Medicine And Human Welfare Essay Example

Medicine And Human Welfare Paper Maimonides (1135-1204), Jewish philosopher and physician, born in Cordoba, Spain. He was also known as Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, or, from the initials of his name, Rambam. Following the capture of Cordoba in 1148 by the Almohads, who imposed Islam on Christians and Jews alike, Maimonidess family decided to emigrate. After years of wandering they finally settled in Cairo. There Maimonides eventually became the chief rabbi of Cairo and physician to Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria. The contributions of Maimonides to the Medicine and human welfare. Humanitarian aid is almost always political. Its governments and organizations with clear political agendas who dispense most humanitarian funds. A close look at foreign aid indicates that the self-interest of the donor rather than altruism usually motivates such programs. The French directed economic aid, primarily to former African colonies, for years in order to further a Francophone community. Meanwhile, European aid programs to the Palestinians are a way to exercise a diplomatic role in a conflict in which most of the shots are called by the Americans. FOREIGN AID is seen as buying influence. We will write a custom essay sample on Medicine And Human Welfare specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Medicine And Human Welfare specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Medicine And Human Welfare specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer While establishing a clear connection between economic dependence and political compliance is problematic, such a link is on the minds of decision makers. Secondly, decisions on financial aid are hardly based on a meticulous comparative analysis of the respective needs of various hard-hit groups around the globe. Aid programs are only minimally related to an objective evaluation of the economic situation of potential recipients. Simply put, it is not the poorest that get the most money. For example, Palestinians receive substantially larger amounts of money per capita than do far more destitute populations in Africa the Sudan, for instance. There are many countries whose populations suffer far more than do the Palestinian Arabs on such key indices as life expectancy and average caloric intake. Thirdly, rendering financial aid strengthens the donor political organizations and states dispensing it. This is precisely why several European states toy with the idea of sending money directly to Mahmoud Abbas, representing the good guys, rather than to Hamas, perceived (for the time being) as the bad guys. The fact that Abbas chaired a corrupt and inept government seems irrelevant. FOURTHLY, there is the CNN effect, which is responsible for eliciting a significant portion of the humanitarian aid provided. Disasters that attract the attention of the media for extended periods are inevitably viewed as good tools for public diplomacy. Such disasters are capitalized upon to announce generous offers of foreign aid (not always fully delivered) in order to enhance national reputations. The Palestinians, now partly under economic siege, have a clear interest in playing up the idea that they face a humanitarian disaster. Its a way to overcome political obstacles and speed up delayed financial contributions. Of course, generous donations (usually from Western states) do not always reach the intended recipients. Some leaders in the less-developed world are ingenious at siphoning aid away from those who truly need it. Many top-ranking Palestinians have enjoyed the fruits of the donors gullibility. Moreover, in war-torn societies it is the guys with the guns who usually end up with the food supplies and other goodies provided by well- intentioned foreigners. Food and medicines sent to the Palestinians will invariably end up in the hands of the armed militias. THE PAVLOVIAN response of sending money to societies unable to put their houses in order must therefore be questioned. Maimonides, the great Jewish scholar of the 11th century, established a clear hierarchy of philanthropic acts. In his view, the most valuable philanthropic deed involves aid directed at enabling the recipient to become economically independent. His insight is validated by the history of humanitarian aid in the past century, which shows that outside economic aid is only as good as the ability of a recipients economy and government to use it prudently and productively. Thus it is not at all clear that sending more money to the dysfunctional Palestinian economy will do any good. After all, millions of euros transferred to the PA since the 1993 Oslo Accords have been squandered and misused. Indeed, the Palestinian arena provides a telling example of an utterly dysfunctional welfare institution, UNRWA, whose stated goal is to set the Palestinian refugees on the road to self-reliance and sustainable human development. The expectation that UNRWA will help the refugees rebuild their lives and stop living on charity remains unfulfilled. Surprisingly, according to the