Real and personal property Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Real and personal property - Essay Example Property is usually divided into two aspects; the first being the personal property and the second is real property. Real property is usually restricted to matter revolving around land or what is sometimes called ‘in rem’. On the other hand, personal property revolves around chattels or what may sometimes be defined as ‘in personam’. In modern law, property can be examined under a series of models.; the first one amongst these is property as a fact. The second is property as a right and the third is property as a responsibility. In the legal system, real and personal property ownership is governed by property law rights when considering the common law system. In the civil law legal system, there is a distinction between movable and immovable property. Real property is largely encompassed by immovable property while personal property is associated with movable property. Consequently, the rights associated with these types of property are entailed in property law. (Liuzzo & Bonnice, 2005) In legal terms, the process of declaring that certain property belongs to an individual is not adequate enough to constitute property. Instead, this matter is usually all embracing when certain persons need to have their rights to chattels or land respected and enforced by the law. It is essential for one to acquire property legitimately in accordance to the law so as to seek its protection. This is usually acquired by possession of a title to that property. There are a series of differences that arise when one considers the issue of personal versus real property. The most outstanding difference among them is with regard to immobility. Usually, real property can be considered immobile while personal property is mobile. This means that the rule governing the latter’s transference are radically different from those governing the former. Real property

EFFECTS OF FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME Research Paper

EFFECTS OF FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME - Research Paper Example Collectively, the range of disorders is known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).† (Mayo clinic staff) Fetal alcohol exposure is the leading known cause of many mental problems in the western world. It is difficult for the westerners to avoid liquor completely from their daily routine food habits because of the climatic conditions and the cultural peculiarities. Drug/alcohol addiction is one of the curses for the western countries. â€Å"Its estimated that each year in the United States, 1 in every 750 infants is born with a pattern of physical, developmental, and functional problems referred to as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), while another 40,000 are born with fetal alcohol effects (FAE)† (Fetal alcohol syndrome) There is no scientific support for the type of widespread hysteria that permeates public discussion on fetal alcohol syndrome. (Prof. Hanson) Though the fact, excessive use of alcohol during pregnancy can cause problems to the child, proved beyond doubts, there are still doubts about the results of normal usages of drinks during pregnancy period. Many people still believe that a single drink daily may not cause many problems to the offspring even at the pregnancy period. â€Å"When you drink alcohol, it enters your bloodstream and reaches your developing fetus by crossing the placenta. Because a fetus metabolizes alcohol more slowly than an adult does, your developing babys blood alcohol concentrations are higher than those in your body. The presence of alcohol can impair optimal nutrition for your babys developing tissues and organs and can damage brain cells.† (Mayo clinic staff) A person’s important phase of development is his childhood before and after birth. All his future personalities will depend on his personal health both physical and mental during this period. If the brain cells damaged during childhood it is difficult to replace it and hence problems can occur at later stages. Low birth weight, small

Data Collection And Data Analysis Physical Education Essay

Data Collection And Data Analysis Physical Education Essay The research method plays an essential role in addressing the research objectives with reliable and valid data. This section illustrates how and why a certain approach chosen to answer the research questions. The methodology of this research bases on research onion model (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). The structure of this chapter follows the layers of the research onion model. Figure 0.: The research onion Source:  © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2008 (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012, p.108) 3.1. Research philosophy Selecting the research philosophy is a necessary stage in the research process because it is important to reflect the perspective of a researcher and it also influences directly on the choice of research strategy and research methods (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). In business and management research, the popular philosophies includes positivism, realism interpretivism and pragmatism (Creswell, 2008; Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Thus, this research should determine the suitable philosophies based on the philosophy theory and the research questions and research objectives stated above. Regarding the theory philosophy, Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2012) discuss that there are two key points of view including ontology and epistemology. Firstly, based on ontology, the nature of reality or being of researchers view about the positivist is objective, external and independent with social factors, but researchers view about the interpretivist is subjective, social