A Set of Laws Should Be Created to Impede Cyberbullying

A Set of Laws Should Be Created to Impede Cyberbullying Introduction Cyber bullying is a term use to refer to the incidence of the use words, pictures or other forms of communication on the Internet that are meant to harm or hurt another individual. The term mainly applies to such acts committed by children against other children (Hunter, 2012). Where the case involves adults, the term used will no longer be regarded as cyber bullying. It will instead be referred to as cyber harassment or cyber-stalking. Currently, there is no strict law in America barring the practice despite the fact that it has disastrous effects on the victims. Cyber-bullied children end up committing murder or suicide in extreme circumstances. Other effects of the crime that are a bit mild and less harmful include the fact that these children will end up being withdrawn and consequently might drop out of school. There are opposing views as to whether the authorities should institute stiffer penalties on the offenders of this crime. Schools are seen to be the most efficient institutions in taming this vise but the law does not allow them to punish student misconduct that is committed out of the campus premises. So the question is, should there be laws in place to prevail on cyber bullying? The current laws that are in place meant to tame cyber-bullying are insufficient. There are no particular laws made that empower the school administrations to act in response to cyber bullying committed outside school. Children have thus been left to the mercy of nature at the hands of rogue cyber bullies. The magnitude and extent of cyber bullying keeps growing with time and it is feared that in the next decade, significant damage will have been done on the children if appropriate laws are not put in place to tame the vice. Student freedom of speech vs. school intervention The law currently provides for and protects the freedom of speech and expression by students. It is entrenched in the main law of the land. This right however has to be used responsibly (Lipschultz, 2013). The question of how much is responsible is, however, an ambiguous one. It is not known how far freedom of expression should be allowed, especially with regard to child communications over the social media. In contrast, schools have their own set of rules that should be adhered to by students regarding their communication with each other. These rules vary from one school to another but share a common basis that communication ought to be respectful and full of regard for each other. That which cannot meet the minimum requirements for respect of the other students is thus deemed inappropriate and punishable. While in school, cases of bullying of whatever kind is not there. The kind of respect that is ideal between students is upheld and dominant. It facilitates a good learning environment for all the students and gives them a sense of pride regardless of the social status of their backgrounds (Malik, 2010). The problem, however, is that school authorities are not allowed to continue their control of the children once they go out of school. This has been witnessed by the several lawsuits that parents and child rights movements have filed against school authorities for attempted intervention on the children’s’ life out of school. It is notable that in each instance, the cases are hinged on claims for freedom of speech. What these lobby groups and parents done appreciate is the fact that children are safer if kept under regulation on what to do and what not to do over the Internet. They focus too much on the short-term welfare of the children regarding freedom of speech and ex pression. The avenues exploited for cyber bullies Technology has provided several untamed avenues that have become easy for cyber bullies to advance their evil agenda. These cover the areas of telephone conversations, and social media, which currently is the most abused form of communication leading in the cyber-bullying claims. Other forms include the use of anonymous Internet sites that the teens use to threaten and intimidate each other (Trolley, 2010). It is for a fact that there have been several cases where kids have had to commit murder or suicide after being subjected to extreme torment because of the above-mentioned crimes. The bad thing with cyberspace that makes it the worst avenue of bullying even more than the other forms of bullying is the fact that there is some sense of anonymity and little accountability on the part of the perpetrators that make them act that way. There is a sense of zero accountability since the comments; posts and photos posted on these sites do not first go through screening by any authority. Thi s relative freedom has encouraged the criminals to do as they wish with regard to posting the bad content on the web. The level of hazards in the next decade In the next decade, America is likely to face serious cases of cyber bullying in the future. With the rapid and fast pace of technological growth and new forms of communication coming up, it is only commonsense to understand that the frequency of abuse will grow beyond the present status (Kelsey, 2014). It is also notable that several