The Effects of the Union on the United States Postal Service

The effects of the union on the United States Postal Service Brittney Horton University of Phoenix HRM 531 April 09, 2012 Alesha Alstoft Abstract The United States Postal Service is one of the nations most thriving companies. It has over 600,000+ employees and is the second largest civilian employer in the United States. (DeHaven, 2010). While it is one of the countries most thriving businesses it is not void of faults. To prevent the employees from being mistreated, most post office branches create unions. The unions not only protect those who take advantage of the membership but the other employees of the United States Postal Service (USPS) as well. This paper maps out the many benefits to being in the American†¦show more content†¦At the point that the certain branch of the USPS’s union is certified the employer, the federal government, would then be legally required to negotiate with the union, in good faith, a legally binding contract covering all of the aspects of employment. (Office Professional Employees International Union, 2011) Like anything, with time comes changes and at some point employees might feel as if the contract they have should be amended and at that point the negotiation process starts. The APWU would, at this point, begin the negotiation process. To start the union would create a Contract Action Committee (CAC) filled with active members. The CAC would then gather key information about things the members want to amend and plan a contract campaign. This campaign should be created with the intent to apply pressure to the employer. Once the campaign has started a bargaining team should be formed and trained. This team will work close with the CAC and negotiate the contract with the employer. The team will gather information from the union members and begin to lay negotiation round rules to schedule out the location and time of negations. They will also arrange leave for the union negotiators. After the guidelines have been set the next step in the negotiation process is to form a strategy. In this process, the bargaining team should describe the planned proposal, explain how it works, describe the problem that isShow MoreRelatedLaws Affecting The Agency Of The United States Postal Service1485 Words   |  6 PagesLaws Affecting The Agency When it comes to The United States Postal Service, I did not think they would have many court cases, especially dealing with diversity and mistreatment in the workplace. During my research, however, I was proven wrong. The Postal Service has had quite a few court cases, while many of them relate to ethical and discriminatory issues. Individuals have felt that the Postal Service sometimes judge applicants or workers by their lifestyle or ethnicity. This in turn shows badRead MorePad 530 Dq1-2 Week 1-21473 Words   |  6 PagesPad 530 Week 1 dq1 Public Human Resource Management  Ã‚  Please respond to the following: * Analyze the topics discussed in Chapter 1, with the exception of the laws. Select two topics and discuss two positive effects and two challenges the topic poses for human resource departments in the public sector.   Performance Managementfor human resource departments it is important; to utilize the skills, focus and provide incentives for employees that are based on performance to achieve the organization’sRead MoreMail Troubles of the Civil War1100 Words   |  5 Pagesdisconnected the seceded states from the mail service (Burke). Confederate postage was then no longer accepted by the Northern postal services, and if received was to be forwarded to the Dead Letter Office to be returned to senders (Nation Divided). To overcome this issue, the southern states created their own postal service. John H. Reagan became their postmaster general and changed 8,535 of the United States’ 28,586 post offices to confederate leadership (Confederate Postal System). He tried toRead MoreThe Postal System During The 19th Century1798 Words   |  8 PagesThe postal system played a crucial role in national expansion. It facilitated expansion into the West by creating an inexpensive, fast, conveni ent communication system. Letters from early settlers provided information and boosterism to encourage increased migration to the West, helped scattered families stay in touch and provide assistance, assisted entrepreneurs in finding business opportunities, and made possible regular commercial relationships between merchants in the west and wholesalers andRead MorePrivatisation of the Royal Mail5184 Words   |  21 Pages  provider   of   postal   services   in   the   United   Kingdom   and    one   of   the   largest   postal   service   providers   in   the   world.   This   paper   analyzes   the    recent    move    of    the    British    Government    to    privatize    the    Royal    Mail.    It    looks    at    various    aspects    leading    up    to    the    privatization    and    the    effect    that    privatizationRead MoreThe United States Postal Service: At the Brink of Insolvency8559 Words   |  35 PagesThe United States Postal Service: At the Brink of Insolvency Business 510 – Managerial Economics Final Project Submission February 25, 2012 Executive Summary this report takes a look at the United States Postal Service financial problems, which brought it to the brink of insolvency, after losing more than $25B in the last 5 years. It analyzes factors and performance and postulates corrective actions to bring USPS back to financial solvency. Both microeconomic and macroeconomic factorsRead More anthrax Essays1316 Words   |  6 Pagesallies (Israel, Egypt, South Africa, South Korea). More than 40 germ banks in the United States and around the world supply anthrax for scientific research. Has anthrax been used as a weapon before? Yes. Germany tried halfheartedly to use it during World War I. During World War II, most warring parties had biowarfare programs; Japan used anthrax in China. During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union set up large biowarfare programs. President Nixon banned the production and useRead MoreThe United States Postal Service2319 Words   |  10 PagesStephanie Becker Mrs. Galaviz English 12 March 3, 2015 The United States Postal Service â€Å"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.