constructed and changeable depend on the participants (ibid.). On the other hand, on the way of thinking about epistemology, the valid knowledge of researchers view about the positivist focuses on causality, reducing phenomena to simplest elements, data and facts; but researchers view about interpretivist concentrates on social phenomena, feelings attitudes and detail of situations and subjective meaning (ibid., p.119). These viewpoints between ontology and epistemology are difference, and each of them will impact on the way of thinking about the research process. Additionally, the pragmatist research philosop hy tends to be the combination of both positivist and interpretivist. The positivist philosophy is appropriate choice for this research owing to the research objectives to examine the relationships among measurements of an e-learning system success and the using e-learning system of students to support their KM. Regarding ontology view, the e-learning system is an objective and singular. Furthermore, collecting data to analyse the e-learning system success in this research proves that it is positivism based on epistemology view. However, investigating students attitude can use interpretivism but it is reasonable with positivism. 3.2. Research approach Due to positivistic philosophy and the research questions to test theory and the prior researches discussed in the literature review chapter, this research is suitable with deductive approach. This approach includes 5 progressive stages: (1) inferring hypotheses from the theory (test relationship among variables in the e-learning system success); (2) proposing the relationships among variables in this research (e.g. users attitude positive impacting on system acceptance); (3) testing operational hypotheses (using statistical software to estimate hypotheses); (4) discussing the outcome to confirm the theory; and (5) altering the theory based on the findings (Robson, 2002 cited in Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012, p.124-125). Furthermore, the detailed progress of this research based on this deductive approach is illustrated in figure 3.2 (Maylor and Blackmon, 2005). Figure 0.: The deductive approach process (Maylor and Blackmon, 2005,p.56) 3.3. Research strategy Creswell (2008) stated that research strategy significantly influence on the direction of the research, as a result, the choice of research strategy is essential in research progress. The factors impact on the selected strategy including the research questions and objective, the choice of research philosophy, research approach and other resources such as time constraint, finance or data access (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Due to the selected deductive approach, experiment, survey, ground theory or case study are the research strategies that can be applied for this research. Experiment strategy tends to concentrate on a specific group. Moreover, case study is often used in specific research for a period of time. Hence, both experiment strategy and case study are not suitable for this study due to of the research questions. Because this study is developed on the previous researches in difference context, the ground theory strategy is not appropriate with this research. On the other hand, the survey approach is the most rational choice for this research within limited time. Survey strategy can be defined as a specific sampling from the population and the structured questionnaires are designed to test theory (Malhotra and Birks, 2007). This strategy is suitable to test the relationships between variables in research objectives using quantitative data method (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). In additi on, this survey strategy also appropriate with cross-sectional time horizon studies (Easterby-Smith et al. 2008; Robson 2002 cited in Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Alternatively, the survey strategy also has some limitations such as irrelevant or inaccurate responses of the questionnaire or possibly insufficient sample. The number of responses may not achieve the target of at least 95% of confidential level because people are not able or willing to answers the questionnaire (Girden and Kabacoff, 2010). Understanding the potential drawbacks of the survey strategy is vital that result in well preparing in data collection plan. 3.4. Research choices Due to the selected positivistic research philosophy as well as deductive approach, the mono method with quantitative approach is the research choice of this study. Using mono method seems to be adequate because this is not ground theory and experiment research strategy. Additionally, referring the section 2.2 of the literature review chapter, the mono method with only quantitative research approach tends to be used in almost previous researches to measure the e-learning system success and to test the research model. Hence, the theory and research framework of based on previous researches are tested in this research in the context of the University of Southampton with the quantitative approach. 3.5. Time horizon This research has been conducted in three months. Thus, it is appropriate with cross-sectional time horizon owing to time constraint. Cross-sectional researches are appropriate to study specific phenomenon at specific time while longitudinal researches are suitable to study change and development over a long period of time (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). 3.6. Research design: Data collection and data analysis This  section aims to describe detail about the quantitative approach to collect and analyse primary data with sampling method, questionnaire design, pilot testing, data collection and data analysis sub-sections. 