Monday, September 30, 2019

Promote Equality and Inclusion in Health

CU1532 PROMOTE EQUALITY AND INCLUSION IN HEALTH, SOCIAL CARE OR CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SETTINGS Understand the importance of diversity, equality and inclusion Explain what is meant by diversity; equality; inclusion Diversity can be defined in many different ways. What does it mean to us? Diversity is a commitment to recognizing and appreciating the variety of characteristics that make individuals unique in an atmosphere that promotes and celebrates individual and collective achievement.Examples of these characteristics are: age; cognitive style; culture; disability (mental, learning, physical); economic background; education; ethnicity; gender identity; geographic background; language(s) spoken; marital/partnered status; physical appearance; political affiliation; race; religious beliefs; sexual orientation. Equality is ensuring individuals or groups of individuals are treated fairly and equally and no less favourably, specific to their needs, including areas of race, gender, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation and age.Inclusion at its simplest is ‘the state of being included’ but it is a bit more complicated than that†¦ It is used by disability rights activists to promote the idea that all people should be freely and openly accommodated without restrictions or limitations of any kind. Describe the potential effects of discrimination Physical effects: headaches, poor appetite, a change in eating habits, sleeplessness, loss/gain of weight, deterioration of health, bruises, ulcers, lack of personal hygiene and lack of energy.Emotional effects: low self-esteem, lack of confidence, feeling unwanted, insecurity, becoming withdrawn, depression/stress, anxiety, sudden change in behaviour, lack of co-operation and learned helplessness. Social effects: isolation, lack of friends, becoming withdrawn, unrecognized as an individual, feel like a stranger and inability to build relationships. the intellectual effects: res tricted access to education, poor performance in examinations, lack of achievements, poor job prospects, lack of skills, self-fulfilling prophecy, loss of motivation, lack of interest in anything and absence from work.Explain how inclusive practice promotes equality and supports diversity Inclusive practice is about the attitudes, approaches and strategies taken to ensure that people are not excluded or isolated. It means supporting diversity by accepting and welcoming people’s differences, and promoting equality by ensuring equal opportunities for all. Inclusive practice is best practice. Health and social care workers demonstrate inclusive practice by working in ways that recognise, respect, value and make the most of all aspects of diversity.Having a sound awareness of and responding sensitively to an individual’s diverse needs supports them in developing a sense of belonging, well-being and confidence in their identity and abilities. And it helps them to achieve th eir potential and take their rightful place in society. In addition, inclusive practice involves having an understanding of the disastrous impact that discrimination, inequality and social exclusion can have on an individual’s physical and mental health.Having such an understanding ensures appropriate, personalised care and support, thereby enabling an individual to develop self-respect and maintain a valued role in society. Because people who fail to support diversity or promote equality are usually entirely unaware of their attitudes and the impact of their behaviour, inclusive practice involves reflecting on and challenging one’s own prejudices, behaviours and work practices.It also involves challenging those of colleagues and other service providers, with a view to adapting ways of thinking and working and to changing services to build on good practice and to better support diversity and promote equality. Be able to work in an inclusive way Explain how legislation and codes of practice relating to equality, diversity and discrimination apply to own work role The UK has in place numerous pieces of legislation (laws), rules, regulations, guidance documents and statutory codes of practice, all of which are intended to promote diversity, ensure equality and end discrimination.In other words, they are in place to promote everyone’s right to fair and equal treatment, regardless of their differences. The Human Rights Act 1998. This covers many different types of discrimination, including some that are not covered by other discrimination laws. Rights under the Act can be used only against a public authority, for example, the police or a local council, and not a private company. However, court decisions on discrimination usually have to take into account what the Human Rights Act says. The Equal Pay Act 1970 (amended 1984).This says that women must be paid the same as men when they are doing the same (or broadly similar) work, work rated as equ ivalent under a job evaluation scheme, or work of equal value. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (amended 1986). This makes it unlawful to discriminate against men or women in employment, education, housing or in providing goods and services, and also in advertisements for these things. It’s also against the law, but only in work-related matters, to discriminate against someone because they are married or in a civil partnership.Race Relations Act 1976 (amended 2000). This states that everyone must be treated fairly regardless of their race, nationality, or ethnic or national origins. Disability Discrimination Act 1995. This states that a person with a disability must not be treated less fairly than someone who is able-bodied. Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003. This says it is unlawful to discriminate against people at work because of their religion or belief. The regulations also cover training that is to do with work. Employment Equality (Age) Regulatio ns 2006.This says it is unlawful for an employer or potential employer to discriminate against you at work because of your age. Show interaction with individuals that respects their beliefs, culture, values and preferences I encourage clients to be independent members of the community and to take as much charge for their own self-care as is possible, within their Rights And Responsibilities. In my work, I adhere to the Legal Requirements of the Care Standards Act. I meet the requirements of the Registering Authorities within my role and aim to improve on these requirements.I have a ‘duty of care’ to my clients. I will advise and support clients with any matter they may require assistance with, within my role and capability. I ensure that no personal information regarding a client is disclosed to a third party without prior agreement of the client concerned. Communication with clients should be at the level of their understanding and provide privacy and promote dignity a nd self-respect. Carers via communications with client’s family, previous recording assessment and observation will be aware of any associated difficulties. It may be necessary to remind e. g. onfused elderly clients from time to time and assist where necessary. The Home encourages care workers to take on the role of advocates to promote the awareness of clients’ rights and help them gain access to the services they need. The following set of values is supported for all clients: The freedom of choice on personal matters and preferences. The opportunity to fulfill personal ambitions and develop knowledge and skills. The right to the fullest expression of citizenship. The right to lead an independent a life as possible. The right to privacy and personal space without hindrance.To be treated with respect and dignity in a caring manner at all times. To be recognised as an individual with regard to personal needs irrespective of circumstances. The right of freedom of moveme nt from one place to another without restriction. It is necessary that all records be accurate, legible and complete and current in all circumstances including the promotion of rights and responsibilities. Be able to promote diversity, equality and inclusion Demonstrate actions that model inclusive practice The Equality Act became law in October 2010. It replaces previous legislation such as the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995) and ensures consistency in what you need to do to make your workplace a fair environment and to comply with the law. The Equality Act covers the same groups that were protected by existing equality legislation – age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity – but extends some protections to groups not previously covered, and also strengthens particular aspects of equality law.The Equality Act is a mixture of ri ghts and responsibilities that have:  · Stayed the same – for example, direct discrimination still occurs when â€Å"someone is treated less favourably than another person because of a protected characteristic†  · Changed – for example, employees will now be able to complain of harassment even if it is not directed at them, if they can demonstrate that it creates an offensive environment for them  · Been extended – for example, associative discrimination (direct discrimination against someone because they associate with another person who possesses a protected characteristic) will cover age, disability, gender reassignment and sex as well as race, religion and belief and sexual orientation.  · Been introduced for the first time – for example, the concept of discrimination arising from disability, which occurs if a disabled person is treated unfavourably because of something arising in consequence of their disability. Demonstrate how to supp ort others to promote equality and rightsThe Home is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, tackling discrimination and welcoming and valuing the diversity of the communities we serve. This policy highlights compliance with anti-discriminatory legislation and regulatory requirements and our ongoing commitment to equality and diversity. It also acts as a framework for promoting and adopting best practice and delivering continuous improvement across all our key business areas. We believe that excellent customer service means providing a service that is accessible and desirable to all, that the promotion of equality and diversity is essential to our core business and that a diverse customer and staff base requires us to value those differences.We will drive commitment to equality and diversity in service delivery by providing accessible and customer focused services, improved understanding of the customer journey, build capacity to refer customers to other services and increas e methods of communication to meet our customer needs. The Home will aim to ensure that no person receives less favourable treatment from the organisation including on the grounds of race, colour, gender, transgender, marital status, religion, disability, age HIV status or sexual orientation. We will monitor all applications for housing and employment by ethnic origin, disability, age and gender to ensure we meet our objectives.Describe how to challenge discrimination in a way that promotes change Always challenge discrimination. Do it in a calm and professional way and tell the individual that what they are saying is unacceptable. You can also say that you are upset and offended by discriminatory words and actions. Also, that it is unlawful. In a work setting, discrimination can be a disciplinary matter and procedures should always be in place, in the form of written documentation, shared with the employee and employer. There should be support for you as an individual, if you are d ealing with discrimination. Challenging discriminatory behaviour means not letting this behaviour happen without taking some sort of action against it.There are many ways that people can be discriminated against. They include verbal or physical abuse, exclusion, labelling or stereotyping . It is important to challenge discriminatory behaviour because it can cause distress, ill health, isolation and stress to a service user. Discrimination usually arises from a lack of awareness and experience rather than deliberate intent. Each organisation needs a policy that will reflect its own ways of working, its community and constituency, activities and size. By examining in detail how you operate, you will learn to recognise how and where discrimination is manifesting itself and be able to deal with each instance.

