Elderly

Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle. Euphemisms and terms for old people include seniors (American usage), Senior Citizens (British and American usage), or the elderly. As occurs with almost any definable group of humanity, some people will hold a prejudice against others — in this case, against old people. This is one form of ageism.
Old people have limited regenerative abilities and are more prone to disease, syndromes, and sickness than other adults. For the biology of ageing, see senescence. The medical study of the aging process is gerontology, and the study of diseases that afflict the elderly is geriatrics.

Substance Abuse & Children

Inpatient admission rates and average length of stay for children of alcoholics are 24% and 29% greater than for children of non-alcoholic parents. Substance abuse and other mental disorders are the most notable conditions among children of addicted parents.
Children of addicted parents are more at risk for alcoholism and drug abuse even if they are adopted and raised apart from their biological parents.
Three of four (71.6%) child welfare professionals cite substance abuse as the top cause for the dramatic rise in child maltreatment since 1986. Most welfare professionals (79.6%) report that substance abuse causes or contributes to at least half of all cases of child maltreatment; 39.7% say it's a factor in over 75% of the cases.
Parental substance abuse and addiction are the chief cause in at least 70-90% of all child welfare spending. Using the more conservative 70 percent figure, in 1998 substance abuse and addiction accounted for approximately $10 billion in federal, state and local government spending simply to maintain child welfare systems.

Simplicity

Simplicity is being simple. It is a property, condition, or quality which things can be judged to have. It usually relates to the burden which a thing puts on someone trying to explain or understand it. Something which is easy to understand or explain is simple, in contrast to something complicated. In some uses, simplicity can be used to imply beauty, purity or clarity. Simplicity may also be used in a negative connotation to denote a deficit or insufficiency of nuance or complexity of a thing, relative to what is supposed to be required.
The concept of simplicity has been related to truth in the field of epistemology. According to Occam's razor, all other things being equal, the simplest theory is the most likely to be true. In the context of human lifestyle, simplicity can denote freedom from hardship, effort or confusion. Specifically, it can refer to a simple living lifestyle.
Simplicity is a theme in the Christian religion. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, God is infinitely simple. The Roman Catholic and Anglican religious orders of Franciscans also strive after simplicity. Members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) practice the Testimony of Simplicity, which is the simplifying of one's life in order to focus on things that are most important and disregard or avoid things that are least important.
In MCS cognition theory, simplicity is the property of a domain which requires very little information to be exhaustively described. The opposite of simplicity is complexity.

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Other terms are penitentiary, correctional facility, and jail (or gaol), although in the United States "jail" and "prison" refer to different subtypes of correctional facility. Prisons are conventionally institutions which form part of the criminal justice system of a country, such that imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime.
A criminal suspect who has been charged with or is likely to be charged with criminal offense may be held on remand in prison if he is denied or unable to meet conditions of bail, or is unable or unwilling to post bail. A criminal defendant may also be held in prison while awaiting trial or a trial verdict. If found guilty, a defendant will be convicted and may receive a custodial sentence requiring imprisonment.
As well as convicted or suspected criminals, prisons may be used for internment of those not charged with a crime. Prisons may also be used as a tool of political repression to detain political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and "enemies of the state", particularly by authoritarian regimes. In times of war or conflict, prisoners of war may also be detained in prisons. A prison system is the organizational arrangement of the provision and operation of prisons, and depending on their nature, may invoke a corrections system. Although people have been imprisoned throughout history, they have also regularly been able to perform prison escapes.

