The Geneva Convention: Preventing Atrocities Towards Prisoners of War :: American America History

The Geneva Convention: Preventing Atrocities Towards Prisoners of War The Allied established the Geneva Convention to protect wounded soldiers in 1864. They amended it four times with the fourth time following some of most atrocious acts against prisoners of war during World War II. I will provide evidence of what I believe led to the modifications of the Geneva Convention in 1949 to protect POWs. I will present the reasons behind the amendment and accounts of the 6th Bomb Squadron 29th Bomb Group 314th Wing during World War II. Finally, I will discuss the modifications that resulted from these acts of violence. Several nations failed to abide by the Geneva Convention during World War II. As a result of this, the convention met for the fourth time to redefine and establish the rules to protect future veterans. (Simpkin) There were 130,000 POWs captured during World War II. Japan killed the most American POWs with a staggering rate at forty percent of 27,465. (Reynolds 10) It was these outrageous events of World War II that led to the Geneva Convention of 1949, which righted the wrongs of the previous conventions. (Geneva Conventions 864) So how bad were POWs treated? I am going to tell the accounts of one of the most severe acts against mankind that occurred during World War II. An interview by an Army special agent with pilot Marvin S. Watkins revealed the following events that occurred following a bombing run in Japan. On May 5, 1945, the 6th Bomb Squadron 29th Bomb Group 314th Wing had just completed a bombing run on Tachairai air depot and was returning to our base in Guam. The following crew members were onboard: William R. Fredericks, Co-Pilot; Howard T. Shingledecker, Bombardier; Charles Kearns, Navigator; Dale Plambeck, Radar Navigator; Teddy Poncezki, Engineer; John Colehower, Gunner; Cpl. Johnson, Gunner; Cpl. Oeinck, Gunner; Cpl. Czarnecki, Gunner; Robert Williams, Radio Operator; and myself as pilot. At 0800, we were ten to twenty miles away from the target when a twin-engine enemy fighter attacked us over the island of Kyushu. One of our engines caught fire, which required the crew to abandon. The engineer and I remained onboard and we continued our flight for another five miles until we lost a wing. We then bailed out and parachuted safely before the plane crashed near the town of Taketa. I evaded capture for eight hours. I was blindfolded, handcuffed, and taken by train to a camp.