Deductive Method Versus Inductive Method

Written Report in Principles of Teaching DEDUCTIVE METHOD VERSUS INDUCTIVE METHOD All teaching methods can be classified into two, namely deductive method and inductive method. The deductive method, the teacher tells or shows directly what he/she wants to teach. The inductive method begins with questions, problems and details and end up with answers, generalizations and conclusions. Deductive method, in this method the teacher presents first the main topic she will discuss. Explain the subject matter before students make activities.The advantage of deductive method the students will not have a lot of questions because they already understand the topic, and it will be easy for them to answer the different activities. And the disadvantage of this method, the students can’t participate because only the teacher is the one who is discussing the topic. Inductive method, in this method the students are more involved in teaching learning process the students can give a lot of ideas ab out the topic and the teacher will be the facilitator and the guide , they will correct the wrong ideas of the learners.And the learners will be more creative and knowledgeable because the class will start in the different activities and exercises. But it also have disadvantages , because in this method it requires more time, because the class started at the activities and exercises , a lot of time are uses in answering the different activities and exercises and there is only a little time to discuss the topic.It also has different approaches the blended learning, reflective teaching, metacognitive approach and constructivist approach. The blended learning is learning that is facilitated by the effective combination of different modes of delivery, the reflective teaching students/teachers learn through an analysis and evaluation of past experiences. Metacognitive approach is an approach that makes our students thinks about their thinking.The constructivist approach is anchored on th e belief that every individual constructs and reconstructs meanings depending on past experiences. As a future teacher we should be familiar to this different methods and approaches so we will know what kind of method and approaches that we should use on how the students will learn most. Donalyn S. Alicpala BEED II-A

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Linguistics Essay Essay

Some key terms: cultural, social, situational meaning; language; phonetics; the vocal apparatus; the vocal cords; voiced-voiceless sounds; place of articulation; stress or accent; pitch or tone; morphology; morpheme (singular-plural, tense). Assignment # 1: Essay on â€Å"what can the way a person speaks tell us about that person?† (due 1/18 at lecture time). Week 2: Jan. 18 The structure of language. [Assign. 1 (essay) due today at lecture time] Some key terms: syntax: subject, verb, object; language types; semantics (†Colorless green ideas†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ); pragmatics. Jan. 20 Language structure analysis. Language, Culture, and Cognition. (hdt. #3.0 & 3.01) Readings: Bonvillain, Chaps. 2-cont. (pp. 22-27, 37-39) & 3 (pp. 41-63) Some key terms: Sapir-Whorf hypothesis; semantic or vocabulary domain; color language and color cognition; lexical classifications and ethnoscientific domains; focal meaning and fuzzy membership; cultural presupposition; metaphor, metonymy; metaphors of kinship, other metaphors; proverbs. Week 3 Jan. 25 Language, Culture, and Cognition. (Hdt. 3.1, 3.2- metaphors & new words) â€Å"Metaphors We Live By†. Readings: Bonvillain, Ch. 3 (pp. 64-71) Jan. 27 Language and Culture: New Words in American English. Readings: Handouts: â€Å"Dictionary adds terms like chick flicks†; â€Å"Blog-blogger explained† â€Å"Words banned,† newspaper article. Project Explained: Profile of an ethno-linguistic group in the Los Angeles area. CHEM 105B Chapter 13 – 7 hours Chapter 14 – 7 hours Mastering Chemistry -8 hours Problems in Book – 2 hours Calculus 5.6 # 1,2,9,13,21,25 5.7 # 1,2,13,18*,35,39,45,48 5.8 # 1,11,13,16,21,27,29,32,35,41,49 * – use a computer program 6.1 # 1,2,3,7,9,13,16,18,20,27,33,44 6.2 # 1,3,5,14,19,23,37,39,40,43,48,49,53,54 7 hours

Friday, September 27, 2019

Skate America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Skate America - Essay Example Two of the most prevalent online competitors are A1 Skateboards and Element Skateboards. A1 Skateboards uses person marketing, taking it a bit farther with customization options. Skateboards and accessories are also offered by product line or brand, just as with Skate America. Element Skateboards takes a different approach, using event marketing. Information about X-Games dates and locations takes up most of the home page with its severe black and red color scheme. Though this online retailer is listed as a skateboard supplier, the product list and links are difficult to see. Skate America does an excellent job in design, theme and presentation of its web site. Attractive, yet not too busy, the site provides links to brand or professional line products, as well as others. Graphics are pleasant and eye-catching, without distracting viewers. Its red, white and blue scheme works well with the design and fits its short and easily recongnized name. Strengths for this online seller are des ign and appropriate selection of products. Weaknesses are lack of personalization such as the customizable skateboards that A1 Skateboards offers and failure to promote skateboarding and skating, by providing topics or information of interest. Skate America attempts to direct its efforts toward all skateboarders and skaters. While the product and brand offerings are more than adequate, its difficult to determine who the intended audience with its generic feel.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Economic Crisis of 2008 and Natural Resources Essay