Censorship

According to Webster's Dictionary, to "censor" means "to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable." The word "censor" originated in ancient Rome, where the government appointed officials to take the census and to supervise public morals. Censorship happens whenever some people succeed in imposing their political or moral values on others by suppressing words, images, or ideas that they find offensive.
A censor, traditionally, is an official whose job it is to examine literature, movies, or other forms of creative expression and to remove or ban anything she considers unsuitable. In this definition, censorship is something the government does. But censorship can also be accomplished very effectively by private groups.
Not all forms of censorship are illegal. When private individuals agitate to eliminate TV programs they dislike, or threaten to boycott the companies that support those programs with advertising dollars, they are certainly trying to censor artistic expression and interfere with the free speech of others. But their actions are perfectly legal; in fact, their protests are protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
Not even all government censorship is unlawful. For example, we still have laws against "obscenity" in art and entertainment. These laws allow the government to punish people for producing or disseminating material about sex, if a judge or jury thinks the material is sufficiently offensive and lacks any "serious value."

Famine

Famine may be seen as "the regional failure of food production or distribution systems, leading to sharply increased mortality due to starvation and associated disease" (Cox 1981, 5). While other definitions exist as well, this one usefully emphasizes regional, not family failure; points to the importance of markets and, by implication, of shifting market demand for different foods in addition to their aggregate supply; identifies "excess deaths" - deaths that otherwise would not have occurred- as the core feature of famine; and attributes those deaths to morbidity as well as to seriously reduced consumption. Indeed, most famine-induced mortality tends to occur after the worst of the food crisis is over but while the crisis of infectious disease persists (Bongaarts and Cain 1982; Greenough 1976 and 1982; see also the studies cited by Dreze and Sen 1989, 44).
What this definition does not adequately convey is that famine is the endpoint of a lengthy process in which people in increasing numbers lose their access to food. Most famines have long gestation periods, typically covering two or more crop seasons. Because the descent into famine is slow, early detection is possible. Because it is also typically shrouded in ambiguity, early detection is rarely definitive and seldom produces early response. Herein lies a dilemma that continues to plague famine early warning systems.

Sweatshop

A sweatshop is a working environment with conditions that are considered by many people of industrialised nations to be difficult or dangerous, usually where the workers have few opportunities to address their situation. This can include exposure to harmful materials, hazardous situations, extreme temperatures, or abuse from employers. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for little pay, regardless of any laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may also be violated.
Although often associated with poor developing countries, sweatshops may exist in any country. Sweatshops have existed in several different countries and cultures, including in the United States and Europe. Sweatshops usually employ low levels of technology, but may produce many different goods, for example, toys, shoes, clothing, and furniture.

Racial Profiling

Racial profiling is the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime or an illegal act or to behave in a "predictable" manner. It is often confused with the more comprehensive Offender Profiling and has been perceived to be directed most often toward non white individuals. Although this practice has been common for centuries, the practice became particularly controversial toward the end of the 20th century in the United States,as the potential for abuse by law enforcement came to light.

Racial profiling occurs when race is used by law enforcement or private security officials, to any degree, as a basis for criminal suspicion in non-suspect specific investigations. Discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, nationality or on any other particular identity undermines the basic human rights and freedoms to which every person is entitled.

Slavery(Human Trafficking)

Slavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be, or treated as, the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation (such as wages). Evidence of slavery predates written records, and has existed to varying extents, forms and periods in almost all cultures and continents. In some societies, slavery existed as a legal institution or socio-economic system, but today it is formally outlawed in nearly all countries. Nevertheless, the practice continues in various forms around the world.

Trafficking in human beings (also called human trafficking) is one method of obtaining slaves. Victims are typically recruited through deceit or trickery (such as a false job offer, false migration offer, or false marriage offer), sale by family members, recruitment by former slaves, or outright abduction. Victims are forced into a "debt slavery" situation by coercion, deception, fraud, intimidation, isolation, threat, physical force, debt bondage or even force-feeding with drugs of abuse to control their victims. “Annually, according to U.S. Government-sponsored research completed in 2006, approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders, which does not include millions trafficked within their own countries. Approximately 80 percent of transnational victims are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors,” reports the U.S. Department of State in a 2008 study.