3.6.1. Sampling method The context of this research is the University of Southampton. Therefore, all students and alumni of the University who has used the e-learning system at the University can participate on this research. Due to applying survey research strategy in this research, the most suitable sampling method for this study can be probability samples. Based on the probability sampling method (another name is representative sampling), the research questions and objectives can be achieved by evaluating statistically the characteristics of the population from the sample (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012, p.213). In this research, the population which is all students using the e-learning system at the University of Southampton is generalised from the sample which is the students participating in the questionnaire. The most appropriate sampling technique for this study is simple random sampling but the sampling frame size and the cost and time consuming of this sampling technique is high (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Hence, multi-stage can be used as the sampling technique to save time and cost. In the first stage of this sampling technique, the list of schools at the University of Southampton is drawn. Then, in the second stage, a simple random sample of students can be selected by chosen schools. In fact, the selected schools may be not random because it is not acceptance to help of all schools at the University to broadcast the survey to their students. This study uses online questionnaire as a result of sharing questionnaire easily via emails or social network (such as Facebook). Indeed, several schools at the University are willing to help sending the questionnaire to all their students email. Higher Education Statistic Agency summary that there are more than 23,000 students at the University of Southampton in 2010/2011 (HESA, 2012). Thus, the population in this study can be more than 100 thousands because both students and alumni has been used the e-learning system at the University since at least 4 years. This research targets to achieve 95 per cent confidence level and 5 per cent margin of error. Thus, referring to figure about sample sizes for different sizes of population at a 95 confidence level, the minimum sample size is 383 (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012, p.219). 3.6.2. Questionnaire design Designing a questionnaire is a vital stage in data collection technique to support positivism methodology, deductive approach and survey strategy in business and management research (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). The questionnaire technique is used to test the reliability and validity of hypotheses proposed from research objectives and research framework (Neuman and Neuman, 2011). There are many benefits of using questionnaire technique in research. For instance, it is an effective and economical approach to collect primary data (Patten, 2001). It also provide clear result in tabular to analyse easily (ibid.). Moreover, it can be managed anonymously and asynchronously (ibid.). The type of questionnaire in this research is self-administrated online questionnaire due to the convenience and effectiveness of broadcasting as well as preparing data. The online questionnaire is designed on the iSurvey platform which is endorsed by the University of Southampton (www.isurvey.soton.ac.uk). Because iSurvey is a high quality tool and many advantages such as no cost, secure, friendly interface, ease of use, reliability and stability, it is used to design questionnaire by almost students of the University. Following the questionnaire research a practical guide of Patten (2011), the designed questions are clear, short, simple and avoided common errors. Due to the willing help and limited time of participants, only necessary questions are presented in the questionnaire. Moreover, the questionnaire is designed with a short time to complete (around 10 minutes). The validity of questions in questionnaire can lead to accurate data after collecting, and the reliability means the consistence of collected data (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Bourque and Clark (1994, cited in Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012) stated three effective methods to design individual questions that are adopting questions used in other questionnaires; adapting questions used in other questionnaires; and developing own questions. Thus, rich literature review significantly supports questionnaire design with high reliability and validity because the questions in questionnaires are tested in the previous researches. Moreover, clear questions in questionnaire are recommended to discuss with others and test pilot studies (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). The questionnaire is designed with three sections. The first section to ask about the basic information of participant, the most important question in this section is that Have/had you used the e-learning system (Blackboard, Moodle, Medis, ECS, or others) of the University of Southampton? If participant select option No, they will complete the questionnaire. At the second section, the questions are self-developed question to conduct descriptive statistic regarding using e-learning system of students to facilitate their KM. The content of these questions in this section is classified by attribute and behaviour. These questions based on the theory on literature review regarding e-learning system success and KM. They also have been recommended by friends who are studying PhD and have much experience with questionnaire design; and test in pilot study. The final section in the questionnaire aims to test the research framework and research hypotheses. This section includes 32 items and all adopt 5-point Likert scale (from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree). All items are adapted and adopted questions used in prior researches