Florida Citrus Industry

Free Essays on Cyberpunks

Timothy Leary‘s essay entitled â€Å"The Cyberpunk: The Individual as Reality Pilot† first appeared in Chaos and Cyber Culture in 1994. Leary defines cyberpunks as â€Å"Cyberpunks use all available data-input to think for themselves.† He writes about â€Å"the cyberperson, cybertech and cyberpolitics.† The cyberperson is the one who pilots his/her own life. They continually search for theories, models, paradigms, metaphors, etc. Leary says cybertech refers to the tools, appliances and methodologies of knowing and communicating. He also says Cyberpolitics introduces the use of language and linguistic-tech by the ruling classes in feudal and industrial societies to control children, the uneducated, and the underclass. Cyberpunks are those who use all available data-input to think for themselves. Leary also touches on the word governetics which refers to an attitude of obedience-control in relationship to self or others. Leary gives a few examples of cyberpun ks included on that list are: Christopher Columbus, mark Twain, and Mathias (Rusty) Rust. War Games is an electronic quantum signal, a movie about high-tech computers and human evolution that illustrates and condemns the use of quantum-electronic knowledge technology by governors to control. Leary writes about the Cyberpunk as role model for the 21st century in his final paragraph.... Free Essays on Cyberpunks Free Essays on Cyberpunks Timothy Leary‘s essay entitled â€Å"The Cyberpunk: The Individual as Reality Pilot† first appeared in Chaos and Cyber Culture in 1994. Leary defines cyberpunks as â€Å"Cyberpunks use all available data-input to think for themselves.† He writes about â€Å"the cyberperson, cybertech and cyberpolitics.† The cyberperson is the one who pilots his/her own life. They continually search for theories, models, paradigms, metaphors, etc. Leary says cybertech refers to the tools, appliances and methodologies of knowing and communicating. He also says Cyberpolitics introduces the use of language and linguistic-tech by the ruling classes in feudal and industrial societies to control children, the uneducated, and the underclass. Cyberpunks are those who use all available data-input to think for themselves. Leary also touches on the word governetics which refers to an attitude of obedience-control in relationship to self or others. Leary gives a few examples of cyberpun ks included on that list are: Christopher Columbus, mark Twain, and Mathias (Rusty) Rust. War Games is an electronic quantum signal, a movie about high-tech computers and human evolution that illustrates and condemns the use of quantum-electronic knowledge technology by governors to control. Leary writes about the Cyberpunk as role model for the 21st century in his final paragraph....

Value Added Tax in European countries Research Paper

Value Added Tax in European countries - Research Paper Example It was evident that if there was ever going to be an efficient single market in Europe, a neutral and transparent turnover tax system was required which ensured tax neutrality and allowed the exact amount of tax to be rebated at the point of export. This created tax is known as Value Added Tax (VAT). Drawing reference to Economy Watch (2011), it described Value Added Tax (VAT) as being a special type of indirect tax in which a sum of money is levied at a particular stage in the sale of a product or service. Initiated for the first time April 10, 1954 in France by Maurice Laure; the joint director of tax authority, the VAT is designed to eliminate any problems which may be caused by double taxations. The VAT is intended to be charged whenever there is some added value to raw materials. The taxpayers on the other hand, will get credit for the amount of tax paid off at the stages of procurement. For further clarification, the European Commission Taxation and Customs Union declares a tax able person as any individual, partnership, company or whatever which supplies the taxable goods and services in the course of business. However, if the annual turnover of this person is less than a certain limit (the threshold), which differs according to the member State, the person does not have to charge VAT on their sales. The VAT due on any sale is a percentage of the sale price but from this the taxable person is entitled to deduct all the tax already paid at the preceding stage. As such, double taxation is avoided and tax is paid only on the value added at each stage of production and distribution. In this way, as the final price of the product is equal to the sum of the values added at each preceding stage, the final VAT paid is made up of the sum of the VAT paid at each stage. The value added tax system deals with these problems quite efficiently. As VAT is imposed on value addition - at every single stage - there is no incidence of cascading. In this way, the final consum ers bear the burden of paying value added tax. This system involves absolute transparency at every stage of taxation, thereby making the tax system quite comprehensible and simple (Economywatch.com) For the purpose of exports between community and non-member countries, no VAT is charged on the transaction and the VAT is already charged on the transaction and the VAT already paid on the inputs of the goods for export is deducted – this is an exemption with the right to deduct the input VAT, also called ‘zero-rating’. That means there is no residual VAT contained in the export price. However, as far as imports are concerned, VAT must be paid at the moment the goods are imported so they are immediately placed on the same footing as equivalent goods produced in the community. Taxable people registered for VAT will be able deduct this VAT on their next VAT return. The system has proven to be effective in avoiding problems caused by double taxation of goods and service s and also problems with the conventional sales tax. Compared to the VAT, the Sales tax does not provide for input tax credit, which means that the consumer may pay tax on an input that has already been previously taxed. This scenario should be better able to explain the VAT system in Europe. This scenario will take a rate of 10% 1. The Manufacturer pays $1.10 for raw materials.