organizations own figures, the number of refugees has grown, from hundreds of thousands in 1948 to over 4 million in 2004. These numbers indicate a colossal failure on part of UNRWA to turn the refugees into self-reliant individuals. We know that welfare can be addictive. In the case of UNRWA, its activities have created a multi-generational dependence. UNRWA has, in fact, become the main tool for not solving the refugee issue. UNRWA has subordinated the welfare of the people it is supposed to be helping to the political needs of Israels enemies by ensuring that the refugees stay addicted to foreign welfare. In the final analysis, humanitarian aid should be dispensed judiciously, while making sure that it does not preserve poverty and dependence. Addiction can be treated in several ways. Cold turkey is one approach, and the Palestinians should be induced to try it. REFRENCES GILBERT MURRAY, W. R. INGE, J. BURNET, SIR T. L. HEATH, D’ARCY W. THOMPSON, CHARLES SINGER, R. W. LIVINGSTON, A. TOYNBEE, A. E. ZIMMERN, PERCY GARDNER, SIR REGINALD BLOMFIELD

Free Essays on The Effect Of Life Experience’s On The Works Of Edgar Allan Poe

April 9, 2001 The Effect of Life Experience’s on the Works of Edgar Allan Poe I. Biography II. To Helen A. Summary B. Relation to life experience III. The Cask of Amontillado A. Summary B. Relation to life experience IV. The Raven A. Summary B. Relation to life experience Experiences during a lifetime can affect a person in numerous ways, such as did Edgar Allan Poe. Poe took his experiences, and transformed them into the stories and poems that we have today. Throughout this paper, you will see how events in Poe’s life not only influenced the style of Poe’s writing, but also the subject matter and the characters. Saying that Poe had a bad childhood would be a tremendous understatement. Around the time that Poe was born, his father left them. Two years later, his mother died. Poe then went to live with a family member, but because of the financial situation they would not have been able to take care of him and his brother. He was then adopted by the family of Fanny and John Allan. Living in the Allan household gave Poe opportunities that he could never have obtained if he had lived with his parents. Poe was sent to teachers at age five, and even had private schooling in England for the short stint that he lived there. He was very gifted in the languages, some of his early works were written in both French and Latin (Poe: A Reflection.). At the age of fifteen he had enough poems to publish a book, but John talked him out of doing so. Not only was Poe a tremendous scholar, but he was also a suburb athlete. He was known to swim six miles in the James River against a strong current (Edgar’s teens.). Poe was also the Lieutenant of the Junior Morgan Riflemen at age fifteen; his military aptitude came from his grandfather, General Poe. Just before going to the University of Virginia, Poe met his first love, Elmira Richmond. Before heading off to the university, he had met her in Richmond and continue... Free Essays on The Effect Of Life Experience’s On The Works Of Edgar Allan Poe Free Essays on The Effect Of Life Experience’s On The Works Of Edgar Allan Poe April 9, 2001 The Effect of Life Experience’s on the Works of Edgar Allan Poe I. Biography II. To Helen A. Summary B. Relation to life experience III. The Cask of Amontillado A. Summary B. Relation to life experience IV. The Raven A. Summary B. Relation to life experience Experiences during a lifetime can affect a person in numerous ways, such as did Edgar Allan Poe. Poe took his experiences, and transformed them into the stories and poems that we have today. Throughout this paper, you will see how events in Poe’s life not only influenced the style of Poe’s writing, but also the subject matter and the characters. Saying that Poe had a bad childhood would be a tremendous understatement. Around the time that Poe was born, his father left them. Two years later, his mother died. Poe then went to live with a family member, but because of the financial situation they would not have been able to take care of him and his brother. He was then adopted by the family of Fanny and John Allan. Living in the Allan household gave Poe opportunities that he could never have obtained if he had lived with his parents. Poe was sent to teachers at age five, and even had private schooling in England for the short stint that he lived there. He was very gifted in the languages, some of his early works were written in both French and Latin (Poe: A Reflection.). At the age of fifteen he had enough poems to publish a book, but John talked him out of doing so. Not only was Poe a tremendous scholar, but he was also a suburb athlete. He was known to swim six miles in the James River against a strong current (Edgar’s teens.). Poe was also the Lieutenant of the Junior Morgan Riflemen at age fifteen; his military aptitude came from his grandfather, General Poe. Just before going to the University of Virginia, Poe met his first love, Elmira Richmond. Before heading off to the university, he had met her in Richmond and continue...