features of the growing communication platforms will make it easy for cyber-bullying to happen in the future. These avenues touch on the areas of the ease of sending and receiving items online that has become the norm in the present state of technology. Communication is made easier by the fact that new inventions especially in the mobile telephony has come with better versions of technology that now allows people to send and receive images and videos easily. An example of the latest invention that allows people to don this is the WhatsApp technology, which enables people to share and post both photos and videos as well as send text communications. Since its invention and adoption, millions of cases where children have abused it and bullied their colleagues have been reported. It is also noted that the prevalence of such cases keeps rising with time. It is, therefore, common knowledge that in the next decade, things are going to get worse if proper laws are not put in place to tame the situation. Arguments for imposition of laws to tame cyber-bullying One reason why there should be strict laws regulating the use or abuse of the Internet communications platform is that the effects of the vise on the victims are too damning. They are not comparable to the infringement of the freedom of speech and expression that such laws will bring. For the sake of the safety of the children on the web, laws should be formulated to tame any errant behavior from anyone of them. It is a collective bargain for the government, parents, and school administrations to have a discussion and agree to limit the rights of the children on the net. The second reason why cyber-bullying should be tamed is that there are many cases of school dropouts or poor performance on the affected children. The level of intimidation and mental torture that the kids receive from the actions of the bullies is not healthy for the future society that will result from the generation (McQuade, Samuel Colt, 2012). A generation of bitter, resentful, and disobedient youths will eventually destroy the moral fabric of the society in the end. Psychologists attribute crime tendencies among the youth to the unbalanced emotions and resentful mindsets arising from cyber bullying. The third reason why legislators and other government policy makers need to draw their attention to illegally reducing the rights of children on the web is the fact that schools lack the capacity to administer discipline out of school. Government needs to empower the schools to monitor the students’ engagements online and solve any disciplinary issues that may arise therein. Schools are better placed since they have the students’ records and that students spend much of their time in the learning institutions than at home. Arguments against the imposition of regulatory laws Children need to grow up in a free society for them to realize their identity. They need an open space where they can communicate and share with their fellow children. It is also important that children be given the chance to interact with other children all over the world in order for them to develop a better appreciation of the world societies, cultures and tap the flow of ideas as a result. The psychology of a child is such that at tender age, a person is very responsive and receptive to any ideas they encounter through hearing, sight, or experience. This justifies the reason as to why children should be allowed to communicate on the online platform under unlimited conditions. Finally, the presence of a regulator over the children’s interaction on the online platform will make them be too self-conscious and a result fear to air out what could be eating them up in their hearts. The occurrence of the latter unfortunate situation will lead the children to express their problem s through other means such as; drug abuse, irresponsible sexual behavior among self-harming expressions, whose effects are worse off. Conclusion Internet communication can be good for children, only if it is practiced through proper means. Abuse of Internet communication is what has given rise to the occurrence of cyber-bullying. It has made the rogue children to grossly bully others and take advantage of their innocence. The government, In contrast, as well as the administrators of these online sites has not put enough measures to secure the safety of the children participants while on the web. This has contributed to the present sorry state of cyber-bullying. In view of this, there is a need for government and other stakeholders to act responsibly and secure the children’s communication online. They need to empower school administrations to prevail on errant students who abuse cyber communication. Parents also need to act responsibly and support the schools in disciplining errant students. However, a more long lasting and sustainable solution to the crisis will be to introduce cyber bullying into the school curriculum and have the children taught the dangers of it as well as how to stay safe from it. The benefits drawn from legal intervention in taming the cyber communication among children far outweigh the benefits that freedom of expression would have brought, thus justifying the action to impose laws.

