Is the world better off with or without Wikileaks? - Annotated Bibliography

 

Brevini, B. & McCurdy, P. (2013). Beyond WikiLeaks: Implications for the Future of Communications, Journalism and Society. Palgrave Macmillan.

 

One of the spotlight of Wikileaks is the release of US secrets and confidential files on the war of the Middle East. It raises questions on the security of the nation and the capability of the government to secure its own secrets from the eyes of the public. In this book, Brevini and McCurdy discussed the implications of Wikileaks on the way journalism and communications work in the future. It seeks to answer the ever-polarizing dilemma of disclosing information to public as a an inherent right or the need to protect the government from the bias opinion of the masses and the opportunistic views of enemies. Regardless of the moral, ethical and legal grounds of Wikileaks disclosure, the issue comes to the impact of Wikileaks on the future of communications.

 

 

Heller, K.J. (2010). "Why the Benefits of WikiLeaks Far Outweigh Its Dangers." Opinio Juris. Retrieved from http://opiniojuris.org/2010/12/03/why-wikileaks-good-far-outweighs-its-harm/

 

 

In this article, Heller explored the advantages of Wikileaks in relation to its information disclosure. It is a comprehensive review on how each aspect of the disclosure provides the people enough information for them to decide on issues concerning the national defense and security. In contrast, it also offers an explanation on the disadvantages and harms that the disclosure of Wikileaks can make on the security of the US government. In the end, Heller sounded the verdict of proving that Wikileaks' benefits are far better than the damage it can do to the nation.

 

Leigh, D. & Harding, L. (2011). WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy. PublicAffairs.

 

The era of Wikileaks is not an era of simple dynamics, it is an era of powerful network. The diclosure being made by Wikileaks with regards to important details of the US government covers ethical, legal and political issues. In this book, Leigh and Harding offers an in-depth review of these three aspects of the Wikileaks disclosure. It opens Wikileaks to be under scrutiny and disclosure instead of Wikileaks doing it.

 

Sifry, M. (2011). Wikileaks and the Age of Transparency. OR Books.

 

The most important issue regarding Wikileaks is transparency. In this book, the author explores the right of the people to know what's happening in their government, the obligation of the government to inform the populace, and the vitality of protecting the government from invasion, either by principle or practice. Sifry offered an argument on how the government reacts to the new age of information and of transparency and its evolution from the traditional closed system.

 

Star, A. (2011). Ed. Open Secrets: WikiLeaks, War and American Diplomacy. The New York Times Company.

 

In this book published The New York Times, Star unraveled important issues regarding Wikileaks rise to global prominence and attention. It chronicled how Wikileaks reached the doors of The New York times - which started the controversy. This book edited by Star contained the opinion of political analysts and communication experts who review the action of Wikileaks in disclosing information that are potentially alarming to the national security of the nation and stability of the government. It offered a trace on how these information reach the hands of Wikileaks, and it offered a controversy on how things happen under the watch of the government.

Walt Whitman - Formal Education

 

There's always a battle within me, a battle between formal education and learning from life. But formal education is vital to nurture my undisciplined and untamed mind. Learning from my experiences will help me embark to an early search of wisdom, but it is through formal education that I am able to practice my mental faculties to become the rationale of my experiences. Both formal education and learning from life or experiences are important to the well-being of a person; leave one and you will be left in the miry pit of self deterioration.

 

The preparation of formal and classroom education is clearly drawn by Walt Whitman's An Old Man's Thought of School. Formal education builds the lives of young people as a preparation for a life ahead when they integrate with the real world. As Whitman put it, "Building, equipping like a fleet of ships, immortal ships,/ Soon to sail out over the measureless seas“ (Whitman 134). Indeed, formal education can be likened to a shipyard where ships are built and prepared. Formal education puts the hull in place, the engines in perfect condition, and the entire ship ready for the travel. Should formal education fail to do its job of preparing the person, the journey ahead would not be smooth. It would be hard for a person who's not able to undergo preparation by classroom education to get in touch with the opportunities and challenges that are ahead of him.

 

And it is right, Whitman is, the future of the entire nation rests in the public school. If our public school-formal education system fails, we can expect that our nation's future will also fail. "The tiresome spelling, writing, ciphering classes (Whitman 134)" promotes the training of a person to make him or her a perfect asset for the nation's future. Otherwise, these young lives will become the nation's liability than its assets and helpmate for success. Otherwise, we can only look back and say: It could have been better if we did our best to provide formal education to our students than allow them to rule their own lives in wantonness and despair.

 

In The School Room on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill, formal education is described in vivid memories of public school. Formal education taught me how to stand in the line without moving, to follow the rules without questioning, and to consider all things in perfect submission. By copying letters out books, I was trained to give importance to what I read and copy. It seems that the job was taunting and very huge, but it was a training to love learning and knowledge. Without formal education, I could have not learned to give importance to what I read – and everything could have passed without notice and results.

 

In formal education, I learned how to work harder to meet demands and expectations of others. It was bad to meet those expectations, I know, but the training of "pushing me over the line ( Heitzman 185)" provided me the necessary attitude and outlook to excel in what I am doing. Without such training of meeting expectations, I could have receded to mediocrity and low results. But "I hear her every time I fail (Heitzman 185)" to remind me that I can do well than what I am doing now. It was formal education that stretched me to my limit and proved that I am more than what I think and what others believe.

