ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Abstract The Tuskegee Study conducted in the 1932-1972 period provoked significant controversy concerning ethicality and morale of conduct. The physicians involved in the experiment failed to inform their participants about the essence of the experiment and its possible outcomes. As a result of the case, the matter of informed consent has been put forward, as a means of protecting patients’ welfare. The importance of informed consent in nursing research is indispensable to ensure adherence to existing ethical and legal standards. Introduction In 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service initiated a clinical study in Tuskegee to examine the natural development of untreated syphilis among impoverished black men who did not even suspect the experiment. The case had provoked controversial feedback among the nursing professionals and gave rise to the consideration of ethical standards. Reconsideration of the tragic consequences of the Tuskegee study put forward moral and ethical dilemmas and required the introduction of informed consent as an obligatory condition for clinical studies. Overview of the Case The participants were informed that they were given free medicine to treat them for “bad blood”. The doctors never told their patients about the actual purpose of the study. As the result of the study, about 200 people died of syphilis and about 40 wives of the participants were infected. 19 children were delivered infected with congenital syphilis (Reverby, 2009). The illegal issues and ethical concerns presented in the case were largely explained by insufficient education and health infrastructure that supported demonstration work. Because no public hospital existed, the information about the experiment was concealed and few people could access it. Because people experienced significant problems with health insurance and living conditions, they agreed to take part in the clinical study, although they were not aware of the consequences and initial purposes of the research. Besides, the doctors took advantage of the situation and persuaded the poor, black people that they received treatment and free meals as a part of health care reform. The study, therefore, provided serious problems in gaining consent from the individuals engaged in the study. In this respect, “Tuskegee…was seen as a problem of lack of consent rather than within a broader context of justice tied to the everyday experiences of African Americans with medical care” (Reverby, 2009, p. 194). There
Introduction Many bad habits become prevalent between people of different ages and social classes. Many of those who practice these habits are unaware of the negative consequences. The harm caused by these habits arises from the consequences of using them which range from sickness, addiction to even death. Nichols and Harlow note, “The tobacco epidemic, for instance, is currently responsible for 4.9 million deaths per year worldwide” (1). These high figures continue to rise each day as the drug epidemic cannot just be wished away. Most smokers start the habit as a joke due to peers’ pressure during their tender age or in order to be included in the company and as a result spend the rest of their lives trying to give up it. Smoking is practiced all over the world. However, smoking, as one of the bad habits, has become more popular in Arab countries, especially smoking hookah. The origin of the hookah can be traced in the north western provinces of India nearly a millennium ago before its spread to the Middle East. In the Arab contemporary world, hookah is a real social and cultural phenomenon. Hookah’s using can be compared to globalization as far as its popularity in the world is concerned. In the past few years, hookah has reached Europe and America, though to a limited extent, because cigarettes still dominate the market in these countries. Hookah is a combination of tobacco, honey molasses, and dried fruits. This mixture lies at the head of pottery, which is covered with tin, where a piece of charcoal is put upon. The head is installed on a hollow iron rod from inside, and it ends with a glass bottle filled with cold water. The smoke is filtered through water to cool and soothe it. Smoke is pulled through a pipe, which is connected to an iron rod. The length of the hookah ranges from less than a meter while it may be two meters in height and end with a twisted hose through which a smoker sucks smoke.This pipe can also be of several meters in length. Moreover, creative people, experimenting with its design, decorate it with different paintings of silver, copper, and mosaic. This argumentative essay will discuss why smoking hookah is less hazardous at the level of smokers’ life than smoking cigarettes. Smoking hookah should be an alternative to cigarette in the Western countries. Hookah is safe, keeps interpersonal relationships intact, and is less energy crashing, compared to smoking cigarettes. Firstly, hookah is safer than cigarette in some aspects. Hookah should be more popular than cigarette in the Western countries. The geometric design for hookah makes it more secure than cigarettes because it has a protection system in the exterior design that makes it more fixed, and prevents charcoal from slipping on the floor, thus, prevent fires. In addition, the long hose helps the smoker to move freely around it. This type of smoking is practiced in the specific places, contrary of cigarette smoking, which can be practiced at any place and burning butts discarded resulting i