Capital Punishment

Capital punishment or the death penalty, is the execution of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" (Latin caput). Hence, a capital crime was originally one punished by the severing of the head.
Capital punishment has been practiced in virtually every society, and thus can be considered to be a cultural universal or close to it, excluding those with state religious proscriptions against it. It is a matter of active controversy in various countries and states, and positions can vary within a single political ideology or cultural region. In the EU member states, if the Treaty of Lisbon is ratified and implemented, Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union will prohibit capital punishment.

Childhood Marriages

What is the current situation?
Throughout the developing world, millions of girls are married off to virtual strangers while they are still just children.
Some are as young as six or seven years old when they are married. The girls themselves rarely have any say in the matter. Many do not even know or fully understand what is planned for them until they arrive at their husband’s home.
In families with limited resources, child marriage is often considered a way to provide for a daughter’s future. Poor families have few resources to support more healthy alternatives for girls, while economic gains through marrying off a daughter may also motivate poor parents to choose this path.

What is needed?
Promoting educational and economic opportunities for girls can reduce child marriage. Educating adolescent girls has been critical in increasing the age of marriage countries such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand. Working with parents and community leaders to increase these opportunities has delayed marriage for girls in parts of Kenya and Zimbabwe. Child marriage can be ended, but only with a more concerted effort to ensure the public, in all countries, are aware of the terrible toll child marriage takes on girls and their future children.

Environmental Protection

Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the environment, on individual, organisational or governmental level, for the benefit of the natural environment and (or) humans.
Due to the pressures of population and technology the biophysical environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently. This has been recognised and governments began placing restraints on activities that caused environmental degradation. Since the 1960s activism by the environmental movement has created awareness of the various environmental issues. There is not a full agreement on the extent of the environmental impact of human activity and protection measures are occasionally criticized.
Academic institutions now offer courses such as environmental studies, environmental management and environmental engineering that study the history and methods of environmental protection.
Protection of the environment is needed from various human activities. Waste, pollution, loss of biodiversity, introduction of invasive species, release of genetically modified organisms and toxics are some of the issues relating to environmental protection.

World Population

The term world population commonly refers to the total number of living humans on Earth at a given time. As of 20 September 2009, the Earth's population is estimated by the United States Census Bureau to be 6.785 billion. The world population has been growing continuously since the end of the Black Death around 1400. There were also short term falls at other times due to plague, for example in the mid 17th century (see graph). The fastest rates of world population growth (above 1.8%) were seen briefly during the 1950s then for a longer period during the 1960s and 1970s (see graph). According to population projections, world population will continue to grow until around 2050. The 2008 rate of growth has almost halved since its peak of 2.2% per year, which was reached in 1963. World births have levelled off at about 134 million per year, since their peak at 163-million in the late 1990s, and are expected to remain constant. However, deaths are only around 57 million per year, and are expected to increase to 90 million by the year 2050. Because births outnumber deaths, the world's population is expected to reach about 9 billion by the year 2040.

Violence

Violence is the expression of physical force against self or other, compelling action against one's will on pain of being hurt. Variant uses of the term refer to the destruction of non-living objects (see property damage). Worldwide, violence is used as a tool of manipulation and also is an area of concern for law and culture which take attempts to suppress and stop it. The word violence covers a broad spectrum. It can vary from between a physical altercation between two beings where a slight injury may be the outcome to war and genocide where millions may die as a result.

One of the main functions of law is to regulate violence.

Sociologist Max Weber stated that the state is, for better or worse, a monopoly on violence practiced within the confines of a specific territory. Law enforcement is the main means of regulating nonmilitary violence in society. Governments regulate the use of violence through legal systems governing individuals and political authorities, including the police and military. Most societies condone some amount of police violence to maintain the status quo and enforce laws.

War is a state of prolonged violence, large-scale conflict involving two or more groups of people, usually under the auspices of government. War is fought as a means of resolving territorial and other conflicts, as war of aggression to conquer territory or loot resources, in national self-defense, or to suppress attempts of part of the nation to secede from it.
Since the Industrial Revolution, the lethality of modern warfare has steadily grown. World War I casualties were over 40 million and World War II casualties were over 70 million.

