Body Piercing and Management Free Essays

Of the many growing trends, body piercing has become very popular. With this practice becoming more popular everyday, many people are frightened away because of sanitary and health reasons. To most peoples surprise the business of body piercing is a safe and clean procedure. We will write a custom essay sample on Body Piercing and Management or any similar topic only for you Order Now Body piercing is a form of self-expression, such as tattoos and hair styles. Piercing are more widely accepted among business today than a couple years ago. Even-though they are becoming more acceptable in society today there is still a misconception of the safety, sterility, and health issues involved. Many people fear the sterility of the piercing process, ergo they don’t get the piercing. In actuality piercing is very safe. The piercer has to follow many steps in ensuring the safety of the piercer and the patient. After filling out the proper paperwork, the patient has to decide of the location of the piercing. There are many spots over the human body where one can get pierced. Some of the common spots to get pierced are: the inner and outer ear, the nose, the bridge of you nose, the cheek, lips, tongue, eyebrows, nipples, naval, and the genitalia. If one was to get their tongue pierced, the piercer must decide whether or not it is piercable. If the tongue has a large under-webbing it cannot be pierced. Once the tongue is deemed piercable, the piercer sterilizes all of his equipment. A common set-up for a piercing is as follows: two pairs of surgical gloves, many gauze, a needle, cork, rubber-band, surgical clamp, toothpick, and the jewelry. All of these are placed in a metal cartridge and placed inside a sterilizing machine. The machine heats and compresses distilled water and then blows steam into the cartage sterilizing everything inside. During this time the patient is instructed on the procedure and washing his mouth with bioclean. Bioclean is antibacterial mouth cleaner that destroys 99% of all mouth bacteria. During this time the piercer scrubs his hands with an antibacterial soap, and places one pair of gloves on. The patient sticks out his tongue and the piercer makes a horizontal and vertical make on the tongue if a mild antiseptic dye. The clamps are placed on the top and direct bottom of the tongue and double checked, to ensure that the needle will not pierce a vein. At this time the piercer discards his current pair of gloves and dons the second. He then places the needle on the tongue and pushes it through. Once the needle has passed through, he then places a cork on the end so no one is harmed. The needle is push the rest of the way through with the jewelry. The needle and cork are placed in a sealed biohazard container to await proper disposal. The clamp is removed and placed in an antibacterial solution. The other half is then screwed on and the piercing is over. All the gausses and swabs with no blood are placed in the trash, and any items with blood on them are placed in a biohazard bag. At this time the piercer informs the patient on the proper care and maintenance of the piercing. In an interview with Richard, a piercer at Factor V in Charleston, SC, he states that the most unsanitary and dangerous time for a piercing is seven days afterward. â€Å"People don’t follow directions and end-up with an infection. Most piercers pass out a pamphlet with the proper care directions on it. The piercing process is safe when done by a professional. The customer is responsible for the piercing once the piercing process is over. The procedure is so safe that one doesn’t even lose taste due to the piercing. Some swelling may occur and pain in very minimal because no nerves were hit. Piercing can be a healthy and fun way express oneself, when done in a clean and experienced environment. But one has to make sure that proper care is given to the piercing. How to cite Body Piercing and Management, Essay examples

Body Piercing and Management Free Essays

Of the many growing trends, body piercing has become very popular. With this practice becoming more popular everyday, many people are frightened away because of sanitary and health reasons. To most peoples surprise the business of body piercing is a safe and clean procedure. We will write a custom essay sample on Body Piercing and Management or any similar topic only for you Order Now Body piercing is a form of self-expression, such as tattoos and hair styles. Piercing are more widely accepted among business today than a couple years ago. Even-though they are becoming more acceptable in society today there is still a misconception of the safety, sterility, and health issues involved. Many people fear the sterility of the piercing process, ergo they don’t get the piercing. In actuality piercing is very safe. The piercer has to follow many steps in ensuring the safety of the piercer and the