Introduction “The U-turn Church: New Directions for Health and Growth” is a book by Kevin Harney and Bob Bouwer. The book acts as a guide for leaders in small churches when it comes to modern leadership issues. The main idea in “The U-turn Church” is that it is possible for churches that are expecting a decline to find a means of turning their fortunes around and start achieving growth. The authors of this book are both pastors in their respective churches and they draw on their experiences when writing this book. For instance, Harney changed the fortunes of an old Corinthian Church and Bouwer was the leader of Faith Church in Holland when it underwent a major revival. The two authors write various chapters in the book independently where they reveal strategies that can be used by other church leaders to achieve growth. This paper is a summary and critique of “The U-turn Church: New Direction for Health and Growth”. Summary The book’s first section has four chapters, and they all address the motivation that should engineer purposeful change in the church. The first and third chapters of the book are presented by Pastor Harney. According to Harney, the will to revive a church has to be borne out of spiritual matters and not from self-motivation purposes. The author notes that, any backhanded motives for expanding a ministry are most likely to fail. On the other hand, Bouwer is of the opinion that there is need for a ‘holy urgency’ in order to create a ‘zeal for change’. Both authors point out that the vision of expansion in churches is only clear when it is inspired by the spirit. Prayers are outlined as the main ingredient in formulating a vision for change among churches; “the holy zeal that will move a church outward and upward is based on a desire to see people from every nation and tongue bow at the feet of Jesus and declare him Lord” 1 . The second section of “The U-turn Church” provides leaders with effective strategies for achieving positive change. According to Pastor Bouwer, any effective change strategy needs to be built upon biblical foundations. Consequently, personal preferences and the search for individual glory are all part of misguided notions that hamper the agenda for change in small churches. Bouwer suggests that individuals should make clear demarcations between agendas that align with biblical teachings and the ones that are borne out of personal preferences. In the next chapter, Harney advises the agents of change to prepare leaders for imminent changes. Consequently, the Pastor advises leaders to focus on any roadblocks that could jeopardize the agenda for change. The author points out six known roadblocks in the process of achieving change. Leaders are advised to communicat
The “theory of cultural lag explores how culture takes much time to catch up with new technological advancements” (Appleman, 2008, p. 32). According to supporters of the theory, such a lag can cause numerous societal conflicts or problems. For example, the use of modern technologies has led to new inventions such as stem cells and genetically-modified foods (Appleman, 2008). Although such developments might be beneficial to mankind, the agreeable fact is they have resulted in numerous ethical concerns. Convergence theory argues that different communities develop new requirements in order for them to operate and function effectively (Appleman, 2008). When societies become industrialized, they acquire new functions and structures thus resembling other developed communities. This theory is supported by the similarities exhibited by mixed economies such as Germany and Japan. The United States and the USSR developed similar industrial capabilities especially after the Second World War. The federal government has the potential to dictate every course of technological advancement. The government sponsors various studies and researches that can result in new technologies. The missions executed by NASA explain the importance of the government towards supporting various technological developments. The government also implements policies to dictate the manner in which modern technologies are developed, shared, and used by its citizens (Volti, 2014). The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) was established in 1976 with the aim of advising the Executive on the issues surrounding new technologies. The purpose of the office was to ensure every new technology was sound and profitable ( Office of Science and Technology Policy , 2016). The role of the office is to ensure every technological work is coordinated in a professional manner and supports the needs of the society. Governments and corporations have the potential to control the World Wide Web (Al-Jazeera English, 2012). Different bills have been proposed to ensure the government controls the Web. However, such laws have encountered diverse views from different people. For instance, many people have been opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) bills (Appleman, 2008). Such opponents argued that such bills threatened the wave of human innovation. The bills could also empower law enforcers to bock every form of internet access. As well, the bills threatened the rights of more people. On the other hand, some people supported the bills because they could protect the intellectual properties of many entrepreneurs (Page, 2012). The bills were also aimed at protecting many jobs, institutions, revenues, and industries. Many companies were also expected to benefit from the war against online piracy. I would support the bills and laws if only there were implemented in a proper manner (Volti, 2014). As well, the government should not use such laws to block the internet. The decision to give the government remote control over private routers is advantageous if executed in a professional manner. However, the move can produce numerous problems such as insecur
