Is Airport Security Safe for Travelers Assignment

Is Airport Security Safe for Travelers - Assignment Example The Transportation Security Authority (TSA) has continued to maintain the safety of these machines but there are plenty of people who question these results. Known as Rapiscan backscatter scanners, these will be removed from service by the end of June 2013. Millimeter wave scanners will remain in service instead to carry on with the required scanning for all airport travelers. The reason for the TSA canceling the contracts was presented more as the issue of body pictures resulting from the scans which many travelers felt were very intrusive rather than the fact that radiation might be harmful. Rapiscan, however, was not able to meet the deadline for designing software that would change the body images into stick-like figures rather than the actual body imagery that caused much of the controversy. As a consequence, the contracts were canceled and the scanners will be fully removed. The European Union has already banned all usage of x-ray body scanners in order to avoid any potential risk to EU travelers’ health and welfare. There have been claims from scientists over the years that testing criteria by the company, Rapiscan, had not been accurate from one machine to the next and that there was also leakage on several occasions. While not necessarily a concern to passenger so much, for TSA agents who monitor these machines over a length of time, the residue could add up although this was not addressed at any point. Some previous reports had shown clerical and mathematical errors in test results which, when redone, showed radiation levels at 10 times higher than what was previously expected.

Sex on Television Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 12500 words

Sex on Television - Essay Example Cope, and Erica Biely compare the findings of three such important studies with regard to the impact of sexual messages on television in their article "Sexual Messages on Television: Comparing Findings from Three Studies". According to them, mass media including television has an important influence on sexual socialization of young people with regard to their sexual beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. "While television is certainly not the only influence on sexual socialization, adolescents often report that they use portrayals in the media to learn sexual and romantic scripts and norms for sexual behavior. Indeed, four out of ten (40%) teens say they have gained ideas for how to talk to their boyfriend or girlfriend about sexual issues directly from media portrayals." (Kunkel, Cope, and Biely, 1999, p 230). Another important article which analyzes the influence of television on the sexual socialization of various types of individuals has been "Sexual Intercourse on Television: Do Saf e Sex Messages Matter" by Kirstie M. Farrar which maintains that "empirical research suggests that televised sexual messages affect sexual socialization not only among younger adolescents but among college-age emerging adults as well, suggesting that undergraduates are still forming their sexual scripts and thus are still vulnerable to media influence." (Farrar, 2006, p 635). Therefore, this paper undertakes a reflective analysis of these two articles to determine the pertinent influence of television on the sexual socialization of individuals. In their article "Sexual Messages on Television: Comparing Findings from Three Studies", Dale Kunkel, Kristie M. Cope, and Erica Biely compare the findings of three important studies with regard to the impact of sexual messages on television on the sexual socialization of individuals. They purport that there is a mounting body of evidence documenting the possible effects of sexual content on television which suggests the positive and negative aspects of sex on television. Thus, there are empirical research evidences indicating correlations between sex on television and the early initiation of sexual intercourse by adolescents, and connection between heavy television viewing and the negative attitudes toward remaining a virgin. According to the article which presents a summary of three independent studies of sexual content on television, media effects research clearly suggests that television portrayals contribute to sexual socialization. The authors of the article maintain that it is important to identify the prevailing patterns used for presenting sexual messages on television as television is an important source of information about sex. The findings of the study, which maintains that sexual content is a common aspect of the overall television landscape, have great implication with regard to determining the influence of sex on television on the sexual socialization of individuals. "Portrayals of talk about sex, as well as sexually-related behaviors, are a potential source of socialization for most young viewers. Although most sexual behaviors shown on television are relatively modest, intercourse is frequently included. Collectively, these sexual messages provide an opportunity for the television industry to communicate an important and realistic view of the true risks associated with