patient. After filling out the proper paperwork, the patient has to decide of the location of the piercing. There are many spots over the human body where one can get pierced. Some of the common spots to get pierced are: the inner and outer ear, the nose, the bridge of you nose, the cheek, lips, tongue, eyebrows, nipples, naval, and the genitalia. If one was to get their tongue pierced, the piercer must decide whether or not it is piercable. If the tongue has a large under-webbing it cannot be pierced. Once the tongue is deemed piercable, the piercer sterilizes all of his equipment. A common set-up for a piercing is as follows: two pairs of surgical gloves, many gauze, a needle, cork, rubber-band, surgical clamp, toothpick, and the jewelry. All of these are placed in a metal cartridge and placed inside a sterilizing machine. The machine heats and compresses distilled water and then blows steam into the cartage sterilizing everything inside. During this time the patient is instructed on the procedure and washing his mouth with bioclean. Bioclean is antibacterial mouth cleaner that destroys 99% of all mouth bacteria. During this time the piercer scrubs his hands with an antibacterial soap, and places one pair of gloves on. The patient sticks out his tongue and the piercer makes a horizontal and vertical make on the tongue if a mild antiseptic dye. The clamps are placed on the top and direct bottom of the tongue and double checked, to ensure that the needle will not pierce a vein. At this time the piercer discards his current pair of gloves and dons the second. He then places the needle on the tongue and pushes it through. Once the needle has passed through, he then places a cork on the end so no one is harmed. The needle is push the rest of the way through with the jewelry. The needle and cork are placed in a sealed biohazard container to await proper disposal. The clamp is removed and placed in an antibacterial solution. The other half is then screwed on and the piercing is over. All the gausses and swabs with no blood are placed in the trash, and any items with blood on them are placed in a biohazard bag. At this time the piercer informs the patient on the proper care and maintenance of the piercing. In an interview with Richard, a piercer at Factor V in Charleston, SC, he states that the most unsanitary and dangerous time for a piercing is seven days afterward. â€Å"People don’t follow directions and end-up with an infection. Most piercers pass out a pamphlet with the proper care directions on it. The piercing process is safe when done by a professional. The customer is responsible for the piercing once the piercing process is over. The procedure is so safe that one doesn’t even lose taste due to the piercing. Some swelling may occur and pain in very minimal because no nerves were hit. Piercing can be a healthy and fun way express oneself, when done in a clean and experienced environment. But one has to make sure that proper care is given to the piercing. How to cite Body Piercing and Management, Essay examples

Are Faces Special free essay sample

Critically evaluate the evidence that we have evolved a specialised neural network dedicated to processing faces. Brian Marron, 11461992, SF TSM. INTRODUCTION Processing faces is extremely important to humans as social beings. We are able to put and identity on thousands of faces (Gazzaniga, 2002) with ease, something we might take for granted. The value of this ability can be better understood when the world is viewed through the eyes of somebody with prosopagnosia, the inability to recognise faces. The following quotation from David Fine, a prosopagnosic describing the difficulty associated with the disorder. â€Å"I often fail to recognise my children or even my wife †¦ I have failed to acknowledge friends and, more distressingly, those in authority. At school I would get lines for not raising my cap to a teacher. As a young man I ignored girls whom I had met the night before – not a good mating strategy. I find networking all but impossible, and social situations †¦ may cause acute anxiety. † (Fine, J. R. 2011 pp 455) Face processing is something that almost all of us can do yet exactly how we process faces is not yet known. In this essay I will examine one of the most heatedly debated topics of face processing: Are faces special? That is to say, are faces processed in a special way compared to non-face stimuli and have humans evolved a specialised neural network to achieve this? The two sides of the argument have been debated for a long time and there is still no clear answer. (Hole Byrne, 2010) Research from both sides will be critically evaluated. Initially, evidence from psychological studies will be explored in an attempt to address whether faces are processed in the same way as non-face stimuli. After that the question of whether humans have evolved a specialised network dedicated to processing faces will be