regarding e-learning system success and e-learning system as a tool to support KM (for example, items are referred and adapted from Lin, 2007; Lin, 2007, Liaw, Chen and Huang, 2008; Liaw, Huang and Chen, 2007 ; Wang and Chiu, 2011). The scales have been tested by previous researchers as discuss in the section 2.2 and 2.4 of the literature review chapter. Thus, the reliability and validity of the instruments are high because of revealed in public papers. Furthermore, the participant information sheet and only consent form are stated in the welcome page of the online questionnaire to introduce briefly regarding this research, researcher, research questions, contact of researcher and Ethic Committee, and a participants consent to taking part in the survey. Additionally, the a debriefing page is stated at the ending page of the online questionnaire in order to give thanks to participants as well as introduce briefly about this research such as research hypotheses and papers closely related to this study. The full questionnaire is stated in Appendix 1; and the e-mails which are sent to several schools of the University and to fellow students to collect data are stated in Appendix 1; and. 3.6.3. Pilot testing and assess validity A pilot study (pre-test) conducts a small part of sample to test the questionnaire before delivering the questionnaire to collect primary data from sample. Implementing the pilot test is crucial, especially when researchers lack of experience within designing a survey questionnaire as well as data collection approach (Yin, 2011). According to Vaus (2002), in term of pilot test, individual questionnaire items need to evaluate the variation, meaning, redundancy, scalability, not-response and acquiescent response while the whole questionnaire should test the flow, question skips, timing and interest and attention of respondents. The pilot test also aims to enhance questions in the questionnaire and it can do more than one time. Moreover, after completing the questionnaire, participants of pilot test can comment to refine the questionnaire where which questions can be misunderstood, silly or difficult (Sapsford, 2006). Additionally, the reliability and validity of items in questionnaire can be assessed with the pilot test. Factor analysis also can do in this pre-test to remove low quality items in the questionnaire (Fowler, 2008). The pilot test to improve the questionnaire in this research was conducted two times. At the first time, the questionnaire was designed with only 2 first sections. The link of the questionnaire was sent by email and Facebook to 20 participants which are students at the University of Southampton. After that, some respondents gave much valuable feedback used to enhance the instruction as well as individual questions in the questionnaire. Because of almost self-developed questions in section 2 of the questionnaire, some questions were recommended by participants who have much experience in designing survey and statistic research. For example, in the question to ask about benefits of using e-mail function of the e-learning system, the kind of question should be changed from multiple choice questions to check box question because respondents can want to select all options. Another example is that some questions such as Yes or No questions had been improved to the open ended questions to i nvestigate in deep why Yes or No option is selected. On the other hand, some participants who studying in English subject at faculty of Humanities at the University had contributed much valuable advice regarding the language including grammar and words choice of the instruction part as well as individual questions. Additionally, the overall appearance and organisation of the questionnaire had been commented. The time consuming to complete the two sections of the questionnaire was calculated in this first pilot test around 4 minutes. After conducting the pilot test, individual questions were changed to be clearer and easier to understand. At the second time of the pilot testing, the completed questionnaire had been design with the final section. Because 50(+/-20) is the typical sample size at the pre-test stage, the link of the questionnaire was sent to another 40 students (Cooper and Schindler, 2010). After that, there are 32 completed answers with no missing from participants because having 02 PhD students do not use the e-learning system at the University and 6 missing answers. The alert participants if they have left any questions blank function of the iSurvey was not turned on that is the main reason of missing answers in pilot test. Therefore, this function is setup in the main data collection. From the data collection, the consistence of the multi-item scales question was tested by SPSS. This pilot data is also very useful to study data analysis in practice with SPSS and AMOS model test software. Furthermore, overall feedback from almost respondents about the questionnaire is that all questions are clear and ea sy to understand because the questions in the first two sections had been updated after the first pilot test and all questions in section three have been adapted and adopted from prior researches. Statistic from iSurvey administrative site, from 8 to 10 minutes is a typical time to complete the questionnaire. 