Human Resource Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human Resource Technology - Essay Example To become a multinational company the management has to expand its units across the country. As company and its other units are slowly expanding so does the problems are increasing day by day. If HR division is not up to its task then it may be possible that XYZ Inc. may consistent drop in its financial structure that result in heavy losses in the business. The important factors were found to be the hiccups facing by the staff in delivering the goods on time, baggage handling and in customer care. On the manufacturing side XYZ Inc. was unable to meet the supply demand. They have been successful in manufacturing and supplying of small privately owned airplanes. Since the public interest shifted towards the branded name and the feel of first class look the company has to meet the requirements. But XYZ Inc. was slow in its production rate. To meet the market demand on the manufacturing side and to improve customer care service the management introduced some strategies. One of the important factors that should be concentrated is on customer care service. The staff should be trained and should be at best when dealing with customers. The quality of the service should be of high degree. With the help of modern technology the staff could be easily trained.

Unit 2 Individual Project Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Unit 2 Individual Project - Coursework Example My first short term goal involves offsetting the initial cost of the gift baskets. Secondly, I intend to obtain a clientele which is part of a niche market. Thirdly, I intend to be strategically located in midst of the hum of the community. Three intermediate goals include maintaining the competitive edge in the niche market; having enough cash/profit on hand to begin to repay my relatives and other financers and thirdly, employing more personnel because of the expansion of the business. My long term goals invovle: continuation of the advertising campaign, expanding the business to two other locations, online marketing is one such location and finally, developing products to the specific needs of client. The market opportunity for selling this product in my area is fantastic in that there are many individuals between the ages of 16 to 55 On analysis of the market I have discovered that there is a market niche in this age group because of the survey I conducted by randomly choosing every 10th individual on different days of the week. In addition, an online survey was conducted and the results indicate that there is indeed a need for this type of store in my area. For the customers targeted the store would be located within easy access to their daily errands of the grocery store and the train station. These individuals are so busy that they prefer to utilize a gift bag rather than the traditional wrapping of gifts. My strategy is to embark upon aggressive marketing strategies in the first year to allow these young people to know of my product and my location. I expect to gain at least a 10 percent profit in the first year of operation. The personnel employed would be young, attractive individuals who would persuade with their looks and their marketing skills which would be provided by me initially and later a marketing expert. My suppliers have already been contacted. They are willing to offer me a large discount on the initial

Event Will Never Forget Essay Example for Free

Event Will Never Forget Essay Comparison of Di erent Neighbourhood Sizes in Simulated Annealing Xin Yao Department of Computer Science University College, University of New South Wales Australian Defence Force Academy Canberra, ACT, Australia 2600 Abstract Neighbourhood structure and size are important parameters in local search algorithms. This is also true for generalised local search algorithms like simulated annealing. It has been shown that the performance of simulated annealing can be improved by adopting a suitable neighbourhood size. However, previous studies usually assumed that the neighbourhood size was xed during search. This paper presents a simulated annealing algorithm with a dynamic neighbourhood size which depends on the current emperature value during search. A method of dynamically deciding the neighbourhood size by approximating a continuous probability distribution is given. Four continuous probability distributions are used in our experiments to generate neighbourhood sizes dynamically, and the results are compared. combinatorial optimisation. A method of generating dynamic neighbourhood sizes by approximating continuous probability distributions is given in this section. Section 4 compares the experimental results of using di erent continuous probability distributions to generate dynamic neighbourhood sizes. Finally, Section 5 concludes with some remarks and directions of future research. 