 

However, there are evils or extremes of formal education that may do bad than good. Instead of allowing the person to grow, formal education confines the person to its limitations, killing the very imagination that could have fueled success in the life of the person. Billy Collins summarizes this in: "I say drop a mouse in a poem and watch him prove his way out” (Collins 57). Formal education should allow the person to grow, to become who he is and who he wants to be, and not to be isolated and confined by the limits of formal education. Then Collins goes to tell how formal education can torture the young mind to stick to the principle of learning as perceived by formal education. "But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out it” (Collins 57). This is the exact description of what formal education is doing. Formal education limits the person in the chair or in the classroom, rather than allowing the person to grow and "feel the walls for a light switch." Education should allow the person to unravel new knowledge just like searching for the light switch in the dark.

 

And look at how Paul Zimmer criticizes what Collins called a "torture". Zimmer speaks on how formal education cries foul over mistakes and pressures the person to avoid such mistakes in these lines: "Five number problems in a row,/ And was about to foul a sixth,/When the old, exasperated nun/Began to pound my head against my six mistakes” (Zimmer 21). Instead of helping the person to learn, what formal education does is to pound the person against the mistake. It is as if in the classroom, everyone is bound to be perfect, than a single mistake is like a disease to be avoided.

 

Of course, we should not forget that only through pressuring us to learn, we gain mental discipline that we would need in the future. It was the "exasperated nun" who point us to our mistakes who led to think more than to play. By placing us the burden of learning, of avoiding mistakes, the traveling and unfocused minds of young people learns to look at things with concentration. This is an important part of formal education for without it, it would be hard to confine the person in the chair to work on papers from nine to five. Without formal education, it would be hard to find scholars and scientists working in their labs for almost 24 hours. But thank to formal education, the wild mind becomes a tamed beast - and now it can do wonders as it goes to the "measureless seas".

 

My protestations of the torture and confinement of formal education have finally come to their rest when I realize what I have learned. When I am tempted to favor learning from experiences alone, Walt Whitman reminded me that it was in the four corners of the classroom and formal education "When I heard the learn'd astronomer,/ When proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,/When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add divide, and measure them” (Whitman 1057). Without the formal education, I could have not learned these hard facts. Experiences in life may teach one thing, but never about an astronomer of time past. And without such knowledge, I could have not been much inspired to study harder and work better to reach others have reached.

 

Truly, "I became tired and sick” of the rigors of formal education, but it was through this that I "look'd up in perfect silence at the stars” (Whitman 1057). I hate when my imaginations are killed in the classroom, but it was formal education who taught me how to make those imaginations works.

 

Without hesitation and fear, I speak, therefore, that formal education is a vital part of a person's life. It would be fatal to favor learning from experiences than it is evil to isolate one's mind in formal education's classroom.

 

 

Works Cited:

 

Collins, Billy. “An Introduction to Poetry.” History Teacher. ____________________________________

 

Heitzman, Judy. "The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill." Learning by Heart: Contemporary American Poetry About School. Ed. Anderson, Maggie & Hassler, David. University of Iowa Press, 1999.

 

Whitman, Walt. “An Old Man's Thought of School.” Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. Ed. Oliver, Charles. Infobase Publishing, 2005.

 

Whitman, Walt. “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer.” Ethics. ________________________________________.

 

Zimmer, Paul. “Zimmer's Head Thudding Against the Blackboard.” Learning by Heart: Contemporary American Poetry About School. Ed. Anderson, Maggie & Hassler, David. University of Iowa Press, 1999.

Human Rights in Islam

 

Topic and Research Question

Islam and Human rights, a religion much talked about nowadays, and a topic of great concern in today’s world. The regions we live in, GCC, is surely well versed with the religion, its laws, and rights. However, in the western world, a lot of discrimination is being taken place, and due to various incidents, which have somehow been linked to the religion, many westerners, who are unaware of the actual teachings or the religion, have down-seen the entire nation of Islam. Therefore, in the research paper, I will be elaborating on the actual “rights” the religion of Islam mentions as per the books, emphasizing on three major points, the first being “Islam; forbidding discrimination”, in terms of colour, belief, language and so on, further on, I will be discussing “women rights”, which has surely been misunderstood by many, even people living in the GCC region may have misunderstood it in many ways. And finally, in my research paper, I will be discussing “Article 10”, which states that “Islam is a religion of un-spoilt nature!”, and basically describing that the religion does not force any human to revert, or follow the religion of Islam, it is entirely upto them to take up their belief in the religion, and that, forcefully doing it is prohibited.

Importance of Research

To my belief this topic is extremely important, not only to the current follows of the religion, but to the entire mankind, as the teachings of the religion, along with its laws and rights, has been entirely misunderstood by everyone across the globe. After researching, and writing this research paper, not only will I be able to take a strong stand that my side of the argument, which is “FOR” the topic, is strong, but even the readers or listeners will be able to understand the concept of human rights in Islam in a better manner, which I feel is an important topic. Undoubtedly, slightly controversial, however, with strong points noted and mentioned, with logical explanations, I am sure everyone would agree upon.

Literature Review

Sachedina (2009), with very definite and strong points or arguments has mentioned in his book, “Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights”, that both the religion of Islam, and Human Rights are inter-linked, and that, the religion has entirely logical points to support everyone’s rights, as they deserve. It may have been mislead to many, that other religions have better rights, and that Islam does not have equal rights amongst its people, however, this is untrue, and Sachedina (2009) has, within his book, explained, and compared various human right issues precisely. As mentioned above, one of the main topics in my research paper would be “women rights”, which will be an argument opposed to Wafa Sultan (2009), the author of the book “A God Who Hates”.  This book of hers had brought about fury to a lot in the Muslim world. She explains that within Islam, women rights are almost non-existent, and that, all women following the religion are ill-treated. However, this is entirely un-true, alas, she was one among the million others who were and are unable to understand the religion, and its human rights righteously.