3.6.4. Data collection The completed questionnaire version, the Ethic, Risk, consent forms, the information sheet and debriefing sheet has been submitted to the Ethic committee. After approved by this committee, the questionnaire is broadcasted to students and alumni at the University of Southampton. Initially, e-mail including the questionnaire link is sent to all schools at the University in order to request a help spreading out the questionnaire to students at these schools via the e-mail system of the University (Appendix 2). Several schools (such as English, Music, Modern language at the faculty of Humanities; Law and Management school at the faculty of Business and Law; faculty of Medicine; Education, Mathematics and Social Sciences school at the faculty of Social and Human Sciences) have been agreed and helped to send the questionnaire to all their students. They replied a confirmation e-mail while some other schools sent a sorry e-mail which means cannot help to deliver the online questionnaire. Secondly, the link of the questionnaire is shared to some Facebook fan page of the University of Southampton such as the University of Southampton Alumni, SUSU group, Southampton Management School Alumni fan page; and some Facebook group such as Vietnamese Society at the University of Southampton group; Badminton, Tennis and Table Tennis at the University of Southampton group. The data are collected during 15 days from the 2nd of August to the 16th of August 2012. 3.6.5. Data analysis Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics to analyse quantitative data are used in this research. Initially, this study conducts descriptive statistics to report the averages, the dispersion, and the central tendencies of the data collected (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). After that, the research framework and hypotheses are tested by two-phased approach for Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) (Schumacker and Lomax, 2004; Hair et al. 2006 cited in Wang and Chiu, 2011). In term of technology for data analysis, Microsoft Excel, IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) and IBM AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) software are used. SPSS which is well-known computer programme widely used to carry out statistical analysis in Social Science. AMOS also is a powerful tool and easy-to-use with graphical interface design to analyse model fit. Thus, using these tools can accomplish quickly the results with the highest accuracy. However, lack of basic skills in using SPSS and AMOS software can be the problem affecting the research progress. Nonetheless, due to the booming sharing knowledge in the internet, many online instruction video clips are available on Youtube and tutorials in the internet today. Thus, these tools can be controlled fundamentally in the short period of time. The strategy to analyse data is stated below: Analyse the descriptive statistic in SPSS Test the reliability of items by using reliability analysis in SPSS Analyse factor analysis to find and delete the unnecessary items in SPSS Conduct confirmation factor analysis (CFA) to measure research framework in AMOS Evaluate structure research framework and calculate hypotheses in AMOS. 3.7. Summary This chapter explained about the selected research method base on the theory, literature review and the research questions and objectives. This research is appropriate with positivistic philosophy and deductive approach. Mono method with quantitative approach is suitable choice to conduct this research. Cross-sessional is the time horizon determined for this research. This chapter also discuss detail regarding data collection and analysis with choosing sampling technique, designing questionnaire, testing pilot study, collecting data strategy and analysing data strategy.

Essay --

Traveling around the world can open your eyes to many new discoveries. Jonathan Swift was a well-known author during the 1600 and 1700’s. Many of Swift’s pieces were based on his experiences during his travels. â€Å"For most general readers, the name Jonathan Swift is associated only with his satiric masterpiece Gulliver's Travels. They are not aware that, in addition to it and hundreds of poems, he wrote a great deal of nonfictional prose, much of it of considerable interest, significance, and excellence† (Schakel). As a child, â€Å"Swift grew up fatherless and dependent on the generosity of his uncle† (â€Å"Jonathan Swift†). Jonathan was born in 1667 in Dublin, Ireland. According to â€Å"The Early Life and Education of Jonathan Swift† his father died in 1667 before Jonathan was born. Jonathan’s mother felt very strongly about her son’s education. â€Å"At the age of six he was sent to Kilkenny School, then the best in Ireland† (â€Å"Jonathan Swift†). â€Å"Swift continued in residence at Trinity College as a candidate for his masters of arts degree until February 1689. The Roman Catholic disorders began to spread through Dublin after the Glorious Revolution, causing Swift to seek security in England with a distant relative named Sir William Temple, at Moor Park.† (â€Å"Jonathan Swift†). As stated in â€Å"Jonathan Swift† Temple was engaged in writing memoirs and preparing essays for publication, and Swift acted as h is secretary. Swift gained much knowledge while he was with Temple by reading many books from Temple’s vast library. This is when Jonathan really became interested in writing. â€Å"Between 1691 and 1694 Swift wrote a number of poems and between 1696 and 1699 he turned to prose and wrote some of his most famous works such as A Tale of a Tub† (â€Å"Jonathan ... ...an Swift Biography†) â€Å"The closing years of Swift’s life have been the subject of some misrepresentation, and stories have been told of his ungovernable temper and lack of self-control† (â€Å"Jonathan Swift†). Jonathan Swift lived a long 78 years, he died on October 19, 1745. â€Å"He is said to have suffered what is known to have been Meniere’s Disease, an affliction of the semicircular canals of the ears† (â€Å"Jonathan Swift†). In 1742 he was declared incapable of caring for himself, and guardians were appointed, according to the article â€Å"Jonathan Swift†. â€Å"Later that year (1742) he suffered from a stroke and lost the ability to speak† (â€Å"Jonathan Swift Biography†). In 1745, Swift was â€Å"laid to rest next to Esther Johnson inside of Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral† (â€Å"Jonathan Swift Biography†). After living his long life Swift said â€Å"No wise man ever wished to be younger.â € 