2 General Simulated Annealing Although SA can be used in both continuous and discrete cases, this paper only considers combinatorial optimisation by SA unless otherwise indicated explicitly. A combinatorial optimisation problem can be informally described as nding an optimal con guration X from a nite or in nite countable con guration space S . Each con guration X 2 S can be represented by its n (gt; 0) components, i. e. , X = (x1; x2; ; xn ), where xi 2 Xi , i = 1; 2; ; n. An excellent discussion of combinatorial optimisation and its complexity can be found in Garey and Johnsons book 8]. A general model of SA, which is applicable to both continuous and discrete problems, can be described by Figure 1, where function generate (X; Tn) is decided by the generation robability gXY (Tn ), which is the probability of generating con guration Y from con guration X at temperature Tn , function accept (X; Y; Tn) is decided by the acceptance probability aXY (Tn ), which is the probability of accepting con guration Y after it has been generated at temperature Tn , and function update (Tn ) decides the rate of the temperature decrease. These three functions determine the convergence o f general SA 5, 6, 9], but parameters in general SA, such as the initial temperature, initial con guration, inner-loop stop criterion, and outer1 Introduction Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithms can nd very good near optimal solutions to a wide range of hard problems, but at the high computational cost. Various methods have been proposed to speed up its convergence, which can roughly be divided into three categories: (1) Optimising functions and parameters in SA 1]; (2) Combining SA with other search algorithms 2, 3]; and (3) Parallelising SA 4]. This paper falls into the above rst category. Section 2 of this paper describes a general SA algorithm 5, 6] which uni es di erent variants of the classical one 7]. Section 3 presents SA with a dynamic neighbourhood size and its application in Published in Proc. of Fourth Australian Conf. on Neural Networks, ed. P. Leong and M. Jabri, pp. 216{219, 1993, Melbourne, Australia. generate initial con guration X at random; generate initial temperature T0; REPEAT REPEAT Y = generate(X; Tn); IF accept(X; Y; Tn) THEN X = Y ; UNTIL `inner-loop stop criterion satis ed; Tn+1 = update (Tn ); n = n + 1; UNTIL `outer-loop stop criterion satis ed Figure 1: General simulated annealing. loop stop criterion, can have signi cant impact on its nite-time behaviour. That is, the computation time in practice depends on the three functions as well as these parameters. Most research on SA has concentrated on the update and accept function and various algorithmic parameters, only limited attention has been paid to the generate function. However, the generate function decides an important part | the neighbourhood structure and size | of a local search algorithm regardless of whether it is a deterministic one or a stochastic one like SA. The neighbourhood NX of a con guration X is de ned by con guration. The xed-size neighbourhood clearly does not conform with the basic search strategy behind SA. It is appealing to have a neighbourhood size which can adjust itself in the di erent search stages. Fast SA 12] can be regarded as an example of SA with a dynamic neighbourhood size, but it is only used in the continuous case. The application of dynamic neighbourhood size in combinatorial optimisation, to our best knowledge, has not been well-studied. 