Engineering Ethics Essay

â€Å"The need for safety is proportional to the danger of having an accident. Nothing is fool-proof, yet we must try to minimize risks. If the public is willing to run or to take such risks, who are engineers to refuse? † In my opinion, the above argument is very valid and it indeed reflects the position of engineering as a process. The reason why I support this argument is because first of all, the advancements the society has been able to make are due to the milestones that have been achieved by engineers. There will always be a demand for innovation so that life may become what the society wants it to be: smooth and efficient (Davis, 1998). To design the systems which are able to bring about these comforts, we as engineers must base our practice on the mathematical and physical principles that have been established through empirical research (Baura, 2006). Any measures to safeguard the safety in the use of systems and devices designed by engineers are constant and depend on certain constants; and these constants are in turn dependent on external factors. When this chain of determinants fails to hold up, then risks will arise. Nevertheless, it is our professional responsibility as engineers to bring innovation to the society. Due to unforeseen circumstances, engineering processes or the products of these processes may malfunction, causing danger to their users or other third parties. But through exhibiting an affinity for these processes and products, the society is virtually signing an agreement to face the associated risks as a matter of choice; and engineers cannot dissuade them (Davis, 1998). However, all engineers have a role of ensuring that the profession is approached with diligence so that the risks emanating from its processes are as low as can be possible (Davis, 1998). This is our obligation to the society, our conscience and our employers and the profession. That is what makes a holistic engineering practice. Relationship between risk and safety To understand the relationship between risk and safety it is important to first understand the meaning and implication of the two terms. Risk in the engineering context can be defined as the probability of an accident arising from an engineering project or a product of an engineering project (Baura, 2006). Safety on its part can be defined as the state of having a defined degree of certainty that adverse effects or accidents will not result from a process or the use of a specific device or system. With the above definitions in mind, it can be concluded that risk and safety are inversely proportional entities. Applied to engineering ethics, their implication is that we as engineers must strive, as a matter of being professionally competent, to minimize risks as much as can be possible so that safety can be increased (Baura, 2006). Risks have many dimensions in that they can occur in any stage of engineering, raging from design, implementation of the design and in the application of the product of the design (Davis, 1998). The same is translated to safety since the two are mutually interdependent, related by the rule of inverse proportionality: the higher the risks associated with a system or a process, the lesser the safety of the people interacting with it. Determining whether an engineer is responsible for an accident Under the unfortunate eventuality that an accident has occurred in an engineering project or in the use of a product or system designed through the engineering process, whether or not an engineer should be held responsible is a matter resolved by examining if he or she stuck by the pre-defined standards of professionalism and ethics (Baura, 2006). This is one of the main concerns of engineering ethics. It is a field in the study and practice of engineering that deals with the setting and unilateral enforcement of the standards that govern the practice of engineering as a profession. According to these standards, an engineer is supposed to exhibit diligence, morality and high levels of engagement to the process (Rabins, Pritchard & Harris, 2008). When these attributes are not followed to the letter, safety may be compromised. In case an accident happens and the engineer in charge of the event or system that caused the accident is found to have diverged from recommended standards of competence, then he or she should be held responsible for the accident (Baura, 2006). As discussed above, all engineering processes always involve some risks no matter how minimal. An accident may occur not because of negligence on the part of the engineer in charge but because of other factors outside his or her control (Davis, 1998). Determining if an engineer is responsible for an accident therefore is a matter of evaluating the circumstances that led to the accident. If there is sufficient proof of negligence, then the engineer should be blamed; but if all evidence shows that the engineer stuck to the recommended standards of professionalism and ethical responsibility, then he or she should not be blamed (Davis, 1998). It is just part of the risks involved in the job. Standards of due diligence Moral, ethical and professional standards of diligence applying to the practice of engineering are defined for each specific discipline by societies comprised of experienced engineers. These societies define an elaborate set of standards which an engineer needs to be familiar with and show competence in before he or she is licensed to practice. Among these is the National Institute of Engineering Ethics (NIEE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (AMSE). In different countries, national societies exist which liaise with the international societies for easier implementation of these standards of due diligence (Rabins, Pritchard & Harris, 2008). Regulating and enforcing Standards Professional engineers who have garnered sufficient experience in the profession have the moral and professional obligation of inducting graduating engineers to the practice. They, in collaboration with engineering societies and educational institutions should ensure that student engineers are taught engineering ethics as part of the regular curriculum. Upon graduating, engineering students should be made to undertake competence courses and examinations so that the required standards of ethical and professional are ingrained into their conscience before they can be licensed to operate as engineers (Davis, 1998). There should be levels so that an engineer graduates from one level to another depending on experience garnered; experience which should be evaluated in terms of his or her level of competence. Practicing licenses should be suspended for engineers who show incompetence in their practice. Competence, Personality and Morality Good (competent) engineers are those who apply the standards of diligence prescribed in the engineering code of ethics. A bad (incompetent) engineer is one who does not value the above standards (Rabins, Pritchard & Harris, 2008). The are parameters (or standards of due diligence) include being knowledgeable, having the skills or expertise necessary for a given task and having the ethical stand to be able to take responsibility for the process itself incase of any unforeseen eventuality (Baura, 2006). A good engineer wholeheartedly dedicates his service to his clients, employer and to the society. When all or any of these virtues are missing, then we have a bad engineer. No matter how skilled an engineer may be, he or she can be branded incompetent if he does not inject ethics into his or her practice. There is a relationship between being a good engineer and being a good person since all ethics have a common foundation. Morally competent people are more likely to be professionally competent (Baura, 2006). A person of good character in personal life transfers the virtues that define good character into his or her profession. Based on this analogy, good people are likely to make good engineers and vice versa. An individual’s moral competence can be established by evaluating his or her approach to issues requiring decisiveness and strength of character (Rabins, Pritchard & Harris, 2008). This is when morality and ethics come into play. Morally incompetent people tend to place the end before the means whereas morally competent people exhibit dexterity in balancing between their acts and the likely outcomes, putting into consideration the welfare of other people directly or indirectly affected by the issue at hand. Evaluation of an individual’s morality is extremely hard since morality is essentially an intrinsic characteristic (Rabins, Pritchard & Harris, 2008). Every human being develops a unique moral outlook based on the environment and the experiences that he or she had while growing up. Since these are unique to each individual, no one has the moral right to impose his or her moral values on another (Baura, 2006). Morality can never be universal, just like knowledge. However, moral evaluations are still very necessary since as human beings and as engineers, we must build a consensus tending to those competencies which can be agreed upon as binding so that we live and practice harmoniously, exhibiting collective social and professional responsibility. References Baura, G. (2006) Engineering Ethics: An Industrial Perspective. Burlington, MA: Academic Press. Davis, M. (1998). Thinking like an Engineer: Studies in the Ethics of a Profession. Oxford: Oxford University Press Rabins, M, Pritchard, M. S. & Harris, C. (2008) Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases. Belmont: CengageBrain.