Methodology

As this topic is a slightly controversial one, and is wide spread, I would do the max to bring out the truth, and look into each matter as deep as I can in order to prove my point. Hence, my research would compose of various academic research journals, articles, news papers, and so on, from whatever source I may have at my disposal. It may be the library database, hard-copies of magazines, and news papers, and books. In addition, to have a better understanding, I would even put an extra effort to go about making a questionnaire and filling it out amongst not only students in our university, but of people of different age groups, religious beliefs, and regions. All this would help in making my paper a stronger one.

 

Expected Findings

At the end of the research, I will be clearly stating, along with proving, that Islam has absolute links with Human Rights, and that, it is a religion that takes care of everyone and everything, be it Feminism, war issues, adopting issues, or whatsoever.

References:

Afkhami, Mahnaz (1999), ‘Gender Apartheid and the Discourse of Relativity of Rights in Muslim Societies’, in Courtney W. Howland  (ed.), Religious Fundamentalisms and the Human Rights of Women, New York: St. Martin’s Press, pp. 67-77

Ahmed, Leila (1992), Women and Gender in Islam, New Haven: Yale University Press

Allen, Tim and Jean Seaton (eds.) (1999), The Media of Conflict: War Reporting and Representations of Ethnic Violence, London: Zed Books.

Al- Sheha, A. (2009). Human rights in islam and common misconceptions. Retrieved from http://www.islamland.com/Media/Books/HumanRightsinIslam.pdf

Brames, E. (2001). Islamic declarations of human rights.International studies in human rights, 66, 241-84.

David G., L. (2003). human rights and human wrongs.National Review Online,

David, L. (1999). universal human rights and "human rights in islam. Midstream (New York)

IHCR. (n.d.). Islam human rights commsion. Retrieved from http://www.ihrc.org.uk/

Kazemi, F. (2002). Perspectives on islam and civil society.Islamic Political Ethics: Civil Society, Pluralism and Conflict, 50.

Rhonna, S. (2003). Textbook on international human rights.Oxford University Press, 195.

Sachedina, A. (2009). Islam & the challenge of human rights. New York: Oxford University Press.

Sultan, W. (2009). A go who hates. (1st ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press.

UN, Human Rights. (1990). cairo declaration on human rights in islam, U.N Doc.

 (1990). The cairo declaration on human rights in islam.Nineteenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Cairo, Retrieved from http://www.rwi.uzh.ch/lehreforschung/alphabetisch/buechler/cont/The_Cairo_Declaration_on_Human_Rights_in_Islam.pdf

 

Ethics and Islamic Values

 

According to principle or precepts of the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 188, to accept a bribe or to do it is absolutely forbidden and considered a sin. In the case of Lockheed's Mr. A. Carl Kotchian actions concerning bribery to get contracts from governments, especially for the case of Japan, it is a battle of morality and survival of the fundamental aspects of the society. Parallel to the view of Quran, which is also the basis for the moral point of view of Islam, the action of Mr. Kotchian was categorically and fundamentally wrong, bar none.

            But there are important issues that should be considered in this judgment. First, Mr. Kotchian's argument that if Lockheed would have failed to get the Japan aircraft contract, it would result to laying off of several workers and the decline of the company. It is interesting to note that Mr. Kotchian's argument is not just financial and business-relative in nature, but also moral in character. With its wide employment pool, a layoff would not just affect a single family, but an entire community or an entire economy. If the bribe was not made, layoffs would happen and children would go hungry, and worst, families would be broken. However, the action of Mr. Kotchian and Lockheed caused tremendous disadvantage to other competitors. The argument of Mr. Kotchian is defeated by the same moral argument of competitors; the families and communities of their workers still suffer the same fate as what Mr. Kotchian feared for their's.

            In the same manner, the end result of Mr. Kotchian's action did not just cause an impact on a single person, Mr. Tanaka, the former prime minister of Japan. As a result, the entire country was affected and put into a level of insecurity and instability. The action, which was deemed necessary for the survival of some people, also caused the breakdown of the Japanese society.

            Yet, in the end the punishments meted on Mr. Kotchian are justified. The action of Mr. Kotchian was bind to the decision of the company, and not to him alone. And for such, his actions did not benefit him (as he was not getting the bribe) alone, but it provided a positive on Lockheed and the entire network under it including families and communities.

Cancer Treatment Medical Improvements Over the Past 10 Years

 

Introduction

            Cancer remains a high-fatality disease with more than half-million deaths every year in the United States alone. Yet, over the past five years, incidence of cancer has dramatically decreased by 0.6% per year for men and stable rate for women, even for countries that don't have the required treatment centers such as impoverished nations of Africa. Fortunately, the reduction by 1.8% cancer deaths for men and 1.6% for women every year is also another indication of acceleration of the effort to control cancer's impact on the health of individuals across different segments of the society (Siegel, et.al., 2012). With this figure, medical professionals and cancer patient sufferers and survivors are hopeful that one day this terminal disease will be reduced if not eliminated to allow sufferers to live a normal and healthy life.

            Available statistics indicates the appreciation and effectiveness of the cancer treatments being applied to cancer sufferers. In the same manner, the statistics tells the effort of governments to avoid the incidence of cancer through extensive cancer knowledge. Several research and development centers are supported by the government to find ways and agents in curing cancer to alleviate conditions of sufferers. Elwood & Sutcliffe (2010) defines cancer control as the aim “to reduce the incidence and mortality of cancer, and to enhance the quality of life of those affected by cancer” through detection, intervention, treatment and rehabilitation or recovery. As a comprehensive program, it involves the integral treatment of the illness and the rehabilitation to stop recurrence of cancer cells in the body of the person.

