Principles for implementing duty of care in health, social care Essay

Describe how to respond to complaints Responding to complaints, whether made by a parent or a staff colleague, you should always keep professional and listen to what the person has to say. You should keep calm and by being respectful and apologising when necessary which helps to diffuse potential conflict. Complaints need to be resolved as quickly as possible and constructively to avoid creating a bad atmosphere for all those involved. When responding to a complaint, it is important to listen to the other person’s point of view. You should avoid making personal comments and focus on the facts throughout. Always apologise if you are wrong and explain how you will resolve the situation. Explain the main points of agreed procedures for handing complaints If a member of staff or a parent wishes to make a complaint they should discuss their complaint with the setting leader first where most complaints can be resolved quickly. If the parent or member of staff is not happy with the outcome they should then put their complaint in writing to the setting leader who can then pass the details onto the owner or chairperson of a committee run setting. The setting will look into the complaint and once they have come to a conclusion the setting leader can arrange a meeting with the person who made the complaint to discuss the outcome. If the person is still not happy with the outcome they can ask for a further meeting with the setting leader and the owner or chairperson where they can also invite a representative. They can then all meet up to try and come to a conclusion. Everything at this meeting will be noted and recorded. If the complaint can still not be resolved at this meeting then a further meeting can be made where an external mediator is invited. The external mediator will then investigate the complaint and then arrange a meeting for all parties to settle the complaint. A record of the meeting will be made which will discuss any decisions that have been made. Everyone that attends the meeting will need to sign the record and will get a copy of all the notes. This signed record should conclude the complaint. Parents are entitled to contact Ofsted throughout any stage of the complaints procedure. The telephone number of Ofsted will be on the settings complaints procedure.

Evaluate a given situation to determine a company’s attitude towards social responsibility

The case of Company X is a good example of private enterprise that has yet to put social development at the core of its business. Before measures are laid out as to how they could improve its corporate social responsibility (CSR), it is imperative to discuss the basics of CSR. CSR is defined as the responsibility of a business towards society (Bateman and Snell, 2002,p. 151). It used to be that businesses exist primarily to sell goods and provide services (Pride, Hughes and Kapoor, 1988, p. 41). In succeeding years, the principle of CSR increased with some organizations becoming motivated in social development, evolving to enlightened self-interest. Enterprises were driven more by the need to enhance competitive advantage. Recognizing that products have achieved quality and price parity, companies saw the need to shore up their reputation capital. In essence, CSR became the competitive advantage. The shift it motivation for social development resulted in CSR becoming mainstream business practice. In recent years, companies measure organizational performance not only with financial aspect but included social and environmental criteria as well. CSR has made a big leap at the heart of businesses (Porter and Kramer, 2006, p. 1). Company Q clearly does not prioritize CSR. While closing some stores due to money lost is a practical move, they were not able to recognize the importance of maintaining customer relationships. True, they granted a persistent customers’ request to sell organic and health-conscious food but they sold it in limited amounts only. Based on the case, it stated that this request has been made for years, meaning there was a clamor for this. Company X was not able to see that. Declining to donate day-old food items to the food bank simply because they were worried of possible revenue loss and issues of stealing and gossip indicates that Company X gives priority to how much money they are making rather than how they could use the opportunity to contribute resources to the society in aim of improving the quality of life. The purpose of a business is not only to pursue profits. Since businesses are part of the society, they cannot ignore social issues. In taking their part in tackling social issues, businesses can create and maintain a stable environment that has long-term profitability (Pride, Hughes and Kapoor, 1988, p. 42). There are three areas that Company X could start with in implementing CSR- customers, employees and community. With regards to the customers, Company X could involve their customers in the product development process. They could provide feedback. The company has had experience in this area when they finally gave in to the customers’ request for organic and health food. Constant communication and interaction with customers is one way. Going an extra step may include putting health and environmental information on their products and services; getting feedback from customers on why they like going to the store and what aspect they feel need improvement (putting up a feedback box), things like that. Company X should remember that word of mouth advertising is a good and simple way to gain customers’ attention. If more customers like the store, there is a high probability that they would recommend it to their friends and colleagues. Customers should feel that the store is a safe place to stay so ample security should be provided. It is stated in the case that the chain closed some stores in high crime areas. When it comes to their employees, it is rather safe to assume that Company X does not trust their employees judging by the fact that they were afraid to donate because some employees may steal and say that they got it from the food drive. Employees are a major stakeholder in businesses. Without employees, the company would not advance. Company X could start implementing employee programs that would benefit them individually and organizationally. It is a fact that employees who enjoy their work and have a good working relationship with their employers are likely to contribute more to the company. Company X could start with putting work-life balance programs and those that facilitate employee participation in decision making. An open channel of communication between employees and managers is vital. After all, in a store, it is the employee that has the most contact with the customers. If Company X deems that donating day-old food results in revenue loss, they could still support the community in other means such as hiring of locals and purchasing products locally. This way, they could augment the income of the community. Additionally, they could espouse employee volunteerism in community development programs. They could also align social development into their business practice. Under this approach, they could identify their needs and determine how communities could be helped. It may not be donating food or money after all. Direct consultation with the community could make a significant change not only for the community but Company X as well. After all, they are situated in the community; they might as well integrate them. Businesses should discharge its CSR in a way that befits its competence. The benefit cuts both ways: businesses add to their income and their communities gain skills, livelihood and assets. CSR should be central and strategic to the business. CSR in an obligation seamlessly integrated into the core business. Everyone needs to step up to alleviate social problems and make the world a better place for the future generation.