considered, drawing on evidence from studies of brain damage and neuroimaging. If faces and only were processed in a different way to non-face stimuli, it would greatly support the argument that faces are special. Yin carried out a very influential experiment in 1969. He presented participants with photos of faces, stickmen drawings, planes and houses. The task involved participants recognizing the stimuli presented inverted or â€Å"right-way-up†. Yin found that inversion decreased people’s ability to recognise all categories of stimulus. However, inversion impeded performance by 3 times as much for faces compared with other non-face stimuli. Yin also collected oral feedback. The results and feedback suggested that faces and non-face stimuli were processed differently. After many more very influential studies, such as the Thatcher Illusion (Thompson, 1980), the Composite Face Effect (Young et al. 1987), blurring facial features (Collinshaw and Hole, 2000) and many more, it was concluded that faces were processed in a different way to non-face stimuli. Specifically, faces are processed holistically with a dependence on configural information whereas non-face stimuli are processed using featural information in a peicemental way. It was concluded that because faces were processed differently they are special. Diamond and Carey disagreed (1986) that face and non-face stimuli were processed differently faces were special. They put forward the expertise hypothesis in a much cited paper in 1986. They said the Face Inversion Effect found by Yin was not a result of using different sources of information (configural and featural) but that it was a result of expertise with faces. They based their assertions on evidence from their experiment with dog experts. Dog experts and non-experts were given a similar inversion test to Yin’s, with photos of dogs as well as faces (1969). Again they were asked to recognise the dogs and human faces while upright or inverted. Understandably, Yin’s Inversion Effect was found for faces. Interestingly, the dog experts showed a similar inversion effect for dogs while the non-experts did not. It seemed the experts processed faces and dogs in a similar way. Diamond and Carey argued that if one is expert in any group of homogeneous stimuli whose members all share features, then one begins to use configural information to improve discrimination of its exemplars. They also said that to allow for this better discrimination, the stimulus must be presented upright. People demonstrate the Face Inversion Effect because they are expert at processing faces. And so, Diamond and Carey asserted faces are not special, merely exemplars of a homogenous group of stimuli of which people tend to be expert. Greebles were created by Gauthier and Tarr (1997) from a need to control for expertise in experiments. Greebles are a group of homogeneous stimuli that do not resemble faces but do have several properties of faces like symmetry and the same number of features. They conducted experiments to see how dependence on configural information increased with expertise. They agreed with Diamond and Carey that faces are not intrinsically special but that humans are particularly expert at processing faces and so rely more on configural information to discriminate b etween one person and another. However, Gauthier Tarr and Diamond Carey’s methodologies have come under much criticism especially from Robbins and McKone. Robbins and McKone argue that they have found major flaws in the expert hypothesis. The differing views of these psychologists are outlined in fiery academic exchanges (Robbins McKone 2007), (McKone Robbins, 2007), (Gauthier Baukach, 2007). As a consequence, there is no absolute answer to the question: Are faces special? The next line of evidence is brain damage. The logic is this: if a brain region is damaged and face processing is hindered with all other non-face processing remaining unhindered, then surely that is strong evidence for a specialised neural network dedicated to processing faces only. Hole Byrne, 2010) i. e. A double-dissociation must be shown between face and non-face stimuli. Prosopagnosia patients are the most promising hopes for meeting those criteria just outlined (Gazzaniga, 2002). It is seldom that a prosopagnosia patient does not show impairments to non-face-stimulus processing abilities. This is thought to be because traumatic brain injuries resulting in prosopagnosia are usually wide-ranging (Farah et al, 1995). However, there are some cases of ‘pure’ prosopagnosia who have no non-face processing impairments (Wada Yamatoto, 2001). For the evidence to be valid, they must make within-class discriminations to make the test comparable with face processing tests. This within-class double dissociation has been found in many object classes like cars (Rossion et al, 2003), glasses (Farah et al, 1995) fruit (Riddoch et al, 2008) and more. There is