            This research aims to examine the development of cancer treatment for the past ten years, which could have played a major role to the decline of cancer fatality. It analyzes the initiative of both private and public sectors in formulating proper cancer treatment methods with the aim of stamping down the ill effects of cancer. Understanding the background of cancer control helps to bridge the gap of treatment and recovery for the benefit of cancer patients, their most immediate family, health care practitioners, and medical health professionals. Specifically, this research centers on the development of cancer control and treatment, which emphasizes public awareness, early detection, and the necessity of psychotherapy to reduce the side effects of chemotherapeutic treatments.

 

Cancer Prevention  and Control

            People often mistake one thing from another, like in the case of Cancer Treatment, and Cancer Control. Cancer can be dealt with by Treatment, and Prevention (Elwood & Sutcliffe, 2010). Cancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and monoclonal antibody therapy. The choice of therapy depends upon the location and grade of the tumor and the stage of the disease, as well as the general state of the patient. A number of experimental cancer treatments are also under research, experimentation and development.

            Because "cancer" refers to a class of diseases,it is unlikely that there will ever be a single "cure for cancer" any more than there will be a single treatment for all infectious diseases. Angiogenesis inhibitors were once thought to have potential as a "silver bullet" treatment applicable to many types of cancer, but this has not been the case in practice.

            Cancer prevention, on the other hand, is defined as active measures to decrease the risk of having cancer. The vast majority of cancer cases are due to environmental risk factors, and many, but not all, of these environmental factors are controllable lifestyle choices. Thus, cancer is considered a largely preventable disease. Greater than 30% of cancer deaths could be prevented by avoiding risk factors including: tobacco, overweight/obesity, an insufficient diet, physical inactivity, alcohol, sexually transmitted infections, and air pollution (Siegel, et.al., 2012). Not all environmental causes are controllable, such as naturally occurring background radiation, and other cases of cancer are caused through hereditary genetic disorders, and thus it is not possible to prevent all cases of cancer.

            Several biologists and physicians are still baffled by this illness that they cannot define cancer in simple terms. But using the variation used in the dictionary, cancer is defined as "the abnormal growth of cells caused by multiple changes in gene expression leading to dysregulated balance of cell proliferation and cell death and ultimately evolving into a population of cells that can invade tissues (Ruddon, 2007)." Cancer appears in varied types and characteristics which make the treatment process more complex and sophisticated.  Cancer affects both male and female, age or race; this is a global illness that is seen to affect more and more people in the new few years as the result of the person's lifestyle, food intake and environment population.

            For the past ten years, various cancer treatments have been developed and advanced as a solution to cancer, but these treatments, ranging from the conventional chemotherapy to the bizarre, have their own ill effects on the lives of patients. Looking at history, the first cancer treatment center was established in 1740 in France, though the center had to removed from the city to the outskirts for fear that cancer is a contagious disease (David, 1995). Yet the development of cancer treatments have evolved for several centuries. It was during the 17th century that theory of cancer took its step toward the future definition. However, until today, the treatment of cancer still remained a baffling concern that keeps biologists and researchers stuck on how to cure this terminal disease (Burke, et.al., 2001).

            Cancer care is a complex network of medical schedules and plans employed by medical and health professionals to treat and rehabilitate cancer patients (Chang, 2006, p. 176). Unlike other diseases that can be easily treated through surgery, surgical operations on cancer patients don't end the problem, but it is still necessary for the patient to receive necessary care for recovery and rehabilitation. With the proper cancer treatment program, cancer can be eliminated from the body of the person and percentage of recurrence of the illness is reduced.

            Yet, there are still public health concerns that must be taken into account in the development of cancer treatment. First, it is necessary to understand the process of cancer prevention as to the ethical concerns of early detection, screening and education. In public health the primary concern is how to prevent the occurrence of cancer and the spread of cancer cells in other tissues of the body. Screening is a very importance issue that should be put into light. If only cancer cells are screen and detection at an early stage, it is easy to treat cancer. But for impoverished nations like in Africa, screening becomes a big problem. Second, the lack of public health knowledge leads to the recurrence of cancer due to wrong cancer care considerations such as "treatment, survivorship, palliative care and end-of-life care (Holtz, 2008)."

 

Public Awareness

            As studies have shown, lifestyle is now recognized as a main determinant of cancer risk. Public education has become an important component of cancer control programmes, and has been proven to be effective in leading to life-style changes. Four basic types of education programmes are reviewed: for increasing the public's awareness of cancer, for changing specific risk behavior, like quitting smoking tobacco, for learning self-examination skills, like breast self-examination, and for promoting early cancer detection in the community.

            To change human behavior it is best to approach the risk habit through the same forces that develop and sustain the habit. Simply giving information of an association between specific habits and cancer, even if repeated several times, will lead to increased public awareness and encourage some to make a minimal effort to change their behavior, but in general the new habit does not persist and continuing and intensifying this approach are ineffective. An alternative strategy utilizes socially active forces to support the prevention practice and remove possible barriers to action. For example, an anti smoking programme should create a favorable social image of the non-smoker. Although a culturally and socially relevant mass media campaign can influence knowledge and beliefs and induce people to participate in a screening activity, this needs to be supplemented over a period of time by personal contact methods, such as group discussions, telephone conversations and home visits, in order to promote a regular screening habit. Contrary to popular opinion, mass communication methods can be expensive on a per person cost-effectiveness basis because of low participation rates and weakness in sustaining healthy behaviour.

            Let us take one example of a country that has made cancer awareness its primary concern. In Japan, cancer has been recognized as a major component of the overall pattern of disease for decades. Thus, the importance of cancer prevention by lifestyle changes should now be strongly acknowledged.