A Format for Case Conceptualisation

Many professional and personal challenges confront practicum students as they work with clients. For example, students must establish a counseling relationship, listen attentively, express themselves clearly, probe for information, and implement technical skills in an ethical manner. Those counseling performance skills (Borders Leddick, 1987) center on what counselors do during sessions. At a cognitive level, students must master factual knowledge, think integratively, generate and test clinical hypotheses, plan and apply interventions, and evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. Those conceptualizing skills, within the cognitive operations used to construct models that represent experience (Mahoney Lyddon, 1988), show how counselors think about clients and how they choose interventions. It is highly desirable for instructors of practica to have pedagogical methods to promote the development both of counseling performance skills and conceptualizing skills. Such methods should be diverse and flexible to accommodate students at different levels of professional development and with distinct styles of learning (Biggs, 1988; Borders Leddick, 1987; Ellis, 1988; Fuqua, Johnson, Anderson, Newman, 1984; Holloway, 1988; Ronnestad Skovholt, 1993; Stoltenberg Delworth, 1987). RATIONALE FOR THE FORMAT In this article, we present a format for case conceptualization that we developed to fill gaps in the literature on the preparation of counselors (Borders Leddick, 1987; Hoshmand, 1991). Although many existing methods promote counseling performance skills, there are few established methods for teaching students the conceptualizing skills needed to understand and treat clients (Biggs, 1988; Hulse Jennings, 1984; Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Loganbill Stoltenberg, 1983; Turk Salovey, 1988). We do not discount the importance of counseling performance skills, but we believe that they can be applied effectively only within a meaningful conceptual framework. That is, what counselors do depends on their evolving conceptualization of clients; training in that conceptualization matters. Given the large quantity of information that clients disclose, students have the task of selecting and processing relevant clinical data to arrive at a working model of their clients. Graduate programs need to assist students in understanding how to collect, organize, and integrate information; how to form and test clinical inferences; and how to plan, implement, and evaluate interventions (Dumont, 1993; Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Fuqua et al. , 1984; Hoshmand, 1991; Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Turk Salovey, 1988). Although systematic approaches to collecting and processing clinical information are not new, the case conceptualization format presented here, as follows, has several distinguishing features: 1. The format is comprehensive, serving both to organize clinical data (see Hulse Jennings, 1984; Loganbill Stoltenberg, 1983) and to make conceptual tasks operational (see Biggs, 1988). The components of the format integrate and expand on two useful approaches to presenting cases that are cited often and that are linked to related literature on supervision: (a) Loganbill and Stoltenbergs (1983) six content areas of clients functioning (i. . , identifying data, presenting problem, relevant history, interpersonal style, environmental factors, and personality dynamics), and (b) Biggss (1988) three tasks of case conceptualization (i. e. , identifying observable and inferential clinical evidence; articulating dimensions of the counseling relationship; and describing assumptions about presenting c oncerns, personality, and treatment). In addition, the format makes explicit the crucial distinction between observation and inference, by separating facts from hypotheses. It advances the notion that observations provide the basis for constructing and testing inferences. Thus, the format fosters development of critical thinking that is more deliberate and less automatic than the ordinary formation of impressions. The approach is compatible with recommendations that counselors receive training in rational hypothesis testing to reduce inferential errors (Dumont 1993; Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Hoshmand, 1991; Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Turk Salovey, 1988). 2. The format can be adapted to the developmental stage of students by its focus on stage-appropriate components and implementing those components in stage-appropriate ways (Ellis, 1988; Glickauf-Hughes Campbell, 1991; Ronnestad Skovholt, 1993; Stoltenberg Delworth, 1987). As an example, beginning students use the format to organize information and to learn the distinction between observation and inference, whereas more experienced students focus on using the format to generate and test hypotheses. 3. The format is atheoretical, thereby permitting students to ncorporate constructs from any paradigm into their case conceptualizations. In this sense, the format resembles the cognitive scaffolding described in the constructivist perspective (Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). Rather than being an explicit template through which observations are filtered to conform to an imposed representational model, the format provides an abstract set of cognitive schemas. With the schemas, the student actively fashions a conceptual framework from which to order and assign meaning to observations. Simply put, the format is a generic structure that the student uses to construct his or her reality of the case. COMPONENTS OF THE FORMAT The format has 14 components, sequenced from observational to inferential as follows: background data, presenting concerns, verbal content, verbal style, nonverbal behavior, clients emotional experience, counselors experience of the client, client-counselor interaction, test data and supporting materials, diagnosis, inferences and assumptions, goals of treatment, interventions, and evaluation of outcomes. Background data includes sex, age, race, ethnicity, physical appearance (e. . , attractiveness, dress, grooming, height, and weight), socioeconomic status, marital status, family constellation and background, educational and occupational status, medical and mental health history, use of prescribed or illicit substances, prior treatment, legal status, living arrangements, religious affiliation, sexual preference, social network, current functioning , and self-perceptions. Initially, students are overwhelmed by the data that they assume need to be collected. Guidance must be provided on how students are to differentiate meaningful from inconsequential information. In our program, for example, we ask students to evaluate the relevance of background data, for understanding clients presenting concerns and for developing treatment plans. We advise students to strive for relevance rather than comprehensiveness. Presenting concerns consist of a thorough account of each of the clients problems as viewed by that client. This task might begin with information contained on an intake form. We assist students in developing concrete and detailed definitions of clients concerns by showing them how to help clients identify specific affective, behavioral, cognitive, and interpersonal features of their problems. For example, the poor academic performance of a client who is a college student might involve maladaptive behavior (e. g. , procrastination), cognitive deficits (e. g. , difficulty in concentrating), negative moods (e. g. , anxiety), and interpersonal problems (e. g. , conflict with instructors). Counseling students should also explore the parameters of presenting concerns, including prior occurrence, onset, duration, frequency, severity, and relative importance. We further suggest that students explore how clients have attempted to cope with their concerns and that they examine what clients expect from treatment, in terms of assistance as well as their commitment to change. In addition, students should assess immediate or impending dangers and crises that their clients may face. Finally, we instruct students in identifying environmental stressors and supports that are linked to presenting concerns. Verbal content can be organized in two ways. A concise summary of each session is appropriate for cases of limited duration. Alternatively, verbal content can include summaries of identified themes that have emerged across sessions. Occasionally, those themes are interdependent or hierarchically arranged. For example, a client may enter treatment to deal with anger toward a supervisor who is perceived as unfair and, in later sessions, disclose having been chronically demeaned by an older sibling. We teach students to discriminate central data from peripheral data through feedback, modeling, and probing questions. Students need to focus their sessions on areas that are keyed to treatment. For instance, we point out that clients focal concerns, along with the goals of treatment, can serve as anchors, preventing the content of sessions from drifting. Verbal style refers to qualitative elements of clients verbal presentation (i. e. , how something is said rather than what is said) that students deem significant because they reflect clients personality characteristics, emotional states, or both. Those elements can include tone of voice and volume, changes in modulation at critical junctures, fluency, quantity and rate of verbalization, vividness, syntactic complexity, and vocal characterizations (e. g. , sighing). Nonverbal behavior includes clients eye contact, facial expression, body movements, idiosyncratic mannerisms (e. g. , hand gestures), posture, seating arrangements, and change in any of these behaviors over time and circumstances. Instructors can assist students in distinguishing relevant from unimportant information by modeling and providing feedback on how these data bear on the case. As an example, neglected hygiene and a listless expression are important nonverbal behaviors when they coincide with other data, such as self-reports of despair and hopelessness. Clients emotional experience includes data that are more inferential. On the basis of their observations, students attempt to infer what their clients feel during sessions and to relate those feelings to verbal content (e. g. , sadness linked to memories of loss). The observations provide insights into clients emotional lives outside of treatment. We caution students that clients self-reports are an important but not entirely reliable source of information about their emotional experience. At times clients deny, ignore, mislabel, or misrepresent their emotional experience. Students should note the duration, intensity, and range of emotion expressed over the course of treatment. Blunted or excessive affect as well as affect that is discrepant with verbal content also merit attention. To illustrate, a client may report, without any apparent anger, a history of physical abuse. Initially, students can be assisted in labeling their clients affect by using a checklist of emotional states. We have found it helpful to suggest possible affect and support our perceptions with observation and logic. Empathic role taking can also help students to gain access to clients experience. Instructors may need to sensitize students to emotional states outside of their own experience or that they avoid. Counselors experience of the client involves his or her personal reactions to the client (e. g. , attraction, boredom, confusion, frustration, and sympathy). We strive to establish a supportive learning environment in which students can disclose their genuine experiences, negative as well as positive. Students often struggle to accept that they might not like every client. But students should be helped to recognize that their experience of clients is a rich source of hypotheses about feelings that those clients may engender in others and, thus, about the interpersonal world that the clients partially create for themselves. The feel of clients often provides valuable diagnostic clues (e. g. , wanting to take care of a client may suggest features of dependent personality disorder). Sometimes students need assistance in determining whether their reactions to clients reflect countertransferential issues or involve normative responses. We draw on parallel process and use-of-self as an instrument to help clarify students feelings and to form accurate attributions about the origins of those feelings (Glickauf-Hughes Campbell, 1991; Ronnestad Skovholt, 1993). Client-counselor interaction summarizes patterns in the exchanges between client and counselor as well as significant interpersonal events that occur within sessions. Such events are, for example, how trust is tested, how resistance is overcome, how sensitive matters are explored, how the counseling relationship is processed, and how termination is handled. Thus, this component of the format involves a characterization of the counseling process. Students should attempt to characterize the structure of the typical sessionspecifically, what counselors and clients do in relation to one another during the therapy hour. They may do any of the following: answer questions, ask questions; cathart, support; learn, teach; seek advice, give advice; tell stories, listen; collude to avoid sensitive topics. Taxonomies of counselor (Elliott et al. , 1987) and client (Hill, 1992) modes of response are resources with which to characterize the structure of sessions. At a more abstract level, students should try to describe the evolving roles they and their clients play vis-a-vis one another. It is essential to assess the quality of the counseling relationship and the contributions of the student and the client to the relationship. We ask students to speculate on what they mean to a given client and to generate a metaphor for their relationship with that client (e. g. , doctor, friend, mentor, or parent). Client-counselor interactions yield clues about clients interpersonal style, revealing both assets and liabilities. Furthermore, the counseling relationship provides revealing data about clients self-perceptions. We encourage students to present segments of audiotaped or videotaped interviews that illustrate patterns of client-counselor interaction. Test data and supporting materials include educational, legal, medical, and psychological records; mental status exam results; behavioral assessment data, including self-monitoring; questionnaire data, the results of psychological testing, artwork, excerpts from diaries or journals, personal correspondence, poetry, and recordings. When students assess clients, a rationale for testing is warranted that links the method of testing to the purpose of assessment. We assist students in identifying significant test data and supporting materials by examining how such information converges with or departs from other clinical data e. g. , reports of family turmoil and an elevated score on Scale 4, Psychopathic Deviate, of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 [MMPI-2; Hathaway McKinley, 1989]). Assessment, as well as diagnosis and treatment, must be conducted with sensitivity toward issues that affect women, minorities, disadvantaged clients, and disabled clients, because those pe rsons are not necessarily understood by students, perhaps due to limited experience of students or the homogenized focus of their professional preparation. Diagnosis includes students impression of clients diagnoses on all five axes of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association, 1994). We guide students efforts to support their diagnostic thinking with clinical evidence and to consider competing diagnoses. Students can apply taxonomies other than those in the DSM-IV when appropriate (e. g. , DeNelsky and Boats [1986] coping skills model). Instructors demonstrate the function of diagnosis in organizing scattered and diverse clinical data and in generating tentative hypotheses about clients functioning. Inferences and assumptions involve configuring clinical hypotheses, derived from observations, into meaningful and useful working models of clients (Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). A working model consists of a clear definition of the clients problems and formulations of how hypothesized psychological mechanisms produce those problems. For instance, a clients primary complaints might be frequent bouts of depression, pervasive feelings of isolation, and unfulfilled longing for intimacy. An account of those problems might establish the cause as an alienation schema, early childhood loss, interpersonal rejection, negative self-schemas, or social skills deficits. We help students to elaborate on and refine incompletely formed inferences by identifying related clinical data and relevant theoretical constructs (Dumont, 1993; Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). We also assist students in integrating inferences and assumptions with formal patterns of understanding drawn from theories of personality, psychopathology, and counseling (Hoshmand, 1991). As with their instructors, students are not immune from making faulty inferences that can be traced to logical errors, such as single-cause etiologies, the representative heuristic, the availability heuristic, confirmatory bias, the fundamental attribution error, and illusory correlations; (Dumont, 1993; Dumont Lecomte, 1987). As an example, counselors tend to seek data that support their preexisting notions about clients, thus restricting the development of a more complete understanding of their clients. We alert students to the likelihood of bias in data gathering, particularly when they seek to confirm existing hypotheses. Furthermore, we demonstrate how to generate and evaluate competing hypotheses to counteract biased information ]processing (Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Kanfer Schefft, 1988). Instructors, therefore, must teach students to think logically, sensitizing them to indicators of faulty inferences and providing them with strategies for validating clinical hypotheses as well as disconfirming them (Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Hoshmand, 1991). The proposed format can accomplish this task because it separates inferences from the clinical data used to test inferences and thus deautomatizes cognitive operations by which inferences are formed (Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). We have found it beneficial to have students compare their impressions of clients with impressions that are independently revealed by test data (e. g. , MMPI-2); this exercise permits the correction of perceptual distortions and logical errors that lead to faulty inferences. Although students intuition is an invaluable source of hypotheses, instructors need to caution them that intuition must be evaluated by empirical testing and against grounded patterns of understanding (Hoshmand, 1991). We also model caution and support for competing formulations and continued observation. This approach fosters appreciation of the inexactitude and richness of case conceptualization and helps students to manage such uncertainty without fear of negative evaluation. With the development of their conceptualizing skills, students can appreciate the viability of alternative and hybrid inferences. Moreover, they become more aware of the occasional coexistence and interdependence of clinical and inferential contradictions (e. g. , the simultaneous experience of sorrow and joy and holistic concepts such as life and death). The increasingly elaborate conceptual fabric created from the sustained application of conceptualizing skills also enables students to predict the effect of interventions more accurately. Goals of treatment must be linked to clients problems as they come to be understood after presenting concerns have been explored. Goals include short-term objectives along with long-term outcomes of treatment that have been negotiated by the client and trainee. Typically, goals involve changing how clients feel, think, and act. Putting goals in order is important because their priorities will influence treatment decisions. Goals need to be integrated with students inferences or established theories and techniques of counseling. In their zeal, students often overestimate the probable long-term aims of treatment. To help students avoid disappointment, we remind them that certain factors influence the formulation of goals, including constraints of time and resources, students own competencies, and clients capacity for motivation for change. Interventions comprise techniques that students implement to achieve agreed-on goals of treatment. Techniques are ideally compatible with inferences and assumptions derived earlier; targets of treatment consist of hypothesized psychological structures, processes, and conditions that produce clients problems (e. g. , self-esteem, information processing, family environment). Difficulties in technical implementation should be discussed candidly. We provide opportunities for students to observe and rehearse pragmatic applications of all strategies. Techniques derived from any theory of counseling can be reframed in concepts and processes that are more congruent with students cognitive style. To illustrate, some students are able to understand how a learned fear response can be counterconditioned by the counseling relationship when this phenomenon is defined as a consequence of providing unconditional positive regard. In addition, we teach students to apply techniques with sensitivity as well as to fashion a personal style of counseling. Finally, legal and ethical issues pertaining to the conduct of specific interventions must be made explicit. Evaluation of outcomes requires that students establish criteria and methods toward evaluating the outcomes of treatment. Methods can include objective criteria (e. g. , grades), reports of others, self-reports (e. g. , behavioral logs), test data, and students own judgments. Instructors must assist students in developing efficient ways to evaluate progress over the course of treatment given the presenting concerns, clients motivation, and available resources. USES OF THE FORMAT We developed the :format for use in a year-long practicum in a masters degree program in counseling psychology. Instructors describe the format early in the first semester and demonstrate its use by presenting a erminated case; a discussion of the format and conceptualization follows. The first half of the format is particularly helpful when students struggle to organize clinical data into meaningful categories and to distinguish their observations from their inferences. The focus at that point should be on components of the format that incorporate descriptive data about the client. Later in their development, when students are prepared to confront issues that influence the counseling relationship, components involving personal and interpersonal aspects of treatment can be explored. As students mature further, components that incorporate descriptive data are abbreviated so that students can concentrate on the conceptualizing skills of diagnosis, inferences and assumptions, treatment planning and intervention, and evaluation. When conceptualizing skills have been established, the format need not be applied comprehensively to each case. Rather, it can be condensed without losing its capacity to organize clinical data and to derive interventions. The format can be used to present cases in practicum seminar as well as in individual supervision sessions. It can also be used by students to manage their caseloads. Also, the format can be used in oral and written forms to organize and integrate clinical data and to suggest options for treatment (cf. Biggs, 1988; Hulse Jennings, 1984; Loganbill Stoltenberg, 1983). For example, practicum seminar can feature presentations of cases organized according to the format. As a student presents the data of the case, participants can construct alternative working models. Moreover, the format compels participants to test their models by referencing clinical data. Written details that accompany a presentation are also fashioned by a student presenter according to the format. The student presenter can distribute such material before the presentation so that members of the class have time to prepare. During the presentation, participants assume responsibility for sustaining the process of case conceptualization in a manner that suits the class (e. g. , discussion, interpersonal process recall, media aids, or role play). Supervision and case notes can also be structured more flexibly with the use of the case conceptualization format to give students opportunities to relate observation to inference, inference to treatment, and treatment to outcome (Presser Pfost, 1985). In fact, supervision is an ideal setting to tailor the format to the cognitive and personal attributes of the students. In supervision, there are also more opportunities to observe students sessions directly, which permits instruction of what clinical information to seek, how to seek it, how to extract inferences from it, and to evaluate the veracity of students inferences by direct observation (Holloway, 1988). FUTURE APPLICATIONS AND RESEARCH The format is a potentially valuable resource for counselors to make the collection and integration of data systematic when they intervene with populations other than individual clients. Application of the format to counseling with couples and families might seem to make an already conceptually demanding task more complex. Yet counselors can shift the focus from individuals to a couple or a family unit, and apply components of the format to that entity. By targeting relationships and systems in this way, the format can also be used to enhance understanding of and improve interventions in supervision and with distressed units or organizations.