Systematic Review of Studies on Compliance with Hand Hygiene Essay

Systematic Review of Studies on Compliance with Hand Hygiene Guidelines in Hospital Care - Essay Example As a nurse, it is my utmost desire to work harmoniously with my patients and colleagues in a holistic manner, and in effect, I decided to critically review this article not only to protect my patients, but for a higher aim of keeping myself and my colleagues away from this preventable and deadly hospital – acquired infection. Another reason that compels me to do this paper is the annual increase of mortality and mobility rate secondary to nosocomial infection as well as improper hand washing technique compliance among the healthcare personnel, in spite of massive campaign for proper hand washing practice. Several campaigns that encourage proper hand hygiene practice were launched over the past decades, but compliance rates among the nursing staff in the hospital were not substantial, and have no lasting effect in preventing the spread of infection. This article was carefully chosen because it presented several data on hand hygiene compliance and guidelines on hand hygiene in t he hospital set up. This paper was explored using the largest search engine in the internet to date, www.google.com. The keywords and terms used were hand hygiene, hospital care, compliance, non – compliance, journals, nosocomial infection, and hospital – acquired infection. All journals published prior to January 2009 were integrated in the searches, and the best journal searched for in this study was downloaded and reviewed. Hand searches and checking of the articles were among the strategies utilized in searching the journals. An article on the systematic review of studies on compliance rate of hand hygiene guidelines in hospital care was reviewed to assess the prevalence rate of hospital – acquired infection and correlate it with the compliance and non – compliance rate of guidelines of hand hygiene in the hospital set up. This paper aimed to improve successfully the rate of compliance using the behavioural sciences to follow a planned approach for th e development of interventions in the future. Systematic reviews of 96 published empirical studies that were conducted to the general populations of developed countries were completed in this article. The process of searching databases starts with screening the title, abstracts, and entire article to ensure that the criteria in selecting the paper are met. Extraction and management of data followed with recapitulation of various findings in the study were made. From this study, it was gathered that people with poor compliance rate were mostly from high activity group. This consist of physicians (having 32% compliance rate) followed by the nurses (with 48% compliance). From the article, it was noted that the compliance rate was much lower in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with a rate ranging only from 30 – 40%. On the other hand, workers engaged with dirty tasks were those observed to have higher rate of compliance in hand hygiene. Because of incomplete details presented in the study, Erasmus, et al (2010) concluded that further research and monitoring of standard measures must be carried on in the next study, and to better explain the complexities of hand hygiene, theoretical models from behavioural sciences should be employed and adapted in the paper. Erasmus et al. (2010) added that more research focusing on the determinants of behaviour is required

War on Terrorism and Civil Liberties of US Citizens Essay

War on Terrorism and Civil Liberties of US Citizens - Essay Example Issues touching on the security of United States would always influence the lifestyle of the American people. The constitution of America entrenches human liberty that the American people ought to enjoy. Terror attack does not provide an opportunity for the Americans to enjoy the civil liberty, but create an environment that promote crime. The question on how to balance national security during wartime and human liberty is nagging. Former United States president was quoted saying that he believed in upholding the constitution and the laws of United States of America. He went a head to remind the public that United States was facing attack from good for nothing terrorist who wanted United States to crumple. It is an intricate issue since it involves the government machineries in establishing the cause and possible attacks that the United States of America may be facing. The government decision to handle matters of national security would not go without criticism, but the essence of wa r on terrorism would remain as a pressing issue to the Americans. This paper explores war on terrorism and civil liberties. The paper seeks to link the Oklahoma and 9/11 bombing to security threats in United States. Terrorism refers to a deliberate act of which instill terror or fear among the community in a bid to coerce the community to act in a designated manner. The intention behind terrorism attack is to coerce the government or the society to enact or adopt certain policies in the society. Largely terrorism activities in United States have had devastating effects to innocent citizens. Some people lost their relatives, property, psychological effects among others. Tracing terrorism activities in United States would lead to along list of events that the government security agencies have thwarted before affecting the society and events that have penetrated to affect the community. Research on terrorism indicates that planned terrorism attacks in United States of America involve g angs and people who seem to criticize the government (Kazin 82). Sometimes standoff between the security agents and the groups in the society would culminate into ugly incidences of terror. Report from the Federal Security agency indicates that Davidian cult was responsible for the 19th April 1993 explosion in Oklahoma claiming about 75 followers of the cult among other people. Many US citizens blamed the security agents for failing to protect the society against the explosion. The Davidian cult existed with a full knowledge of the federal security team. The standoff between the Davidian Cult members in Waco compound and the FBI was seen a failure of the security agents to stump out criminal gangs by some people. The anger felt by some people over the Waco building explosion led to the Oklahoma Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing. Timothy McVeigh believed that the FBI was able to contain normalcy before the explosion (Cassel 44). He decided to make a plot that led to the bombi ng of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building. McVeigh avenged the death of children and people who died in the Waco building by instigating a bomb attack which claimed more 168 lives. The mission of McVeigh was to let the responsible persons pay for their evils in the society. He believed that the FBI had been the chief reason behind the explosion. He conspired with Nichols and Michael Fortier to bomb the Murrah Building. The revenge mission of McVeigh drew criticism to the US government and the security system that the country embraced.