Organ & Body Donation

Many people wish to contribute to the furthering of knowledge or to help others after they die. One way to do that is by leaving money to institutions or charitable organizations. Another way is by donating specific organs and tissues, or donating the entire body.
Given that most people have trouble even thinking about making decisions about their own health care and end-of-life care (advance care directives) or funeral arrangements and talking about their thoughts, wishes and decisions with family and friends, it is no surprise that talking about donating one's body, or pieces of it, is also difficult for many to do.
Most of us know about the critical shortage in key transplant organs and body parts such as kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, and corneas, but did you know that skin, vessels, and tendons play critical roles in helping traumatically injured and sick people get well again? For those who are squeamish about parts of themselves being implanted in others, there is still a need for human tissue and organs in research.
As with so many things in life, the altruism underlying organ and body donation has been tainted by a few who saw a way to make a profit out of someone else's bequest. So, as with learning the ins and outs of the funeral industry itself to ensure you and your loved ones aren't taken for a final ride by the undertaker, if you are considering organ or body donation (and we hope you are), RFS provides the following information to help you learn more about it and to be aware of problems that have occurred in the recent past.

Immigration Effects

Immigration has more far-reaching consequences than merely depressing wages and lowering employment rates of low-skilled African-American males: its effects also appear to push some would-be workers into crime and, later, into prison, according to researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
According to their analysis:
Using census data from 1960 to 2000, they found a 10 percent rise in immigrants in a particular skill group significantly trimmed the wages of black and white men alike.
For African-Americans, the decline was 3.6 percent; for whites, it was actually slightly higher: 3.8 percent.
Beyond that, however, the black-white experience differed markedly, especially for low-skilled workers. Take employment rates:
From 1960 to 2000, black high school dropouts saw their employment rates drop 33 percentage points -- from 88.6 percent to 55.7 percent.
The decrease for white high school dropouts was only roughly half that -- from 94.1 percent to 76.0 percent.
Why would a boost in immigration effectively put more men, especially black men, behind bars? The authors put forward a straightforward theory: workers -- especially those with the lowest skills -- turn to crime to increase their income. Consider:
The rise in incarceration is most dramatic for the lowest-skilled black men; in 1980, it was just 1.3 percent and by 2000, it had skyrocketed to 25.1 percent.
Even blacks with a high school diploma saw incarceration rates increase from 0.5 percent to 9.8 percent in the same time period.
The authors stress that immigration is only one factor in the worsening labor situation of low-skilled African-American men. The 1980-2000 immigrant influx, therefore, only explains part of the decline in wages and employment, and the increase of the incarceration rates among blacks.

Homelessness

Homelessness is the condition and social category of people who lack housing, because they cannot afford, pay for, or are otherwise unable to maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing.
The term homelessness may also include people whose primary nighttime residence is in a homeless shelter, in an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized, or in a public or private place not designed for use as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.
An estimated 100 million people worldwide are homeless.
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines a "chronically homeless" person as "an unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more, or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years."

Genetic Engineering Issue

Genetic engineering is a laboratory technique used by scientists to change the DNA of living organisms.
DNA is the blueprint for the individuality of an organism. The organism relies upon the information stored in its DNA for the management of every biochemical process. The life, growth and unique features of the organism depend on its DNA. The segments of DNA which have been associated with specific features or functions of an organism are called genes.
Molecular biologists have discovered many enzymes which change the structure of DNA in living organisms. Some of these enzymes can cut and join strands of DNA. Using such enzymes, scientists learned to cut specific genes from DNA and to build customized DNA using these genes. They also learned about vectors, strands of DNA such as viruses, which can infect a cell and insert themselves into its DNA.
With this knowledge, scientists started to build vectors which incorporated genes of their choosing and used the new vectors to insert these genes into the DNA of living organisms. Genetic engineers believe they can improve the foods we eat by doing this. For example, tomatoes are sensitive to frost. This shortens their growing season. Fish, on the other hand, survive in very cold water. Scientists identified a particular gene which enables a flounder to resist cold and used the technology of genetic engineering to insert this 'anti-freeze' gene into a tomato. This makes it possible to extend the growing season of the tomato.