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Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example The contribution of the organisations towards corporate social responsibilities includes certain monetary assistance to the society which would facilitate various social developments. Furthermore, the concept of corporate social responsibility can be related to the activities of an organisation which would facilitate in conserving the natural flora and fauna and as well as the socio economic culture (Reset, n.d.). There is no perfect definition for corporate social responsibilities, in simple terms; it can be referred to consideration of the ethical values while performing the business activities by the organisations. Corporate social responsibility also includes transparent or clear business activities e.g. the organisations should consider the legal requirements in their operations. Earlier, it was considered that the chief objective of a business organisation is to make profit, although, the scenario has changed a lot during the past decades and the organisations in the present day context are also expected to provide equal importance to the corporate social responsibility as well. During the recent years, it has been noticed that the organisations are increasingly being pressurised by the various stakeholders involved in the business to take measurable steps towards the corporate social responsibilities (Baird & et. al., 2002). ... The concept of corporate social responsibility can be considered to have significant importance in the global business scenario. It has been found through various researches that the growing importance of CSR has been significantly affecting the relationship between the organisations and the various stakeholders (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2005). Corporate social responsibility is quite important for the organisations to sustain in the long run. It has been recognised that the organisations which are only concerned about the profit margins and ignore the stakeholders’ interest about CSR are likely to show lack of sustainability in the long run (Waldman & et. al., 2012). It is because of this reason that corporate social responsibility facilitates in gaining the trust of the stakeholders because CSR provides transparency to the business activities. Moreover, CSR is also quite important for the development of the society for the reason that business organisations form the back ground of the economy and a proportionate investment by them in the social activities would result in social development. In addition, CSR facilitates in maintaining a good business-to-business relationship which is also quite important for the business organisations to sustain in the long run. During the recent years, the perception of corporate social responsibility has developed into a major strategy for the business organisations to endure the aggressively emanating competitive market environment. The present market scenario can be characterised by increasing competition and unpredictable consumer behaviour, so implementing the concept of CSR has