Paper 3- Journey, Pilgrimage or Quest (Nonfiction writing) Essay

Paper 3- Journey, Pilgrimage or Quest (Nonfiction writing) - Essay Example Rather, my life was led with a veil pulled over the jealousy and hatred that my cousins and their parents had for me. When my grandfather died. he had left a sizable inheritance to his family thanks to the property that he owned. His children collectively decided to sell the property in order to come into money which they could use for their future. I was fortunate enough to have been given a chunk of that inheritance by my parents. They had always been proud of my money handling skills since the time that I learned what my school allowance was all about and they knew that I would spend the money I inherited wisely and frugally. After the inheritance was divided equally, it appeared that I was the only one of the cousins who managed to get a cash share of my grandfather's estate. Needless to say, this was something that unbeknownst to me, my cousins held against me. It was this jealousy that ate away at their beings since the day that the inheritance was turned over to all parties co ncerned. The fact that we all still continued to live on the family compound, although with separate land titles already, made matters even worse. My parents had decided that it would be in everyone's best interest if the land that our house stood on was transferred to my name. After all, they were not getting any younger and I was becoming increasingly involved in the day to day affairs of my parents. Putting my name on the title was something that they believed to be logical, since I stood to inherit the property when the proper time came anyway. As word of my good fortune spread among my relatives, so did their envy and hatred towards the one they named â€Å"The Chosen One†, a monicker that I refused to accept because I was not chosen by anybody, I just proved to have a good head on my shoulders when compared to my other cousins. Other events that unfolded in our intertwined lives further fueled their anger at my seemingly good fortune. By that time I already knew that I could live with their jealousy. There was nothing I could do about that and, although the great divide now existed between my cousins, uncles, aunts, and my own family, my parents refused to leave the family home. Even though I begged them many times to simply sell the house and leave, they refused to do so. Telling me more than once that I would only be able to leave the place once they had both died already. They refused to be uprooted and moved to a strange, new place to live in. But all that changed one fateful afternoon. I had gotten into my car and headed out to attend to some errands for the day. Before I left, I saw my cousin's motorcycle parked alongside the sidewalk outside the family compound. I felt a tinge of fear at the sight of the motorbike. This male cousin of mine hated me the most of all the cousins who lived with us on the compound. He had done his best to physically harm me numerous times before. The first time, he tried to run me off the road with his SUV as I rode my bike to complete an errand at a nearby grocery store. We happened to share the same road space so he decided to unleash his road rage upon me. I was lucky enough to survive that brush with death. Suffering only a few bruises and scrapes since I was wearing a bike helmet at the time. I should have worn elbow and knee pads while I was at it! My street encounters with that cousin of mine culminated in the events of that

The Philosophy of the Enlightenment Research Paper

The Philosophy of the Enlightenment - Research Paper Example It is safe to say that every aspect of life is dependent upon history. It is through history that one is able to make predictions, give valid evaluations, connect forms of life with another, creates programs and strategies as they relate to success and continuity. History helps to revolutionize the thinking processes. The different experiences help to prepare a generation of people for a new age and a new era. The level to which they use the knowledge to steer away from the mistakes of the past should not solely be the responsibility of history and historians. The consequences are related to the attitudes, will, and direction of events at any given time. History is responsible for producing new schools of evidence and debate. In the different explanations of the creation story, for example, there are opposing sides as to how the earth was generated. In the absence of the concrete record that can withstand the scrutiny of scientists and other scholars, history provides a medium throug h which religion, philosophy, sociology, and psychology can equally share and contribute to the different explanations.  One must admit that although history is essential and indispensable there exist many doubts and uncertainties. In many prominent universities such as the University of Oxford, while subjects such as theology, law, music among others were included in the curriculum of the university for many years it was not until 1850 that history was added to the program of studies. It could not be described as having claims to a wealth of truth and there was a lack of systematic knowledge.