even evidence for a double dissociation between human and animal face-processing. There is the case of a sheep farmer, WJ (McNeil Warrington, 1993). WJ suffered from prosopagnosia yet he was able to identify his sheep. Another case of a prosopagnosic farmer being able to identify his animals was reported by Bruyer et al. 1983). The double dissociation is made whole by a farmer who could process faces but could sadly no longer identify his cattle. The evidence to show faces are indeed special is compelling. However, there is an alternative explanation of the findings provided by the expert hypothesis. According to that hypothesis, in order to recognise faces we must make deli cate within-class decisions on the second-order relations between facial features. Supporters of the hypothesis argue that prosopagnosia is not the injury of the ‘face’ area but injury to the region responsible for making delicate within-class decisions. When asked why faces are selectively impaired, it is argued that it only appears that way because brains depend on that mode of processing to a great extent for faces (Hole Byrne, 2010). Consequently, there is still no definite answer to the question of whether faces are special. The most modern evidence comes from neuroimaging. The N170 ERP was instrumental in highlighting brain activation when viewing face stimuli. The activation patterns helped to locate the fusiform face area (FFA) because N170 was so distinct to faces. In this essay the fMRI research into the FFA will be explored in detail. To prove faces are special, the research aimed to find a correlation between distinct face-processing brain activity and a specific brain region. The FFA was discovered in 1997 by Kanwisher. It was first described as a brain region which only responded to faces. In fact, activation was found for cat faces and cartoon faces (Tong et al, 2000). There was also some very low level activation to animals, houses and objects. Interestingly, FFA activation was recorded in response to Mooney faces, (Kanwisher, 1998) and to the vase-face illusion. When participants reported perceiving a vase there was no FFA activation. Activation only occurred when perceived as 2 faces looking at each other. This finding was very meaningful as in both vase-face scenarios the stimulus was the same. The only thing change was the perception (Andrews et al, 2002). It supports the assertion that faces are special and humans have evolved a special neural network dedicated to processing faces. The expertise hypothesis does not accept those findings. Supporters argue that the FFA is for detecting subtle differences in stimuli (Gauthier et, al, 1999). Evidence for this can be found in Gauthier’s experiment with bird watchers (2000). FFA activation was found to be higher in experts than non-experts. Further evidence in support of the expertise hypothesis is that FFA activation is usually higher for one’s own race (Golby et al, 2001). This is significant because the expertise hypothesis is the major explanation for own-race bias (Hole Byrne, 2010). Additionally, Greeble experiments were carried out. It was found that non-experts had no FFA activation while FFAs of experts fired (Gauthier et, al, 1999). Although these findings do support the expertise hypothesis, some criticisms have been made. For example, studies have not found FFA activation for object stimuli with which the participant was expert (Grill-Spector et al. , 2004) and others have found low and insignificant activation (Moore et al. , 2006). Hence, it is still unknown whether the FFA evolved as specialised neural network dedicated to processing faces. FFA activation to Greebles has come under scrutiny. It has been suggested that the FFA does not fire, because the FFA is specialised for detecting subtle difference in faces and objects as the face hypothesis states. Instead, FFA activates because Greebles are body or animal like (Kanwisher Yovel, 2006) even though they were created to not be animal like. Also, there is a chance that the perceived activation of the FFA is actually an activation of the fusiform body area (Peelen Downing, 2005). Potentially, misrecordings have been taken and fusiform gyrus activation elsewhere on the gyrus has been attributed to the face area (Kanwiser Yovel, 2006). In the future, improved resolution might rectify this. Further to the argument of faces being special, Mc Kone et al. hightlight that the FFA is constant with the location of prosopagnosia lesions (2007). This evidence is strengthened by the finding that some prosopagnosia patients have shown no FFA activation when viewing faces (Kanwisher et al, 1999). Conversely, Steeves’ patient DF showed normal FFA activation despite suffering prosopagnosia (2006). Perhaps evidence from DF suggests that the FFA is important in face but as part as a network. And so there is very strong evidence from neuroimaging to say that faces are special and that