To what extent is the enterpreneurship activity the domain of small Essay

To what extent is the enterpreneurship activity the domain of small businesses - Essay Example It is in this appetite for spotting the opportunity and taking the risk that makes small businesses more flexible and versatile in nature and thus good enough to make them capable to convert a business idea into the process of business creation thus innovativeness and creativity are two landmarks of the people who run the small businesses. 1 The term small business is very loosely described and discussed. One idea suggests that a small business is any business which is not large and has very small number of employees. Though the requirement for the number of employees may vary from country to country according to the legal framework of that country however the European Union standards suggest that any business with less than 50 employees is categorized as small business. (Wikipedia, 2008). Generally these businesses are privately owned sole proprietorships or partnership firms. The nature of these firms may be limited to an institution which is limited to the management of the owner or partner of the firm and there is no separation of the ownership and the firm thus the entrepreneurs who run the show at the show at these small businesses are at highest risk of personal liability.(Osborn,1951). Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses Previously, it was believed that since entrepreneurship denotes the creation of some contribution that did not previously exist, entrepreneurship therefore was largely equated with the small business, ownership and management. Due to this overleaping of the concepts entrepreneurship is often interlinked with the small businesses. (Carland et al, 1984).In this essay, we will also use the entrepreneurship and small businesses interchangeably. Further, this essay will look into some of the factors which allow the owners of these small businesses to tap the opportunities and convert them into

Corrosion Phenomena Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Corrosion Phenomena - Research Paper Example Thus, the definition notes that the process causes metals to exhibit natural tendencies of reverting back to native combined states as minerals such as carbonates, sulfides, and oxides. Akhtar, Arif and Quraishi cite platinum and gold as the only ones that naturally exist as metals and would therefore not be susceptible to corrosion in normal atmospheric conditions, as such referred to as noble metals. Even though the term could be applied when referring to concrete, plastic, and wood, it has found general application when referring to metal and particularly iron as steel.Metals would be susceptible to corrosion under different environmental conditions. For example, gold which exhibits resistance under atmospheric conditions would be corroded under ambient temperature and exposure to mercury. Iron, on the other hand, would gradually rust under atmospheric conditions but remains unaffected by mercury. Sivasankar documents the joint action of oxygen and moisture as constituting the nor mal atmospheric conditions. The scholar observes that steel in ice would not rust as water should be in liquid form for corrosion to occur. Common pollutants like dust particles, soot, and ammonium sulfate particles and acidic gases like sulfur dioxide propagate the corrosiveness of the environment. Cicek and Al-Numan cite other typical environments considered to be corrosive and include soils, alkalies, acids, hydrogen sulfide, fuel gases, ammonia, fresh, salt, distilled and marine water and oxides of nitrogen.

Hume-Faith and Reason Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hume-Faith and Reason - Essay Example Faith is necessarily an internal asset, which lies beyond the comprehension of the sensory organs. In his book â€Å"An enquiry concerning human understanding,† David Hume observes, â€Å"Our most holy religion is founded on faith not on reason; and it is a sure method of exposing it to put to such a trial as it is, by no means fitted to endure.†(Hume 1999, p.98) Instead of beating about the bush, Hume expresses his views clearly when he explains, â€Å"Divinity of theology, is it proves the existence of a Deity, and the immortality of souls, is composed partly of reasoning concerning particular, partly concerning general facts. It has a foundation in reason, so far as it is supported by experience. But its best and most solid foundation is faith and divine revelation.†(Hume 1999, p.122) Howsoever brilliant may be the rational justification for beliefs and disbeliefs, they open the door to more questions. This is the problem with the revealed knowledge that leans heavily on faith. But even for the scientist, the starting rules of the game, and the initial syllabus, are based on faith. â€Å"Each solution still gives rise to a new question as difficult as the foregoing, and leads us on to farther enquiries. When it is asked, what is the nature of all our reasoning concerning matter of fact? The proper answer seems to be, that they are founded on the relation of cause and effect. When again it is asked, what is the foundation of all our reasoning and conclusions concerning that relation? It may be replied in one word, Experience.† (Hume, 1910) Human mind accepts nothing beyond the evidence of one’s senses. It works on the foundation of reason. But again the problem is, who is to judge, or where are the resources available that one’s way of thinking is accurate representation of the operation of the external world? As many minds, so many opinions and options! The detailed analysis of this issue made by Hume and its