† These words were scripted on the wall of one of the very first post offices in the United States. And, in the past, those very words rang true, starting with the very first man who inquired to the British about a postal service. The Pony Express was soon to follow. Many brave, young menRead More Competition Laws or Antitrust Laws Essay844 Words   |  4 Pages Competition laws or antitrust laws are to assure that all consumers that they have the opportunity to pay the lowest price added to with a higher quality of products and services they are utilizing. â€Å"Using dominant industry power to secure favorable product prices from buyers, even though such prices are unavailable to weaker companies in the same industry, is generally a violation of antitrust laws† (SBA GOV2011).Currently competition laws enables every single person to do bus iness in the marketRead MoreThe Vietnam War : A Close Family Friend Of Mine, By The Name Of Federico1527 Words   |  7 Pagesdecision to join the United States Air Force, at the age of twenty one. He began his service to the Air Force on June 8th, 1970 until January 1993, a total of twenty three years, although the Vietnam War lasted five years until 1975 while he was in service. After the Air Force, Fred joined the United States Postal Service for years until he retired. The Vietnam War influenced Fred in positive and negative ways, which have shaped him into the person he is today. The United States first became involved

Project Management of Cost Estimate Method †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Project Management of Cost Estimate Method. Answer: Introduction The estimation of cost is considered as one of the major aspect in the process of project management. There are many methods of cost estimation in project management. One of these methods is Bottom-Up Estimation method. In the process of bottom up approach, the people who are going to do the tasks of the project take part in the process of cost estimation process and these people are the project team member. All these people work with the project manager for the development of cost estimates at the task level in the structure of work breakdown structure (Fleming and Koppelman 2016). This particular method is considered as the most accurate method of cost estimating and the reasons are discussed below: Importance of Bottom-Up Estimation Required Steps It needs to be mentioned that the cost estimation process under bottom up approach work in five steps. In the first step, the team members identify all the required tasks in the project. Work breakdown structure is considered as the basis of bottom up approach. This step decomposes the project tasks in smaller and more manageable units for the purpose of easy cost estimation (Khodakarami and Abdi 2014). This process includes step two. In the process of bottom up approach, the next step involves in the estimation of project tasks so that their dependencies can be identified. In this particular step, the project manager asks for input from team members and stakeholders to ensure for providing reference point to the firm for future change management. In the last step, the project team members determine the required resources for the completion of the project and to ascertain their availability for the completion of tasks (Snchez 2015). Importance After the completion of these tasks, the project manager is required to aggregate the estimates into total of each project deliverables. Thus, it can be observed that the bottom up approach identifies the required work for lower level activities and sums them to approximate work required for high-level project deliverables. This whole process is considered as the best way for getting more accurate scheduling figure for large projects. For the application of bottom up approach, all the information related to the projects needs to be available. Conclusion Thus, on the overall basis, it can be seen that bottom up approach helps in the determination of the cost of each activity with great details at the bottom level and them rolls up for the calculation of the project cost (Kaiser, Arbi and Ahlemann 2015). For all these reasons, bottom up approach is considered as the most accurate method for cost estimation. References Fleming, Q.W. and Koppelman, J.M., 2016, December. Earned value project management.Project Management Institute. Kaiser, M.G., El Arbi, F. and Ahlemann, F., 2015. Successful project portfolio management beyond project selection techniques: Understanding the role of structural alignment.International Journal of Project Management,33(1), pp.126-139. Khodakarami, V. and Abdi, A., 2014. Project cost risk analysis: A Bayesian networks approach for modeling dependencies between cost items.International Journal of Project Management,32(7), pp.1233-1245. Snchez, M.A., 2015. Integrating sustainability issues into project management.Journal of Cleaner Production,96, pp.319-330.