Employers have moral responsibilities to uphold the social liberties of their employees. Some of these ethical liberties include, fair recruitment of the employees, freedom of speech and expression and upholding of employees welfare at the workplace. Violation of the legal rights of employees by their employers may adversely affect the company. This is because the employees may decide to quit the job making the company suffer the loss of competent and experienced worker force. In addition, the employees may sue their employers making which will become a legal liability to the company. This essay addresses the violation of legal considerations by ExtremeNet Company. It illustrates; what led to the legal infraction for the company, the best way the situation would have been solved, lessons learned from this situation and the ensuing consequences a result of the managers’ unethical conduct (Arthur, 2001, p.30). ExtremeNet is a renowned company that offers internet services to its clients globally. Allen Lopez worked for the company for seven years but he was never comfortable with how the company treated its underpaid employees. The company experienced economic difficulties as a result of the effects of the economic downturn. In an effort to overcome this economic problem, the company decided that its only option was to lay off, its low-level workers. According to Allen, this was very unethical and especially by the way the exercise was being executed. There was lot of discrimination in both gender and age. He tried to complain to the senior management about the ill-treatment given to the junior employees but in vain. This greatly disappointed him. Thus he devoted all his weekends to develop a website that publicized the abusive treatment of the employees. To achieve his objective, he used an imaginary company that had almost similar characteristics to ExtremeNet. The website became very popular among high-technology companies. When the top management of ExtremeNet Company learned about the existence of the site, they decided to fire Allen. In addition, they convened a meeting to file a suit that would have this website removed from the global web (‘Employee Rights Case Study’, n. d., par.1). The manner in which the management of ExtremeNet was treating their employees was not ethical. For instance, instead of the management of the company opting to lay off its underpaid employees, they could have devised other better strategies of dealing with the effects of economic downturn rather than to lay off their underpaid workers. For example, increasing the cost of their products might have been a better option. When Allen raised the issue of mistreatment of the low-level employees to the top management of ExtremeNet Company, they could have discussed with him the possibility of existence of any other better options rather than putting him off. The high attention that was given to the satiric website developed by Allen helped the company to realize the intensity of Allen’s concern for other workers. Although Allen was a very highly paid employee and was not
The article called “McDonald’s: When the chips are down” posted on The Economist, the world-renowned portal for economic news and discussions, explores the innovations that appeared in some of McDonalds’ outlets this year. The article presents a detailed review of the work and issues the world’s biggest international fast food company experienced lately and the crises it had to deal with. The rapid pace of contemporary technological progress has made McDonald’s take a new approach towards its marketing system. McDonald’s starts a new chapter of its business history, becoming much more progressive and tech-savvy. The innovation this company plans to provide from its restaurants is a touch screen that allows the customers place their orders remotely by means of composing their own burgers out of suggested ingredients which include various types of buns, sauces, meat, and vegetables (McDonald’s: When the chips are down par. 1). Apart from the new technologies presented at the restaurants, McDonald’s is also planning to become more active on the Internet, starting a new mobile application that would allow the customers to pay by means of using their phones and such payment systems like Google Wallet and Apple Pay. Moreover, the company is planning to become more connected online and engage in communication and interaction with its customers on various social networks. This integration of modern technologies into the fast-food business of McDonald’s seems like a valuable and timely move that is likely to bring a lot of benefits for the company, especially after the series of crises it had over the last two years. Lately, McDonald’s had to deal with scandals in China and Japan related to the declining quality of the products and ingredients sold there. At the same time, the company lost a part of its revenues in Russia when a number of restaurants were shut down as a consequence of the economic confrontation happening between the United States and Russia at the moment. To address its financial losses, McDonald’s has been expanding its menu and adding a variety of new items. Yet, the experts believe that this harms the company’s business and drives it away from its initial goal, which is serving good quality freshly made fast food very quickly (McDonald’s: When the chips are down par 9). The analysts add that chasing a variety and trying to offer a wider range of choices to its clients McDonald’s risks its quality and speed. This way, the company needs either to cut down the number of items in their menus or to be prepared to lose more customers due to the declining quality of service. Besides, the new and exotic items make the final products of McDonald’s more costly, and this contradicts the company’s policy of selling low-price food. Being the world’s largest and most famous fast-food chain, McDonald’s also becomes the target for negative PR from the side of eco-friendly activists, animal rights protectors, nutritionists, and other haters (McDonald’s: When the chips are down par. 12). The efforts of these parties negatively impact the company’s reputation as it is ofte