3 Dynamic Neighbourhood Size in Simulated Annealing This section gives a method of dynamically deciding the neighbourhood size in SA according to the temperature parameter 5, 6]. In the high temperature stages, SA algorithms have high acceptance probability for both good and ad moves, i. e. , exploration plays a major role in search, and thus a large neighbourhood size is used to enhance such exploration. In the low temperature stages, exploitation plays a major role in search, and thus a smaller neighbourhood is more suitable. In the following discussion, we say that the Hamming distance between two con guration X = (x1 ; x2; ; xn ) and Y = (y1; y2 ; ; yn ) is if there are exactly di erent elements between them. Let f (x) be the continuous density function which is used to generate the Hamming distance between the current con guration and the next one. Denote the set of con gurations which are distant from the current con guration X as SX ( ), SX ( ) = fY 2 S; gXY (Tn) gt; 0g where X 62 NX , and X 2 NY i Y 2 NX . NX = fY jY (1) ing search once de ned for a problem. Goldstein and Waterman 10] and Cheh et al. 11] carried out some experiments on comparing SA with di erent neighbourhood sizes, but the sizes are still xed once decided. A limitation of SA with a xed neighbourhood size is its inability to perform search at di erent scales in di erent stages of search. As indicated in our previous study 5], SA can be viewed as an attempt to combine exploration of a space and exploitation of a sub-space into the same algorithm, i. e. , coarse-grained search in the high temperature stages explores the con guration space and tries to locate promising regions, while ned-grained search in the low temperature stages exploits the promising regions and tries to nd a good near optimal gXY (Tn ) = 1=jNX j, where jNX j is the size of NX , i. . , the number of con gurations in NX , and is the same for all X in S . Moreover, jNX j is xed dur- Previous research on SA normally assumed that j Y 2 S; dXY = g (2) The probability of generating con guration Y , which is dXY distant from con guration X , is dened as 1 = jS (1 )j P rob dXY ? 2 lt; X dXY Z dXY + 1 2 f (x)dx = jS (1 )j 1 X dXY dXY ? 2 f (dXY ) jSX (dXY )j 2 gXY (Tn ) dXY + 1 2 (3) Suppose the maximum Hamming distance allowed for one move is dmax 1 , then the normalised generation function is f (dXY ) / jSX (dXY )j gXY (Tn ) = (4) FX (Tn ) where FX (Tn ) = X X f (d ) max XZ jSX (dXZ )j dXZ =1 Z 2S 4 Experimental Results We adopt the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) as a benchmark to evaluate our SA algorithms because of its clear mathematical de nition and high computational complexity. Goldstein and Waterman 10] and Cheh et al. 11] have experimented with TSPs using di erent but xed neighbourhood sizes and found that a small neighbourhood size is better than a large neighbourhood size. That is, the SA algorithm performs the best when dXY = 1. TSPs with 40 cities are used in our experiment and are generated at random. The same initial conguration, inner-loop stop criterion, out-loop stop criterion, and temperature decreasing rate are used in our experiments in order to evaluate the impact of the neighbourhood size on the performance of SA algorithms. Our experiments, albeit preliminary, have demonstrated that SA with a dynamic neighbourhood size outperforms SA with a xed neighbourhood size. Table 1 gives the results of four typical runs of two kinds of SA algorithms. Table 2 gives the results of using di erent distributions to generate neighbourhood sizes. roblem instance 1 2 3 4 initial value 15080 12260 13760 15820 NorSA 2540 2140 2560 2300 CSA 3120 2520 2880 2460 Table 1: Comparison of SA with a xed neighbourhood size (CSA) and SA with a dynamic neighbourhood size (NorSA). Normal distribution is used to generate the neighbourhood size. (5) Theorem 3. 1 ( 5]) Suppose the acceptance function in an SA algorithm is aXY (Tn ) = min 1; exp ? ? cY T cX n : (6) and the generation function is (4), where f (x) in (4) can be anyone of the following, (a) the Normal function N (0; Tn), i. e. , 1 exp ? d2 XY f (dXY ) = p 2Tn 2 Tn (b) the exponential function E (Tn ), i. . , f (dXY ) = ! 1 exp ? dXY Tn Tn (c) the Cauchy function C (Tn ), i. e. , 1 T f (dXY ) = 2 n 2 dXY + Tn (d) the stable function with index 1 13], i. e. , 2 f (dXY ) = q exp ? 