Gender Issues

Gender Issues publishes basic and applied research on the relationships between men and women; on similarities and differences in socialization, personality, and behavior; and on the changing aspirations, roles, and status of women in industrial, urban societies as well as in developing nations.
Interdisciplinary and cross-national in scope, the journal presents political, economic, social and behavioral analyses with diverse perspectives and policy conclusions. It covers issues of importance to both men and women as well as examines the extensive effect of changing sex roles on gender relations.
Gender Issues offers papers written by scholars in all areas of the social sciences, as well as letters to the editor, and incisive reviews of important literature from all sides of the debate about gender relations.

Animal Rights

Animal rights, also referred to as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of humans. Advocates approach the issue from different philosophical positions but agree that animals should be viewed as legal persons and members of the moral community, not property, and that they should not be used as food, clothing, research subjects, or entertainment.
The idea of awarding rights to animals has the support of legal scholars such as Alan Dershowitz and Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School, while Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby argues that the movement has reached the stage the gay rights movement was at 25 years ago. Animal law is taught in 113 out of 180 law schools in the United States, in eight law schools in Canada, and is routinely covered in universities in philosophy or applied ethics courses. In June 2008, Spain became the first country to introduce an animal rights resolution, when a parliamentary committee voted in favor of limited rights for non-human primates, inspired by Peter Singer's Great Ape Project.
Critics argue that animals are unable to enter into a social contract or make moral choices, and therefore cannot be regarded as possessors of rights, a position summed up by the philosopher Roger Scruton, who writes that only humans have duties, and that, "[the] corollary is inescapable: we alone have rights." A parallel argument is that there is nothing inherently wrong with using animals as resources if there is no unnecessary suffering, a view known as the animal welfare position. There has also been criticism, including from within the animal rights movement itself, of certain forms of animal rights activism, in particular the destruction of fur farms and animal laboratories by the Animal Liberation Front.

The Effects of Gangs

What is a gang? According to Steven Sachs, a probation officer since 1978, it is "a structured, cohesive group of individuals, usually between the ages of eleven and twenty-five, who generally operate under some form of leadership while claiming a territory or turf," (Sachs XV). Distinctive clothing, the use of special street names, language, symbols and signs, and the committing of organized and spontaneous criminal acts describe some of the characteristics of a gang. Gang members can be male or female, but they are most often male. Jeffery Fagan and Joan Moore, researchers who primarily use self-reports and observations in the field, estimate that female participation in gangs may be as high as 33 percent. In the first national survey that was conducted by Walter Miller in 1975, he estimated that 48 percent of gang members in the six largest cities in the United States were black, 36 percent Hispanic, 9 percent white, and 7 percent Asian. A few years later, in a more extensive survey in nine of the largest cities, Miller found that 44 percent of all gang members were Hispanic, 43 percent black, 9 percent white, 4 percent Asian. Based on these statistics, he speculated that illegal Hispanic immigrants may have contributed to the increasing number of gangs in California (Kinnear 76). Gangs are often rooted in the historical experience of discrimination and economic struggle. White gangs exist mainly to promote and act on racist beliefs, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Skinheads. Black gangs, Blood and CRIP, formed mainly for protection from other gangs. Hispanic gangs like Latin Kings and Sureno are typically concerned with the self-respect and integrity of their neighborhood. Asian gangs including Chinese and Korean are perhaps more organized than the Hispanic or Black gangs and have been associated with gambling, prostitution, and narcotics on a more sophisticated and profitable level than other types of gangs. They are also more mobile (Landre, Miller, Porter 4). As a result of gangs, increased use and dealing of drugs, a person's sense of belonging to a gang, and gang related crimes have had negative effects on society.