Determination Of Nitrate Ion In Treated Wastewater Effluent Lab Report

Determination Of Nitrate Ion In Treated Wastewater Effluent - Lab Report Example The possible causes of errors may result from wrong or inaccurate readings made in the spectrophotometer. The spectrophotometer is in use to measure the intensity of red color produced when nitrate reacts with the acid, sulfanilic and N- naphthyl ethylenediamine. The lack of calibration of the equipment causes errors in results. The equipment may record a reading higher or below the one expected. Errors result from measurements done by using flasks and pipettes. When experimenters fail to monitor the readings properly, the final value of concentration will be affected.    For example, observers of volumetric readings should look at the lower meniscus to prevent these errors. Such errors will affect dilution and dissolving of solids in solutions (Woody 12).   The possible causes of errors may result from wrong or inaccurate readings made in the spectrophotometer. The spectrophotometer is in use to measure the intensity of red color produced when nitrate reacts with the acid, sulfa nilic and N- naphthyl ethylenediamine. The lack of calibration of the equipment causes errors in results. The equipment may record a reading higher or below the one expected. Errors result from measurements done by using flasks and pipettes. When experimenters fail to monitor the readings properly, the final value of concentration will be affected.  For example, observers of volumetric readings should look at the lower meniscus to prevent these errors.  Such errors will affect dilution and dissolving of solids in solutions.

Fast Food Nation - Exploiting Adolescents Research Paper

Fast Food Nation - Exploiting Adolescents - Research Paper Example In his book, â€Å"The Fast Food Nation†, Eric Schlosser brings gimmick to the exposà © summarizing the central idea of the topic in the following statement, â€Å"A fast food restaurant can be a nice place to visit- but if you might not want to work there-especially if you are a teenager.† The sentence cleverly adumbrates the vulnerability of the working ambience at the fast food outlet. American teenager dominates employment at these places (Wartman, Web). Consequently, the issue is being strongly analyzed as adolescence mark the future of the country. The book discusses the misery of a sixteen-year-old high school girl, Elisa Zimot. She was keen to work at the Mc Donald’s outlet but resented later when a customer’s dealt with her brutally. Often people misbehave with fast workers as they look at them with disdain and contempt. Other teenagers work tediously at fast food restaurants, beyond their legal working limit. A survey illustrated that many high school students around fifteen years of age work for twelve hours and sophomores working late at night in these restaurants. Although the working duration assigned by the Fair Labour Standards do not exceed from more than three hours for school going children, below sixteen years of age. In other words, students are not allowed to work during school hours that is before seven in the morning and after seven at night (Sagon, Web). Even if the school is closed, they might work for few more hours but within the defined limit. Many students cross the limit and consequently, their studies are affected. It is proven by a survey that maximum fifteen hours of employment help students academically whereas beyond this range students show a decline in their overall academics and engage in anti-social activities linked with drug and alcohol abuse (Schlosser 9). Apart from this the fast food restaurants are well equipped with machines, some of which are prohibited for the teenagers to operate. The author discusses Colorado State’s law where it is illegal for teenagers below eighteen to use hazardous machinery during work.  Ã‚  

Discuss these abstracts in the context of academic research and recent Essay

Discuss these abstracts in the context of academic research and recent developments in audit regulation and practice - Essay Example ted in the financial statements can be termed to be material if its omission or misrepresentation can have an effect on the decision-making process among the users of these records (Ndreca, 2013, pp 350). In simple definition, materiality in financial accounting is the intolerable misstatements that are embedded in the financial statements with the intention of justifying a non-existent transaction (Dodaro, 2013, pp419). In other words, materiality is the intolerable or unacceptable errors which cannot be ignored because they have a greater effect on the financial information represented in the records (Brannan & Gray, 2005, pp26). These errors are huge hence, when neglected; they may lead to big losses of the firm’s resources. This paper explores the concept of materiality in the financial accounting showing the importance of materiality in auditing process, the main development of the concepts of materiality over time. Materiality can be categorized into two; quantitative materiality and qualitative materiality. Quantitative materiality is the actual financial value that a certain misstatement can cause to the organization. On the other hand, qualitative materiality can be just a mere statement that has either misled certain transaction (Brannan & Gray, 2005, pp41). Accountants and management teams in most cases misstate the financial information to conceal particular information not to be known by the shareholders for their own benefits. Sometimes, certain information may qualify to be material without the intention or knowledge of the accountants and the management (Brannan & Gray, 2005, pp26). Therefore, the auditors have the task of exploring all the financial records and scrutinize them to establish, justify and certify that the information represented in them is quite relevant to the true status of the organization (Dodaro, 2013, pp419). Any deviation should be investigated to establish whet her it can amount to the material or can have an effect on

