the men who†¦had been faithful and devoted comradesâ €  (Schramm, 2007, p. 33) and he inspired confidence in his men even when the situation turned hopeless.He could have utilized people faith in his abilities to further rebuild Germany and leave behind something lasting.   Instead, what he left was an imprint of a leader who was like no other.ReferencesBraunbeck Jr., P. (1997). A military leadership analysis of Adolf Hitler. Thesis. Air Command and Staff College. Retrieved November 30, from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/acsc/97-0609h.pdf.