The Knowledge of Human Existence Essay Example for Free

The Knowledge of Human Existence Essay Movies provide the audience with a unique experience. Not only do they entertain, they allow the audience to explore their own preconceptions. The most vital preconception that movies allow the viewer to explore and interact with is the definition and formation of knowledge. For centuries man has grasped for the true definition of knowledge. In this struggle many have fought for a unifying definition, this great conflagration of discourse and study did not lead to a unified definition of knowledge. Moreover, it leads to the question that still beats in the hearts of the philosopher and the movie-goer. What can human beings know about the experience of existence? How do we define it? Man’s struggle with the definition of knowledge and how we define existence is a driving force behind the questions asked by philosophers throughout history. From Plato to Descartes, from Aristotle to Kant, the understanding of existence became nearly an obsession of the great philosophical minds. It is this â€Å"obsession† that drives Hugh Jackman’s character, Robert Angier in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. In this â€Å"obsession† Angier finds his match with Keanu Reeves’ character, Neo in Andy and Larry Wachowski’s The Matrix, whose transformation from computer hacker to an almost God like position of knowledge, stems from his obsession with defining his existence. While it is the character Neo who is lead or rises to a position where it is possible to fathom the nature of existence, it is the audience whom Christopher Nolan guides to this level in The Prestige. Before an understanding of existence can be examined, it is important to define the role of the audience in Nolan’s The Prestige. While Nolan’s characters are subject to an â€Å"obsession† directed towards the knowledge of each other’s methods, the true character receiving knowledge is the viewer. Cristel Russell in a piece titled, â€Å"Rethinking Television Audience Measures: An Exploration into the Construct of Audience Connectedness,† written for Marketing Letters in 1999 discusses the degrees of connection a television audience has. While Russell’s piece is intentioned for an understanding of the relationship between a television audience and the images on screen in the sense of how to market to the audience, the similarity of the mediums allow for this to be an example for the filmic experience as well. Russell’s study asserts the strength of the connection the audience has, â€Å"viewers often reported that they imitate some of the intangible aspects of their television show, from the lifestyle of the actors to the philosophy portrayed by the character,† (Russell, 1999, p. 401). Russell chooses the word â€Å"their† to suggest a possessive, included, position that the viewer takes with the images portrayed on the screen. It this suggestion of inclusiveness that suggests that the viewer becomes part of â€Å"their,† show. No longer is the viewer simply an audience member; they are a part of the cast chosen by the director and as such they become a necessary medium for explication of â€Å"philosophy† as is suggested by Russell. Nolan’s audience is not simply viewing, they are interacting with the film, and as such they are guided by Nolan to a realization, just as Robert Angier is. While, Angier’s â€Å"obsession† for knowledge is limited by his insatiable desire for revenge, he ascends on a philosophical scale. While this may seem reminiscent of the story of Plato’s cave, where a man trapped is freed by realization that his existence is limited to projections on the wall of his cave, Plato’s example does not serve Angier. It isn’t until his death at the hands of his old enemy that Angier is able to transcend to the realm of knowledge necessary to understand existence. It is in this moment that he realizes that all the tangible evidence of how his rival’s tricks were performed, were not the true illusion. The truth that Angier in his final moments is lead to believe, is that sacrifice is a necessity for perception to become actual existence. In his dying moments Angiers defines his own understanding of his purpose, while the film-maker paints it in a romantic sense, it provides the viewer with the true understanding of individual existence. It is just that. Individual. While shaped by the collective experience, the only thing a human being can say for certain is that their existence is their own, folding too completely into an empirical collective experience is as unfulfilling as life without death. Hence, Angier must die by the end of the film. (Nolan, 2006). Knowledge cannot be limited solely to a scientific explanation of why things are and why things aren’t. John Cottingham’s piece, â€Å"The Question,† from The Meaning of Life provides the seeker of knowledge with an explanation for the limitedness of scientific inquiry. In the piece Cottingham highlights â€Å"religious discourse† throughout time as necessary force for further investigation into the why that creates the human need for knowledge of existence. While â€Å"religious discourse† may not provide an exact answer to what existence is, this is inconsequential as according to Cottingham, â€Å"But its advocates would urge that it none the less assuages the nausea, the ‘nausea’ as Jean-Paul Sartre called it, that we feel in confronting the blank mystery of existence,† (Cottingham, 2003, p. 9). Here Cottingham’s inclusion of â€Å"religious discourse† as essential in understanding the â€Å"blank mystery of existence,† seems to undermine a definition of existence based entirely on science. â€Å"Science† as discussed in Cottingham’s discourse should be understood as empirical knowledge. Based upon Cottingham, this empirical knowledge, the tangible is limited in its ability to assist human beings in their understandings of existence. It is into this gladiatorial arena where Rene Descartes jumps as a opponent of a solely empirical understanding of existence. Rene Descartes provides a rational approach to the problem of understanding existence. Descartes rationalism is based upon his definition of the â€Å"material† of existence. Rather than being bogged down in the definition of â€Å"material,† Descartes comes to the conclusion that, â€Å"Consciousness is the essential property of mind substance,† (Collinson, 2006, p.81). Descartes’ definition of the â€Å"essential property† as espoused in Diane Collinson’s Fifty Major Philosophers opens the door for how human existence is defined. The â€Å"essential property† of existence is not based on tangible experience. Collinson highlights Descartes suggestion that the mind experiences the empirical sense of the body, but not because of direct physical experience, rather that, â€Å"ideas of primary qualities are not derived from sense experience but are innate,† (Collinson, 2006, p 83. ). This idea of â€Å"primary qualities† can be applied to the question of existence as experienced by Neo in The Matrix. Neo’s character ascends from a plateau of empirical existence in the beginning of the film. He does not know that he is actually being deceived, that his definition of existence is a computer created dream state. This dream state although realized to be a manifestation of a computer program, is seen by Neo in his earliest iteration as real. He does not know he lives within a deception, because the computer-generated Matrix  maintains all the â€Å"essential qualities† of existence in Neo’s mind. It is not until he meets Morpheus that what he considers existence is a facade. While he maintained a certain amount of skepticism, Neo’s first iteration as Thomas Anderson does not suffer to greatly from the problems that Descartes mused about in the sense of â€Å"dualism. † Neo before meeting Morpheus is happy to accept his existence just as it is because without the outside of influence of Morpheus’ experience, the Matrix holds up to the ideal of the innate nature of existence. Similarly, the audience of The Prestige is like Neo. They are lead astray from the true realization of existence, in particular the truths revealed at the end of the movie, by Nolan. The audience does not know that there is a form of deception taking place. Sure, there is the acknowledgement that the other characters practice in deception, but as the audience is intertwined into the film as an additional character, they are unable to see the greater deception at play. Like Neo, the viewers of The Prestige must go through further iterations in order to understand that while seemingly â€Å"innate† in the sense of Descartes, that the existence portrayed is not the truth. In both cases, an outside influence contends against the assumed support of the rationalism proposed by Descartes. As Neo is awakened into the real world by Morpheus, he ascends another rung on the ladder to an identifiable definition of what composes existence. As Morpheus instructs Neo in the realities of the computer dominated manifestation he had accepted as existence, he is in fact reflecting what Kenneth Westphal refers to as, â€Å"the Humean objection, that the appearance of physical objects in space and time is a deceptive illusion produced by our imagination,† (Westphal, 2006, p. 781). In this direct reference to David Hume In his piece,† How Does Kant Prove That We Perceive, And Not Merely Imagine, Physical Objects,† written for Review of Metaphysics, Westphal endorses Morpheus’ claim to Neo that his imagined self when inside the Matrix is just as real as Neo in the real world. If Neo dies in the Matrix, even-though his computer generated image is simply a construction of the mind, he also dies outside of the Matrix. The creation of two distinct images of the same person, with equal mortality seems to suggest a dichotomy, that deception and perception are interchangeable. That the tangible and the imagined are one and the same when it comes to defining existence, but this understanding is only reached by a communal understanding of existence. Neo was perfectly fine with accepting his previous understanding of the world and his violent initial reaction to Morpheus’ suggestion, points to this. This notion rather than serving to clarify how existence is determined actually muddles the idea. It almost works to endorse a sense of self-deception. (Wachowski, 1999). The concept of self-deception and the reality of the imagined is examined by through the audience’s viewing of the truth behind Angier’s final downfall in The Prestige Angier buys into the imagined and as a result must be destroyed. The final scenes of the film refer the audience, now so deeply involved in the deception to the introduction by the character, Cutter, â€Å"Now youre looking for the secret but you wont find it, because of course youre not really looking. You dont really want to know. You want to be fooled,† (Nolan, 2006). This suggestion that the viewer doesn’t â€Å"really want to know,† explains the downfall of Angier. He was so hopeless caught up in his desire for revenge that he limited his imagination, he only placed importance on the empirical evidence, that his enemy had been hung. He allowed himself to be deceived. Similarly, the character Cypher in The Matrix, desires to allow himself to be deceived. Rather than endorsing an empirical knowledge of existence in this desire, this â€Å"obsession,† it does quite the opposite. Both Cypher’s desire and Angier’s downfall in contrast to the admirable outcome favored upon Christian Bale’s character, Alfred Borden, endorse the idea that deception is as real as existence. The ability to choose between to two, between the intangible, (elucidated here as deception) and the tangible is the defining notion of human existence. This seems to reinforce a Kantian understanding of existence. Kant’s definition of the human experience while seemingly based in sensory information and in that regard would be subject to the same deceptions of the senses that plagued Rene Descartes. However, Kant’s argument trumps this understanding. Diane Collinson brings forth Kant’s understanding of experience and existence, â€Å"Things-inthemselves cannot be known ‘even if we could bring our intuition to the highest degree of clearness’. They are the non-sensible causes of what we intuit,† (Collinson, 2006, p. 123). Kant’s theory on knowledge, at least in part, suggests that although senses provide humans with a lens to view the world, that this is limited because in truth the perceived â€Å"cannot be known† no matter what level of ascendency the viewer reaches. This first portion of Kant’s definition of the knowledge of human experience is reflected in the downfalls of both Neo and Robert Angier. Both must fall in order to support this theory, but in falling they are able to transcend and realize that they were unable to fathom their experiences. Angier had to have his rival’s mystery elucidated for him. Neo had to die in order to reach a position similar to that of a demi-god where he was no longer limited by the human existence. The agents in The Matrix repeatedly call attention to this by discussing the weak and vileness of the humans they have enslaved. In order to transcend to this level of knowing both characters had to fail. They had to realize that experience and existence cannot be known simply from the sensory or the perception. It requires sacrifice, but the knowledge that comes out of the sacrifice is limited to the individual. Immanuel Kant endorses this assertion of the individual in existence. Moreover it Is in his acceptance of the individual’s lack of ability to discern between perception and the empirical Kant provides an argument against the aforementioned â€Å"Humean objection. † Whereas Hume argued that the knowledge of the physical is a deception produced by the imaginative capacities of the human mind, Kant dispelled this conjecture of Hume’s. This facet of Kantian idealism is reflected in his next contention against the Humean, â€Å"but Kant regarded Hume’s strategy as inadequate since it left the causal principle without any justification. His own account establishes a third class of propositions, one whose propositions, like those stating matters of fact, tell us something about the world and are synthetic rather than analytic but which are also necessary in that they have an a priori element, that is, an element that is not derived from sense perception,† (Collinson, 2006, p. 124). Collinson highlights Kant’s transcendence of Descartes’ and Hume’s positioning of sense perception. By allowing for â€Å"synthetic† propositions or ideas about the world, including that of human existence, Kant opens up a window to air out the farce that perception and the empirical are the measures by which existence is judged. Existence in this sense being â€Å"synthetic† is entirely based upon the individual. The individual, although knowledgeable of the deceptive nature of perceptions can choose to limit their knowledge of existence to those perceptions, as did Robert Angier. Or the individual can create their â€Å"own† synthetic perception of the world, if they understand that they cannot fully understand existence. Both characters ascend the scale of knowledge, but in order to truly understand the purpose of existence, they must fall. It is in this final fall, that both are allowed to finally acknowledge, to finally understand, the truth of their existence. In both movies, the characters, including the character of the audience in The Prestige, are guided to make a choice. The implications of this choice while not entirely revealed to the character upon deciding, reflect their decision to define their own existence. The character just like the human being, chooses what to make of their existence in whatever time and place they reside. It is not a communal definition of existence or an all-encompassing one. The knowledge of what existence is limited solely to the individual. Works Cited Collinson, Diane and Plant, Kathryn. â€Å"Emmanuel Kant (1724-1804). † Fifty Major Philosphers Routledge, 2006, pp. 121-127. Collinson, Diane and Kathryn Plant. â€Å"Rene Descartes (1591-1651),† Fifty Major Philosopher, Routledge, 2006, pp. 79-84. Cottingham, John. â€Å"The Question,† On Meaning of Life, Routledge, 2006, pp. 1-31. Nolan, Christopher (Producer), Nolan, Christopher (Director). (2006). The Prestige [Motion Picture]. United States: Touchstone Pictures. Russell, Cristel Antonia and Puto, Christopher. (Nov 1999). â€Å"Rethinking Television Audience Measures: An Exploration into the Construct of Audience Connectedness. † Marketing Letters 18 (4). Retrieved from: http://www. jstor. org. ezproxy2. lib. depaul. edu/stablett Silver, Joel (Producer), Wachowski, Andy and Larry (Director). (1999). The Matrix [Motion Picture]. United States: Warner Brothers. Westphal, K. R. (2006). HOW DOES KANT PROVE THAT WE PERCEIVE, AND NOT MERELY IMAGINE, PHYSICAL OBJECTS?. Review Of Metaphysics, 59(4), 781-806. Retrieved from: http://web. ebscohost. com. ezproxy2. lib. depaul. edu.

