Cost-benefit analysis of the ban on drugs in netherlands Essay

Cost-benefit analysis of the ban on drugs in netherlands - Essay Example Cost-benefit analysis of the ban on drugs in netherlands The case under study will consider the use of cost-benefit analysis as one of the economic approach to testing the cost that the society will incur if they opt for either of the mentioned policies (Cleveland, 2008, p. 563). On the other side of the coin, the benefit that each of the two options will accrue will also be measured, and the further systematic test procedure qualifies one to be adopted. Economic policies across the world have been influenced by both political and social factors. It is worth noting that the general welfare of people is given priority. In any economic idea in the society, critical analysis needs to be carried out to ascertain its benefit or loss to the people. Various concepts are applicable in this respect but their uses also depend on the nature of economic variables under question (Chris & Wilhite 2004, pp. 108-9). Cost-benefit analysis is an economic concept that has a wide use. In project appraisal it is one of the recommended methods of testing the vi ability of a project. . It is a double faced in-depth analysis of the various cost that would be incurred in making a given investment policy and comparing with the benefit that would be obtained from successfully undertaking the project under question. Its application is not only limited to economic projects but also covers the political decisions that are pegged on economic results. An example includes decisions by the government to introduce a given statute that will regulate a given behavior of a specific group of people. In this regard, the Netherlands is faced with a policy dilemma of whether to legalize the aforementioned drugs or to put a ban. Some of the challenges that it faces are the issue of a high influx of tourists who pose a threat to the law regulating the consumption of these drugs (Miron & Zwiebel, 2005, pp.67-8). It is, therefore, important to draw a cost-benefit model that would check which way is the best to go. Social cost of prohibition tends to be higher as it triggers various socials ills in the society, which translates to retrogressive economic direction of the country. On the other side, legalization comes with some costs of formulating and harmonizing the legal policy across the various groups of people that include citizens and foreigners without creating any negative impact on the diplomatic relations with other states and the tourism sector (Miron, 2001, p. 851). In estimating the costs, there is a breakdown of various tangible and intangible costs, and this is a characteristic of the legal proposals that the Dutch authorities are trying to put across. Benefits in terms of economic policy also have a wide use and sum up all the positive contributions of a given idea which includes reduction of negative factors. In applying the concept of cost-benefit analysis in the case of this country, we are simply assuming that the cost has a negative sign while the benefits have positive signs. When the two are summed up, a positive sign i s deemed acceptable; the negative result, on the other hand, is considered a burden while zero may mean that other factors are taken into consideration. In relation to the case of imposing a ban on the drugs, a lot of social costs are eminent (Chris & Wilhite, 2004, p. 114; Cleveland, 2008, p. 577). One of them is the

Reflections Through the Looking Glass Essay Example for Free

Reflections Through the Looking Glass Essay Gazing at who the world perceives me to be†¦..A hesitant glance, my mind is flooded with questions. Who am I? Is this reflection a true representation of me? The looking glass offers up an image. An image that I know not to be true. It is a temporary snapshot of, supposedly, who I am. Am I to believe that this blunt and uncomfortably â€Å"honest† silver artist truly portrays ME, and all those that make use of the looking glass? It occurs to me that maybe it is not what one sees in the reflection that defines who I am, but rather what I feel. Sadly the reflection can be misused. We so often search for not who we are but who we want to be. The looking glass can begin to form part of an addiction to some and just like all other addictions, it damages the user. This ritual becomes, in some ways the source of a self-inflicted pain. Instead of pain in a physical sense, it takes its toll on one’s self esteem. I think that we all experience this at some stage in our lives where we simply loath that which is reflected in the mirror and feel pressured to change our image so as to fulfil the supposed requirements of society. In Sylvia Plath’s poem ‘Mirror’ she describes the arrogance of a woman’s mirror. In the last two lines she describes how the mirror has changed her self-perception and how she has aged. â€Å"In me (the mirror) she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman rises toward her, day after day, like a terrible fish.† I believe that Sylvia Plath’s poem addresses our concern with our outward appearance. However I think that, like in this poem, as in society, the most important aspect of one’s reflection is not made clear. We need to realise that our outward appearance is not all that the looking glass reflects, for indeed, if we look deeper, beyond the physical bonds of the looking glass, the heart becomes clear, for it is the reflection of our heart on the silver that truly defines who we are Don’t become a prisoner to the bondage of the looking glass. The only true facets of you are absent in the echo of the reflection. Shatter the glass with your inner truth and be liberated to see beyond the silver reflection – into your heart, where the Glory of God resonates the truth of who you are and let the shattered lies of the looking glass tumble into a heap of debris where they belong!