AIDS

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome:
Acquired means you can get infected with it;
Immune Deficiency means a weakness in the body's system that fights diseases.
Syndrome means a group of health problems that make up a disease.
AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. If you get infected with HIV, your body will try to fight the infection. It will make "antibodies," special molecules to fight HIV.
A blood test for HIV looks for these antibodies. If you have them in your blood, it means that you have HIV infection. People who have the HIV antibodies are called "HIV-Positive." Fact Sheet 102 has more information on HIV testing.Being HIV-positive, or having HIV disease, is not the same as having AIDS. Many people are HIV-positive but don't get sick for many years. As HIV disease continues, it slowly wears down the immune system. Viruses, parasites, fungi and bacteria that usually don't cause any problems can make you very sick if your immune system is damaged. These are called "opportunistic infections." See Fact Sheet 500 for an overview of opportunistic infections.

Euthanasia & assisted suicide

Why is it an issue?
People have many different reasons for wanting to end their life by committing suicide:
Some are severely depressed over a long interval. To them, suicide may be a "permanent solution to a temporary problem." There is a consensus that a better solution for most clinically depressed people is treatment, using counseling and/or medication. Such treatment can give to the person decades of enjoyable life which would have been lost if they committed suicide.
They live in excessive, chronic pain. Some, due to poverty or lack of health-care coverage cannot afford pain killing medication. Others are denied adequate pain killers because of their physician's lack of knowledge, inadequate training, or specific beliefs. Most physicians feel that suicide in such cases is not a preferred solution either; a better approach is proper management of pain through medication. There appears to be a lack of collective will to make this happen. Many, perhaps most, people die in excessive, though treatable, pain.
They have a terminal illness and do not want to diminish their assets by incurring large medical costs as their death approaches. As an act of generosity, they would rather die sooner, and pass on their assets to their beneficiaries.
A serious disorder or disease has adversely effected their quality of life to the point where they no longer wish to continue living.
They have been diagnosed with a degenerative, progressive illness like ALS, Huntington's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS, Alzheimer's etc. They fear a gradual loss of the quality of life in the future as the disease or disorder progresses.
They have lost their independence and must be cared for continually. Some feel that this causes an unacceptable loss of personal dignity.
They realize that they will be dying in the near future and simply want to have total control over the process.
Some are concerned about the future and want to have suicide available as an option.
Some people who decide that they wish to commit suicide are unable to accomplish the act. They need assistance from their physician. Physician assisted suicide helps them die under conditions and at the time that they wish. PAS is currently legal, under severe restrictions, only in the American state of Oregon and in the Netherlands. In other jurisdictions, they are forced to continue living against their wish, until their body eventually collapses, or until a family member or friend commits a criminal act by helping them commit suicide.
An analysis of the first full year of the availability of assisted suicide in Oregon showed that relatively few people requested help in dying. Some were probably deterred by the resistance of their physician. Only 23 actually obtained medication to induce their death. At least six of the 23 never used the pills, but died a natural death.

Gun Control

Gun laws vary widely from country to country, so this topic focuses upon arguments for laws restricting the right of private individual to possess guns. Particular debates might centre upon different categories of guns (for example automatic weapons, handguns or shotguns), licensing requirements for ownership, the right to carry concealed weapons, or requirements that manufacturers increase the safety features on their weapons. The USA is exceptional in protecting the right to own firearms in the Second Amendment to its Constitution, and gun control has been a major issue in American politics over the last few years, partly due to a series of tragic massacres involving children.

Harmful Effects of Alcohol

Impaired Judgment
The most obvious effect of alcohol is that it makes people drunk, and drunk people often do things they later regret. A 2008 National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism study used medical imaging equipment to get a glimpse of the inebriated brain in action. Subjects who drank alcohol showed less activity in the danger-detecting parts of their brains than subjects who drank a placebo. Drunk driving and risky sexual behavior are just two common ways people endanger themselves and others under the influence of alcohol.