Quotes About the Rwandan Genocide

Who Invented the Modem

At the most basic level, a modem sends and receives data between two computers. More technically, a  modem  is a network hardware  device that modulates  one or more carrier wave  signals to encode digital information for transmission. It also demodulates  signals to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal  that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data. Modems can be used with any means of transmitting analog signals, from light-emitting diodes to radio. A common type of modem is one that turns the digital data of a computer  into modulated electrical signals for transmission over telephone lines. It is then demodulated by another modem at the receiver side to recover the digital data. Modems can also be categorized by the amount of data they can send in a given unit of time. This is usually expressed in bits per second (bps), or bytes per second  (symbol B/s). Modems can be classified by their symbol rate, measured in baud. The baud unit denotes symbols per second or the number of times per second the modem sends a new signal.   Modems Before the Internet News wire services in the 1920s used multiplex  devices that could technically be called a modem. However, the modem function was incidental to the multiplexing function. Because of this, they are not commonly included in the history of modems. Modems really grew out of the need to connect teleprinters  over ordinary phone lines instead of the more expensive leased lines that had previously been used for current loop-based teleprinters and automated telegraphs. Digital modems came about from the need to transmit data for North American air defense during the 1950s.  Mass-production of  modems in the United States began as part of the Sage air-defense system in 1958 (the year the word  modem  was first used), which connected terminals at various airbases, radar sites and command-and-control centers to the SAGE director centers scattered around the United States and Canada. SAGE modems were described by ATTs Bell Labs as conforming to their newly published Bell 101 dataset  standard. While they ran on dedicated telephone lines, the devices at each end were no different from commercial acoustically coupled Bell 101 and  110 baud modems. In 1962, the first commercial modem was manufactured  and sold as  the Bell 103 by ATT. The Bell 103 was also the first modem with  full-duplex  transmission, frequency-shift keying or FSK and had a speed of 300 bits per second or 300 bauds.   The 56K modem was invented by Dr. Brent Townshend in 1996. The Decline of 56K Modems D​ial-up Internet access is declining in the U.S.  Voiceband modems were once the most popular means of accessing the Internet in the U.S., but with the advent of new ways of accessing the Internet, the traditional 56K modem is losing popularity. The dial-up modem is still widely used by customers in rural areas where DSL, cable or fiber-optic service is not available or people are unwilling to pay what these companies charge. Modems are also used for high-speed home networking applications, especially those using existing home wiring.