Are the SAT Subject Tests Changing

Are the SAT Subject Tests Changing SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The SAT was redesigned in 2016- a huge revamp that has been linked to the Common Core and attempts to re-secure market share lost to the ACT.This may leave you wondering: what about SAT Subject Tests? Are they changing? Will there be new SAT Subject Tests modeledafter the main SAT redesign? In a word, no. At least, not now. So what does this mean?Well, for starters, it means that SAT Subject Tests will now be even more different from the regular SAT than they were before the SAT redesign. In this article, I’ll go over the implications of the â€Å"mismatch† between the redesigned SAT and the SAT Subject Tests. How are the formats different, and how should you approach these differences?I’ll also go over how the SAT redesign has changed how Subject Test content overlaps (or doesn’t) with the regular SAT.Finally, I will engage in some wild speculation (okay, fine, evidence-based speculation) about where the SAT Subject Tests may be going in the future. The SAT Subject Tests Are Not Changing First things first: the SAT Subject Tests are not changing. The College Board has come right out and said it! Of course, this doesn’t mean that the SAT Subject Tests will never change or be redesigned, but, at present, nothing has been announced. So you can expect that they will be administered in the same format for at least the next few years. However, the main SAT redesign does mean that there are now some additional differences between the regular SAT and the SAT Subject Tests. The winds of change...are not blowing for the SAT Subject Tests. Formatting Differences Between the New SAT and the SAT Subject Tests There were always some differences between the SAT and the SAT Subject Tests. While Subject Tests are each one hour long in a specialized subject area, the regular SAT is a multi-section, broad-content test with variable time lengths per section. This remains the case under the redesigned SAT. But with the redesign, there are a couple of additional differences between the two test types in question format and scoring.Let’s break them down: The redesigned SAT has only four answer choices per question, but mostSAT Subject Tests will continue to have five answer choices per question.The only exception is the foreign language Subject Tests, which have four answer choices per question. All things being equal, this means your chances of randomly guessing a correct answer on most SAT Subject Tests is 5% lower than on the main SAT (20% vs. 25%). This probably won’t make any real difficulty difference between the two exams because on a five-choice test like a Subject Test, there’s generally at least one really obviously wrong answer in the bunch. A bigger change is that the redesigned SAT has no penalty for guessing while the SAT Subject Tests will continue to have a penalty for wrong answers to discourage guessing. On Subject Tests with five answer choices (again, this is most of them), you'll lose 1/4 of a point for each incorrect answer. For the foreign language Subject Tests, which have four answer choices, you'll lose 1/3 of a point for each incorrect answer. This may actually make your test-taking strategy somewhat different between SAT Subject Tests and the regular SAT. Basically, you should definitely answer every question on the regular SAT, even if you have no idea of the answer because you lose nothing by guessing. In contrast, you might want to take a slightly more conservative approach on your Subject Tests and only guess when you can eliminate some answer choices. Otherwise, you run the risk of an extra penalty for getting the answer wrong. Don't get stung by wrong answer penalties! Subject Tests That Might Line Up With the New SAT...Or Not In addition to formatting changes, the SAT redesign also involved some pretty major content changes. We’ve reviewed those changes in-depth, but here’s a quick summary: All questions for Reading are now passage-based, and not all of the passages will be literary; there will be nonfiction passages. All questions on Writing will also be passage-based, and the emphasis has shifted a little more towards questions on writing style and away from questions on arcane grammar mechanics. The new Math sectionhas less geometry, and questions are rooted more in real-world situations and skills you learned in class and less on abstract â€Å"logic† type questions. The overall test is now weighted more heavily towards the Math section. Reading and Writing together form Evidence-Based Reading and Writing for 800 points and Math stays at 800 points (so the total is 1600 points). If we compare the redesigned SAT content to Subject Test content, we’ll see a surprising cadre of similarities and differences. Subjects that have never before overlapped with the main SAT will now have some points of overlap, and some Subject Tests, like Math, that used to share lots of material withthe main SAT aren’t all that similar to the redesignedSAT. These next sections will go over what material on Subject Tests is also covered on the SAT and how you can use this to your advantage when you prepare for both the main SAT and the Subject Tests. Subject Tests: Math 1 and Math 2 Overlaps with: SAT Math Both of the Subject Tests in Math still overlap with the Math section of the revised SAT, but less than they