Introduction The prospects of the business, say in 20 or 30 years to come, will have to vary, especially with the current enormous impetus for economic growth. Besides economic growth, Gitman and McDaniel (2000, p. 115) opine that corporate futurists expect that businesses will actively pursue emergent opportunities capable of endearing them to economic growth strategies. The overriding prospects of the businesses will be to seek greater profitability to increase cash flow. The business community also expects that the expansion of information technology will continue to influence the scope of business in the years to come. Moreover, efforts will be to create greater sales for both products and services that corporations offer to ensure that businesses can always guarantee competitive services and products to increase customer experience and to boost corporate efficiency. Just like in any other endeavor, the business community expects greater demand for its products and services, and this point to greater need to improve operational systems while integrating their services to remain relevant to the emergent consumer needs (Hamel 2007, p. 56). Among the drivers that will shape the prospects of future business includes the need to embrace diversity, the need to improve environmental awareness, and the need to advance technology in the concept of doing business, among other things. How the business will be like in 20-30 years from now The world economic landscape keeps on shifting and rapidly becoming increasingly global, and in the next 20 or 30 years to come, it will be more diverse. Virtually, in every organization in the developing as well as in the developed economies, embracing diversity continues to be the hallmark of business survival. The greatest concern of the 21st century is rather how successful organizations are, especially at exploiting the evolving opportunities while tackling their underlying challenges as well (Hitt, Black, and Porter 2005, p. 56). Achieving such a great feat will depend on how intelligent businesses are at observing as well as interpreting the dynamics of the societies under which businesses operate. Cultivating a global mindset, for instance, will be a key ingredient for nurturing corporate intelligence. The environment under which most organizations subsist will be more than ever before, complex, global, dynamic, extremely volatile and yet, highly competitive. This trend is likely to expand, and even accelerate in the years to come, especially regarding the ever-changing market trends (Schirato and Webb 2003, p. 34). Apart from these external conditions, research documents that numerous businesses currently face many global challenges, especially those linked with talent flow, generational conflict – including the shortage of much-desired competencies (Fisher 2009, p. 348). Business futurists hypothesize that among the major institutional challenges for most organizations is that their lifeline depends solely on their propensity and wish to be global. Within these facts, a business may have to outsource for a diverse e
Introduction The Uniform Hospital Discharge Data Set (UHDDS) refers to information for inpatient admissions, which is collected when patients are discharged. The data is used in the administration of Medicaid and Medicare programs and the standardization of health care. The main goal of UHDDS is to have data that can be easily compared for managerial purposes. Besides, health care providers can use it for billing purposes. The largest percentage of the information required can be collected from the admission form’s fact sheet. The UHDDS can be used by rehabilitation facilities, home health care providers, and nursing and retirement facilities. Elements of the UHDDS The UHDDS is comprised of several elements that simplify the collection of information. They include a hospital identification number, principal diagnosis, gender, age, race, insurance payer number or code, additional significant diagnoses, the specific episode of care, and medical procedures performed (Aalseth, 2015). The data elements can be classified into four groups, namely financial information, provider information, patient identification, and the specific episode of care (Nelson & Staggers, 2014). Personal identification is used to generate a medical record number while race and ethnicity are used to different population groups based on their unique characteristics. For data collection purposes, the government recognizes five races, namely white, black, American Indian, Asian, and unknown (LaCour & Davis, 2016). Ethnic designations include Hispanic origin and the unknown. The patient is also required to provide their location of residence. Other elements of the UHDDS include release date, the identity of attending physician, total charges for services provided, and the patient’s disposition at discharge. The aforeme