Analysis Of The Poem The Starry Night Essay - 2195 Words

How I Learned to Read Literature Mary Carnahan LI 310 – Contemporary Literature September 18, 2016 Introduction I’m going to analyze one poem that I read during this course. The poem I’ve chosen is: The Starry Night. When evaluating the poem, be sure to analyze it in terms of voice, word choice and order, imagery, the figures of speech used, sound, and form. In addition analyze any symbols, allegory, allusion, myth, and themes that arise in the poem. I’m going to analyze one short story that I read during this course. The short story I’ve chosen is: The Story of an Hour. When evaluating the short story or play, analyze it in terms of plot, character, and theme. Be sure to include: †¢An outline of the plot †¢All of the round characters and an explanation of what makes them round †¢All of the flat characters and an explanation of what makes them flat †¢Any symbols, allegories, or myths included within the story †¢An explanation of the story’s overarching theme What is Writing Process? When someone thinks of the process of writing stories, poems, essay, etc.†¦ You tend to get nervous in how to start. The writing process is an approach to writing that entails the recursive phases of pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Active Reading â€Å"Reading is an activity integral to the writing process. You may not associate reading with the difficult task of writing a college essay. After all, it seems like a passive activity, something you might do atShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Poem Starry Night 853 Words   |  4 Pagespiece Starry Night, designed in the year 1889, shows this to be true in that it was the result of his experiences in an asylum that encouraged this piece. Despite this work has being so well known, many critics and observers of the piece have differing views on what he was trying to communicate through it. Two prime examples of this can be seen by the views expressed in the poems entitled, â€Å"Vincent† and â€Å"The Starry Night†, written by Don McClean and Anne Sexton, respectively. While the poem â€Å"Vincent†Read MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Starry Night By Anna Sexton952 Words   |  4 PagesWhat need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calles for tears. - Seneca The poem, ‘Starry Night’, by Anna Sexton, which was interpretation of a personal view for Van Gogh’s artwork, â€Å"Starry Night†. The prophetical nature of Anne Sexton s spiritual poetry, Starry Night, ensues the melancholy of humanity. The poem depicts Sexton s interpretation of the immense psychological suffering of a religious human being. By addressing, Van Gogh s work caught with a deep understandingRead MoreVincent Willem Van Gogh And His Life2164 Words   |  9 Pagesemotionally expressive. 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Show through the movement of verse Brutus’ thought process at 2.1 lines 10-34 Free Essays