Ethical and legal level of counseling

Ethical and legal level of counseling 1. The concept of ethics and legal Ethics is generally defined as a philosophical discipline that is concerned with human conduced and moral decision making (Van Hoose, 1985). Ethics are normative in nature and focus on principles and standards that govern relationship between individuals, such as those between counselors and clients. Morality, however, involves judgment or evaluation of action. It is associated with such words as good, bad, right, wrong ought, and should (grant, 1992). Counselors have morals, and the theories counselors employ have embedded within them moral presuppositions about human nature that explicitly and implicitly question first What is a person and second, what should a person be or become? (Christopher, 1996) For improving the ethical and legal level of counseling, first, the counselor needs to understand what the word ethical means. Before the first counseling session, the counselor should realize how important about making good professional decisions that are both ethics and legal while being helpful to his or her clients. According to the Websters New World Dictionary (1980), it means 1. having to do with ethics; or of conforming to moral standards, 2. conforming to professional standards of conduct. Notice that these two definitions are distinctly different. This first is a personal phenomenon that is, what is moral is decide most often by individuals. In contrast, the second encompasses behaviors that are considered ethical by some professional group. In the mental health profession, that group could be the American Counseling Association (ACA), or the American Psychological (APA), just to name a few. 2. The development of codes of ethics for counselors The first counseling code of ethics was developed by the American Counseling Association (ACA) (Then the American Personnel and Guidance Association, or APGA) based on the original American Psychological Association code of ethics (Allen, 1986). The initial ACA code was initiated by Donald Super and approved in 1961 (Callis Pope, 1982). It has been revised periodically since that time. The ACA also produces A Practitioners Guide to Ethical Decision Making, video conferences on resolving leading-edge ethical dilemmas (Salo Hamilton, 1996), and an Ethical Standards Casebook (Herlihy Corey, 1996). The ACAs latest ethics code is entailed a Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. This code is one of the major signs that counseling has developed into a mature discipline because professions are characterized, among other things, by a claim to specialized knowledge and a code of ethics. In the CAC, ethics standards are arranged under topical sectional headings. They contain material similar to that found in many other ethical codes, yet they are unique to the profession of counseling. 3. Following the Guideline for Acting Ethically For improving the higher level of the ethics of counseling, the counselors should follow guideline for acting ethically. Swanson (1983) lists guidelines for assessing whither counselors act in ethically responsible ways. The first is personal and professional honest. Counselors need to operate openly with themselves and those with whom they work. Hidden agendas or unacknowledged feelings hinder relationship and place counselors on shaky ethical ground. One way to overcome personal and professional honest problems that may get in the way of acting ethically is to receive supervision (Kitchener, 1994). The second guideline is acting in the best interest of clients. This ideal is easier to discuss than achieve. At times, a counselor may impose personal values on client and ignore what they really want (Gladding Hool, 1974). At other times, a counselor may fail to recognize an emergency and too readily accept the idea that the clients best interest is served by doing nothing. The third guideline is that counselors act without malice or personal gain. Some clients are difficult to like or deal with, and it is win these individuals that counselors must be especially careful. However, counselors must be careful to avoid relationships with likable clients either on a person or professional basis. Errors in judgment are most likely to occur when the counselors self-interest becomes a part of the relationship with a client (Germaine, 1993). The final guideline is whether counselors can justify an action as the best judgment of what should be done based upon the current state of the profession (Swanson, 1983). To make such a decision, counselors must keep up with current trends by reading the professional literature; attending in-service workshops and conventions, and becoming actively involved in local, state, and national counseling activities. The ACA Ethical Standards Casebook (Herlihy Corey, 1996) contains examples in which counselors are presented with issues and case studies of questionable ethical situations and given both guidelines and questions to reflect on in deciding what an ethical response would be. Each situation involves a standard of the ethical code. As helpful as the casebook may be, in many counseling situations the proper behavior is not obvious (Gladding, 2001). For example, the question of confidentiality in balancing the individual rights of a person with AIDS and society s right to be protected from the spread of the disease in one with which some counselors struggle. Likewise, there are multiple ethical dilemmas in counseling adult survivors about what to do in a given situation, it is crucial for counselors to concern and talk over situations with colleagues, in addition to using principles, guidelines, casebooks, and professional codes of ethics. 