Economic Crisis of 2008 and Natural Resources - Essay Example However, the most notorious measures have been witnessed in the more indirect causes of natural resource depletion in poor legislation invented by the government and leading policy creators. These have affected the market trends to cause effects on the trends in trade and monetary values. These present a significant effect on the depletion of the available resources to accord the problem witnessed in other economic presentations in the factors to accord sustainability to the individuals. The factors to lead to the presented features that predict the fluctuating environmental sustenance have been projected, to the creations developed by humanity in the attempt to adjust to the harsh presentations of the natural environment. In times of societal challenges, the adjustments made have been included in the attempt to present counter measures that present sustainable measures to support humanity within the society. The famous economic crisis in 2008 presented the period of instability with in the economy with constrained opportunities, and global price fluctuations to increase overdependence on available resources that had been affected. The effects of the economic crisis of 2008 had been felt within households, and leading companies that provided support to the economy and the natural reserve hence the immense degradation of nature had been realized. Economic crisis of 2008 The period had been associated with the era that had presented the duration when the US and the global economy faced the problem in a remarkable financial crisis (Botchway 250). The evidenced had been extended to the failure of the failure of leading financial institutions to fail to gain the counter measure to generate the incentive to promote the development. Moreover, the period had been extended to the failure of the stock market to find the solution to counter the economic situation that had threatened to sustain the crisis. The witnessed effects had been projected in financial institutions t hat had been incapable of delivering the results in presenting a sustainable economy. In the period, the resources had been valued at a high price index with the increase in the oil prices that led to overdependence on alternative fuel sources. The solution had been to involve the use of affordable energy measures that led to an increased number in exploitation of natural reserve, to feed the population and economies that presented a challenge during the crisis. The crisis and natural resource The lack of funds meant that the maintenance of the available features had been reduced with the concentration on alternative measures to deliver satisfaction of the scarce resources. The management of the available resources is provided alternative measures to offer sustainability within the economies. Before the crisis, the countries with abundant resources included measures that would be directed to sustain and maintain the available facilities. There had been the provision to enact strict codes in the preservation of development features with harsh consequences to the perpetrators. However, the crisis led to the trend established that directed the effort to finding alternative measures to present financial balance and economic sustenance. The solutions had been grave to the economy and environment that presented the alternative to the available resource. The available funds had been diverted to projects that could sustain the economy with the focus diverted

Discuss the theory of Optimal Capital Structure Essay

Discuss the theory of Optimal Capital Structure - Essay Example It gives the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC). If the firm needs to have the lowest WACC, it should design its capital structure in such a way that the debt equity ratio is high which would bring down the WACC. The Optimal Capital Structure is that mix of debt and equity that maximizes the firm’s value or minimizes the cost of capital. There is no standard mix of debt and equity that maximizes the firm’s value, but each firm should strike a balance between risk and return thereby maximizing the share price, depending on its size and financial position. 1) If the firm size is small, it is difficult to make regular principal and interest payments in the event of shortages in generating substantial cash flow. Such firms face heavy fines and penalties by the creditors. Trade-off Theory: Maximum debt can be raised when the share price is at its maximum. If the firm raises any more debt, the share price will decline. The point where share price is maximum, it is the trade-off point; risk and return are both at their peaks. Any change would cause a disbalance in the position of risk and return. The maximum risk involved is that of bankruptcy and the maximum return is the maximum value of the shares. Below is a graph that depicts the trade-off between risk and return. Signaling Theory: This theory states that when the firm issues bonds for debt financing, it sends out a positive signal in the market. The cost of borrowing will be low as compared to the return the firm will get by putting money in that project. When the firm issues shares for equity financing, it gives out a negative signal in the market because it reflects the credibility of the company and insinuates that the firm cannot raise finance by borrowing from the market and that it is in dire need of funds. 5) Future flexibility. The firm should leave room for maneuvering and have flexibility in the capital structure

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Persuading My parents Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Persuading My parents - Essay Example I made my parents believe that they could respect and trust me. The central point in using ethos was to make my parents that I was worth listening to, that I could understand life. I made them understand that I had the same reasoning as they did. Additionally, I used Pathos to persuade to my parent’s emotions. The language I chose to address my parents, and the diction appealed to their emotions to let me have the freedom I felt I deserved. I made them become empathetic of my situation, thus helping them grant me the freedom to do as permitted by my age. I used emotional appeal (pathos) of my parents by appreciating the love and support they had shown me throughout my life. I told them that they were the most important people in my life. I could never have a better care. I added that I thanked God for the wonderful parents He enabled me to have. I said it was my sincere hope and daily wish that I would be able to inch close to the superior support parenting they had shown me to their grandchildren. It is their splendid upbringing that I cited to be the foundation of the strides I had so far made in my life. While appealing to my credibility, ethos, I made them aware that I had just turned 21 years. I did not claim to be too big for their care. I told them that I knew and would always acknowledge the significant role they held in my life. I told them that they would forever be the anchor upon which my life would be secured (The English Club, 2009). I, however, requested that thy grant me a little more freedom than I got at that time. As far as I knew, the seemingly over-protection they were showing me was because of their sincere love for me. I told them I understood that they did not wish that any ugly incident would happen to me. However, at that juncture, I wished to confirm to them that I would not get into much trouble if a little more freedom would be granted by staying away from trouble as much as I have always