Critique La Ventura :: Art

Critique La Ventura La Ventura is widely regarded as one of the greatest films to date. Michelangelo Antonioni didn’t win the Palme D’or, but it did get a Special Jury Prize during the Cannes film festival of 1960. No surprise he didn’t win the Palme D’or, but why give him an award in the first place? The reason for winning the title seemed unclear at first because the film had serious issues with breaking the rules of standardized filmmaking. For example having his actors enter the scene from opposite directions from where the came the shot before. However L’Avventura is a whole other world of its own. The title translates to English as â€Å"The Adventure† and indeed that’s what it is. The movie is relaxing to watch thanks to the scenery, but it’s slow and a bit boring. The film is over two hours long (2:20 or so) and it takes a while to get anywhere. This is disturbing because the plot didn’t seem to have as much importance as the camera angles, framing shots or dialogue. These aesthetics had more importance than in most other movies. It also had an unusual way of telling the story - done mainly by showing images to transfer the main message. Technically, it’s a photographic journey! Well, kind of. Mainly because the whole island shoot is done through wide angle lens that squeezes the nice black-and-white landscaping in the background. Also effective is how people seem to disappear in it. Another beautiful shot was on the roof of the church where the two main characters are ringing the church bells like kids playing, and then other church bells respond. That was a very nice sequence and a very nice symbol. The initial problem that the characters have to deal with however was Anna and her disappearing. In a typical film, finding Anna would have been what the story would follow. But as L'Avventura goes on, the script allows us or makes us forget about Anna. This process is done slowly, and we never stop thinking about Anna. We are struck back to Anna especially in the end when Claudia mentions her. The movie picked up pace after Anna disappeared especially with the kiss of Sandro and Claudia. There are two main characters: a man and a woman. Sandro wants sex from his girlfriends and refuses to commit himself to one, while Claudia needs love and more love.

Language spoken Essay

England is filled with a mixture of different dialects and pronunciation. Every area or city has its own dialect pronunciation and specific words only used in that area for example in east London â€Å"innit†. The closer the areas are the more similar they are. In addition people living in a specific area have their own peer groups; these peer groups have their own sociolect. Sociolect basically, means language spoken by a social group, social class or subculture. In this regards it differs to the dialect of that area slightly. Every person in that peer group has their own idiolect. Idiolect means a variety of language unique to an individual. It is manifested when that person chooses the word phrases or idioms which are unique to an individual. The idiolect you speak is influenced by many factors, for example the area you live in, where you are from and who is in your peer group. These could happen simultaneously which will make your idiolect even more unique. I believe that your idiolect is mainly changed by your geographical location. My idiolect has been changed drastically through the years I have been living. Even though I was born in the UK the first language I was taught was Farsi, this was minor setback however I was able to overcome this issue. As I was sent to school, I renovated this issue and I was able to distinguish both languages and I usually never had to code switch. As I grew my knowledge on the English language increased considerably, however my amount of Farsi I knew increased at a really steady pace. This is because in school I was improving my English as it was a requirement at home this didn’t happen a lot, my parents only wanted me to know the basics of my language and that was satisfactory for them. In addition my mum and dad wanted me to fit into society better. They done this by the process of primary socialisation, they told me not to swear, not to code switch so that I do not have to be deviant in school and to speak in standard English. At a very young age of 6-7 I was slightly getting confused with the English language. This is because as I spent time with my peer group they taught me their sociolect, at the time I wasn’t educated on this topic enough. For example one day my friend told me when we were inside to â€Å"Look out† as there was a ball flying towards our window at a high speed. As I was not educated, I thought he literally meant for me to look outside luckily I did look outside but the ball missed me. This use of a phrasal verb confused me; this is because phrasal verbs also confuse non-native speakers and I wasn’t that educated on this new type of dialect. At this time I started to mix both standard English and my sociolect until I reached 8 years old. At this time I was able to make out the type language I should use in school, the one I should use with my friends and the one I should use at home. Even though I was able to differentiate when to speak each language I still had problems. My English at this time was getting better day by day however my Farsi improvements came at a standstill. When I use to speak to my parents, and I could not find the correct term in Farsi, I had to say it in English. This caused me to code switch even more. This automatically made me speak a mixture of English and Farsi when I went home. Did not finish (deliberate), Mrs Hart please tell me what I should add to improve; what I can to make it even better. I was going to talk about my transcript however I am unable as I want to know the mistakes I have made so that I can make it better with the transcript By Wariss Tamim 10. 8.