Case Study - An Ethical Dilemma Essay Example for Free

Case Study An Ethical Dilemma Essay Jackie, a young star with a prominent voice who gets picked up by a professional recording label after performing at a national talent competition. Overwhelmed with excitement, thinks it is a dream come true to start a career with a lucrative contract. Meets and has an intimate encounter with her soon to be manager, Kevin. Months go by as their relationship begins to flourish but soon she starts to hear rumors that Kevin has helped a new girl in the legal department get her position threw their own personal relations. Jackie has suspicions that Kevin may be having other deeper interactions with this new girl. Jackie’s suspicions turn out to be true and she is devastated. She obviously breaks off the relationship with Kevin but cannot afford to lose him as her manager. Time goes by with awkward silence between the two but eventually Jackie decides to be professional with her career and continues to keep Kevin on as her manager. This lasts awhile until Kevin starts to make inappropriate sexual advances towards her. She tries to laugh it off but as he continues she threatens to make a formal complaint to legal. He does eventually stop but has stopped all efforts to promote her music thus making it very difficult for her to continue on with her success. She eventually does decide to make a complaint with legal, there is where she runs into Leslie, the girl that Kevin had got the position for in legal. She tells her, â€Å"even I believed you, you didn’t report this relationship which goes against our superior-employee ethics code†. So either she had the choice to let the matter go or to make a complaint which would in turn have her also reprimanded. She is forced with  an ultimate decision and eventually decides to do nothing. Summarized Ethical Issue at Heart The unethical issue at heart is the manager, Kevin, making inappropriate gestures towards Jackie after they had broken up. Doing so with Jackie’s vulnerable position of whether or not to report the issue which would do more harm than good. Or to leave the matter alone and just hope that Kevin would leave her alone. Neither option are better suited for Jackie who in this case is the victim, which leads to the question of appropriate ethical responsibility of the company. Details that are missing in the case A 3rd party perspective on the details of both parties. More detail as to what accusations were being made towards Kevin and Jackie. Whether Kevin had proper ethical training. List of all stakeholders who would be involved with this ethical dilemma. Employees Other artists Board of Trustees Investors Legal Department Customers Community Media Three stakeholders and the concerns they may have. Employees Don’t like how they are working for an unethically sound company. Thinking how it could happen to them if they were put in the same situation If the  problem was ever made public how would my job security look? Would this company’s name stain my resume? Investors How will my portfolio look if this artist is to become successful with another producer? Will this story become public? Will my shares plummet from this company’s bad publicity? What would happen to the company outlook if the entire company was to go thru proper corporate ethical training? Could it be a success? Board of Trustees This will look bad if the story was to made public How must will it cost to perform proper corporate training on proper ethical behavior? Do the managerial levels need to be reevaluated? Could the company be looking at a lawsuit? Five solutions. Perform corporate training at all levels reviewing proper ethical conduct Fire the manager Workout an undisclosed settlement See if another manager is available to take her on Leave and try to find successes elsewhere Top three solutions with possible consequences. 1. Perform corporate training at all levels, monitor it and have employees sign off on regulating polices that are being implemented regarding superior-employee relations as well as all other common ethical practices. Doesn’t really solve the problem at hand, may be good for the future but doesn’t help Jackie Company sets public perception that their ethical standards are in question Very timely and costly Risk of employees losing interest/possible turnover of employees 2. Fire and Replace the Manager May get sued by Kevin for wrongful termination Jackie’s verbal threats may continue Incident is likely to be made public Board of Trustees would have to look over all management positions Loss of all positive profits that Kevin may have acquired 3. Workout an undisclosed settlement Costly Sets a standard for future wrong doings May not stay quiet Fellow employees and/or artist may exercise more scrutiny as they mature on with their job Three Stakeholders and Top Three Solutions with two pros and two cons effects on the Stakeholder. Make company employees take corporate training on proper ethical behavior Will benefit the company’s overall performance Give the media something different to talk about with regards to the company Very costly Employees may decline to take it/possible employee turnover Fire and Replace the Manager Jackie would be satisfied The company would have a bad employee released Fellow artists may lose that label Manager could sue for wrongful termination Workout an undisclosed amount Jackie would be happy and the problem would be resolved Stays quiet Costly Solves no future problems Two ethical principles upheld or violated by the top three solutions. Make company employees take corporate training on proper ethical behavior Provides positive integrity to the company As long as the training provided was paid hours it shouldn’t be seen in any way of being unethical Trust and Communication Fire and Replace the Manager Fails to meet ethical standards simply because not enough information is known Unethical towards the employees as some could suddenly be put into a disadvantage Work out an undisclosed amount Completely unethical from the rest of the company’s standpoint as this option would be odd and serve no purpose towards the rest of the company Financially unethical to use funds to serve as a settlement rather than other purposes of the company Performing corporate training at all levels, monitoring it and have employees sign off on regulating polices that are being implemented regarding superior-employee relations as well as all other common ethical practices will provide positive integrity to the company. If the training hours were paid and it didn’t have an effect on daily routine then it doesn’t seem to be unethical to request training hours. Firing the manager Kevin would solve Jackie’s problem but only hers alone. To be fair which is a principle of  ethics would be to implement a code that would benefit the company as a whole. Although what Kevin is accused of doing is warranted of being fired there just isn’t enough information for the company to let him go. Her words against his wouldn’t be enough to fire him. This is why a revamp of full corporate training probably stands to be the best possible solution for this situation. Decision and Implementation Identify the best solution. Implementing corporate training throughout the entire staff of the company maybe specializing in specific areas would be most likely to be the best possible solution. There are a lot more benefits to educating employees on proper ethics. A workplace in which an ethics code has been instilled is a naturally pleasant place. Employee morale rises in an atmosphere that promotes good behavior and honest interactions. Reasons why this is the best solution. It creates a better atmosphere in the workplace, teaches an office how to work as a team, promotes personal responsibility, and has always shown to boost staff morale. A work ethics training program promotes teamwork by instilling trust in co-workers. People are more likely to be amenable to working together when they appreciate and respect one another. Why the other solutions were rejected Firing the manager Kevin as well as making an undisclosed settlement were found to be unethical towards other members of the company. It would not be a good example to set if the company were to single out an incident and act in an irregular way towards that issue. There also wasn’t enough facts to the case to make the decision to fire the manager, Kevin. Especially doing so knowing full well it would affect other stakeholders. Possible objections to the solution The company may find that employee may complain that they do not need to take part in training. A mandatory requirement may need to be implemented for all employees. A turnover rate within the employees may be seen. Investors or Board of Trustees will look at all avenues of the cheapest method of implementing training. How would you overcome these objections? Make it a requirement to attain a certain number of ethics training hours. Find other avenues of funding that can contribute to the program to make sure that employees are receiving the best training. Self-inflicted training from the managerial level is a cheaper method to instruct employees. References Ethical Dilemma. (n.d.). Forbes. Retrieved , from http://www.forbes.com/2004/06/23/cx_da_0623topnews.html Advantages of Training Employees About Work Ethics. (n.d.). Small Business. Retrieved , from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-training-employees-work-ethics-44472.html Ethics Training in the Workplace. (n.d.). Ethics Training. Retrieved , from http://www.rctm.com/ethics.htm Institute For Ethical Awareness. (n.d.). Institute For Ethical Awareness. Retrieved , from http://www.instituteforethicalawareness.org The Online Business Ethics Training Program | Ethics Training Guide. (n.d.). Ethics Training Guide. Retrieved , from http://ethicstrainingguide.org/