            Internationally, several studies have estimated the proportion of total cancer deaths attributable to various risk factors based on epidemiologic evidence, and various international guidelines and recommendations derived from these have appeared. Unsurprisingly, domestic guidelines and recommendations for cancer prevention in Japan such as the Twelve recommendations for cancer prevention and Healthy People Japan 21 have been significantly influenced by these reports.

            Public awareness of risk factors in relation to cancer prevention has been surveyed in only a few countries, and results have demonstrated poor awareness. Other studies focusing on specific cancers only have also appeared. However, none of these studies quantitatively evaluated public awareness of the attributable fraction of individual risk factors.

            In Japan, it seems that most people are aware of the major risk factors of cancer. Although we are unaware of any published evidence, however, public knowledge and information on cancer prevention now seems influenced largely by the mass media and other sources, rather than by information provided directly by health professionals, resulting in a distorted picture of causation. Cancer control policy therefore urgently requires a clarification of the discrepancies which now exist between ideal levels of public concern about risk factors and the current reality, particularly public health policy makers in their formulation of cancer control measures. To address this need, the present studies were designed to provide information on awareness of the attributable fraction of cancer causes among the Japanese general population. Since we are interested in quantitatively estimating the awareness of preventability, we placed special emphasis on gauging awareness by attributable fraction of cancer.

 

Early Detection and Follow-Ups

 

            Follow-up cancer care involves regular checkups that include a revisiting of a patient’s medical history, and with it, a physical examination. Follow-up care may include imaging procedures which are methods of producing pictures of areas inside a patient's body, endoscopy, which is the use of a thin, lighted tube to examine the inside of the body, some blood work, and other lab examinations.

            Follow-up care is absolutely important because it helps to point out the changes in a patient's health. The purpose of follow-up care is to check for recurrence or the return of cancer in the primary area or metastasis, which is the spread of cancer to another part of a patient's body. Follow-up care consultations are also important to aid in the prevention, or in some cases, early detection of other types of cancer, take care of ongoing problems due to cancer or its treatment, and check for psychosocial and physical effects that may develop after months or years of the treatment has ended. It is imperative that all cancer survivors should have follow-up care.

            During each visit to their doctors, patients must tell their doctor about any symptoms that they think may be an indication that their cancer has returned. If their are any pains that has and still bothers them, they should have it checked out, or if there are any physical problems that interfere with their daily lives or have proved to be bothersome, such as fatigue; difficulty with bladder, bowel, or sexual function; difficulty concentrating; memory changes; trouble sleeping; and weight gain or loss. Also, indicating if there are any medicines, vitamins, or herbs they are taking and any other treatments they are have used and are still using. Emotional problems are also indicators, such as anxiety or depression, all of which must be looked into. Even changes in their family medical history, including any new cancers will have to be taken into account.

            In fact, questions are raised concerning the effectiveness of the cancer treatment  due to the recurrence of cancer cells after certain period of time. Most of cancer incidence will develop again after two years after the initial treatment.  With the recurrence of cancer, most sufferers don't consider or sometimes discard the idea of getting cancer treatment, or simply, sufferers lose hope that they can still be treated. Yet, cancer sufferers are sometimes left without choice but to rest chances on the cancer care and treatments. Most of them already accept already the reality of death, but they just try cancer treatments as an act of gamble and without clear success. This is the common scenario of most cancer centers and hospitals.

            It is important to bear in mind that cancer recurrences are not always detected during follow-up visits. Many times, recurrences are suspected or found by patients themselves between scheduled checkups. It is important for patients to be aware of changes in their health, by doing self-examinations, and report any problems to their doctor. The doctor can then determine whether the problems are related to the cancer, the treatment the patient received, or an unrelated health issue.

            At these follow-up appointments, the doctor may suggest some tests to check for recurrence or to screen for other types of cancer. In most cases, it is not clear that special follow-up tests improve survival or quality of life. This is why it is important for the doctor to help know what follow-up care plan eis deemed appropriate for the given situation. The doctor may not need to do any tests if the person appears to be in good physical condition and does not have any symptoms of cancer. It is important for the patient to talk with the doctor about any inquiries or concerns related to the follow-up care plan.

            Aside from early screening and detection advancements, “new chemotherapeutic agents and regimens have emerged as active therapies for both operable and metastatic breast cancer (Hunt, 2008).”  According to Ko, et.al. (2008), more than half of cancer sufferers (of those diagnosed and reported) receive chemotherapy treatment for cancer elimination. Chemotherapy is the most trusted cancer treatment to enable the person to enjoy a productive life. Chemotherapy is defined as the treatment of cancer through carefully selected chemical drugs or agents that are destructive to cancer cells of the body. Historically, this type of treatment can be traced to olden times of Ancient Greeks. Today, a comprehensive chemotherapy regimen is a "treatment plan that usually includes drugs to fight cancer and drugs to help support completion of the cancer treatment at the full dose on schedule (ibid)." A chemotherapy regimen is one of the most successful cancer treatments that are used by medical professionals and cancer centers in treating cancer.

 

 

Psychotherapy for Cancer Survivor Recovery

            The goals of a chemotherapy regimen is to cure a specific type of cancer. However, chemotherapy has its side effects, both short-term such as bleeding and hair loss, and long-term effects such as heart or lung damage, infertility, and liver failure.  There are several adverse effects that are as alarming as cancer itself. During the treatment, it is usual for the immune system to drop its guard making the person vulnerable to fatal infections (Dicato, 2013). Most of cancer sufferers that undergo this treatment are weak and don't have the capacity to leave a normal life during and a considerable time after the treatment. Moreover, cancer patients suffering bleeding, over fatigue, gastrointestinal diseases such as vomiting and nausea, and hair loss.