This is a soliloquy, designed to reveal Brutus’ thinking and feelings, and also to give the audience a chance to judge his motives. By delaying the action of the play, it increases suspense as the audience enter the mind of a killer and his plotting. Throughout his speech, rhythm, rhyme, repetition and imagery are used to reveal Brutus’ need to justify himself. We will write a custom essay sample on Show through the movement of verse Brutus’ thought process at 2.1 lines 10-34 or any similar topic only for you Order Now The whole speech is in iambic pentameter. Iambs occur when, of two syllables, only the second is stressed. Here, â€Å"death† is most stressed, followed by â€Å"must†. Must† and â€Å"death† contain hard-hitting consonants (â€Å"t† and â€Å"d†) and the combination, along with â€Å"must†, sounds threatening, intent and violent. This rhythmic effect in the first clause sounds determined and final – so why does Brutus run on? The colon before â€Å"and, for my part† suggests that he feels he needs an explanation for this decision, one that he can justify in â€Å"general† terms (meaning for the general good of the people), if not on a â€Å"personal† level, why he is, quite definitely, going to kill Caesar. The iambic rhythm set up so far is interrupted by lines 2 and 3, with â€Å"personal† and â€Å"general† going from one stressed followed by two unstressed, creating a trickling sound, and supporting a very thoughtful tone. One can feel that Brutus is just trying to persuade himself that killing Caesar will look like the right thing to do, once he can find a story to justify it. It’s not a vicious tone of a murderer – and that makes it all the more chilling, as we feel that Caesar’s life is being weighed in this man’s hands. The repeated last syllable is situated in the same place in both lines, creating rhyme. At first, it seems that Brutus values the â€Å"personal† friendship with, and knowledge of, Caesar above the â€Å"general† – but as he continues, the echo of these two rhyming words is in conflict. The bulk of this speech is spent talking in general terms, never really directing his speech at Caesar at all except to talk of his being crowned and killing him. This explaining of Caesar’s life would create sympathy for him in the audience, and without this justification Brutus would be simply a base murderer. The poetry of line 5 is typical of Brutus. He mixes beauty with an argument for murder – and for a short time, the extraordinary truth about adders in the summer, hidden dangers becoming clear when the grass is mown and the sun is high, might make the audience believe that Caesar is like an adder. This is the longest line so far, free of pauses, reasoning and worry. But the poetry whips up Brutus’ own fears. The words â€Å"bright† and â€Å"brings† and the interruption of the iambic skip, with â€Å"bright day† and â€Å"bring forth† both being stressed, creates the effect almost of a drum-roll, erasing any doubt in Brutus’ mind that the adder, in the shape of an Imperial Caesar, is not far away. Through lines 6 – 12 Brutus is again trying to justify killing Caesar. He dehumanises Caesar firstly as an â€Å"adder† and then later as a â€Å"serpents egg† which isn’t so different from the disjoining of remorse from power that Brutus suspects Caesar to be potentially capable of. Although Brutus is trying to persuade himself that this is a political assassination for the good of Rome and the Republic, it’s easy to notice Brutus is slightly jealous that his old friend, once an equal, is now a god among men. Therefore this is an insight into the possibility that the murder was also personal. These lines are also a period where he is deciding whether or not to kill Caesar. In line 6 he says â€Å"Crown him! – that! † hitting an emotional peak after which he calms himself down speaking in a much lower, less erratic tone. The word â€Å"But† on line 12 is a major turning point in the text. This is where the whole of Brutus’s argument lies on common belief not proof. Once again to persuade himself killing Caesar is the right thing to do, he uses a weak argument that says Caesar is using people to get to the top of the political ladder and when he reaches the top will turn his back on everyone who helped him get there. The weakness of this argument is that there are no signs of him ever being evil to his friends before. Brutus describes it as a general model of the â€Å"common proof† that all men grow greedy with power, which if true would justify killing Caesar while he was in his â€Å"shell† before he could â€Å"hatch† Throughout the soliloquy Brutus appears to be contradicting himself and making remarks that he isn’t entirely confident about. To me this shows that Brutus had quite a weak personality and was probably a man under great pressure. How to cite Show through the movement of verse Brutus’ thought process at 2.1 lines 10-34, Essays

Los Angeles Politics Essay Example For Students

Los Angeles Politics Essay The site for new Belmont still hasnt been found. The School district has beenfumbling with two proposed alternatives by interim superintendent Ruben Cortinesand CEO Howard Miller respectively suggest using high-rise office suites andopen 4 new schools quickly. These alternatives have been met with mixed emotionfrom both sides of the battle. Those for the Belmont project to continue are infavor of using the former ambassador hotel in the mid-Wiltshire district,because 10 years ago the school board had chosen this site for the high schoolbut was met by Donald Trumps Legal Team. Upon reclaiming the site afterforeclosure the negotiations with such prominent figures such as Magic Johnsonwho owns many Cinemas in the area to combine his movie complex with a middleschool. The conservancy group is expected to block the demolishing of the hotelclaiming it is a historical site citing that it is the place of the KennedyAssignation and many Oscar nights. School Board Member Caprice Young wantsJoh nson and the conversancy to look at the need of the children. I personallydont think that children no matter how appealing would in long run want thedistraction of a movie theatre ruining their education. The reason many peoplehave so many differing opinions is because if we were just another state thiswouldnt be an issue but a time for action. A time to step forward and take theblame for being to focused on keeping appearances that we abused our children. Its time they started thinking about kids, Young said. The city isthe movie Mecca of the world and has a lot of land at its disposal but becauseit wants to make the place a visitor attracting place doesnt want to sacrificea hotel to fit the needs. I think this plain wrong on the part of the schoolboard. I remember reading about how the state can take over a site because itwas to be made use for a federal project such as highway which many people useto go to and from work. If we dont see the value of an education than it istrue what other states do say about us, that we are more into our looks that todo what is right. The Hollywood facade of this city has been around much to longand is due to change and no physically but mentally. A face lift of this sortwould cause a rift in our society but if there noone to stand up for the rightsof the children then those buildings that the conservancy wants to keep ashistoric landmarks would be all for not.