did before.While many similar topics are covered, there are some key differences between the way questions are presented. First, the new SAT Math has a no-calculator section and free-response questions. The SAT Math Subject Tests are all multiple choice, and calculators are allowed the entire time. Second, the redesigned SAT focuses much more on â€Å"real-world† style problems, mathematical modeling, and reading and interpreting data. Given this focus, the scope of the math tested on the exam has narrowed. (For one thing, there’s much less geometry). The SAT Subject Tests are much more about testing how well you’ve learned a variety of more advanced mathematical concepts, so you can expect a broader range of topics and more problems like what you would see on a high school math test. Math II covers evenmore advanced topics than Math I. Because of this, Math II overlaps with the new SAT Math section even less than Math I does. There’s just not enough room on Math II to cover some of the more basic math concepts that Math I and SAT Math both focus on. Here are the topics that still overlap among the three tests. You should be aware, however, that shared topics are weighted completely differently on each exam! As mentioned above, the new SAT Math is much less focused on geometry of all types than either of the Math Subject Tests, and it's much more interested in â€Å"real-world† style problems and mathematical modeling. Overlapping topics on all three math exams: Basic statistics: mean, median, mode, reading graphs Coordinate geometry for lines and circles Calculating volume of 3-D solids from formulas Basic trigonometry: right triangles, identities Creating mathematical models Manipulating and solving expressions, equations, and inequalities Ratios and proportions Complex numbers Math I and SAT Math both include some Euclidean plane geometry for angles, circles, and triangles; Math II does not (Euclidean geometry concepts are assessed via coordinate and 3-D geometry).Math II and SAT Math now also both cover radians, which are not covered on Math I. So will studying for Math Subject Tests help prepare you for the SAT Math section? Certainly, reviewing math topics that are covered on both the Subject Test you are taking and the main SAT Math section will be helpful, but the questions are presented differently, and there are topic areas that don’t overlap. This is particularly truefor Math II. If you’ve just taken Math I or Math II and you are now preparing for SAT Math, make sure that you aren’t relying too much on your calculator or multiple-choice strategies. These won’t be with you for the entire SAT Math section. Will studying for the Math section help with the math-based Subject Tests? Again, it will help you somewhat in that you will be studying some overlapping topics. But you’ll need to be prepared both for the topics that don’t overlap and for the different exam formats. All these math exams! It's enough to make your head spin. Subject Test: Literature Overlaps with: SAT Reading In some ways, SAT Reading is closer to the Subject Test in Literature than it was before because all of the questions on the Reading section are now passage-based, as in the Literature Subject Test. However, while Literature has only literary and poetic passages, the Reading section will now include a number of nonfiction passages as well. This means that, while the close-reading skills you develop for Literature will help you with the passage-based questions on SAT Reading, you will be reading and answering questions about some very different types of passages. You can expect to see nonfiction and historical passages on SAT Reading that you will need to read with an eye for identifying the evidence authors use to support their claims. By contrast, the SAT Literature Subject Test will have much more of an emphasis on literary devices. So will studying for Literature help prepare you for Reading? Sort of, in that it will hone your close-reading skills. However,you need to make sure you also know how to read non-fiction and historical passages for comprehension and to identify evidence, which really does not play into the Literature test at all. Conversely, will studying for Reading help prepare you for Literature? It will help a little bit, but the passages on Literature are much more, well, literary, so you will need to make sure you have a stronger grasp of literary devices than SAT Reading requires. Also, the Literature Subject Test has poetry, which is a whole different animal; for more guidance on that, see my guide to the Literature Subject Test. Read on to learn why this might be on your SAT Reading test! Subject Tests: US History and World History Overlaps with: SAT Reading This may surprise you, but you might now find some minor overlap between your US History or World History Subject Test and SAT Reading.SAT Reading now includes, in one of its five passage sections, â€Å"One passage or a pair of passages from either a U.S. founding document or a text in the great global conversation they inspired.