4. Counselor Competence and Referral The ACA Code of Ethics (1995) clearly states that Counselors must practice only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, state and national professional credentials, and appropriate professional experience. The APA Ethical Principles (1992) makes a similar statement and adds that: Psychologists provide services, teach, or conduct research in new area or involving new techniques only after first undertaking appropriate study, training, supervision, and consultation from person who are competent in those areas or techniques. The ethical standards are quite clear regarding what a counselor should do if he is not competent to treat a certain client problem. His first and best choice is to make an appropriate referral. If there is no one to whom he can refer (which would be an exception rather than a common occurrence), then it is incumbent on he to educate himself through reading books and journal articles on the presenting problem and to seek supervision of his work with the client. The counselor has the responsibility for the welfare of the client; therefore, it is his professional duty to obtain for that client the best services possible be it from him or from a professional colleague. Clients are not subjects for your trial and error learning but deserve the best professional care possible. One of counselors responsibilities is to recognize his or her strengths and weaknesses and to offer services only in the areas of his or her strengths. Defining a counselors areas of component usually involves critical and honest self-examination. Calling this subjective component an internal perspective, Robinson and Cross caution counselors to do everything possible to gain the skills and knowledge based to the profession. Counselors need to stretch their skills continually by reading and attending to new and developing trends, through attaining postgraduate education, and through attending seminars and workshops aimed at sharpening and increasing both knowledge and skill bases. All counselors must take full responsibility for adhering to professional codes of conduct that address the concepts of proper representation of professional qualifications, for providing only those services for which they have been trained, and for seeking assistance with personal issues that are barriers to providing effective service. Regardless of the area of the area of service being discussed, counselors are the first-line judge of their professional competence. Although credentialing bodies, professional organizations, and state legislatures may set standards for practice, the counselor must be the most critical evaluator of his or her ability to provide services. This often becomes quite a challenge when ones living dependents on having clients who will pay for service. In fact, the ethical is not always the easy choice. 5. Improving Ethics Decisions Making in Counseling The making ethics decision is the crucial key for achieving a higher level of the ethics of counseling. Ethics decision making is often not easy yet is a part of being a counselor. It requires virtues such as character, integrity, and moral courage as well as knowledge (Welfel, 1998). Some counselors operate from personal ethical standards without regard to the ethical guidelines developed by professional counseling associations. They usually function well until faced with a dilemma for which there is no apparent good or best solution (Swanson, 1983). At such times, ethical issues arise and these counselors experience anxiety, doubt, hesitation, and confusion in determining their conduct. Unfortunately, when they act, their behavior may turn out to be unethical because it is not grounded in any ethical code. The researchers found five types of ethical dilemmas most prevalent among the university counselors they surveys there: a. confidentiality, b. role conflict, c. counselor competence, d. conflicts with employer or institution, and e. degree of dangerousness. The situational dilemmas that involved danger were the least difficult to resolve and those that dealt with counselor competence and confidentiality were the most difficult. The surprising finding of this study, however, was that less than over-third of the respondents indicated that they relied on published professional codes of ethics in resolving dilemmas. Instead, most used common sense, a strategy that at times may be professionally unethical and at best unwise. It is in such types of situations that need to be aware of resources for ethical decision making, especially when questions arise over controversial behaviors such as setting or collecting fees or conducting dual relationships (Gibson Pope, 1993). Ethical reasoning, the process of determining which ethical principles are involved and then prioritizing them based on the professional requirements and beliefs, is also crucial (Lanning, 1992). In making ethical decisions, counselors should take actions based on careful, reflective thought about responses they think are professionally right in particular situations (Tennyson Strom, 1992). Several ethical principles relate to the actives and ethical choices of counselors: Beneficence (doing well and preventing harm), Non malfeasance (not inflicting harm), Autonomy (respecting freedom of choice and self-determination), Justice (fairness), and Fidelity (faithfulness or honoring commandments) (Herlihy, 1996). All these principles involve conscious decision making by counselors throughout the counseling process. Of these principles, some experts identify non malfeasance as the primary ethical responsibility in the field of counseling. Non malfeasance not only involves the removal of present harm but the prevention of future harm and passive avoidance of harm. It is the basis on which counselors respond to clients who may endanger themselves or others and why they respond to colleagues unethical behavior. 