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Avoiding sexual harassment problems Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Avoiding sexual harassment problems - Term Paper Example The responsibilities and caution requisite for the achievement of an environment favorable for work and studies is one of the high expectations that the society has laid upon all members (Tatiana 2). The golden rules involved in the process of maintaining a sex harassment free zone is a core duty of all the members of the society (Tatiana 2). For instance at the workplaces, every employee holds a legal obligation to keep their working surrounding free from sexual harassment. In situations where such obligations are less taken into consideration or even ignored, Francis (23) offers a stern warning that low output from work, loss of dignity as well as low quality work may result. Coupled with the golden rule of life stating that individuals should always strictly aspire to do unto others what they would also wish to be done to, Kent State University developed an elaborative policy as regards unlawful harassment and the discrimination based on gender, race and tribe, political or even r eligious differences. Keeping in mind that sexual harassment is an act that may not spare an individual for some special reason, employees at all work places should ensure that they fully acquire a proper comprehension of the various forms of sexual harassment (Francis 20). ... As Francis (45) reports, many office managers have also been reported to instill extreme discomfort to the other office users such as cleaners by making sexually explicit statements in their presence. In times of ideological differences that may naturally arise among employees, others may belittle their coworkers by insulting them through using sexist or demeaning arguments in order to silence them. More frustrating is when employees harass the rest of the university workers by posting sexually oriented jokes such as pornographic pictures or videos on the university’s intranet bulletin sites as others also sends electronic mails to their coworkers that contain sexually oriented language (Linda & Hajdin 7). Similarly, in the higher learning institutions such as the universities, more or less similar cases of sexual harassment forms have been reported either from the male or female students against senior staff members such as the university professors and lectures. Workers with in the university are encouraged to beware of all forms of sexual harassment in the entire university community in order to help curb such vises completely. Tatiana (12) reports in his book that even though the act is gender and superiority neutral, most reported cases have been those against female students by fellow male students and the university professors and lectures. As opposed to the fellow student’s forms of harassment, the professors and the lectures resort their power and academic authority to intimidate the female students in favor of sexual pleasure with them (Linda & Hajdin 3). A professor may blackmail a female student by asking them to choose between either to getting an â€Å"A† in their examinations or fail the

Monday, September 23, 2019

Orgninzational behaviour Leadership paper Research

Orgninzational behaviour Leadership - Research Paper Example I will use my motivational skills to extract the best from them to prove my competency. I will use my full intelligence and innovativeness to make each employee contribute the best to the company, happily. I will use my responsibility as a leader to make life easier for the people working under me and make them achieve new heights in their career at the same time. To be a leader is to be responsible. To be responsible for our own life and all others following us is no easy task. As an IT project manager in the banking sector and the only female to occupy the position in my team, I look forward to a bright future. My aim is to serve as a leader capable of creating a difference. I hope to put my business management skills to their best use and explore versatile fields in the future ending up as a project manager in a couple of years. I constantly keep updating my educational qualifications and developing my interpersonal skills to do the same effectively. There are so many things emplo yees expect from their leaders. Honesty and transparency are the basic foundation of good leadership. Competence and empathy are the best adornments for any leader. A caring leader not capable of inspiring the team to achieve the target will be of little use to the company as well as the employees. Similarly, a demanding one who does not care about his follower’s situation cannot create a trustworthy team. ... Being an example of what you want your followers to be is the first step towards successful leadership. The second step is motivating them or luring them with the benefits of being competent and perfect. The third step is to help them achieve the same by eliminating any problems they have. The main challenge is to win the trust of the employees and manage time effectively. So many followers doubt the leaders who take extra care with them. It is the leader's duty to make them understand their well being is as important as achieving target. Managing time to set everybody's problem right might be an issue at first. But, it can be managed easily with the help of the other team members. The very fact that the leader is caring more will extract more sincerity from the employee’s side, making them solve their problems themselves. The main impact a woman leader creates in a work place in general is a surprise. One female leadership inspires many more women to come up successfully in t heir career rather than get satisfied with the position they are currently in. There is a general belief that good deeds go unrewarded and only power can help gain respect and influence. Proving power can be used to help people in productive ways is the major fact I wish to establish. There are several tools to do the same. Intelligence, empathy and competence are the most important of all. Any grim situation can be turned into a favourable one if a person is calm and creative enough to analyze the pitfall in it. Good leadership can simply make or break an organization. There are five practices necessary for exemplary leadership which can transform any worst team into star performers. They are communication, honesty and integrity, creativity and innovation and

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Explain How Christian Charities and Communities Essay Example for Free