† (see the College Board page for Inside the SAT Reading). The College Board claims that you won’t need any outside knowledge to understand the documents they choose for the Reading test, but any contextual knowledge you have about â€Å"U.S founding documents† (i.e. the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, etc.) and their global counterparts certainly won’t hurt you. And, if you are taking the US History or World History Subject Test, chances are you have some of that outside contextual knowledge. Additionally, both history Subject Tests include some questions on primary source analysis- a similar skill to the analysis of historical documents on Reading. So, will studying for US History or World History help prepare you for the Reading section? It will help a little bit, by giving you historical context and the skills to close-read historical passages.Will studying for SAT Reading help prepare you for US History or World History? Again, it will help a little bit, depending on what â€Å"founding documents† you are exposed to in your studying. Subject Test: Biology Overlaps with: SAT Reading and Math The new SAT involves an increased amount of reading charts and graphs in the Reading, Writing, and Math sections.The Biology Subject Test also involves questions that test your knowledge of reading graphs and charts. So, learning to read graphs and charts for one of these exams will help you with this skill for all the other exams. Basically, making sure you know how to read graphs and charts properly is a skill that will help you on a number of College-Board administered exams, and also life. If jellyfish could read charts, they probably would have taken over the world by now. As you can see, while there is overlap between certain Subject Tests and the new SAT, none of the overlap is substantial enough that prepping for one really preps for the other in any significant way.Preparing for Subject Tests, in general, certainly won’t hurt your SAT performance or vice-versa, but it definitely won’t replace or even hugely augment specific prep for the exam you are taking. What Could Be Next for the SAT Subject Tests? So is a revamp coming for the SAT Subject Tests anytime soon?Well, let’s think about what niche the Subject Tests fill compared to the main SAT. The SAT is meant to be a college entrance exam that tests a wide variety of skills and predicts performance in college (it historically hasn’t really done this, but that’s the idea).The SAT was revised for a lot of reasons, but overall the goal is to make the SAT more predictive of college success and less based on whether you could afford a tutor or even a prep book to learn strategies. (Do I think the College Board met their goal? That’s a story for another day.) The SAT Subject Tests, however, never purported to be the kind of exam that any smart person could do well on. They have always been meant to showcase a particular talent or expertise in a subject. Because of this, I don’t think it’s terribly likely that there are any major content changes for the SAT Subject Tests coming anytime soon. However, I do think it’s a little bizarre to administer two kinds of SAT tests with different scoring mechanisms and a different number of answer choices. There may well be a more minor SAT Subject Test revision just for the sake of creating consistency between the two tests. Thus, while I don’t think a major revamp in content is coming soon, I do think it’s possible that there will minor revisions to make the tests more harmonious in format. Harmonious like these creepy singing angels. Key Takeaways Are the SAT Subject Tests changing? No! There will be no newSAT Subject Testsfor 2016. This means that, unlike on the main SAT, most Subject Tests have five answer choices per question, and there’s a -0.25 point penalty for every wrong answer. The exception is foreign language Subject tests, which have four answer choices per question, and there's a 1/3 point penalty for every wrong answer. The changing format of the SAT does mean that there may be some new and different overlaps between Subject Tests and main SAT content. In terms of future revisions, I don’t think there’s going to be a major content revision any time soon, but there may be a formatting revision to bring the two tests into greater harmony. What's Next? Trying to decide which SAT Subject Tests to take? Let us help.Or maybe you want some help registering for your chosen Subject Tests. Confused about the new SAT? See our guide to the new Reading sectionand our guide to redesigned SAT math. With the redesign, you might consider if the new SAT or the ACT is going to be better for you. Need a little extra help prepping for your Subject Tests? We have the industry's leading SAT Subject Test prep programs (for all non-language Subject Tests). Built by Harvard grads and SAT Subject Test full or 99th %ile scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so that you get the most effective prep possible. Learn more about our Subject Test products below:

The Story of the Septuagint Bible and the Name Behind It