5.1 Educating Counselors in Ethical Decision Making Ethical can be improving in many ways, but one of the beat is through course offering that are now required in most graduate counseling programs and available for continuing education credit. Such courses can bring about significant attitudinal changes in students and practicing professionals, impairment, and multiculturalism (Coll, 1993). Because ethical attitudinal changes are related to ethical behavioral changes, courses in ethics on any level are extremely valuable. Van Hoose (1979) conceptualizes the ethical behavior of counselors in terms of a five-stage developmental continuum of reasoning: Punishment orientation. At this stage the counselor believes external social standards are the basis for judging behavior. If clients or counselors violate a societal rule, they should be punished. Institutional orientation. Counselors who operate at this stage believe in and abide by the rules of the institutions for which they work. They do not question the rules and base their decisions on them. Societal orientation. Counselors at this stage base decisions on societal standards. If a question arises about whether the needs of society or an individual should come first, the needs of society are always given priority. Individual orientation. The individuals needs receive top priority at this stage. Counselors are aware of society needs and are concerned about the law, but they focus on what is best for the individual. Principle (conscience) orientation. In this stage concern for the individual is primary. Ethical decisions are based on internalized ethical standards, not external considerations. As Welfel and Lipsitz (1983) point out, the work of Van Hoose and Paradise is especially important because it is the first conceptual model in the literature that attempts to explain how counselors reason about ethical issues. It is heuristic (i.e., research able or open to research) and can form the basis gor empirical studies of promotion of ethical behavior. Several other models have been proposed for educating counselors in ethical decision making. Based on Gumaer and Scott (1985), for instance, offer a method for training group workers based on the ethical guidelines of the association for specialists in group work. This method uses case vignettes and Carkhuffs three-goal, model of helping: self-expectation, self-understanding, and action. Kicherner (1986) proposes an integrated model of goals and components for an ethics education curriculum based on research on the psychological processes underlying moral behavior and current thinking in applied ethics. Her curriculum includes counselors to ethical issues, improving their abilities to make ethical judgments, encourage responsible ethical actions and tolerating the ambiguity of ethical decision making (Kitchener, 1986). Her model and one proposed are process oriented and assume that counselors do not learn to make ethical decisions on their own. Pelsma and Borgers (1986) particularly emphasize the how as opposed to what of ethics that is, how to reason ethically in a constantly changing field. Other practitioner guide for making ethical decisions are a seven-step decision making model based on a synthesis of the professional literature, a nine-step ethical decision-making models follow based on critical-evaluative judgments and seven other models created between 1984 and 1998 (cottone Claus, 2000). These ethical decision-making models follow explicit steps or stages and are often used for specific areas of counseling practice. However, through empirical comparisons and continued dialogue, the effectiveness of the models may be validated. In addition to the models already mentioned the ACA Ethics Committee offers a variety of educational experience. For example, members of the committee offer learning institutes at national and regional ACA conferences. In addition, they publish articles in the ACA newsletter. Finally, to promote counseling practices, the committee through ACA publishes a type counselors guide entitled: What you should know about the ethical practice of professional counselors, which is on the ACA website as well as printed (Williams Freeman, 2002). 6. Focus on Clients Rights When clients enter a counseling relationship, they have a right to assume that you are competent. In addition, they have certain rights, known as client rights, as well as responsibilities. These rights have their foundation in the Bill of Rights, particularly the first and fourth amendment of the constitution of the United States, which are freedom of religion, speech, and the press and right of petition and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, respectively. The concept of confidentiality, privileged communication, and informed consent are based on the fourth amendment, which guarantees privacy. Privacy has been defined as the freedom of individuals to choose for themselves the time and the circumstances under which and the extent to which their beliefs, behaviors, and opinions are to be shared or withheld from others (Corey et al., 1988). 