Social Policy On Community Care Mental Health Provision Social Work Essay

Social Policy On Community Care Mental Health Provision Social Work Essay Social policy is a governments application for welfare development and social protection carried out in the community. The Margret Thatchers conservative administration and Tony Blairs labor administration had different approaches towards the issue of community mental health care policy. The policy made vital steps towards the right direction but met obstacles on the way complicating its sustenance and achievement of desired goals. Generally it is believed that the policy did not meet its desired goals of helping the mentally ill patients in the communal setting. Community care is the British policy of, deinstitutionalization treating and caring for mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution or hospital. Institutional care was the target of widespread criticism prompting the government of Margaret Thatcher to adopt a new provision of community mental health care. This was after the Audit Commission published a report called making a Reality of Community Care which outlined the advantages of domiciled care (Baker, 1986). Social policy is influenced by a number of factors that include needs of the population; demands from groups, priorities of the community, specific societal issues and critical incidents. The major intend of social policy on community care is to keep people in their homes where possible, instead of giving them care in other institutions. It was almost taken for granted that this policy was the best option from a humanitarian and moral perspective. It was also thought that the policy would be cheaper (Baker, 1986). Therefore this paper will focus on Margaret Thatchers conservative government and Tony Blairs labor government to see how their different policy approaches have impacted upon the provision of community care of mental health. The paper will also be analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of both parties to ascertain where they have helped and where they have displayed poor services. Finally the paper will conclude by giving an insight on the impact of the current social p olicy on community mental health care. Margaret Thatchers administration and community health care policy When Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979, she made it clear that she would reduce public expenditure and make drastic changes for the betterment of the country.   She was acutely aware that Britains welfare state system needed urgent restructuring as it was costing the country too much money in the event putting the country into economic free fall.   Between 1979 and 1990 she successfully introduced changes to social policy, the organization and delivery of services and the role of the state welfare provision. As a result the era became known as Thatcherism. In 1983 the Mental Health Act was introduced by Margaret Thatchers government to  put in place safeguards for people within the hospital system. Section 117 of that act imposes a duty on district health authorities and social services departments in conjunction with voluntary agencies, to ensure that after Care service is provided for people after discharge from hospital. The approach taken by the conservative government to social problems was known as the market liberalism or neo-conservatism, and this was very influential in the way it operated. Thatcher believed in having a market economy allowing people to create their own wealth in the event taking care of themselves and their families without the interference of the government.   This approach was evident in the health care and community care reform brought on board in 1990. The aim of this act was to standardize and improve community care and establish duties for the English Health Authority.   This piece of legislations not only led the way in developing the new internal market system in health and social care but divided the organization of care into purchasers and providers of care thus creating an artificial market to increase efficiency.   It then caused a major development in the 1989 White Paper (Caring for people) as a response to the Griffins report. This was effectively putting the responsibility firmly at the doors of the health authorities and families thus freeing up more money to be put back into the system.   However, due to flaws within the assessments, lack of funding and the failing of community care, people were being discharged into the community without proper supervision, care, help and support. As a result of this some individuals became homeless ending up on the streets while some are being cared for by overstretched family with financial difficulties.   Despite of the positive approaches on Margaret Thatchers implementations she had some bad sides too.   As a result of these policies, a number of changes started to appear in the society, where members of families who suffered mental health had to rely on children to take care of them, which consequently put burden on them causing isolation, social exclusion and to some extent extreme poverty. Because of these negative impacts and lacking of a proper system in place for home care (proper monitoring and provision of communal health care officials to treat patients at home), Margaret Thatchers government was unable to adequately address the issue of community mental health care. Community mental care act 1990 In the act passed in 1990 on community care health services (NHS ACT 1990), individuals with mental problem difficulties were able to stay at their homes while being treated. This state of affairs raised concerns especially after some individuals with mental health problems were involved in violent behavior against members of the public. Even though the community has recorded a few murder cases caused by people having mental health difficulties, it is more probable that healthy individuals can as well attack the mentally ill. Mental Health is always portrayed in the media as negative but nothing has ever really been highlighted about the way people with mental ailments are being subjected to attacks and  abused on a daily basis from the general public. It is sad to note that no one seems to take account of their plight, not even the government.  So as much as this act made it possible for patients to be personally assigned specific community workers to monitor and take care of them, it posed a major risk in the community. These patients were under risk of being abused, attacked, neglected and untreated making the act look inefficient. Mental health patients eventually became uncontrollable ending up on the streets. These issues are usually prompting arguments between the public administration, health services officials and the department of social service on who should be held responsible of the whole matter. One such lack of help to detrimental effect was when Christopher Clunis, a mentally ill patie nt, stabbed and killed Jonathan Zito, an innocent person, in Finsbury Park tube station.   This could have been averted had there been proper home care and supervision provided.   These types of cases are common but there seems to be very little done to alleviate such tragedy. There ought to be no contentment therefore in ensuring good quality community care for patients with mental problems. The main challenges to the policy of the rundown traditional psychiatric hospital are the concern that homelessness is being increased among the mentally ill and the fear of public safety because of homicides by psychiatric patients (Mathews, 2002). Other issues involve appropriate assignment of social workers who would take care and monitor these patients. Over the last few years activists in opposition to community care have diverted their aggression to the concern of public safety. These has prompted the government of Britain to put into practice a key review on mental health policy. It is also apparent that issues on public safety are the ones driving the review. Tony Blairs governments approach on community mental health care When Tony Blair was elected the people had high expectation that he would put in order the NHS system.  Ã‚   Although he did not have any viable alternatives to the existing policies of Margaret Thatcher, he ridiculed them. He even used the same strategy to in his campaign resulting in a NHS historian, Charles Webster, calling it the meanest spending package on the health service since the second world war.  His promise to the people of the country was that he would not cause any structural upheaval to the NHS but he would carry out some reform which would be gradual involving consultation and experimentation. Unlike the decentralization that Margaret Thatcher adopted in her era which was against the nanny state mentality, the approach adopted by Tony Blair was that of a democratic society. Despite his belief that the government should play a greater part in monitoring what goes on in the society and intervene when necessary to ensure that fairness, he was tolerant with the idea of free enterprise. It has now been a decade since Tony Blairs government vouched that they would tackle the NHS mental health service with vigor promising that equal priority would be given to mental health issues as that of heart disease and other ailments. This is what was stated by the then health secretary Frank Dobson in 1999. The National Services Framework for mental health 1999 (ten years plan) promised seven standards of care and treatment, these standards included primary care, access to services, prevention of suicide   and caring about careers. Regardless of this the labor government under Tony Blair made some changes within the health service. His successor Gordon Brown is worse as he has not made much with the NHS. He set his sight on more cuts and closures which effectively caused more damage to an already damaged NHS.   He has not carried out the National Service Framework 1999 that had been promised by the labor government, so together they have failed to effectively implement the policies even though they have been in power considerably long. Their failures are also manifested further as the national frame work for mental health deadline expired last month and yet it still did not meet its targets. However the department of health announced a package of measures in January 2009 for the design and development of single sex accommodation within the health system. This will include a  £100 million Privacy and Dignity Fund for improvements and adjustments to accommodations. The new initiative came into effect as of Ap ril 2010 which was a big step in ensuring privacy needs of male and female patients are fully met. Still some changes have been made by the two previous governments and their respective leaders (the Margaret Thatchers conservative party (1979) and Tony Blairs 1997 labor party), with regards to the implementations of the Mental Health Act 1983 the NHS and Community Care Act 1990, and the National Service Framework Act 1999.   Even though it still appears that not much has been done to help especially members of the ethnic minority groups. There are still disparities in the way services are being distributed and how they are being treated as patients compared to their white counterparts.   For example, they are discriminated against  more and are more likely to be given higher dosages of anti-psychotic drugs or sometimes even put into seclusion. The Community Care Act 1990 was put in place mainly as a cost effective measure, thereby moving people with mental health issues out of hospitals into the community. However, some people are still not receiving the necessary care that was promised by the government, although to some extent they are being empowered by being encouraged to be more proactive in their own assessment and  care plans. Of late these provisions are ineffective as they do not meet the required specification. The organization of health services concerned with mental problem was simple previously before the current NHS and social reforms came into play. The government was responsible of the NHS and controlled fund allocation, functionality, and supervision of these health services. Local government played a very small role in the care for mentally ill individuals, there main was in housing and social work sustenance. Initially, it was the responsibility of sanatorium community divide. In the 1980s important reforms were made to both the NHS and social services. These reforms were largely aimed at changing the management arrangements for delivering general health care in the NHS and at reforming the community care of elderly people provided by social services. Little thought was apparently given to how the reforms would affect the care of mentally ill people. We believe that these changes, each of which on their own might have been valuable, have combined to damage provision of care, at least for severely mentally ill patients (Mathews, 2002). Mental health policy defines the vision for the future mental health of the population, specifying the framework which will be put in place to manage and prevent priority mental and neurological disorders. Therefore as shown in this paper the approach to the social policy on community care and mental health should focus on communal mental health problems and generate solutions for curbing these predicaments. The primary aim of this policy is to identify the most useful and efficient measure to successfully address these issues. On other hand the bringing of new policies in the mental health sector has totally transformed mental community care provision. Simple systems have been replaced with complicated organizational and financial structures requiring almost impossible feats by local health and social service staff to coordinate care for patients to whom continuity of care is critical for their survival in the community (Mathews, 2002). Critical mentally ill individuals are ensnared by these problematical issues. The formation of a community care authority that is localized which is accountable for the issue at hand could be the best solution.