there is a specialised neural network. However, supporters of the expertise hypothesis still disagree. In this essay the question of whether faces are special was examined. Psychological studies show that faces are processed in a different way to non-face stimuli. Specifically, faces are processed using configural information whereas objects are processed using featural information. Supporters of the expertise hypothesis argue that this is because of humans’ expertise in making subtle discrimination between faces as a homogeneous class of stimulus. Then the double dissociation between face and object processing in prosopagnosia patients was cited as evidence that humans have developed a specialised neural network for face processing. Again, proponents of the expertise arguments disagree asserting that prosopagnosia is a result of damage to a region of the brain for making subtle discriminations rather than a special face area. Finally, neuroimaging evidence was evaluated and once again, expertise supporters argued against the FFA being a special brain region. As a result of this evidence, I think it can be concluded that nobody knows whether faces are special or if humans have a specialized neural network. The sometimes heated exchanges will probably continue long into the future. BIBLIOGRAPHY Andrews, T. J. Schluppeck, D. , Humfray, D. et al. (2002). Activity in the fusiform gyrus predicts conscious perception of Rubin’s Vase-face illusion. Neuroimage, 17, 890-901. Bruyer, R, Laterre, C. , Seron, X. et al. (1983). A case of prosopagnosia with some preserved covert remembrance of familiar faces. Brian and Cognition, 2(3), 257-284 Collinshaw, S. M. Hole, G. J. (2000). Featural and configurational processe s in the recognition of faces of different familiarity. Perception, 29, 893-909. Diamond, R. Carey, S. (1986). Why faces are and are nt special: an effect of expertise. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 115(2), 107-117. Farah, M. J. , Wilson, K. d. , Drain, H. M. , et al. (1995). The inverted face inversion effect in prosopagnosia – evidence for mandatory, face-specific perceptual mechanism. Vision Research, 35(14), 2089-2093. Fine, J. R, (2001). We need a simple test for prosopagnosia. BMJ, 342, 1736 pp. 455 Gauthier, I. Bukach, C. (2007). Should we reject the expertise hypothesis? Cognition, 103(2), 322-330. Gauthier, I. Tarr, M. J. (1997). Becoming a ‘greeble’ expert: exploring mechnisms for face recognition. Vision research, 37(12), 1673-1982 Gauthier, I. , Klaiman, C. Schult, R. T. (2000). Expertise for cars and birds recruits brain areas involved in face recognition. Nature Neuroscience, 2(2), 191-197. Gauthier, I. Tarr, M. J. , Anderson, A. W. , et al. (1999). Activation of the middle fusiform face area increases with expertise in recognising novel objects. Nature Neuroscience, 2(6), 568-273. London, Norton Company Gazzaniga, M. S. , Ivry, R. B. Mangun, G. R. , (2002). Cognitive Neuroscience, the Biology of Mind. Golby, A. J. , Gabrieli, J. D. E. , Chiao, J, Y. , et al. (2001). Differential responses in the fusiform region to same-race and other-race faces. Nature Neuroscience, 4(8), 845-850. Grill-Spector, K. , Nouf, N. Kanwisher, N. (2004). The fusiform face area subverves face perception, not generic within-category identification. Nature Neuroscience, 7(5), 555-562. Hole, G. , Bourne, V. (2010). Face Processing: Psychological, neuropsychological, and applied perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kanwisher, N. , McDermott, J. Chun, M. M. (1997). The fusiform face area: a module in human extrastriate cortex specialized for face perception. Journal Of Neuroscience, 17(11), 4302-4311. Kanwisher, N. , tong, F. Nakayama, K. (1998). The effect of face inversion on the human fusiform face area. Cognition, 68(1) B1-B11. Kanwisher, N. Yovel, G. (2006). The fusiform face area: a cortical region specialized for the perception of faces. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 361(1476), 2109-2128. Kanwisher, N. , Stanley, D. Harris, A. (1999). The fusiform face area is selective for faces not animals. Neuroreport, 10(1), 183-187. McKone, E. Robbins, R. (2007. The evidence rejects the expertise hypothesis: reply to Gauthier Blukach. Cognition, 103(2), 331-336. McNeil, Jane E. Warrington, Elizabeth K. (1993). Prosopagnosia: A face-specific disorder. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A: Human Experimental Psychology, 46A(1), 1-10. Moore, C. D. , Cohen, M. X. Rathanath, C. (2006). Neural mechanisms of expert skills in visual working memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 26(43), 11187-11196 Peelen, M. V. Dowling, P. E. (2005). Selectivity for the human body in the fusiform gyrus. Journal of Neuropsychology, 93, (1), 603-608. Riddoch, M. Jane Johnston, Robert A. Bracewell, R. Martyn Boutsen, Luc Humphreys, Glyn W. (2008). Are faces special: a case o pure prosopagnosia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 25(1), 3-26 Robbines, R. McKone, E. 2007). No face-like processing for objects-of-expertise in three behavioural tasks. Cognition, 103(1), 34-79. Rossion, B. , Celdara, R. , Seghier, M. et al. (2003). Anetwork of occipito-temporal face-sensitive areas besides the right middle fusiform gyrus is necessary for normal face processing. Brain, 126, 2381-2395. Steeves, P. , Dricot, J. , Goltz, L. Sorger, H. C. , et al. (1999). Abnormal face identity coding in the middle fusiform gyrus of two brain-damaged prosopagnosic patients. Neuropsychologia, 47(12), 2584-2592. Thompson, P. (1980). Margaret Thatcher: a new illusion. Perception, 9, 483-484. Tong, F. , Nakayama, K. , Moscovitch, M. , et al. (2000). Response properties of human fusiform face area. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 17(1-3), 257-279. Wada, y. Yamamoto, T. (2001). Selective impairment of facial recognition due to a haematoma restricted to the right fusiform and lateral occipital region. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 71(2), 254-257. Yin, R. K. (1969). Looking at upside-down faces. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 81 (1), 141-145. Young, A. W. , Hellawell, D. Hay, D. C. (1987). Configuration information in face perception. Perception, 16, 737-759.

Walk a mile in someones shoes free essay sample

As we grow our experiences teach us lessons and shape how we view the world. In Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave,† he uses the example of the prisoners to show how our view of the world changes when we are faced with new information that contradicts the reality we thought we knew. The world as I viewed it completely changed when a close friend committed suicide. I learned the true meaning of what it means to â€Å"walk a mile in someones else shoes†. Its a saying we all know, but when it comes to actually understanding why someone is the way they are its easier to label them as weird, annoying, or rude. To walk in someone elses shoes means to put yourself in others position to understand their feelings or actions, no matter what the circumstance is. Homecoming queen, captain of the cheerleading team, and honors student were a few of my proud labels in high school. We will write a custom essay sample on Walk a mile in someones shoes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I had amazing friends, and an amazing family; I was blessed in every aspect of my life. I can remember being and school and hearing girls complain about the upcoming prom, and watching as a guy would lash out on a teacher. Their actions perplexed me as I labeled them weird and crazy. The truth was they weren’t weird, the girl complaining about prom had never been asked as a date, and the boy yelling at the teacher had so much anger built up from his abusive father that he lashed out on any form of authority. I was blinded from reality because I hadnt viewed life from their experiences. But that all quickly changed the fall of my junior year. October second I awoke like any other day to get ready for school. Reaching for my phone to quite my alarm clock I was bombarded with endless text messages. As my eyes wandered over the words â€Å"I’m so sorry for your lose† my heart jumped out of my chest. My mind raced trying to figure out what had happened. As I ran to find my mother down stairs, her faced buried in her hands I knew my life was about to take a big turn. WIth panic burning through my body I sat down as my mother uttered the horrifying news that my friend Emily had killer herself the night before. In that single moment I watched as my life as I knew come crashing down. It was a moment of  disbelief, anger, and sadness colliding in my body. The hours that preceded were a blur ; they were filled with phone class, hugs, and endless speeches about how everyone was sorry but I was numb to it all. My mind took me on a journey through her life as I tried to figure out how the beautiful, powerful, and loving girl I had once knew had been that sad with life. I never fully grasped what made her that sad, but I better understood her actions. Emily had a strong personality and many times she would snap at me daily for reasons that didnt seem that big, she constantly grumbled about her family, and was easily angered by lifes smallest mishaps. When it was happening I just thought she was over reacting, but now i see she had so much emotion built up that thats how it came out. I always wonder if I would have tried to understand why she was like that if I could have saved her. Losing Emily taught me that you never know what anyone is going through no matter how close you are. Actions are results of our emotions, so to understand someones actions is to better understand that person. For the girl that took your parking spot this morning she is grieving the lose of her husband, for the man that messed up your coffee, he is fighting an