6.1 Improving Confidentiality and Privileged Communications The concept of privacy is the foundation for the clients legal right to privileged communication and counselors responsibility to hold counseling communications confidentiality is a professional concept. It is so important that both the APA (1992) Ethical principles and the ACA (1995) Code of Ethics each devote an entire section to confidentiality. However, a clients communications are not confidential in a court of law unless the mental health professional is legally certified or licensed in the state in which he or she practices. Most states grant the clients of state-certified or licensed mental health professionals (such as psychologists, professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists) the right of privileged communications. This means that clients, not counselors, have control over who has access to what they have said in therapy and protects them from having their communications disclosed in a court of law. In order for communication to be privileged, counselors should follow four conditions. First, the communication must originate in confidence that it will not be disclosed. Second, confidentiality must be essential to the full and satisfactory maintenance of the relationship. Third, in the opinion of the greater community, the relationship must be one that should be sedulously fostered. Finally, injury to the relationship by disclosure of the communication must be greater than the benefit gained by the correct disposal of litigation regarding the information. If as a counselor can claim these four conditions, then his clients communications are not only confidential, but they are also privileged and, therefore, are protected from being disclosed in a court of law. One must remember, however, that there is always a balance between a clientss right to privacy and societys need to know. Despite the importance given to confidentiality and privileged communication, pope, and Keith-Spiegel (1987) reported that 62 percent of psychologists in a national survey indicated that they had unintentionally violated a clients confidentiality and 21 percent had intentionally violated a clients confidentiality. These alarming statistics suggest that mental health professionals are at risk for violating this core ethical principle. Therefore, all mental health professionals need to be aware of the professional standards regarding confidentiality, the professional is guilty of breaching the confidentiality. Secretaries are considered extensions of the certified or licensed mental health professionals to which they are accountable. 6.2 Improving Informed Consent The ACA (1995) Code of Ethics is very specific with respect to what should be disclosed to clients in order for them to give informed consent: When counseling is initiated, and throughout the counseling process as necessary, counselors inform clients of the purposes, goals, techniques, procedures, limitations, potential risks and benefits of services to be performed, and other pertinent information. Counselors take steps to ensure that clients understand the implications of diagnosis, the intended use of tests and reports, fee, and billing arrangements. Clients have the right to expect confidentiality and be provided with an explanation of its limitations, including supervision and treatment team professionals; to obtain clear information about the case records; to participate in the ongoing counseling plans; and to refuse any recommended services and be advised on the consequences of such refusal. If a counselor is asked by a client to disclose to a third party information revealed in therapy, have the client sign an informed consent form before making any disclosure. The counselor may be surprised to learn that counselor are not even permitted to respond to inquiries about whether they are seeing a person in therapy even the clients name and status in counseling are confidential, unless the client has granted permission for this information to be released. One exception is when the client is paying for the services through an insurance company. This automatically grants the insurance company limited access to information regarding the client. The client needs to be made aware of the parameters of the information that will be shared with the insurance company prior to beginning therapy. Again, it is evident how important it is to have potential clients sign an informed consent form before they become clients. 6.3 Improving Clients Welfare All the preceding discussion rests on the permission rests on the premise that the counselors primary obligation is to protect the welfare of the client. The preamble to the APA (1992) Ethical Principles specifically states that it has as its primary goal the welfare and protection of the individuals and groups with whom psychologists work. A similar statement is made by ACA (1995) Code of Ethics: the primary responsibility of counselors is to respect the dignity and to promote the welfare and of clients. Dual relationships, counselors personal needs have already been discussed; attention now needs to be given to the third concern. An additional set of guidelines comes into play when a counselor is doing work or working with a couple or family. In a group setting, special issues include qualifications of the group leader, informed consent when more than the group leader will be participating in therapy, the limits to confidentiality and to privileged communication when third parties are present in therapy, and understanding how individuals will be protected and their growth nurtured in a group situation. Unlike individual counseling, clients who want to be involved into a group experience need to be screened before being accepted into a group. This screening not only ensures that the client is appropriate for the group but also protects other group members from a potentially dysfunctional group member. It is evident that client welfare, whether in individual therapy or in group work, rests