The Book Thief: Concentration Camps and Death Marches Essay -- The Boo

World War II was a grave event in the twentieth century that affected millions. Two main concepts World War II is remembered for are the concentration camps and the marches. These marches and camps were deadly to many yet powerful to others. However, to most citizens near camps or marches, they were insignificant and often ignored. In The Book Thief, author Markus Zusak introduces marches and camps similar to Dachau to demonstrate how citizens of nearby communities were oblivious to the suffering in those camps during the Holocaust. Much of The Book Thief revolved around a common German family hiding a Jew. During the Holocaust and the book, Jews and other people seen as insignificant were imprisoned in concentration camps. Max, the Jew that the Hubermanns were hiding, could cause them to get into deep trouble. However, they still hid him. The Hubermanns lived in a town close to a concentration camp and often saw marches of prisoners through town. Even with a potential prisoner living in their residence, the Hubermanns, along with most everyone else in Molching, were unaware of the events that actually happened in the concentration camp and marches. Dachau and its sub camps were awful places in general, but living as a prisoner in these camps was even worse, just as the marches were. The physical characteristics that made up Dachau and its sub camps were horrifying. The prisoners that had to face the extreme conditions of camps were certainly not oblivious to everything that was happening. Marches were a significant part of prisoners’ lives during the later parts of World War II. Lives of prisoners during World War II were horrendous throughout. This was the life Max most likely endured after he left th... ...les/Janowitz%20on%20Nazi%20Atrocities.pdf> Lowenberg, William (Bill). Interview. Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 1993. 15 Mar. 2014. Lynch, Pat. Interview. Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 1995. 15 Mar. 2014. Peyton, Dallas. Interview. Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2004. 19 Mar. 2014. media_oi.php?MediaId=4784> Sachar, Abram. â€Å"The Liberation of Dachau.† Jewish Virtual Library. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Print.

3COM FAST ETHERNET VS. GIGABIT ETHERNET COMPARISON :: essays research papers

ABSTRACT   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this paper, we will conduct a comparison on Fast Ethernet Network Switches and Gigabit Ethernet Network Switches offered by 3COM. We will review a few specific components, as well as compare features, pricing and preferred usage. DEFINITION In order to have a greater understanding of the terminology and descriptions offered in this paper, we must first understand what a network switch is. A brief definition of a network switch is a computer networking device that connects network segments. It uses the logic of a Network bridge, but allows a physical and logical star topology. It is often used to replace network hubs. A switch is also often referred to as an intelligent hub. A switch can be used to make various connections. Ethernet, Token Ring, and various other types of packet switched network segments together to form a heterogeneous network operating at OSI Layer 2. Traditional Ethernets, in which all hosts compete for the same bandwidth, are called shared Ethernets. Switched Ethernets are becoming very popular because they are an effective and convenient way to extend the bandwidth of existing Ethernets. PRODUCTS   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3COM offers a wide variety of networking solutions. From Switches to Hubs to Gateways, 3COM is one of the frontrunners in the networking industry. In this comparison of Fast Ethernet Networks and Gigabit Ethernet Networks, before discussing the similarities with the various components and their respective operations, we must discuss the differences between the two.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fast Ethernet Network was developed as an upgrade to traditional Ethernet Networking. Fast Ethernet improved traditional Ethernet by increasing transfer rates 10 times, from 10 Megabit to 100 Megabit speed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gigabit Ethernet Network is an upgrade on Fast Ethernet Network equivalent to Fast Ethernet Networks improvement over Fast Ethernet Network, offering speeds of 1000 Megabits (1 Gigabit). Gigabit Ethernet was first made to travel over optical and copper cabling, but the 1000Base-T standard successfully supports it as well. 1000Base-T uses Category 5 cabling similar to 100 Mbps Ethernet, although achieving gigabit speed requires the use of additional wire pairs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Also, Gigabit Ethernet Networks can process Traditional, Fast, and Gigabit Ethernet transfer rates, as opposed to Traditional – Traditional and Fast – Traditional/Fast. The products will be reviewed by cost as well as functionality, comparing components most closely related to one another.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  COMPONENTS 3COM OfficeConnect Dual Speed 5 Port Switch This switch is a member of 3COM’s OfficeConnect family of products. It is used primarily for small business and small offices.

Pearls Contribution to The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

Pearl's Contribution to The Scarlet Letter In Hawthorne's epic novel, The Scarlet Letter he discusses Pearl, a main character, and her contribution in making the novel a romantic one. Hawthorne uses three types of romantic topics relating to Pearl. Stereotypical characters, supernaturalness of characters, and the imaginary aspect of characters are all qualities of romantic language Hawthorne uses to better develop Pearl's character. Over the course of the novel Hawthorne uses all of the aspects of romantic language to unfold the life of Pearl and how she acts having these qualities. Pearl's quality of being a stereotypical character makes her blend into some situations and not into others. Pearl was portrayed as a stereotypical "victim of Hester's sin", adultery, because as she walks through town with her mother the other kids shout and curse at her. Pearl takes it in stride and defends her mother and fends off the evil children. The adults of Boston, mostly Puritans, talk behind Hester's back about the child being one of a sinner. Another common stereotype filled by Pearl is whenever an adult is occupied with something then the child finds something to do. When Hester went to the woods to meet with Dimmesdale, Pearl went off to play in the brook while the two adults talked and then she stopped when her mother called. A second example is when Pearl accompanied her mother to the seashore where they met Chillingworth, Pearl wandered off by herself and occupied her time by playing with seaweed and the various animal life that happened to be around. Children can also notice small differences in their surroundings that are normally familiar to them. When Hester and Dimmesdale where in the woods and decided to flee Boston and travel to Europe, Hester removed her scarlet letter happily and threw it into the brook. When she called to Pearl to tell her the news of them leaving Boston, Pearl went into fits of rage and temper tantrums and would not come to her mother. This was because she was so used to seeing the scarlet letter on her mother's bosom. Pearl's quality of being stereotypical, compared to all children and characters in general, is highly unlikely and only adds to the amount of romanticism in the novel.