            Although a cancer sufferer may survive the toll of cancer but the side effects of the treatment process may be the reason of the person's death. As the toxicity of the person rises due to chemotherapy agents or drugs, the body has to cope with the impact of infections, which may lead to death.  In fact, there are other cancer treatment methods that are introduced and experimented by doctors to treat specific types of cancer. For instance, doctors are testing the tiny radioactive "seeds" to eliminate prostate cancer cells out of the person's body (Stower, 2000). Actually, for this new and bizarre treatment methods, physicians and biologists are just gambling the life of a cancer patient.

            Cancer treatments may have their positive impact to eliminate cancer cells, but the same result to mental and psychological problems on the part of the patient. According to Singletary, et.al. (2004), most of the "on psychological adjustment to breast cancer showed that... most women experience considerable distress at the time of breast cancer diagnosis." It must be noted that the goal of cancer treatment to enable the person or the suffer to have back the productive and quality he or she had before cancer occurrence. The psychological adverse effects of cancer is led to other stress-related problems such as the other psychosocial aspects of the person including behavioral and environmental factors (Yarbro, et.al., 2005).

            Aside from the psychological effects during the treatment process, there are also several psychological late effects that should be considered a threat to the quality of life of a cancer patient or survivor. At the top of this is fear of recurrence, which leads to paranoia. Due to the fact that cancer treatments don't promise total elimination of the cancer strain or the risk of cancer, sufferers are paranoid that it will reoccur. As a result, the survivor or patient does not live his or her life productively and to the fullest. In the end, this fear becomes a depression. Cancer-related thoughts create problems of the mindset of the person and quality of life that the person lives. Most women cancer survivors have hard time in getting back to the life they had before and to maintain a strong relationship with other people. This can be considered a post-traumatic effect of the cancer treatment or drugs.

            For medical practitioners, the psychological effects of cancer treatments can be resolved by personal discipline. Psychosocial distress can be reduced and eliminate through social support. Social support is provided by the family, immediate people within the environment of the sufferer or survivor (National Research Council, 2004). It includes basic instrumental support such as preparation of meals, transportation to appointments, and help for daily activities of the person. It is necessary to provide these basic aids to the survivor to get him or her needs anytime.

            The mental and behavioral disorder of the cancer patient is not the result of cancer treatments, but by the irritation of being confined to beds or hospitals. Only the physical side effects are clear manifestations of the side effects of cancer. The psychological and psychosocial issues of cancer treatment is not a problem that can cause death. In fact, with the support of the family, these effects can be eliminated easily. There is no need to capitalize these issues to discredit or scare sufferers from the treatment.

            The attitude and outlook in life of a cancer patient is very important for treatment of cancer. Even if the cancer treatment is so effective and promising, without the attitude and outlook of the patient it is impossible to be successful in treating cancer. This is the reason why most cancer centers provide the best environment and treat cancer patients as if they are not patients, but just guests. Through this support, the cancer sufferers still find life to great, and it will drive him or her to fight cancer and to pursue the treatment.  In fact, in any kind of illness, the outlook of survival plays a very important role in the treatment of the person.

 

Conclusion

            Although, statistics shows that these cancer treatments employed by health professionals are effective in stamping down the mortality rate of cancer patients, but there are still questions as to their side effects on the psychological and mental health of a person. With the reduction of those who died due to cancer, it is easy to assume that these cancer treatments are effective in curing cancer. However, the real question is how can these cancer treatments secure that the cancer sufferer will live. Most chemotherapeutic regimens and techniques still have issues of side effects; these side effects are sometimes more fatal than the real problem, which is cancer.

            Researchers have not yet come up with a novel cancer treatment that ensures elimination of cancer without its recurrence and side effects of the treatment. For these past ten years, researchers are doing their best to find that one single technique, a single drug and a single treatment that ensure the life of a cancer sufferer. In the next few years, cancer treatments will be more advanced, more effective, and more hopeful for cancer patients to live than to die in complications and side effects. And by then, cancer patients will have a better chance of survival and an opportunity to enjoy life at its best without fear that one day cancer will become and haunt them over again.

 

 

References:

Burke, M., et.al. (2001). Cancer chemotherapy: a nursing process approach. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Chang, A. (2006). Oncology: An Evidence-Based Approach. American Cancer Society, Inc. Springer.

David, J. (1995). Cancer Care: Prevention, Treatment and Palliation. Nelson Thornes Publishing             House.

Dervan, P. (1999). Understanding Cancer: A Scientific and Clinical Guide for the Lay Person.    McFarland

Dicato, M. (2013). Side Effects of Medical Cancer Therapy: Prevention and Treatment. Springer.

Elwood, J.M. & Sutcliffe, S. (2010). Cancer Control. Oxford University Press.

Gerson, G. & Lattime. E. (2002). Gene Therapy of Cancer: Translational Approaches from Preclinical             Studies to Clinical Implementation. Academic Press.

Hewitt, M., et.al. (2004). Meeting Psychosocial Needs of Women with Breast Cancer. National    Academies Press.

Holtz, C. (2008). Global Health Care: Issues and Policies. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Hunt, K. (2008). Breast Cancer. Springer.

Ko, A., e.al. (2008). Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy; Revised 5th Edition: How Cancer Is   Diagnosed, Treated, and Managed Day to Day. EVERYONE'S GUIDE TO CANCER            THERAPY. Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Nathan, D. (2007). The Cancer Treatment Revolution: How Smart Drugs and Other New Therapies are             Renewing Our Hope and Changing the Face of Medicine. John Wiley & Sons.

Ruddon, R. (2007). Cancer Biology. Oxford University Press.

Siegel, R. (2012). Cancer Statistics. American Cancer Society, Inc.