squarely on the shoulders of the counselor. The counselor must be cognizant of the various aspects of the counseling relationship that can jeopardize the clients welfare and take the steps necessary to alleviate the situation. Robinson Kurpius and Gross offer several suggestions for safeguarding the welfare of each client: Check to be sure that you are working in harmony with any other mental health professional also seeing your client. Develop clear, written descriptions code of what clients may expert with respect to therapeutic regime, testing and reports, recordkeeping, billing, scheduling, and emergencies. Share your professional code of ethics with your clients, and prior to beginning therapy discuss the parameters of a therapeutic relationship. Know your own limitations, and do not hesitate to use appropriate referral sources. Be sure that the approaches and techniques used are appropriate for the client and that you have the necessary expertise for their use. Consider all other possibilities before establishing a counseling relationship that could be considered a dual relationship. Evaluate the clients ability to pay and when the payment of the usual fee would create a hardship. Either accept a reduced fee or assist the client in finding needed services at an affordable cost. Objectively evaluate client progress and the therapeutic relationship to determine if it is consistently in the best interests of the client. Improving the Ethics of Counseling in Some Specific Situations Counselors should check thoroughly the general politics and principles of an institution before accepting employment because employment in a specific setting implies that selves in institutions that misuse their services and do not act in the best interests of their clients, they must act either to change the institution through educational or persuasive means or find other employment. The potential for major ethical crises between a counselor and his or her employer exists in many school setting. School counselors are often used as tools by school administrators. When the possibility of conflict exists between a counselors loyalty to the employer and the client, the counselor should always attempt to find a resolution that protects the rights of the client; the ethical responsibility is to the client first and the school lore other setting second (Huey, 1986). One way school counselors can assure themselves of an ethically sound program is to realize that they may encounter multiple dilemmas in providing services to students, parents, and teachers. Therefore, before interacting with these different groups, school counselors should become families with the ethical standards of the American school counseling association, which outlines counselors responsibilities to the groups with whom they work (Henderson, 2003). One of the most common situations of counseling is about the family and marriage. The reason is that counselors are treating a number of individuals together as a system, and it is unlikely that all members of the system have the same goals. To overcome potential problems, Thomas (1994) has developed a dynamic, process-oriented framework for counselors to use when working with families. This model discusses six values that affect counselors, clients, and the counseling process: (a) responsibility, (b) integrity, (c) commitment, (d) freedom of choice, (e) empowerment, and (f) right grieves. Then, when a counselor faces the counseling of family or marriage, he or she should try to follow this framework. The use of computers and technology in counseling is another area of potential ethical difficulty. The possibilities exist for a breach of client information when computers are used to transmit information among professional counselors. Other ethically sensitive areas include client or counselor misuse and even the validity of data offered over computer links. In addition, the problem of cyber counseling or web counseling that is, counseling over the internet in which the counselor may be hundreds of miles away is fraught with ethical dilemmas. Thus, the national board of certified counselors has issued ethical guidelines regarding such conduct. Other counseling settings or situations with significant potential for ethical dilemmas include counseling the elderly, multicultural counseling, working in managed care, diagnosis of clients, and counseling research (Jencius Rotter, 1998). In all of these areas, counselors face new situations, some of which are not addressed by the ethical standards of the ACA. For instance, in working with older adults, counselors must make ethical decisions regarding the unique needs of the aging who have cognitive impairments, a terminal illness, or who have been victims of abuse. In order to do so, counselors may apply principle ethics to these situations that are based on a set of obligations that focus on finding socially and historically appropriate answers to the question: What shall I do? In other word, Is this action ethical? They may also employ virtue ethics, which focus on the character traits of the counselor and nonobligatory ideals to which professional aspire. Rather than solving a specific ethical question, virtue ethics are focused on the questions: Am I doing what is best for my client? Counselors are wise to integrate both forms of ethics reasoning into their deliberations if they wish to make the best decisions possible. In making ethical decisions where there are no guidelines, it is also critical for counselor to stay abreast of current issues, trends, and even legislation related to the situation they face. In the process, counselors must take care not to stereotype or otherwise be insensitive to clients with whom they are working. For instance, a primary emphasis of research ethics is, appropriately, on the protection of human subjects in research. In the area of research in particular, there are four main ethical issues that must be resolved: a. informed consent, b. coercion and deception, c. Confidentiality and privacy, and d. reporting the results. (Robinson Gross, 1986) All of these areas involve people whose lives are in the care of the researcher. Anticipation of problems and implementation of policies that produce humane and fair results are essential. 