Explain How Christian Charities and Communities Essay May put these Ideas into Practice Christian charities and communities put these ideas into action by devoting time to those who are less fortunate than themselves. They may work abroad as a doctor or nurse, or as an aid worker in a refugee camp. They may also provide help from their own homes by not being wasteful and donating old clothes and books and other objects that could be of use. There are certain organisations set up for Christians to help those less fortunate. These include organisations such as Voluntary Service Overseas which offers service to people with the will to help and it helps set them up with some work to do abroad. Other people will make donations to charities or even set aside some of their monthly income to make sure that they give something each month to help thise less fortunate than themselves. Christians are obligated to work towards helping those less fortunate than themselves. Charities such as Oxfam, Save the Children Fund and Comic Relief are all based to eliminate world poverty. However, they are not based on any religious beliefs. Christian charities include the Salvation Army, Christian Aid, Tear Fund and CAFOD. Christian Aid was organised just after the Second World War as many people had lost all their possesions and loved ones, including their home and family. Many people were left with nothing. That is when Christian Reconstruction in Europe was set up, which raised a massive one million pounds! This helped people start to build up their lives again. Once the citizens in Europe started to become more settled, the attention was drawn to other countries where there was still a huge problem with poverty and injustice, such as Africa. The name of the organisation was then changed to Christian Aid and has been known as that ever since. Christian Aid has helped those in natural disasters (such as the war in Lebanon, the famine in Sudan and East Pakistan and others), by sending over money, doctors and medicines, clothes and food. The money sent over is used to build hospitals, education centres and wells for clean water. Most recently Christian Aid has campaigned for fair trade and for an end to Third World dept. Christian Aid works in more than 70 countries, and on more than 700 local projects. There are four main areas to Christian Aid, the first of which is fund-raising. Christian Aid Week started in 1957 and is a major nationwide event. Churches are given a number of towns to manage between them, of which all houses in them have an envelope posted through. In this envelope are the aims of Christian Aid, along with the explaination of the work and asks for a donation. In 1995 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½8,600,000 was raised. Christian Aid provides emergency aid to deal with natural disasters and refugees- this takes priority over long-term projects due to the extreme nature of the situations. This type of aid involves sending food and medicine as well as providing shelter for those affected. About 10-15% of its funds are spent on emergency aid each year. Long-term projects such as in Bangladesh where a basic drugs factory has been funded have the aim to continue helping the country in the future. This is the main area of Christian Aids work, which encourages people in LEDCs to work themselves out of poverty, so that they will not need aid in the future. The final area of Christian Aids work is education (in the UK mainly), where 5% of the budget is spent. Christian Aid News, a quarterly newspaper gives information on their developments as well as explaining the need for world development and ways in which Christians can help those in LEDCs. Christianity tries to make people in the west aware of the conditions in the Third World. They do this by running advertising campaigns and educatory packs for schools. They believe that increased awareness will mean that Christians and others will be more prepared to give to Third World charities. The Salvation Army began in 1865 when William Booth, and his wife Catherine, realised that the poor were not being treated equally to the richer and they were not even allowed into churches. He believed the church needed to go to the people, rather than the people coming to the church, to be touched by the Christian message. By 1900 the Army had spread around the world to 36 countries.The aim of The Salvation Army is the advancement of the Christian religionof education, the relief of poverty, and other charitable objects beneficial to society or the community of mankind as a whole. The Salvation Army are also aiming to reach out to others, in order to encourage them to do the same. The community outreach team aims at doing just that, making people aware of the hundreds of people who are homeless in London alone! Caritas is a world-wide Roman Catholic organisation which believes that it is not enough to give people in need material help. It believes in providing the solidarity needed to nourish that hope which alone will enable our less fortunate brothers and sisters to take personal charge of their own lives and destiny and thus achieving that liberty which is their inalienable right as children of God. In England and Wales, Caritas is represented by CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development). CAFOD is considered one of the United Kingdoms leading development and relief organisations, and funds over a thousand projects in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. Not only does CAFOD help those less fortunate but they also work within parishes, schools and community organisations to help teach others about poverty and its causes. They also run many fund raising projects through schools and otherwise, such as sponsored sports events to raise money. CAFOD aims to get rid of poverty in the Developing World, and aims to bring about justice and fair shares for everyone. CAFOD also does a lot of emergency work when it is needed. When there is a natural disaster incident, such as a flood, hurricane, or earthquake they provide food and then help with rebuilding. Some Christians donate one tenth of their earnings as their duty towards helping the poor. Christians faith teaches that the wealth is by no means bad but they must learn the right purposes for earning it and using it, and would argue that they should give money to charity rather than spending it all on luxuries. This is illustarating the Eye of the Needle; it is easier for a camel to go through a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God as in the story of The Rich Man If the world were like it should be according to Christian teaching then the world would probably be a better place. The problem is that God gave men and women free will. If all of the worlds wealth was divided up equally between each person then not before very long the rich would be rich once again and the poor would be back where they were.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The Age of Criminal Responsibility