Singletary, E., et.al. (2004). Advanced therapy of breast disease. PMPH-USA.

Stewart, B. & International Agency for Research on Cancer. (2003). World Cancer Report. IARC.

Yarbro, C., et.al. (2005). Cancer Nursing: Principles And Practice. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Public Sector Marketing

 

Alcohol and drug rehabilitation centers are important elements of the society to fight the evils brought by drugs and alcohol. Drugs and alcohol can ruin families, kill people, push people to commit crimes, and make the worst of the person. The job of a rehabilitation center is to undo what drugs and alcohol had done on the person. Yet, the job of a rehabilitation center does not end when the person leave or when the program is over; the responsibility transcends or crosses the daily life of a person.

 

The success of the rehabilitation is wholly dependent on the value the rehabilitation does to the patient. It is necessary to understand how well they provide the program to patients as to test the impact of the program on rehabilitating the person. As for this reason, it is necessary for the rehabilitation center to continually reinvent its procedure to ensure the most optimal performance and impact on rehabilitating patients.

 

Being a manager of a rehabilitation center, Eleanor Bron's ultimately goal is to keep the center at its best by innovating its processes and the way they deal with patients through analysis of the patient's life after the rehabilitation program. With seventy regular resident and outpatients attenders, the center handles several lives in its hand.

 

If the center is evaluated on the number of complaints they get, it can be said that the center successfully does its program. With less than 10 complaints in a semester, all of which are settled, the center assumes that everything is carried well. However, based on the understanding of Bron, the center's service can only be justified with the way its patients work on the normal environment after they complete the rehabilitation program.

 

Based on its standpoint, this case reviews the obligation of social institutions to its customers. It directly talks about the extent or the level of responsibility of rehabilitation have toward its patients. When does the rehabilitation center's obligation stop? What are the key areas that are included to the responsibility of the center?

 

According to Marsh & Clunies (1994), “many professionals feel that they have an ethical, professional, or moral obligation to prevent a crime when they are in a position to do so, particularly when the potential crime is a serious one.” To consider, a rehabilitation center is a very vulnerable organization prone to serious criminal actions. Now for question on the extent of  the obligation of this social and public institution, the answer is both encompassing and categorical. Although, it is necessary for the rehabilitation center to avoid evading the privacy of its patients, it also has an obligation to ensure that the patient will not do any serious crime that may harm the public. For this resolution, Bron's decision to know what their patients do after the leave the center is right. It keeps the center updated of the life the patient is living and to track if the person poses a threat to the security and lives of the public.

 

For this clause, the decision of knowing what the reference person can tell of the patient after they leave the center is absolutely right to avoid of “silent violence as a violence of inaction (Pecora, 2000).” The obligation of the rehabilitation center on inaction is rightly cemented on the goal of its program. The goal of the rehabilitation program is for the discharge of drugs or alcohol and the freedom from addiction thereof. The center has an obligation to ensure that this process is extended even after the person leave the center for the protection of the family and the welfare of children at home.

 

For the single fact the drug and alcohol addiction is a behavioral disorder dictates the necessity to govern this mental and behavioral impairment through proper procedures done by rehabilitation centers (Ries, et.al. ed, 2009). The obligation  of the center stands on the behavioral disorder context. As much as the center vouches the moral ascendancy and the behavior of the person, that recommendation extends to the daily life of the person. As a result, it is necessary for the center to know the life that the person is living after the program is completed.

 

Now with this obligation and responsibility being extended even after the person completes the program or leaves the center, the ultimate job is to properly address needs of information. The right information will ensure that no crime as the result of the behavioral disorder will even be committed by the patient after the rehabilitation. 

 

With Eleanor's goal of knowing the satisfaction of their attendees or outpatients, as well as how these people fair in their normal life after they left the center, it is necessary to have a profile information about their resident patients and outpatients. The profile information will provide a succinct overview of what kind of people the center is working. On the other hand, for the knowledge of their satisfaction and feedback of the center, information on their perception of the center is important. This must be coupled with a report on what the patients are doing after the rehabilitation.

 

The goal can be accomplished in several methods and approaches. First, to get a profile information of the attendees and outpatients, a profile sheet must be filled by the attendees or by the call staff for outpatients. Second, feedback cards can be given to the attendees when they decide to leave the center; while for outpatients, call staff can ask questions relating to their satisfaction of the process. Third, getting information on what patients do or how they fair after they left the center is tricky. The center can ask for reference persons who can be asked about the status of patients after months from the rehabilitation process.

 

For the judgment on what information must be included in the database, it is necessary to analyze data in many perspectives. Descriptive analysis is employed to develop an overview or knowledge of the patient. It helps to create a dominant impression on what kind of people the center is dealing with. The “Cause & Effect” Analysis can also be employed to understand the level of service the center provides by looking at  the feedback and satisfaction of patients. The axiom here works on the premise that if patients are satisfied, the procedure employed by the center is right. Of course, sociological analysis is also necessary to understand psychological effect of the rehabilitation on the patient based on how they function in their family, community and society after the rehabilitation.

 

Based on the data and the analysis employed to interpret the data, Eleanor can now form a database on the center's impact on patients. Personal information of patients form the profile of the database. It would include details of gender, age, former jobs, family background, and environment. From this basic information, the database also covers their feedback of the center after the leave. And the last part of the database must be filled with the information from reference people on what the patient now does, the patient's regard to family, and the person's regard to alcohol or drugs.

 

In public sector marketing, it is not just all about getting customers, but there is an obligation that must be properly addressed. Issues that may involve the community, the welfare of families, and the protection of children are important concerns that should be given proper context in dealing with public organizations, such as the rehabilitation center. The marketing job involves following-through the person to avoid harm being meditated on other people.