The Story of the Septuagint Bible and the Name Behind It The Septuagint Bible arose in the 3rd century B.C., when the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, was translated into Greek. The name Septuagint derives from the Latin word septuaginta, which means 70. The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible is called Septuagint because 70 or 72 Jewish scholars reportedly took part in the translation process. The scholars worked in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.), according to the Letter of Aristeas to his brother Philocrates. They assembled to translate the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek language because Koine Greek began to supplant Hebrew as the language most commonly spoken by the Jewish people during the Hellenistic Period. Aristeas determined that 72 scholars took part in the Hebrew-to-Greek Bible translation by calculating six elders for each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Adding to the legend and symbolism of the number is the idea that the translation was created in 72 days, according to The Biblical Archaeologist article, Why Study the Septuagint? written by Melvin K. H. Peters in 1986. Calvin J. Roetzel states in The World That Shaped the New Testament that the original Septuagint only contained the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch is the Greek version of the Torah, which consists of the first five books of the Bible. The text chronicles the Israelites from creation to the leave-taking of Moses. The specific books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Later versions of the Septuagint included the other two sections of the Hebrew Bible, Prophets and Writings. Roetzel discusses a latter-day embellishment to the Septuagint legend, which today probably qualifies as a miracle: Not only did 72 scholars working independently make separate translations in 70 days, but these translations agreed in every detail. Featured Thursdays Term to Learn. The Septuagint is also known as: LXX. Example of Septuagint in a Sentence The Septuagint contains Greek idioms that express events differently from the way they were expressed in the Hebrew Old Testament. The term Septuagint is sometimes used to refer to any Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Books of the Septuagint GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuthKings (Samuel) IKings (Samuel) IIKings IIIKings IVParalipomenon (Chronicles) IParalipomenon (Chronicles) IIEsdras IEsdras I (Ezra)NehemiahPsalms of DavidPrayer of ManassehProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SolomonJobWisdom of SolomonWisdom of the Son of SirachEstherJudithTobitHoseaAmosMicahJoelObadiahJonahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiIsaiahJeremiahBaruchLamentations of JeremiahEpistles of JeremiahEzekialDanielSong of the Three ChildrenSusannaBel and the DragonI MaccabeesII MaccabeesIII Maccabees

Homework Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Homework - Research Paper Example focus on standardizing the models that they use in carrying out their businesses and dedicate the needs of the IT system leading to a better performance. The institution should also consider the major forces that affect its profitability and align the IT system with the most current business practices that in carries. The top management of the institution should channel its efforts on prioritizing for equal resource allocations, while on the other hand the I/C management puts its focus on making an IT system that works following the guidelines of the company’s top management. On the level of service, the focus should be placed on the basic needs of the target customers and the IT performance should be based on the doctors of Peachtree new system design that brings about reliability without squashing doctors independence (Too far ahead of the curve? 2007). Again, the institution can use a service level alignment to ensure that all their external and internal domains align, maintain the quality of the care that they provide, their greatest assets and all the doctors to receive and play a part in the implementation process. To retain the doctors flexibility in decision-making, there should be an introduction of an IT system that is in a position to allow for surgical standardization. The institution should provide a user-friendly system for doctors by placing its focus on extreme system simplicity while at the same time maintaining the care quality for their businesses. Using pre-built SOA modules when possible and at the same time, basing all the modules will improve the communication and the interface between the doctors and the management in each module (‘too far ahead of the curve? 2007). Peachtree can also focus on purchasing custom- built services and channel its energies on those modules that pertain only to their business. As per this reason, it is imperative to come up with the strategic partnership to implement, operate and update a standardized

Rights of the Unborn in the UK and EU Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Rights of the Unborn in the UK and EU - Essay Example is that continuing with the pregnancy involves a greater risk to the physical or mental health of the woman, or her existing children, than having a termination. Abortion of up to 24 weeks is allowed if there is a substantial risk that the child when born would suffer "such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped. The second condition is that an abortion must be agreed by two doctors and carried out by a doctor in a government-approved hospital or clinic. The right to life of the unborn was historically protected by British laws on abortion. The English common law did not prosecute for abortions performed before quickening. In 1803, with Lord Ellenboroughs Act, Parliament enacted statutes overriding this relatively lenient stance (Potts Diggory, and Peel 1977). In 1861 Parliament passed the Offences against the Person Act. Section 58 of the Act made abortion a criminal