The Age of Criminal Responsibility In recent years the attitude and mood towards young offenders is more server, due to a wide spread public perception of mounting youth crime, and the killing of toddler James Bulger by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who were only 10 years old at the time. Over the past years we are seeing more and more youths engaging in criminal behaviour, some not so serious, and a few striking cases for example, the Jamie Bulger case, and the Doncaster attacks. However only 17 percent of known offenders are aged between 10 and 17, which is surprising considering how much the media report on youth crime (Elliott, Quinn, 2009). Over the past year juvenile crime rates across the continent have remained more or less stable. However, this does not mean that the problem of youth crime is insignificant. Several countries have reported a worrying trend that more young offenders are committing more violent and serious crimes. Young people, who commit crimes at a young age start with an early criminal ca reer, are harder to reintegrate back into a normal life. This is one reason why it is necessary to discuss the problem of juvenile justice in depth (Hammarberg, 2008). There are two different trends in Europe at the current time. One is to reduce the age of criminal responsibility and to lock up more children at younger ages and for more offences. The other trend is in the spirit of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to avoid criminalization and to seek family-based or other social alternatives to imprisonment. However in the UK theres a debate on whether or not the age of criminal responsibility should be higher, in which I argue it should. However, the age of criminal responsibility varies greatly across the world. It ranges from 6 in North Carolina or 7 in India, South Africa, Singapore and most of the United States of America, to 13 in France 16 in Portugal and 18 in Belgium. There has recently been much talk in England and Wales, where the age is now 10, about whether this should be raised. Britain and other countries set minimum ages at which a child or young person are allowed to make decisions without a adult or guardians consent for good reason. It is related to judgments about a childs intellectual, emotional and mental maturity. The position where a child has to make far-reaching decisions about their future should never be choice, children need appropriate adult support, guidance and, in some cases, veto. Adults take responsibility for children in decision making as it is seen that children cannot make informed choices and do not have the capacity to do it themselves. The United Nations believe that the same principles should be applied to the age of criminal responsibility (Guardian). The age of criminal responsibility is the age at which it is possible to be charged with a crime and put on trial. (REFERENCE) The UN Committee suggested that twelve is a too low number on the rights of a child and has recommended that serious consideration to be given to rising th e age of criminal responsibility throughout the areas in the UK It is difficult to understand and defend the UK and prevailing practices in Europe for being so out on line. Other methods needs to be thoroughly explored when it comes to ensuring that children take responsibility for their own actions, by drawing what the UN Committee have commended by the positive lessons from reparation, referral orders and other restorative justice schemes for offenders. It might also be an area where listening to children could pay dividends (Broadbridge, 2009). In 1985 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Beijing Rules of juvenile justice, which go further than the UN Committee on the rights of the child. The rules state that the age of criminal responsibility shall not be fixed at too low an age level, bearing in mind the facts of emotional, mental and intellectual maturity. It then goes on to argue that countries should consider whether a child can live up to the moral and psychological components of criminal responsibility and details that if the age of criminal responsibility is set too low the notion of responsibility would become meaningless. On this basis the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the UK should be 16 (guardian). It is also important to know and understand that some countries have a rule called doli incapax. It is held with an assumption that over a certain age that children can be criminally responsible, however, sufficiently mature enough for such a responsibility. If the defence team are successful then that child cannot be found guilty (Muncie, 2009). Generally speaking, there are two major issues to this debate. Firstly, at what age can you call a child grown- up enough to understand right from wrong, and the consequences of those actions? Secondly, at what age can a child comprehend and understand the criminal justice system and trail process enough to take part in it? (REFERENCE). Most European countries have a welfare based system in place to deal with young offenders as their age of criminal responsibility is mostly higher than England and Wales. The Criminal Justice Act 1998 abolished the doli incapax increased the tendency to treat children as if they were adults. Which can be seen in the James Bulger case as John Venables and Robert Thompson were tried in an adult court. Although a ten year old may understand what is right and what is wrong, they do not understand the implications of what they have done and what has to be as a consequence of those actions. Capacity and competence relate to age, understanding and maturity should be considered in any trial in which a child is a defendant (MaMahon, Payne, 2001). England has one of the highest conviction rates for young offenders; this may be due to the low age of criminal responsibility or the fact that we have a punitive state. Whereas in contrast Belgium on the other hand have a high criminal responsibilit y age with only a faction on youth offenders in custody. (NACRO, 2002) Offenders who are under the age of 18 years old are delt with differently from adults, as it is believed that children are less responsible for their actions than adults, a wish to steer children away from further involvement in crime. Sentencing young people has always posed a dilemma: should such offenders be seen as a product of their upbringing and have their problems treated, or are they to be regarded as bad, and have their actions punished? Over the past couple of decades sentencing policy has swung between two views. In 1969, the Labour Government took the approach that delinquency was a result of deprivation, which could be treated, and one of the aims of the Children and Young Persons act of that year was to decriminalise the offending of young people. The opposite approach was introduced by the conservatives which led to the UK having a high number of young people locked up than any other west European country, but reconviction rates of 75-80percent suggested that this was not benefiting