Data Comm Essay

List some of the uses (roles) of a member server. File server, application server, and web server. They can manage emails, provide web services, provide file storage, etc. 2. Discuss some differences between workstation software and server software. Workstations are generally used by a single person whereas servers provide services over a network to multiple computers. Workstation are typically used for CPU tasks and simulation projects, unlike servers which are mainly used for data storage, to run databases and organize data, DNS, and to host web pages. . List some advantages of mapping a directory located on a server to a workstation. 4. Discuss how you would add new users and groups to your server. Include a discussion of the permissions that you would need to consider in doing so. Next to the Control Panel link choose the Active Directory Users and Computers. Then expand the domain you want to create the user in and right click the user’s folder; select new user and put th e information required into the textboxes; by right clicking this folder you can also add groups. To give users permissions right click the database and choose properties then select permissions, if the user you want to grant permission to is not on the list you can search and select their name and then check the permission you want to grant them. Some permissions that a user might need are: read, write, read and execute, list folder contents, modify, etc. Server Lab 2 1) When you promoted your server to domain controller and installed DHCP, what would happen if there was another domain controller already on this network? 2) How has your file server been affected by promoting your server to a domain controller? ) We set the DHCP server to provide a narrow range of IP addresses. What is the maximum range that it can provide? What would be the starting and ending addresses if this full range were utilized? 4) Explain how a DHCP lease works. When a device tries to connect to the internet the network requests an IP address. The DHCP server leases the device an IP address that is then forwarded to the network via the router. The DHCP updates the appropriate servers with the address and other information. The device then accepts the address and the DHCP reallocates the address or leases one that’s available. Then the device is no longer connected and the address becomes available again. 5) Describe the purpose of the forward and reverse DNS lookup zones? How do they differ? DNS is used to translate domain names to IP addresses. A forward lookup zone is a DNS in which the hostname to IP relationship is stored; when a computer requests the IP address of a certain hostname this zone is queried and it returns the result. A reverse lookup zone does the opposite; when the computer requests the hostname of an address this zone is queried and the result is returned.

Methods of Measuring Design Quality

There are several methods by which companies measure the design quality of products, services and processes. The companies select the methods in accordance to their goals. Accordingly the methods for measuring design quality may be generic like the reusability of design or specific like the size dimensions of motion system. Whatever be the metrics used, there is a trend towards using a combination of weights and rating scales for objectively measuring design quality. One approach to measuring design quality is examining the extent to which the different parts or the subsystems of the design depend on one another. From this stand point those designs that are inflexible, and have a high degree of interdependence cannot easily be changed.   When a change is introduced it has a surging effect and it becomes impossible to guess the cost of such a change. These designs create a situation where the managers very rarely allow changes. Another way of assessing design quality is to test its reusability. If the needed parts of the design are highly dependent on other details, design is highly interdependent. In such a situation is important to see if the design can be used in a different situation or a combination. For example, if there is an embossing unit designed as a part of a plastic stretching line. Can the embossing unit be separated from the line and used in a different plastic stretching line? Continuing with the example, can the plastic extruder be separated from the line and used as a part of another plastic strapping line? Finally, is there a tendency of the system to break in several places when a one change is made to the system? If the design is brittle then there are problems in areas that have no direct connection with the changed area (Akao, Yoji 2004). In the plastic stretching line if the embossing unit is removed there is a problem in the cooling unit. Such brittleness reduces the reliability of the design and creates maintenance problems. The production personnel cannot rely on the production specifications. Another approach to measuring the quality of design is to examine the specifications of the designs in terms of the realization of its objectives. The cost of implementing the design and the ease with which the device can be produced are evaluated. A strong correlation is usually present between the design and the specifications and the ratio can be used as a reliable measure of design quality (Park, Sung H1996). Another measure of design quality is to measure design performance(Belavendram, N 1995). In this case the design quality evaluates a number of factors like the craftsmanship, the cost of design, the cost of production, and even the return on investment of the design process. In case the design is made by an internal team there is even a comparison of the performance of the design with the expected performance from external designers. Measuring the design quality has assumed new importance with how designs are being managed to increase value of the organization to its customers. Instead of tangible end products, there are companies that evaluate the designs of business models and improve its designs to ensure that every interaction with a customer is dependable and persuasive. Design quality is also measured from the point of view of the user. The design is expected to make the process clear to the user. Moreover, the design should make the behavior of the organization, system or the process dependable to the user, Further; the design should be such that the process or the system should provide feedback. In case of interaction with the customer, the feedback should be both visual and audio. The message however, should be clear. The design of a process or a system should be such that the user should effectively be able to trace the path of action (Hoyle, David 2005). There should be a close correspondence between the specifications that have been given to the user and the manner in which the system works. Finally, the design should allow for measures of control. Measuring design quality is often a task of applying general principles of designing. The general principles of designing include questions like is the design trouble-free? An uncomplicated and simple design is preferred. Also is the design is long lasting? An adaptable design is desirable and so is a timeless design. The design should appeal to the future generation. A good design solves the moot problem (Hayes, Bob1998). A good design gives a few elements to the users that can be combined by the users themselves. A lot of work goes into a high quality design and this is reflected in the design itself. One of the metrics widely used in measuring design quality is the use of symmetry. Further, the fine tuning that has been done to the design to improve its quality and performance. Quality design can be replicated and is different from the norm. Finally, good design is done in large pieces. From the perspective of production management it is important to remember that the design quality is important in motion control system. In this context the quality of design embraces the selection of the motor drive electronics, positioning mechanism and motion controller.. Design quality emerges from the planning that goes into the development of the system. Designing quality entails full description and understanding of the process. Meticulous details go into this designing stage like the precision of the motion, the travel length of every axis and the number of axis. A good quality design specifies if the positioning is rotary, linear or a combination of stages (Card, David N & Glass. R 1990). The quality of design is also evaluated by the manner in which it incorporates the stage as an integral part of the larger system. The ability of the stage to meet its specifications is also an important consideration in measuring design quality. The design also encompasses the way in which the system is mounted on a flat surface to avoid distortions. The quality of design is also judged from the way in which the lifetime requirements of the system are incorporated into the stage specifications. If the requirements change then the system may have to be removed to a different position during its lifetime. Good quality design takes into consideration the size and the environmental consequences of the system. Both horizontal and vertical size constraints need to be considered. Factors like the choice of drive type, selection of motor and the mechanical and electrical aspects of the system motions are important factors in appraising the design quality. In the context of customer service, measuring design quality means evaluating parameters that go into a better provision of service to the customers. To deliver consistently superior service requires a high level of design quality. The design must include processes, people and the technology. Only if the design is of high quality will the company get increased sales from customers that have experienced superior service.   The design often extends to aspects of information technology. The designing of products and service responses based on data often are critical in attracting and retaining customers. The quality of design reflects on the services provided like tracking the choices of individual customers, payment methods, patterns of buying, support websites and live chats with technical staff. To be successful the design must consider factors like support technology, culture of the organization, incentive system, training and recruitment of customer support staff. In most situations like a production setting or a customer service system, there are some metrics that are selected for measuring the design quality. Usually, these metrics are based on the objective of the organization and are discussed with the designer before the design commences (Wood, Jane & Silver, Denise 1989). For example, the company that wants to design a motion control system will discuss with its production engineers specifications that are required for the motion control system and agree on a few metrics that will be used to measure the design quality. For example it may be the positioning of the linear rotary, the adaptability of the system, the size of the system, the stopping ability of the drive and precision of the description of the system. Each of these metrics for measuring design quality should be given a weight so that the sum of the weighs adds up to 1. For example, the stopping ability of the drive may be given a weight of 0.3 and the precision of the description of the system may be given a weigh of 0.1 and so on. In practice these weights are decided jointly by the management and the designer. A document for measuring design quality typically has a rating scale of five attached to each metric. After the design is completed a rating is given to each metric. The rating may range from 1 to 5, where 1 is the lowest rating and 5 is the highest rating. Each rating is multiplied with the respective rating. For example the stopping ability of the drive may get a rating of 3, this figure is multiplied by its weight of 0.3 and we get a score of 0.9. The scores for each metric is added and a composite score is calculated. As the weights add up to 1, the composite score ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest design quality and 5 the highest possible quality measure. The actual composite measure for design quality will range between 1 and 5. To sum, there is a wide range of metrics used for measuring design quality. Some are generic metrics like the flexibility of the design, the adaptability or its brittleness. Others are metrics related to specific situations like the metrics for measuring the design quality of a motion system. Design quality of customer support systems or HRM recruitments systems are also measured with respect to the goals of the design. These metrics are then rated according a previously decided standard, weighted and a composite score is calculated to give a comprehensive measure of design quality. References: Akao, Yoji (2004), Quality Function Deployment: Integrating Customer Requirements into Product Design, Productivity Press Belavendram, N (1995) Quality by Design, Prentice Hall Card, David N & Glass. R (1990) Measuring Software Design Quality. Prentice Hall Hayes, Bob (1998) Measuring Customer Satisfaction: Survey Design, Use, and Statistical Analysis Methods, ASQ Quality Press Hoyle, David (2005) ISO 9000 Quality Systems Handbook, Elsevier Park, Sung H (1996) Robust Design and Analysis for Quality Engineering, Springer Wood, Jane & Silver, Denise (1989), Joint Application Design: How to Design Quality Systems in 40% less Time, John Wiley & Sons Inc