addiction, for the women who was rude to you in line, she just needs someone to tell her her life is going to work out. People are not rude to be rude, they dont purposely mess up your order, everyone is going through something and we need to step back and realize that. As Plato explains in â€Å"Allegory of the Cave,† our view of the world changes when we are faced with new information that contradicts the reality we thought we knew. My reality was changed with the passing of Emily. The tragedy was horrifying, but its taught me a life changing lesson. I learned how to walk in someone elses shoes, to understand their feels and actions. Everyone is going through things and we may never know what it is, but if we can step back and try to see the world through their view we can better understand their actions.

Ongoing UN Peacekeeping Missions in Africa

Ongoing UN Peacekeeping Missions in Africa There are currently seven United Nations Peacekeeping Missions in Africa.   UNMISS The United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan began July 2011 when the Republic of South Sudan officially became the newest country in Africa, having split from The Sudan. The split came after decades of war, and the peace remains fragile. In December 2013, renewed violence broke out, and the UNMISS team was accused of partisanship. A cessation of hostilities was reached 23 January 2014, and the UN authorized further troops for the Mission, which continues to supply humanitarian aid. As of June 2015 the Mission had 12,523 service personnel and more then 2,000 civilian staff members. UNISFA: The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei began June 2011. It was tasked with protecting civilians in the region of Abyei, along the border between The Sudan and what became the Republic of South Sudan. The Force is also tasked with helping The Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan with stabilizing their border near Abyei. In May 2013, the UN expanded the force.   As of June 2015, the Force was comprised of 4,366 service personnel and more than 200 civilian staff members and UN volunteers. MONUSCO The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo commenced 28 May 2010. It replaced the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While the Second Congo War officially ended in 2002, fighting continues, particularly in the eastern Kivu region of the DRC. The MONUSCO force is authorized to use force if need be to protect civilians and humanitarian personnel. It was due to be withdrawn in March 2015, but was extended into 2016.   UNMIL The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was created 19 September 2003 during the Second Liberian Civil War. It replaced the UN Peace-building Support Office in Liberia. The warring factions signed a peace agreement in August 2003, and general elections were held in 2005. The UNMILs current mandate includes continuing to protect civilians from any violence and providing humanitarian aid. It is also tasked with assisting the Liberian government with strengthening national institutions for justice. UNAMID The African Union / United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur began 31 July 2007, and as of June 2015, it was the largest peacekeeping operation in the world. The African Union deployed peacekeeping forces to Darfur in 2006, following the signing of a peace accord between The Sudan government and rebel groups.   The peace agreement was not implemented, and in 2007, UNAMID replaced the AU operation. The UNAMID is tasked with facilitating the peace process, providing security, helping establish the rule of law, providing humanitarian aid, and protecting civilians. UNOCI The United Nations Operation in Cà ´te dIvoire began in  April 2004. It replaced the much smaller United Nations Mission in  Cà ´te dIvoire. Its original mandate was to facilitate the peace agreement that ended the Ivorian Civil War. It took six years, though, to hold elections, and after the 2010 elections, the incumbent, President  Laurent Gbagbo, who had governed since 2000, did not step down. Five months of violence followed, but it ended with the arrest of Gbagbo in 2011. Since then, there has been progress, but the UNOCI remains in  Cà ´te dIvoire to protect civilians, ease the transition, and ensure disarmament. MINURSO The  UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) began 29 April 1991.   Its outcomes were to   Monitor the ceasefire and troop locationsOversee POW exchanges and repatriation Organize a referendum on  Ã‚  Western Sahara  independence from Morocco The mission has been ongoing for twenty-five years. During that time, MINURSO forces have assisted in maintaining the ceasefire and removing mines, but it has not yet been possible to organize a referendum on Western Saharan independence. Sources Current Peacekeeping Operations,  United Nations Peacekeeping.org.  (Accessed 30 January 2016).