2d1 XY 2 d3 XY 1 5 Concluding Remarks Neighbourhood size is an important parameter in local search algorithms, but only a xed size was adopted in previous application of SA to combinatorial optimisation problems. This paper proposes a method of using a dynamic neighbourhood size in SA based on our analysis of SA search. Preliminary experiments have demonstrated the advantage of a dynamic neighbourhood size in SA. The idea of a dynamic neighbourhood size could also be introduced into other local search algorithms. It is, in fact, related to a more profound 3 Then the SA algorithm converges to global minima if the cooling rate is Tn = ln n + n0 ; n = 1; 2; (7) where and n0 are positive constants. It is set to n, the number of elements in a con guration, in our experiments. 1 problem instance initial value CauSA NorSA ExpSA StableSA 1 17800 2480 2540 2640 3760 2 15500 3000 3340 3180 4420 3 16600 3300 2920 3460 4500 4 14780 3000 2980 3280 3760 References 1] P. J. M. van Laarhoven and E. H. L. Aarts, Simulated Annealing: Theory and Applications, D. Reidel Publishing Co. , 1987. 2] D. H. Ackley, A Connectionist Machine for Genetic Hillclimbing, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, 1987. 3] X. Yao, Optimization by genetic annealing, In M. Jabri, editor, Proc. of ACNN91, pages 94{97, Sydney, 1991. 4] D. R. Greening, Parallel simulated annealing techniques, Physica D, 42:293{306, 1990. 5] X. Yao, Simulated annealing with extended neighbourhood, International J. of Computer Math. , 40:169{189, 1991. 6] X. Yao and G. -J. Li, General simulated annealing, J. of Computer Sci. Tech. 6:329{ 338, 1991. 7] S. Kirkpatrick, C. D. Gelatt, and M. P. Vecchi, Optimization by simulated annealing, Science, 220:671{680, 1983. 8] M. R. Garey and D. S. Johnson, Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness, W. H. Freeman Co. , San Francisco, 1979. 9] S. Anily and A. Federgruen, Ergodicity in parameteric nonstationary Markov chains: an application to annealing methods, Ope r. Res. , 35:867{874, 1987. 10] L. Goldstein and M. Waterman, Neighborhood size in the simulated annealing algorithm, Amer. J. of Math. and Management Sci. , 8:409{423, 1988. 11] K. M. Cheh, J. B. Goldberg, and R. G. Askin, A note on the e ect of neighborhood structure in simulated annealing algorithm, Computers and Oper. Res. , 18:537{547, 1991. 12] H. H. Szu and R. L. Hartley, Nonconvex optimization by fast simulated annealing, Proc. of IEEE, 75:1538{1540, 1987. 13] W. Feller, An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications, volume 2, John Wiley Sons, Inc. , 2nd edition, 1971. 4 Table 2: SA with a dynamic neighbourhood size which is generated by the Cauchy function (CauSA), Normal function (NorSA), Exponential function (ExpSA), and Stable function with index 1=2 (StableSA). esearch issue in search theory, i. e. , the issue of exploration versus exploitation or global search versus local search. Although local search based on some heuristics can be quite e cient under many circumstances, the problem of local optima is very hard to deal with. Some kind of global search has to be used if a global optimum or near optimum is required. However, the computational cos t of global search is often prohibitively high for most real-world applications due to the vast search space. It is bene cial to combine global and local search together. An open question here is how to decide when global or local search should be performed. It is also di cult to draw the line strictly between local and global search in practice. Dynamic neighbourhood size offers a way to deal with the problem by transferring from global search to local search smoothly based on a control parameter, temperature in SA. However, more work has to be done on deciding which kind of generation functions is most suitable for an application, i. e. what is the optimal rate of reducing the neighbourhood size. As indicated before, Fast SA 12] o ers a big improvement over classical SA 7] due to the adoption of Cauchy distribution. An interesting topic is to investigate whether the discrete version of Fast SA can o er similar improvement over classical SA. Our preliminary experiments seem to give a negative answer. Acknowledgement | The author is grateful to Drs. B. Marksjo and R. Sharpe for their support of his work while he was with CSIRO Division of Building, Construction and Engineering.