Brain Damage,Liver Disease,Heart Disease and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

Violence in schools

School violence is widely held to have become a serious problem in recent decades in many countries, especially where weapons such as guns or knives are involved. It includes violence between school students as well as physical attacks by students on school staff.

Australia
The Education Minister of the State of Queensland said in July 2009 that the rising levels of violence in schools were "totally unacceptable" and admitted that not enough had been done to combat violent behaviour. 55,000 students had been suspended in the state's schools in 2008, nearly a third of which were for "physical misconduct".
In South Australia, 175 violent attacks against students or staff were recorded in 2008.

Belgium
A recent study found that violence experienced by teachers in francophone Belgium was a significant factor in decisions to leave the teaching profession.

Bulgaria
Following "numerous reports over the past decade about school violence", the Education Minister in 2009 introduced stricter regulations about student behaviour, including inappropriate dress, being drunk, and carrying mobile phones. Teachers were to be given new powers to punish disruptive students.
France
The French Education Minister claimed in 2000 that 39 out of 75,000 state schools were "seriously violent" and 300 were "somewhat violent".

and in all over the world.

Harmful Effects of Global Warming

Normally, solar energy strikes the Earth's surface and bounces back into space. To prevent the Earth from cooling too much, a thin layer of gases traps some of the radiant heat close to the Earth, similar to what occurs in a greenhouse. These gases, referred to as "greenhouse gases," are necessary for the Earth to retain enough heat to support life. Today, concentrations of greenhouse gases are higher than ever, resulting not only in warmer temperatures, but other harmful effects as well.

Effects of Nuclear Weapons

A nuclear explosion is a complex event. A huge amount of energy is released with the total energy distributed across a spectrum of outputs: blast, heat, and several forms of radiation. Depending on the altitude of the detonation, the size of the explosion, and distance from the center, the effects vary from instant vaporization to survivable impacts. Longer term effects linger in the form of residual radiation that can harm or kill over days, months or years, varying with the exposure dosage.

The blast from a nuclear weapon is no different than from a chemical explosion (e.g. TNT) but is much larger, even thousands of times greater. The pressure wave (overpressure) is a violent wind-like effect moving outward from the center of the explosion that collapses fortifications, walls or buildings and can roll over heavy tanks or other massive objects (and ships if at sea). Direct blast effects on a human are less harmful than the indirect effect of being hit by an object propelled by the blast. That is, the human body can withstand perhaps 150 psi of overpressure with only minor injury such as ear damage, while 25 to 30 psi will collapse a building and injure or kill people within it.

Child Labor : a Social Evil

Children are the future of a nation. Yet children have been a neglected lot in India, which is evident from various disturbing features of Infant mortality, child morbidity, child malnutrition, childhood disability, child abuse, child labor, child prostitution, street children, child beggary , child marriage juvenile delinquency, drug addiction and illiteracy.

India has earned a dubious distinction of having produced the largest child labor force in the world. That children constitute 36% of Indian population makes it all the more shameful that a bulk of our children suffer from poverty, disease and cruel exploitation through forced labor and begging. One third of the Indian children under sixteen years of age [ and this may be a gross underestimation] are child laborers, forced to work under hazardous conditions, for long hours and undergo physical abuse.

Health effects of tobacco

The health effects of tobacco are the circumstances, mechanisms, and factors of tobacco consumption on human health. Epidemiological research have been focused primarily on tobacco smoking,[1] which has been studied more extensively than any other form of consumption.[2]
Tobacco use leads most commonly to diseases affecting the heart and lungs, with smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and cancer (particularly lung cancer, cancers of the larynx and mouth, and pancreatic cancer).
The World Health Organization estimate that tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in 2004[3] and 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century.[4] Similarly, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes tobacco use as "the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide."[5]