Oz Jet Boating Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Oz Jet Boating - Essay Example The competitive low prices offered by Oz jet boating attracts many customers because of its affordability. Adults part with $75, children with $45 and whole family parts with $195 for a boat tour. The purpose of this research paper is to describe Oz jet boating as a tourism company giving details of the products it offers and finally conduct a situational analysis of the company. The target consumer group is a young population. Boat tours appeal the young who are adventurous in nature. Social media, advertisement agencies and internet are the channels used to advertise Oz jet boating to the world. Oz jet boating offers flexible ways of booking for the tourist tours through the email, telephone or any outlets located at the harbour. Oz jet boating is a tourist company based in Australia. The products offered are sightseeing activities at the Opera house, Harbour sides, Shark Island, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Taronga zoo. The major rivals in the tourism industry include Sydney Harbour boat tours, Sydney Harbour and Sydney Harbour cruises. Prestige harbour cruises offer charter boats for hire used in corporate events, weddings and social gatherings (Sydney Harbour, 2014). Sydney Harbour tours are famous for its day guide tours. It also offers fresh food from the sea and beverages at Watsons Hotel. The charges are $129 for adults and $89 for children (Sydney Harbour Boat Tours, 2014). Sydney Harbour Escapes, on the other hand, is a family business started back in 2000 that offers boat services and tour activities (Sydney Harbour Escapes, 2014). Oz jet boating needs to creatively and innovatively offer differentiated and unique products that give it a competitive edge above its rival customers. Proper care ought to be taken in pricing of the products in such manner that it will offer competitive lower prices than rival companies offer but also obtain profits from such prices. The consumer target group should be diversified and not limited to the young population onl y. Touring activities should be designed to include activities that will appeal to the ageing population and by thus doing revenue streams will increase. Advertising channels used must reach myriad people so that the public is familiar with the company and its products.

Ethics in Group Counseling Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Ethics in Group Counseling - Article Example Ultimately the paper aimed to provide a kind of resource for practitioners interested in implementing group counseling in the school. As a starting point the paper illustrated that family issues are an important topic for group counseling insofar as many children learn aggressive behavior in their home. Moreover the paper postulated that parental abuse also is an important area of focus because substance abuse issues are a serious problem in the home and substance abuse often leads to physical abuse. The article then provided an overview of group counseling. Group interventions can be quite helpful but the question is what format should be utilized. Three main group types were outlined. Education/guidance groups may address social skills issues, Counseling Groups are target towards children with developmental challenges, and therapy groups are used for more severe issues. Group counseling formats incorporate four stages (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing & Adjourning) which are directed towards first establishing a relationship, establishing boundaries, addressing basic rules, developing increased responsibility and recognizing unrecognized issues. The next major section of the paper involves legal & ethical consideration for schools on a definition basis. The paper defined consent, which is permission to participate in counseling (typically from parents). The paper then defined confidentiality which is the legal obligation not to disclose information surrounding treatment. Breaching confidentiality was covered insofar as confidentiality must be broken when a student poses a risk. Special consideration should be given to how groups are selected & formed. Next special consideration was given for which topics should be considered in groups. Lastly the paper covered details around adequate notification, dangerous behavior parental disclosure, dual relationships and counseling notes, Ethical risks and professional