Aggressive Behavior of Marine Fishes

The notion of â€Å"survival of the fittest† of Charles Darwin denotes competition in the available life resources among living organisms. Biologists typically classify competition as exploitative or scramble competition and interference or defense competition (Reebs, 2008). In exploitative competition, the species explore every nook in the environment to search for the best niche, ample food supply or even the best mate.On the other hand, defense competition results when a particular species defend their niche, food stuffs, offspring, and mate against invading animals (Reebs, 2008). With these, animals show aggressive behaviors to warn other species or to defend themselves.Hierarchical Social Structure Among FishesChasing and biting are commonly observed among fishes especially when a new one was placed in the group of fishes in a tank or an aquarium. Aggressive behaviors are shown by dominant fishes in the group until such time that a certain order was attained within the gr oup where specific place for every fish has been defined (Reebs, 2008).This is called as hierarchy among fishes for a single fish dominates other fishes in the group. Since fishes not only spend high energy in fighting but also suffer injuries (Reebs, 2008), the attainment of harmony within their group through hierarchical social structure benefits them all.This phenomenon is observed among the school of salmonids, eels, centrarchids, catfishes, poeciliids, and other species (Reebs, 2008).In the hierarchy, the dominant fish tends to limit the access of subordinate fishes to available life resources such as food. As commonly observed in brown bullhead, salmon, cichlids, and medaka, the dominant fish chases subordinate fishes away from food resources (Reebs, 2008).Thus, they are forced to occupy the barren part of the habitat. As a consequence, fishes in the lower ranks are prone to stress due to annoyance and bullies of dominant fishes.This stress induces them to release metabolic ho rmones, as revealed by blood analysis of subordinate fishes (Reebs, 2008), that may affect then their physiological processes including growth and reproduction.The stability of the dominant status depends on the type of fish species. For instance, rainbow trout can remember their hierarchical place. Even if there will be a reduction in the physical strength of the dominant fish, lower rank fished would not attempt to take advantage and stage a coup (Reebs, 2008).On the contrary, catfishes in lower rank often look for an opportunity to dethrone the dominant fish as it shows weakness (Reebs, 2008). In the same manner, as the dominant males of cichlid guard the breeding areas, subordinate males always look for an opportunity of entreating females. These experimental observations proved the social dynamics among fishes.Territorial Defense and Aggressive BehaviorsIt was observed among Cottus bairdii and Rhinichthysvcataractae that adults used to occupy the deeper part of their habitat wh ile the young forages on the shallow part (Reebs, 2008). This condition not only exposes the young to the threat of predation but also limits their food access.Meanwhile, in Betta splendens, the nest-holding males tend to display more aggressive behavior during the female laying of eggs and even more after the hatching of eggs (Jaroensutasinee and Jaroensutasinee, 2003). Also, black-belt cichlids, Cichlasoma maculicauda, assault egg predators more ferociously than non-egg predators (Reebs, 2008). They usually fry the enemy at a particular distance before launching an attack.This territoriality in terms of food resources defense is effectively done over fairly small habitat. If food resources are in a vast area, the dominant fish can hardly provide efficient protection, hence, leading to non-display of aggressive behaviour (Reebs, 2008).Trout and salmon have been observed to occupy and protect vast areas when food resources are limited. This means that territorial defense is absent i f the ecological needs are distributed in vast areas and if the number of intruders is great as compared with the inhabitant fishes (Reebs, 2008).Mating and Aggressive BehaviorsFish may acquire aggressive behavior by merely just observing aggression between conspecifics (Clotfelter and Paolino, 2003). The presence of audience during fish fight may reason out for the increased behavioral display between fighting fishes (Doutrelant and McGregor, 2000).In B. splendens, male-fight losers used gill cover to attract non-witness female while the winner displayed to both witness and non-witness females (Herb, Biron, and Kidd, 20030). After witnessing the two-male wrestle, the female fighting fish, B. splendens, spent time more often with the winner while failure to witness the event, the female visited more often the loser (Doutrelant and McGregor, 2000).Conversely, although size-advantage males of B. splendens species have more chance of winning male-fight but the winning does not affect f emale preferences of mate (Jaroensutasinee and Jaroensutasinee, 2001).Dominant males of swordtails and guppies delve on the larger part of their habitat including the dwelling place of the females (Reebs, 2008). Due to dominant exclusion, the sexual activities of subordinate fishes tend to be suppressed.This process of exclusion paves the ways for the subordinate male guppies to spontaneously develop a more robust body color that is more attractive for female guppies, thus, regaining the chance for mating (Reebs, 2008).Biological Bases of AggressionAggressive behaviors among animals are typically attributed to the biochemical function of the androgens. Researches revealed that by androgen decrease in a number of animal male species through castration lessened aggression while injection of hormones to castrated males caused regained aggressions (Desjardins, Hazelden, Van der Kraak, and Balshinea, 2005).Based on the findings of the group of John Wingfield, aggression can also be ascri bed to physiological causes. They postulated through Challenge Hypothesis that aggressive encounters among males of the same species lead to production of androgens (Desjardins, Hazelden, Van der Kraak, and Balshinea, 2005).Their notion resulted to the emersion of several studies relating aggressive behaviors with increase in androgen, urinary, plasma, and fecal level.