 

References:

 

Marsh, A. & Clunies, S. (1994). Intensive Outpatient Treatment for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse: A Treatment Improvement Protocol. DIANE Publishing.

 

Pecora, P. (2000). The Child Welfare Challenge: Policy, Practice, and Research. Transaction Publishers.

 

Ries, R., et.al. Ed (2009). Principles of Addiction Medicine. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Multi-Attribute Model and Conjoint Analysis Exercise

 

Central to the consumption decision of individuals is the marginal satisfaction of the last dollar spent to buy goods or services (Samuelson, 2010), and looking at the results of the conjoint analysis of the movie theater, this definition is clearly expressed.  Although, the price of the ticket is a basic requirement on decision making of movie-goers, but other attributes also provide a succinct impact on these decisions.

 

The results shows how consumers would want to get the most of their dollar spent. For instance, a consumer would prefer to spend $6.00 on a staggered big seats with cup holder on a large digital THX than the same amount [$6.00] for unstaggered average seat without cup holder on a small screen-plain sound theater. The results shows that we look for combinations of attributes that can give the best comfort and can provide a marginal utility on the dollar being spent.

 

Moreover, the result also shows that even if the person would want to have food during the film-viewing, but it does not greatly affect their decision-making if same thing is offered across all options. Food, in this case, is ordinal or dimensionless because of the fact that what's being served may not well satisfy the need of the person – and the notion that he or she can buy food that will satisfy him or her makes the food attribute less importance in decision-making of the moviegoer.

 

For the movie theater conjoint analysis, market-value-based segmentation is eclipsed by the benefit segmentation approach to the attributes of the product or good. The approach focuses on how attributes can be combined to meet the expectation of the consumer (Lamb, et.al., 2008). The movie theater provides several combinations of options that can met the need of consumer. What will be the most central theme of consumer's decision? For this segment of the market, what do they need?

 

For instance, those who go to the movie house alone may find appealing average seats without cupboard, but families may not find that good especially of kids are around. Through the different options, each of the possible market segment can get the satisfaction they need. By looking at the demographic, the movie theater was able to create possible options that will appeal to the environment and behavior of consumers.

 

Basically, it is essential to note the level of relevance or importance of the attribute to the segmentation. In our options, an attribute is added to a factorial combination to meet certain level of value. An attribute may have great importance on the decision-making of the person and another may not have, but with careful combination, these attributes will work together to create value on the market segment it is intended to meet their requirements.

 

Nonetheless, managers are guided to make decisions based on looking at possible “what-ifs” that may affect the forecast capability and achievement of the movie theater. On changes of factorial combinations, the sensitivity analysis is essential and vital to correctly address issues on level of feasibility and marketability of the changes.

 

What if price value of the options are changed, will these options still work to meet demands of consumers and give them high marginal utility of every dollar spent? Or what if snacks will be changed, instead of fixed snacks, consumers be given freehand on choosing their snacks, how will this affect the decision-making or choice of consumers?

 

According to Schrader (2007), the exposition of utility is clearly bound on the fundamental aim of economic behavior. It is impossible to separate the value of satisfaction from the behavior of the economy, as based on the consumer behavior. In the airline travel conjoint analysis, this notion of utility or satisfaction is clearly tied with comfort and ease. Even if the analysis is based on a person level, you would still want to arrive at the destination smoothly and stress-free. This is the reason why the type of flight route has a big relevance on the decision-making. In the market-value-based segmentation, it speaks of the universal perception as being the basis of the segmentation. This holds true to this analysis, the universal perception that people want to arrive in their destination without the stress of transferring to another plane or waiting at the airport is very apparent.

 

The part-worth attributes result shows the seemingly less importance of brand compared to the value of convenience and comfort. We don't give high regard to the name of the plane we ride as long as it can deliver the comfort we need. In the same manner, the price of the flight does not qualify much to the requirement considered in choosing a travel flight, even at a personal level.

 

To understand the benefit segmentation and value profile of the options provided, it is necessary to see the market segment of the industry. The market is not too defined as to its demographic, unlike other vertical markets. Instead, it works on a universal understanding on what people need, which is more of a market-value-based segmentation than benefit segmentation. But to some respect, benefit is still a matter of relevance. For instance, one does prefer to ride a planes have movies during the flight. For consideration, JFK to LAX is not too long a flight, but it will keep you seated for almost half a day. A movie is preferred to provide relaxation.

 

Moreover, a traveler would care less if the airline has frequent fliers. Due to the high level of available options, the value of frequent fliers has considerable dropped. This notion is tied on the idea that as long as there is a flight for that day, irregardless of the price, comfort and convenience is the best things. People cannot possibly wait for an airline to have a flight from JFK to LAX because their options are high.

 

However, if we draw lines of sensitivity, what if there is only one airline in the area and the frequent flier is a connecting flight, will the traveler consider the stress and tiresome travel the best? This is a very important part of the decision-making most consumers do – and this should be part on how airline companies do their marketing. The “what ifs” provide an alternative look at the value of the attributes when things are changed. In this case, although the enrollment in a flight program does not have big weight on the decision of travelers, but if the “what if” situation above is taken into account, the enrollment in a flight program would be a major and relevant consideration to decision-making.

 

Drawing the lines of “what ifs” on the possible scenarios affect the way the airline company offer options. It will affect not just the comfort of the passengers, but also the price of the travel. On the other hand, the “what ifs” also affect the response behavior of the traveler of consumer.

To say, there are several scenarios that be possibly conceived with regards to the factorial combinations. However, it is very essential to evaluate the part-worth value of each as to the product value of the option. Decisions must be carefully drawn to meet every possible “what ifs” of the business to ensure the marketability of the option.