Financial Aid is Not Always the Answer Essay

The United States is known for getting involved in affairs that does not concern them all in the name of foreign policy. Nonetheless, its stance regarding its foreign policies have undoubtedly helped other nations especially those economically-challenged at the same time serving the US’ own interest. However, its policy in relation to Armenia and the so-called Armenian Genocide is nil to the least. As it is the United States’ aim to help Armenia, it has not yet officially recognized that the Armenian Genocide indeed occurred. Admittedly, democracy in Armenia is still a work in progress and it still has a long way to go especially now that elections are set this year. The United States despite its hesitation to fully acknowledge the atrocities committed by the Turks in 1915 and even until now against the Armenians, can nevertheless help in aiding Armenia and put a stop to the Armenian genocide. There is no easy way but to go head on. The first step would be to appoint and send an Ambassador that fully knows and understands the situation and plight of the Armenians. When John Evans, Ambassador to Armenia used the word â€Å"genocide† in public to describe the deaths of some 1. 2 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, this prompted a controversy that eventually cost Evans his job. Although none of the Ambassadors, other than Evans has affirmed and recognized the Armenian genocide during Senate confirmation hearings, it is imperative that the members of the diplomatic corps or nominees for the ambassador post must recognize and understand as well as refer to the Armenian genocide. Once this is done, other forms as well as policies of aiding will soon follow. Nonetheless, it cannot be denied that despite the aids sent by the United States, totaling to $75 million seemed to be not working at all. In fact, instead of going back to their national homeland, Armenians have left the country, including the 30 percent of its working population. The country is wrought with corruption and poverty and despite the immense aid provided from foreign sources, the country seems like it has just recovered from the genocide. Hence, in order to help the Armenians, change must start from within the country because admittedly even if foreign aid would still continue, it would still be useless considering that the money for aid sent is not used for the growth of the country. The United States has supported the Georgians and the Ukrainians in their quest for change in their respective countries. If it will support, even encourage the Armenians in its quest for a revolutionary and peaceful change, through its policies, perhaps it could help the Armenians who are still languishing in poverty and corruption. Therefore, the financial aid that it is providing for the Armenians is not the way to aid the Armenians and the victims of genocide. It is to help them shape their internal policies and shape the country into a clean and habitable homeland. The bottom line for this is: if we really want to help the Armenians and the victims of genocide, then it is imperative that we recognize what happened in 1915 as it is – genocide in the least. The Armenian Genocide undoubtedly has prompted the first large-scale international human rights movement in the United States and financial aid is not just enough, we have make sure that this does not happen again, not only in Armenia but in other countries as well to which the United States has vested interests.

Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Essay

Scientific research has come a long way since the first use of human embryos to treat and prevent diseases. The polio vaccine was invented in the 1950’s from the use of human fetal kidney cells, fetuses in uteri were used to develop techniques like amniocenteses and improving knowledge about congenital heart disease in the 1970’s, and in the 1980’s the transplantation of fetal tissue into adults to help with serious conditions like, diabetes or Parkinson’s (Gold, 2004). While there has always been concern and controversy over the use of human embryonic cells, today the debate is ethical. This ethical debate lies within the destruction of human embryos in order to use them for medical research. This paper will talk about how two different theories; utilitarianism and relativism view this ethical issue and the problem it presents, as well as my personal views on use of embryonic stem cell research. The theory of utilitarianism determines what is best by looking at the results of an act. According to Mosser (2010, section 1. 7), â€Å"utilitarianism argues that, given a set of choices, the act we should choose is that which produces the best results for the greatest number affected by that choice. When looking at the use of embryonic stem cells for research, utilitarianism looks at the end result. Embryonic stem cells have the potential to save lives by curing diseases and through the use of transplantation. While some utilitarianism’s may still view the destruction of these cells as the destruction of human life they recognize that their potential is a far better choice, being that this research can potentially help save many lives. The opposition to embryonic stem cell research may have a relativists view. Although one person may see embryonic stem cell research as right, another may see it as wrong based on their own ethical standards that have been provided by their culture or background (Mosser, 2010). The opposition of embryonic stem cell research view the embryo as a person from the day it is conceived, although it does not have any characteristics of a person, it will one day become a person. The thought of destroying human life has raised many important questions that cannot be answered by science. When does life begin? Is a human embryo equivalent to a human child? Does a human embryo have any rights? Might the destruction of a single embryo be justified if it provides a cure for countless number of patients? Since ES cells can grow indefinitely in a dish can, in theory, still grow into a human being, is the embryo really destroyed. (The University of Utah, 2012, para. 5) So what moral status does the human embryo have? To the relativist opposition, the question can only be answered by their personal moral views. To better understand the debate about embryonic stem cell research one must first understand the importance of embryonic stem cell research. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent cells that are derived from the inner cell mass of the human blastocyst (early embryo) (Hynes, 2008). Many wonder why the use of these cells is so important in scientific breakthroughs. Embryonic stem cells are capable of differentiating into all types of cells in the body. This allows researchers to use ES cells to create any type of cell needed for any patient. Many ask why the use of adult stem cells is not good enough. Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells found within the body. These cells only have the ability to â€Å"divide or self-renew indefinitely and generate all the cell types of the organ from which they originate† (Science, 2012, para. 1). Adult stem cell research is not controversial, as it does not require the destruction of human life to acquire them. While adult stem cells have been used to successfully treat things like leukemia and related bone/blood cancers, embryonic stem cells offer a wider variety of treatment options because they have the ability to develop into more than 200 cell types in the body as long as they are specified to do so (Science, 2012). Both sides of this debate may be influenced by religion. There are some religions that regard a human embryo as having human status from the time of conception while others say that an embryo does not have full human status before 40 days (EuroStemCell, 2011). The Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and conservative Protestant Churches are against human embryonic stem cell research, where Judaism and Islam look at and emphasize the importance of the outcome that embryonic stem cell research can bring (EuroStemCell, 2011). As with any debate those who have the same theory may still believe differently based upon their culture, upbringing, and religious background. I find that one could be of a certain religion (Catholic) and still view embryonic stem cell research as a better solution than just discarding unused embryos. The Catholic utilitarian may argue that the it is better to utilize the embryonic stem cells from an infertility clinic for research to potentially save many lives than to discard the cells as if they were. On the other hand the Catholic relativist/utilitarian might argue that this goes against their religious beliefs and is not what is best for the common good. As one can see in this example a person may exercise more than one theory in their lives. One may have been raised to view embryonic stem cell research, as wrong because it destroys human life, but they may also view it is a way to help the common good. This is when these types of decisions, to be for or against something, become a personal struggle. Does one go against what they were raised and taught to believe or do they do what they think is right for the common good of society? Mosser (2010, Section 1. 7) states that, â€Å"utilitarianism gives us what seems to be a clear and fairly easy principle to apply to ethical problems and so determine the right thing to do in specific cases. † This may be the case when it comes to simple decisions that are easy to explain and justify, but when it comes to a moral decision between right and wrong utilitarianism can merely guide us and help clarify these ethical problems (Mosser, 2010). Unfortunately this is why there is such a heated debate with embryonic stem cell research. What one sees as morally right another sees as morally wrong? The reasons may be different, but the end result may be the same. In this case one believes the act of using human embryos for research will help the common good where the other side believes not using human embryos for research will help the common good in value of morals and what status they view the human embryo. Relativism allows one the opportunity to go along with what their culture believes is right or wrong. It keeps one safe, as many people are afraid to express their own opinions and views against anothers views (Mosser, 2010). As with any ethical issue, this theory allows those who do not know enough about it to stay safe and build their views and opinions based on those around them. This allows one to judge another based on a view that has been acquired by commonality rather than facts. This can go both ways with embryonic stem cell research. Although the relativist view can be regarded as the â€Å"popular† view it can be very powerful if one bases their view on facts and knowledge and not just the cultural view. While their will always be disagreements about the use of embryonic stem cell research I find that their use if more beneficial than it is destructive. While everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, is it selfish to oppose the use of embryonic cells, which will be discarded anyway, because it is seen as the destruction of life? I think so. If there is a way to help another in the future through the use of embryonic stem cells, why not? I find myself in agreement with the utilitarianism theory on this matter. It is important for researchers to continue their research to help the common good. The research and researchers must have limitations though.