The K+ Channel Revisited :: Chemical Neuroscience Chemistry Papers

The K+ Channel Revisited Many scientists enter the field of neuroscience with a desire to understand how the human brain functions to create our actions. Some take a large approach and study reactions to stimulus in live animals. This approach leaves us still wanting to know about things that aren't a result of an outside stimulus. Other scientists take the minimalist approach and start by studying the exact mechanisms of individual cells of the brain. But, what good does that do us for everyday life? There is also the approach of taking our knowledge of behavior from diseases of the brain. Would we have thought about how our brain regulates our moods if it weren't for the fact that some people experience depression, in which the regulation of mood goes amiss? Many of the disease have led us to a deep understanding of the chemical interactions in our brain and body. At a very broad level, and ignoring religious discussions, we can say that every part of our existence is a result of chemical interactions . Besides giving us our substance, chemistry also gives us a mode of communication throughout our bodies. In our brain a large chemical component is that of the action potential that is conducted along a neuron as a result in the changing permeability of the cell. The axons of our neurons are the pathway for the communication that exists in our nervous system. This communication takes the form of an electric signal, also called an action potential. The action potential occurs due to a change in voltage across the membrane of the axon. The change in voltage is achieved by a change in the permeability of the neurons to the ions, Na+, Ca+, and K+.(1)The cell starts with a large concentration of potassium ions, K+, inside the cell, and a large concentration of sodium ions, Na+, outside the cell. The action potential propagates down the axon due to openings and closing of different channels allowing changing of the permeability to the differing ions (10). Channels are proteins that span the membrane of the axon. These proteins have a structure so that they can be allow ions to flow through pores that are only open at the appropriate times. Some of the channels are opened and closed by other chemicals, while some are initiated by a change in the membrane potential.

Jamaica’ crime rate statistic 2013 Essay

Jamaica has one of the world’s highest per-capita murder rates, and a 2010 state of emergency threw the harsh glare of publicity on the violent gang and drug culture in the capital, Kingston. Violent crime can be a real problem in Kingston and other parts of the country, but typically such crimes involve attacks by Jamaicans on other Jamaicans and revolve around drugs, gangs, politics, poverty, or revenge. Most crimes targeting visitors in tourist areas like Montego Bay, Negril and Ocho Rios are property-oriented — pickpocketing and petty theft, for example. Armed robberies do occasionally involve tourists, and can turn violent if victims resist. Credit-card skimming is an ongoing problem in Jamaica. Some scammers will make a copy of your credit-card information when you give your card to a restaurant server or shopkeeper. ATMs also may be rigged to steal your card information, or individuals may observe you at the ATM and try to steal your password. Avoid using credit cards or ATMs whenever possible; carry just enough cash for what you need that day. If you do need to use a credit card, keep an eye on the person handling your card. If you need to get cash, use the ATM at your hotel. Sexual assaults by hotel employees in resort areas on Jamaica’s north coast have occurred with some frequency, as well. Police in Jamaica are generally short on manpower and training. You will see an increased police presence in areas of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios frequented by tourists, but if you are a victim of crime you may find the response of the local police to be lacking — or nonexistent. Locals generally have little trust in the police, and while visitors are unlikely to be mistreated by police, the Jamaican Constabulary Force is widely viewed as corrupt and ineffectual. Tourists are advised to avoid traveling in notoriously high-threat areas of Kingston including, but not limited to, Mountain View, Trench Town, Tivoli Gardens, Cassava Piece and Arnett Gardens. In Montego Bay, avoid the areas of Flankers, Canterbury, Norwood, Rose Heights, Clavers Street and Hart Street. Several of the latter neighborhoods are adjacent to Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport. Road Safety The north coastal road linking popular tourist destinations such as Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, and Negril is much improved in recent years. However, most roads are poorly maintained and have poor signage. Smaller roads may not be paved, and often are narrow, winding, and crowded with pedestrians, bicycles, and livestock. Driving is on the left, and Jamaica’s roundabouts (traffic circles) can be confusing for drivers used to driving on the right. Seat-belt use is required and recommended even for taxi passengers, given the hazardous driving conditions. Use of public transportation is not recommended, since public buses are often overcrowded and can become venues for crime. Take a cab from your hotel or use transportation from vendors that are part of JUTA — the Jamaica Union of Travelers Association.