8. Improving the Legal Aspects of Counseling Counselors must follow specific legal guidelines in working with certain populations. But counselors may often have considerable trouble in situations in which the law is not clear or a conflict exists between the law and professional counseling ethics. Nevertheless, it is important that providers of mental health services be fully informed about what they can or cannot do legally. Such situations often involve the sharing of information among clients, counselors, and the court system. Sharing may be broken down into confidentiality, privacy, and privileged communication. Confidentiality is the ethical duty to fulfill a contract or promise that the information revealed during therapy will be protected from unauthorized disclosure. Confidentiality become a legal as well as an ethical concern if it is broken, whether intentionality or not. It is annually one of the most inquired about ethical and legal concerns received by the ACA Ethics Committee including dilemmas regarding right to privacy, clients right to privacy, and counselors avoiding illegal and unwarranted disclosures of confidential information (Williams Freeman, 2002). Privacy is an evolving legal concept that recognizes individuals rights to choose the time, circumstances, and extent to which they wish to share or withhold personal information. Clients who think they have been coerced into revealing information they would not normally disclose may seek legal recourse against a counselor. Privileged communication, a narrower concept, regulates privacy protection and confidentiality by protecting clients from having their confidential communications disclosed in court without their permission. It is defined as a clients legal right, guaranteed by statute, that confidences originating in a therapeutic relationship will be safeguarded (Arthur Swanson, 1993). Most states recognize and protect privileged communication in counselor-client relationships. As opposed to individuals, the legal concept of privileged communication generally does not apply in group and family counseling (Anderson, 1996). However, counselors should consider certain ethical concerns in protecting the confidentiality of group and family members. One major difficulty with any law governing client and counselor communication is that laws vary from state to state. It is essential that counselors know and communication to their cli

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Anthony L. Smith Instructor Cook English IV 11 November 2013 The Nuances of the Black Plague Imagine half of a continent dying seemingly without reason, all within two years. The devastation caused on families would be unbearable. This is exactly what happened just 700 years ago in Europe. Probably the darkest, most devastating catastrophe in that century, and yet, the cause of deaths remains a question. One ‘thing’ has been confirmed; the deaths were caused by a plague. Three strands of the plague were Pneumonic, Bubonic, and the Septicemic. All three included similar symptoms, such as fever and chills; however, distinct symptoms also were noted. In Pneumonic, people experienced bloody sputum and difficulty breathing, whereas the Septicemic plague caused death of tissue in finger tips and in the nose. The Bubonic plague, the focus of this research paper, was the most popular strain of the plague. This strain caused swollen lymph nodes and buboes under the arms and around the groin area. The Plague was airborne, spread by rat bites, and by flea bites. All three of these strains were very painful. The Black plague was a major epidemic from 1348-1350, but it remained a threat until the 1666 London fire. Over 50 million Europeans were affected by this deadly disease, which ignited the rising of inflation, urban and peasant immorality, and challenges to the authorities of the Church. Different theories of contracting the disease brought several twists to this era. The Black plague is commonly believed to have started in Central Asia in the early 1300s. The plague is believed to have been brought to Europe on in October of 1347 when 12 ships docked in Sicily. On the ships were dead and sickly sailors who had the plague. Sicilian citiz... ...ls. They admitted to doing it thinking they would be left alone, but they and a lot of their community were murdered because of it. People began to doubt God and do things their own way. They became frustrated with questions as to why God would let this happen. As the death toll from the plague became higher and higher, people became really sad and depressed from losing friends and loved ones. As jobs were more available after the start of the plague, people began to make more money, but food and taxes also became more expensive. As prices rose, so did the peasants tempers. Violence was not uncommon in European towns and cities. Revolts were a way to release stress. The plague became an epidemic again in 1665, and killed about 100,000 people in that summer. In 1666 the London fire helped to suppress the plague to the point where it did not spread like it did before.