offence, punishable by imprisonment from three years to life even when performed for medical reasons. Two laws, the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929 and Abortion Act of 1967 provided the exceptions to this 1861 Act. In 1929, the Infant Life Preservation Act amended the law stating it would no longer be regarded as a felony if abortion was carried out in good faith for the sole purpose of preserving the life of the mother. The Act made it illegal to kill a child capable of being born alive, and enshrined 28 weeks as the age at which a fetus is presumed to be viable. Th e Act allowed a doctor to perform an abortion legally if he/she was satisfied that the continuance of the pregnancy was liable to endanger the health of the expectant mother. In 1938, the Bourne case unfolded. The Bourne case concerned a young woman was gang raped by a group of soldiers and became pregnant. Dr Alec Bourne agreed to perform an abortion for her and was subsequently prosecuted. The judge agreed that forcing her to continue with the pregnancy would have been tantamount to wrecking her life. This

Arthur Conan Doyle Essay Example for Free

Arthur Conan Doyle Essay A critical account of The Speckled Band and The Engineers Thumb by Arthur Conan Doyle  In the story of The Speckled Band a woman called Helen Stoner arrives at Holmes rooms in a state of terror. She is the stepdaughter of Dr Grimesby Roylott, a violent man who spent five years in India and associates only with gipsies, and has such exotic pets as a baboon and a cheetah. Helens mother is now dead, and two years previously her sister died in mysterious circumstances: a strange whistling disturbed her in her sleep for some nights, and on the night of her death she appeared transfixed, able only to shriek, the speckled band! she had been about to marry and now Helen is planning to do the same; her stepfather has moved her to her sisters bedroom next to his and the whistling has recurred. Despite a warning from the maniacal Dr Roylott, Holmes and Watson head for Stoke Moran, examine the house and wait the night in Helens bedroom. Holmes deduction proves correct: Dr Roylott sends a swamp adder (the speckled band) through a ventilator to kill Helen, Holmes cane drives it back and the murderer is poisoned. The main characters in the story consist of: Helen stoner who is the main client. She arrives at Sherlock Holmes rooms in Baker Street to ask him for help. The character of Helen Stoner sets the tone of the story: shivering with fear, her face all drawn and grey, with restless frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. She is obviously a sensible and levelheaded woman: therefore there must be a reason for her terror. The character of Sherlock Holmes in the story appears to be that of an appealing eccentric. In this story he uses his powers of deduction to identify minute details with which to solve the final mystery, for instance he knew you must have started early, and yet you had a good drive in a dog cart, along heavy roads before you reached the station. Through the story he displays elements of humour, after doctor Roylott threatened with a poker he replies, he seems a very amiable person. Subtly alluring to his own physical power by, he picked up the steel poker and with a sudden effort straightened it out again. Whilst examining the premises of Stoke Moran, he threw himself down upon his face with his lens in his hand, and crawled swiftly backwards and forwards, examining minutely the crack between the boards. This illustrates Holmes minute attention to detail. Dr Watson is the ideal narrator of this story. His ability to perceive and describe details is as important as his inability to deduce from them what Holmes can. He says, Holmes, I seem to see dimly what you are hitting at, after Holmes had described the position of the ventilator and the rope. The relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson is one of an intimate friend and associate. In contrast to Holmes, Dr Watson makes the sensible deductions and assumption of the of the ordinary intelligent man. He is portrayed as an amiable man as well as the devoted recorder of Holmes achievements. A vivid description is built up of Dr Roylott by the description of Helen stoner. We know that he came from an aristocratic background. However successive heirs had squandered the money. After taking a medical degree he went to India, where he spent some time in prison from murdering a native servant. She describes his violence of temper approaching to mania.  We are also told that he likes to associate with gypsies and also keeps exotic animals, for example, a cheetah and a baboon. In another passage Dr Roylott enters Holmes room and is described as a huge man with a face marked with every evil passion. He is said to resemble a fierce old bird of pray. We are led also to believe that Dr Roylott is violent towards his Stepdaughter when Homes sees burses on her wrists. The story is set during the Victorian era with the backdrop of the decaying grandeur of Stoke Moran this help this links closely to the character of Dr Roylott as a fallen aristocrat and also helps to create a mysterious atmosphere. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone with a high central portion, and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken, and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin.