Melvilles Characters/comparison Of Captain Ahab And Billy Budd :: essays research papers

Melville’s Characters   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Melville’s characters are distinct individuals that have some similarities and differences. There are three traits that tie Captain Ahab and Billy Budd together even though they are on different sides in the fight between Good and Evil. They each have communication problems that play a part in their deaths. Neither of them can see an issue from another point of view, nor can they be influenced by others, although for entirely different reasons. Ahab and Billy share a few traits even though they are generally opposite characters. Communication problems are one of the factors that lead to Ahab’s and Billy’s deaths. Ahab never tells the entire truth to his men. He only tells them the parts that he thinks will motivate them to help him catch the whale. If the entire crew had been told before they signed on to help that they would be hunting the most dangerous whale in the sea none of them would have gone on the voyage and died. Also, Ahab is so inflexible that no matter how heated the conversation gets, he won’t change his opinion. Starbuck can’t talk any common sense into Ahab, he’s just too stubborn. If Ahab had listened to Starbuck, he might have died an old man instead of the way he did. Billy’s communication with others helps and hurts him. When Billy talks to people they almost always come away from the conversation with good feelings about Billy. He makes a lot of friends that way. However, Billy has troubles communicating too. He cannot sense if the person he is talking to is truthful or not. He talks to Squeak several times but never even guesses that Squeak is talking to him for mischievous purposes. Billy also stutters when he’s overcome, when he can’t find words to describe the emotions he is experiencing. He ends up dying because of this character flaw.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Neither Ahab or Billy can see more than one side of an issue. Throughout the entire trip, Ahab never thinks of chasing the whale as something dangerous, something that shouldn’t be done. Nearly everyone else on the ship, excluding Fedallah, thinks that chasing after one whale, the most dangerous whale in the entire ocean, is crazy and that it’s an unnecessary risk of the crew’s lives. But Ahab, because of his inability to consider his crew’s views about the hunt and because he can only think of the whale as pure evil, condemns them all to death.

Human Rights Essay

The issue regarding human rights’ violations became prominent for the first time after the Second World War. After the war the foundation of the United Nations acted as an impetus towards the initial development of the framework regarding the Human Rights. At first the crimes committed by the Nazi regime in its occupied countries had been in focus. Before that there have only been some limited attempts made regarding forbidding international slave trade and standardizing working conditions. The initial efforts made in this regard were in the form of declaration. Further progress was made in 1946 when the ECOSOC set up a Commission on Human Rights and later a Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights was formed. (Rittberger & Zangl, 2006) This was the beginning of the UN Human Rights regime. This paper will discuss the emergence and development of the UN Human Rights Regime. The paper will also discuss the overall performance of the UN Human Rights programme during the last 60 years, its achievements and failures, pros and cons as well as given an insight about the future prospects of the Human Rights regime in the 21st century. UN Human Rights Regime: The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. This was the basis and foundation of the framework later developed for the protection of human rights in later years. Since it was an initial effort the Universal Declaration was a non-binding declaration, which means that non of the members of the United Nations were legally bounded, neither any body of the United Nations has been given the legal right to bound, judge or sanction any legal action against the members of the United States. Nevertheless, if any state violates human rights, then its exercise will no longer be considered an internal matter and it could be brought to the agenda of the principal organs of the UN. In this manner the sovereignty of the states over their citizens was restricted and the principal of non-interference in domestic affairs was not as valid as it has been in the past. (Rittberger & Zangl, 2006) Since the Declaration was non-binding, thus there was no legal framework, which could be enforced upon the member states at that time. In this sense the Human Rights regime was not properly functional because it has no legal authority over sovereign states. After the adoption of the declaration the second phase was the development of legally binding framework and codification of the human rights. It took almost 18 years for the member nations to agree on the International Covenant of Civil and Political rights and International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural rights, as they were formally adopted by the UN General assembly in 1966. But simple approval by the General Assembly was not enough, as the legal binding of these two codifications will come into effect only when a sufficient number of member states have ratified the codifications from their respective houses of legislatives. This also took more than 10 years and finally in 1976 both covenants were ratified by sufficient number of states. In the next 30 years the number of countries, which have ratified the covenant has reached to 154 for the first and 151 for the second covenant. (Rittberger & Zangl, 2006) In 1993 the first UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was appointed. The High Commissioner is appointed by the Secretary General He is responsible for working with all level of governments internationally in order to achieve the objective of protecting human rights across the globe. In a broader sense the High Commissioner has the responsibility to encourage and defend the human rights whether they are civil, political, economic, social or cultural. (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Office of the (OHCR), 2009) The United Nations human rights regime consists of several bodies and programmes like the Commission on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, as well as several treaty monitoring bodies like Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, Human Rights Committee, Committee against torture, Committee on the elimination of racial discrimination, Committee on the elimination of discrimination against women, and Committee on the rights of the Child. All these committees as well as the Commission of Human Rights and the Sub-Commission to Promote and Protect Human Rights are the subsidiaries of the UN General Assembly. There are also several Country and Thematic Special Rapporteurs, and working groups which work under the Commission of Human Rights. Another important organ of the Human Rights regime is the International Court of Justice. The era of the UNCHR can be divided into to parts, the first from its foundation to 1966 and the second from 1966 to 2006, when finally it was retired. During the first 20 years the UNCHR main operations were to draft the standards and prepare a number of international human rights instruments. During this period the UNCHR refrained from making judgement or allegations against any circumstances, which were considered strictly domestic affairs of that state, unless the Security Council deemed it as threat to peace when the matter comes forward on the Security Councils agenda. During this period the Commission did not directly dealt with human rights’ complains. Beginning with 1967 the UNCHR began to establish itself as a legal body and was authorised to deal with and investigate human rights violations and monitor compliance of international human rights law by the states. Later on the Commission broadened its domain to economic, social and cultural rights also. (Human Rights, 2009) The generalization and vagueness of the articles regarding human rights in the UN charter and the contradictory interpretation of these articles by many states has practically barred the UN to take any effective action in this regard. The same is the case of most of UN organs, which have the responsibility to monitor human rights abuse in the member states. There has been a general criticism on the effectiveness of the UNCHR and its subsidiaries. The main reason of the ineffectiveness was because of the absence of supranational authority, divisive power politics, and imposition of crippling by member states, which has plagued the ability of swift and effective UN actions in defence of human rights. (Human Rights, 2009) There are many cases in which major world powers deliberately thwarted the efforts made by the UN in order to protect their own political interests. Moreover the actual responsibility of promoting and protecting human rights rests in General Assembly and its subsidiary organs as mentioned above. Ironically neither the General Assembly nor its subsidiaries have any legal sanction over the member states. The only UN organ with this authority is the UN Security Council, which is not the most desirable and affective platform to solve human rights issues. This is because many permanent Security Council members like Russia and China have the worst human rights promotion or protection record and are mostly accused off human rights abuse within their jurisdiction. Therefore it is highly unlikely that they will allow the Security Council to pass any resolution against their or their allies interests. Opposition by China and Russia preventing the Security Council to take action against Serbian persecution of Albanians is an example. (Human Rights, 2009) On the contrary Security Council is sometimes accused off being manipulated by the world powers to pursue their own political agenda regardless of the human rights condition on the subject states. Held, McGrew, Goldblatt &Perraton, 2006) There have been many cases where the human rights violations were deliberately ignored by the political powers like in Sudan, where the Arab militia virtually annihilated the ethnic African population, or in Chechnya, where the Western countries did not dared to intervene fearing that it will infuriate Russia, or in Tibet, where China is responsible for alleged human rights violations like genocide, racial discrimination etc. Since all the subject states in these situations either have direct influence in the Security Council in the form of Veto power or they are close allies with those who have it is near impossible in the current circumstances that they will be held responsible for the human rights violations they have committed in the above mentioned regions. Another important part of the Human Rights regime are the NGOs. Many international human rights NGOs like the Human Rights Watch, the Amnesty International etc has done a great job in highlighting and bringing forward several human rights violations across the globe. These NGOs have a remarkable ability of social networking with their domestic counterparts in the subject state and with the help of these domestic movements and NGOs they not only dig out hidden or concealed human rights violations practiced by many authoritarian regimes in the region, but they have also help to defame, demonise and discredit such governments and state among the masses, thus making difficult for them to continue their practices. The New Developments in the 21st Century:Â  The 21st century started with global events like the 9/11 which entirely changed the scenario and the circumstances in which the Human Rights Regime as to operate. During the War against terror the United States and her allies set aside all the international human rights laws and denied to give the detainees they have caught during the Afghan war the rights of detained military personnel according to the Geneva convention. They put them in an isolated facility in the Guantanamo Bay and barred them from any legal aid or proper hearing the courts. They were also allegedly tortured to the worst degree. The same happened when the U. S led coalition toppled Saddam and established a prison in Abu Ghuraib. The CIA has been accused of snatching the suspects from their homes across the globe and holding them in private prisons run by the CIA without any proper jurisdictions. Most of the people in these cases were not the real terrorist at all. All this deliberate negligence and violation of human rights by Western countries, particularly the United States who has championed themselves for the human rights in the last six decades has raised concern in the world about the future of the human rights regime. Most third world countries are now compelled to think about the double standards of the West regarding the human rights. They now think the international human rights law is only another continuation Western colonialism and the West has used it to achieve its own interests and punish those who stand against them. This has further discredited the UN Human Rights programme among the masses. (Archibugi, 2008) In March 2006 the General Assembly voted to replace the UNCHR with the UN Human Rights Council. The UNHRC is currently the highest UN body, which monitors, promotes human rights and prevents any human right abuse across the globe. It is an inter-governmental body within the UN System. The difficulties and disabilities, which had plagued the UNCHR in the last 60 years, still exist in this new regime. The council is merely acts as an advisor to the General Assembly, which can only advice the Security Council, where the Veto power acts as the primary obstacle in achieving the goals regarding the Human Rights. Moreover the United States has always reacted negatively regarding the Council. U. S. voted against it during the foundation resolution and still did not seek a seat in it. United States and many of its allies have raised concerns regarding the biased behaviour of the Council against Israel in particular. (Lazaroff & AP, 2007) The overall analysis of the last 60 years of the Human Rights regime exhibits that despite its certain weaknesses the UN Human Rights programme has done well to establish and promote human rights across the globe.

Tiered Lesson Plan

Differentiated instruction is a concept that has gained in popularity over the past few years. The goal of differentiated instruction is to maximize learning success for all students. This type of instruction provides a variety of different ways for students to take in information and make sense of ideas (Hall, 2002). The expectation associated with differentiated instruction is that a teacher is willing to make certain modifications in order to ensure learning participation by all students (Hall, 2002).Each student learns in a different way and in order to make sure that all students meet educational objectives differentiated instruction uses a combination of whole group, small group and individual instruction in order to meet the learning needs of all students (Hall, 2002). In addition, differentiated instruction recognizes that all students have different background knowledge, readiness, language, preferences in learning and interests. Recognizing these differences allows all stud ents, regardless of academic ability, the chance to succeed in school.Unfortunately, society has a negative attitude about those with learning disabilities (Carolan & Guinn, 2007). However, it is essential that teachers are able to modify lesson and curriculum in order to meet the learning needs of all students. Teachers cannot have abelist attitudes towards their students. They cannot expect them to do things they are not able to do (Carolan & Guinn, 2007). Therefore, this lesson aims to â€Å"minimize the impact of disability and maximize the opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in schooling and the community† (Carolan & Guinn, 2007).The lesson calls for each student to write a report about a farm animal. Modifications about length, number of sentences and spelling requirements can be made for struggling writers in Tier I performing below grade level. A visit to a local farm has allowed all students the chance to see animals in their natural habitat t o find out what they eat, what their offspring are called and what resource their animal provides for humans. In order to encourage struggling writers to include all of this information they could write a list instead of whole sentences.In addition, they could include illustrations to help them get their point across. The idea behind the standard (Students use writing as a tool for learning, inquiry, and research) is that students get the opportunity to practice their writing skills. For a struggling writer, simply writing a few words would meet that objective. In addition, students are also required to write a letter to their animal. For struggling writers this could include just one sentence and a picture. Another option would be to have students glue a picture of their animal to a piece of paper and thank their animal for what it provides to humans.Tier II includes students learning at grade level. These students must complete the objective according to grade level so they will b e required to include three complete sentences in their letter to their animal. They will also include information about their day in their letter. These students will be expected to use proper capitalization and punctuation as well. Tier III includes students performing above grade level. Often these students are not challenged enough in the classroom so certain modifications need to be made to ensure that they are learning.To this end, these students can write a complete story about their trip to the farm including a beginning, middle and end. They could also create a poster telling why their animal is the best animal on the farm. These activities, in addition to required assignments, will provide high achieving students with the chance to further their writing skills through extended activities. In order to best serve each student they must be placed in the appropriate tier. Students of the same age are not all alike when it comes to learning (Tomlinson, 2001).Therefore, careful consideration must be made when choosing the best tier for each student. In differentiated instruction, commonalities among students are noted but differences are also addressed as well (Tomlinson, 2001). Realizing the differences is what allows a teacher to maximize educational success for all students regardless of ability level. Each tier allows students to process and internalize information based on their specific skill level (Tomlinson, 2001). This type of division promotes classroom learning by all students. Students will be placed in tiers based on their writing abilities.Students who struggle to write complete sentences, form individual letters or incorporate capitalization and punctuation will be placed in Tier I. These students will enhance their skill level in these areas by focusing on fewer sentences but more time spent on creating a correct sentence. Students who are performing at grade level based on writing skills will be placed in Tier II. These students will displ ay the ability to write complete sentences using capitalization and punctuation and will also be able to write legibly in order to get their point across.Finally, students who are performing above grade level will be placed in Tier III. These students will show remarkable ability to quickly write more than three complete and correct sentences. They will show higher levels of thinking in their writing. The lesson will be considered successful when all students have correct written work to show for their time. Regardless of ability level, all students will write, based on their individual skills, correct sentences.Tier I students will write one complete and correct sentence that shows improvement in capitalization and punctuation just as Tier II students will write three sentences. Tier III students will show higher levels of learning through writing using paragraphs. It doesn’t matter how many sentences each student writes, but it does matter if they can show what they have le arned about farm animals through the writing of clear and concise sentences. Grades will be given based on the final product but the most important assessment of student learning is the growth a teacher is able to see from each student (Tomlinson, 2001).

Abortion Rights

There have been many cases in Canada’s legal system some more complicated and time consuming than others. It is a never ending process that has occurred throughout history as society’s beliefs continued to change and various new issues arose. Most people at the time would believe that majority of the cases in court would be to apprehend criminals in the eyes of the law with no other benefit to society. Unfortunately this perception was nothing but an illusion that had been imprinted in the minds of society. In fact if people had paid more attention to details as well as researched various the issues thoroughly, they would have discovered just how much each and every case had an effect on the world around them. Of these cases there has been a few which stood out for having a major impact on society whether or not people were aware of it. But the one that stood out the most among them was Abortion rights R. V. Mergenthaler, {1988} 1 S. C. R. 30. The case Abortion rights R. V. Mergenthaler, {1988} 1 S. C. R. 30 has changed Canadian society for the better due to the major impact it had on one of the most controversial issues. Firstly the major reason to why this case had changed society for the better is because of the fact that it had protected the lives of those who reside in it. In an In-depth explanation of this is that at the time women faced a lot of hate and criticism from society if they were to seek abortion. This also led them to develop various emotional problems which could have later turned into more serious health problems such as depression. It did not end here another health problem that women had faced at this time was that they had they experienced â€Å"excessive physiological pressure† (Klassen, Jeff and Clydesdale, Jacqui. Abortion: An Overview: Canadian Points of View Reference Centre, 2009) in the process of trying to obtain an approval for an abortion from a therapeutic abortion committee in an accredited hospital because they would worry if their application would get rejected or not. Another common occurrence was that the time it took in order to get an approval for abortion increased the risks of problems occurring when doctors performed the medical procedure. Also a cold reality was that some women had died because their bodies were unfit to give birth and the doctors refused to perform the abortion rocedure unless they were approved by the committee which caused them to die a death that could have otherwise been prevented. This situation is portrayed in the newspaper article ‘Change your abortion law to save lives' grieving father tells Irish PM’ (Chamberlain, Gethin. ‘Change your abortion law to save lives' grieving: thegurdian, Saturday 17 November 2012). where it tells the story of a girl whose life was at risk because her body could not handle giving birth and she was refused abortion due to Irelands abortion laws which led her to die. Fortunately these events have now been prevented and the lives of the women in the future have been saved due to this case making it a case that had truly changed society. Secondly it had stopped the injustice and discrimination for the women who sought an abortion in Canada had faced. The reason for this is because it is a biased decision that women had to get an approval at an accredited hospital in order to get an abortion. There simply was no need for this to occur as many of them had developed health problems due to delays or rejections by the committee. People also should not have had the right to decide whether or not someone should get an abortion or not it is the parent of the unborn child’s decision. Also in what these laws were cruel and inhumane as they had forced women who were no able to obtain an approval to bare an unwanted child and go through the various stages of pregnancy. This can be the same as if girl were raped by someone in order to force her to bear a child except in this case it is the law that is the one that forced the girl to bear a child. There was also the problem with the fact that Criminal code restricted abortion causing it to infringe the rights of women as stated in one of sub sections of section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights called Security of the person. In this section it states that because the criminal code restricted abortions and affected their health it was unconstitutional. Therefore this case has saved women from the discrimination and injustice they were faced with from society and the law which changed how they would be treated in the future. Lastly it saved the lives of the future that would otherwise have been neglected or wasted. Anyone would have been able to decipher this without a second thought and it would have caused them to realize what would have happened to the unwanted child that the mother wanted aborted if it were born into this world. Many would have tried to believe that everything would have been fine and go on with their lives. But unfortunately it would have been hard to believe that the child would have been treated the same by its mother like another mother who actually wanted a child would treat it. The child would have actually been mistreated and neglected as if it were a burden because the mother did not want it in the first place. These events would have developed emotion problems in the child earlier on in their childhood which would have affected them the rest of their lives and would not have allowed them to live a normal happy life. This is due to society’s beliefs at the time that had been blinded by the ignorance and made them forget that â€Å"No one wants to see unwanted children brought into the world† (Lerman, Evelyn. Nobody Likes Abortion: Canadian Points of View Reference Centre, 2000). So they basically fought for no abortion laws while not foreseeing what would have happened to children who were born from mothers who wanted abortions. Thankfully this case had made sure that abortion laws were changed so that the lives which would have been neglected or wasted were not put in this world so they could have been happier. In conclusion it can be determined that this case truly did change Canadian society. As it helped save the lives of the women by making sure the abortion laws were changed as well as prevented the women of the future from experiencing the problems that they had to face in order to get an abortion. The injustice and discrimination of the women in was also nullified giving women more rights and a better place in society. It also helped save the lives of the future that would have otherwise been neglected or wasted. In the end this case is truly outstanding and deserves a place in Canadian history for the great accomplishments that it has brought to Canadian society.

MSc Subsea Engineering and Management Personal Statement

MSc Subsea Engineering and Management - Personal Statement Example My discipline is Civil Engineering and with appreciable grades (Grade standing 2:2). I intend to continue my education in engineering even after my B Engineering. For that purpose, I considered many fields for further education, but seeing the plethora of opportunities and better professional prospect in the field, I decided to pursue further education in Subsea Engineering. Subsea engineering is an emerging field in the 21st century, when demands for energy resources and the concerns for environmental issues have been of the top of the list. As subsea engineering deals with both of the realms, it has seen a substantial surge in the sector. The realm of subsea and subsequently its application is growing day by day. Humans’ curiosity of exploration as well as the thirst for energy resources, both have led to intensive exploration of resources of the sea globally. Booming search for Oil and Gas reservoirs under seabed has open new opportunities for Subsea engineering. Such a rapid expansion in offshore oil and gas exploration has emulated robust demand of engineers specialized in subsea operations. However, there are other sectors also, where Subsea Engineering is applied. Some of these sectors are marine biology, undersea-geology, undersea mining, and offshore wind power industries. Subsea Engineering today is mainly focused on oil and gas sector. With the passage of time, many big names of international repute are now turning their focus on energy reserves in deep beds of the sea. Similarly, research explorations on the environment and geology have also opened new avenues for the discipline of Subsea Engineering. Its high market demand and future prospects have garnered my attention. As an Engineer, I am truly fascinated about the work and life of a subsea engineer that is full of adventures and thrills peculiar to the field of engineering (Harris, 2011). As I was intended to continue my

Active Listening Research Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Active Listening Research - Assignment Example Establishing trust was considered one of the most difficult aspects of being a mentor because such relationships take time and trust evolves as the relationship develops. Trust, agreed upon by both participants, is best built by role modeling with a strong vision of ethics and integrity. Through role modeling, mentees are more likely to have faith in the mentor’s abilities and adopt the same behaviors. This seemed to be aligned with behavior modeling which was deemed as being effective because it allows for routine questions to be asked, which removes uncertainty as to whether the mentor is actually grasping what is being discussed or illustrated. Both participants utilize active listening in their coach/mentor roles, something deemed quite important also for building trust. Paraphrasing the mentee’s own words were cited as part of active listening in their coaching/mentoring roles, which confirms that the mentor is hearing and comprehending what the mentee has proposed or discussed. Goals are established in this fashion, using active listening, as it provides opportunities the mentor and the mentee to fully understand what direction the relationship intends to progress. Overall, the basic participants’ expectations for what constitutes a quality mentor are staying motivated and committed to providing excellence for the mentee. In the mentee/mentor relationship, there are many frustrations and complications that can arise, which can be a de-motivator for the mentor. Therefore, one participant indicated that inspiring motivation means having regular self-talks where the mentor reminds herself that they can make a significant difference for the mentee in terms of building self-esteem and  and instilling a sense of pride in the mentee that has long-term implications for their quality of lifestyle.

Although some people feel airport security infringes on our privacy, Research Paper

Although some people feel airport security infringes on our privacy, It is necessary in order to keep our country and everyone that flies safe - Research Paper Example Any loophole on the part of airport security may lead to security threat to passengers. Although some people feel airport security infringes on our privacy, it is necessary in order to keep our country and everyone that flies safe. The intention of this paper is to identify the need for security in airports. Arguments for security check at the airport indicate that security checks prevent air terrorism attack (Schneier). The September 11 terrorist attack was a great lesson for the need of tight security at the airport. Analysts argue that proper security screening at the airport prevent passengers with harmful intentions from executing their plans. Some people do not intend to travel, but to blow airplanes. Security check prevents such individuals from bordering planes carrying their weapons of mass destruction. Before the September 11 terror attack, many passengers could carry some weapons. It is quite hard to read what is in the human mind. It is important to take precaution by observing security measures in order to avoid issues of security or terror threats. Terrorists usually look for slightest security weakness in order to execute their terror attack. Research on airport security revealed that the cost of preventing security attack is quite cheaper than the cost of security damage . Airport security seeks to protect facilities serving in the aviation industry and the aircraft against unlawful acts (Bajoria). Aviation facilities costs million of dollars thus they require protection from destruction. Mounting a security check at the airport is the only secure way of preventing individuals with ill intentions from carrying out their plans. When individuals with ill intentions get an opportunity to blow an aircraft, the aircraft company would lose its property and workers. This would be harmful to the economy of the country. Aviation industry contributes to the economy through provision of employment, taxes, promotion of trade among others. For a country