the young offenders or the country as a whole. Since 1982, the philosophy behind legislation has been that the sentencing of young people should be based on the offence committed and not on the offenders personal or social circumstances, or the consequent chances of reform. (Elliott, Quinn, 2009) In law many children do not possess the emotional maturity to be held responsible for their actions. Everyone knows that children cannot always make informed choices. It is for this reason that children are not allowed to vote in many countries and cannot consent to sex or drink alcohol. It is seen that children do not have enough life experience and more importantly they do not have the same mental and emotional abilities as adults. Children are often not aware of the consequences of their actions. It is unfair to hold children accountable for these actions as even though children know the difference between right and wrong, they often do not understand the difference between various levels of wrongdoing. However you could argue that children do know right from wrong, for example. In the abduction of Jamie Bulger in 1993, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson must have known to some degree that what they did was wrong, or they would not have lied about it and tried to cover it up. Moreov er, It is important that the criminal law underlines the difference between right and wrong by punishing children and adults who commit crimes. By criminalising children it harms their development and makes the situation even worse. Labelling a child as criminal at a very young age is less likely to lead to a better understanding of what is right and what is wrong. If the child does not understand the wrongfulness of what they have done, they may feel unjustly treated by society and rebel against them accepting the label in which society has given them, and also feel bitter towards society as a whole. The people who surround the child are more likely to be treated worse such as parents and teachers which inevitably separate them from society.In addition to this, those who are sent to prison or young offender institutes get cut off from their family and friends and can develop friendships with other criminals, they can also learn more knowledge about committing crimes before they went into prison, therefore, never really breaking free from the life of crime. All of these reactions are likely to make the childs situation worse and increase the chance of future criminal behaviour. However criminalising children is a necessary step to show the child that those actions were wrong. Children that have committed crimes have often grown up in communities without a structure or control in their lives. The child may see drug-taking, domestic violence and criminal activity in their homes, and they may have often skipped school. These children need to be punished as without punishment the children will never know the cost of their own actions. The children are then less likely to commit crimes in the future as they now know that if they do something wrong a punishment will follow. In addition to this, other children will be are less likely to commit crimes if they know a punishment will follow their actions. We are not persuaded by the argument that criminalising children is the best route to rehabilitation. As the Childrens Rights Alliance for England put it, responding directly to the Ministers comment- The UK has a well-developed child welfare system that is more than capable of assessing and meeting the needs of children without them having to be charged or treated as criminals. The [JCHR] will be aware of the recent very critical joint report from eight Inspectorate and regulatory bodies into how well children are being safeguarded. Of the youth offending teams work with children in prison, the report concludes, the focus was almost exclusively upon the offending behaviour of the young people, and there was little evidence of welfare needs being considered and addressed. This should give a red signal to a government so intent on responding to children in trouble-especially the youngest ones -through the criminal justice system rather than through our child welfare system (Broadbridge, 2009). It is often said that children who commit crimes are victims of circumstance, and instead of punishing children we need to address those circumstances. Studies such as (REFERENCE) show that more often than not the most vulnerable children have grown up in poverty, and have been uncared for by their parents, often skipped school, and even abused. By sending these children to young offenders institutions, their education is harmed, and the possibility of the University of Crime, other measures should be considered. For example, in Norway, social authorities need to take action to secure a childs development through counselling or time spent in a special care unit. The measures that are take should depend on the childs circumstances, rather than how bad the crime was. This is more than likely to reduce the criminal behaviour of young people in the future. There could be issues to do with class in the mix here. Rich children are less likely to be criminalised as their parents will be abl e to afford better lawyers which will be able to deal with the situation better. However people argue that a child is more at risk if they do not receive a criminal punishment. Not all punishments are retributive; rehabilitation can be combined with the education and training that the child will receive in prison in order to integrate the child back into society. If these sanctions were not in place, it would be more difficulty for younger children to resist the temptation of assisting older criminals. It is seen that children cannot have a fair trial. Many children often struggle to understand the trial process, which can be stressful and also have technical problems. Given the seriousness of being found guilty, it is only fair and important that people do have a fair trial and punishment is given if found guilty. It is more than likely that children do not have the concentration to follow evidence properly, therefore they may not be able to give fluent instructions to their lawyers and are misunderstood. This is a considerable injustice to the child/ children that are on trial, as if they do not understand, or potentially intimidated by the foreign surroundings and language they are not familiar with, then a grave injustice can occur. For example, in the Jamie Bulger case, thoroughout the trail process it was noted that the John Venables and Robert Thompson looked bored and bewildered by the whole process. It is argued that it is possible to make the system work for children. Aus tralia, Singapore and the USA and many other countries have special courts for offenders under the age of 18.The design of the courts are simpler and designed to be less intimidating for a child, which allows them to be able to follow the criminal process more clearly. As long as the safeguards are in place to protect young people, it is possible for a child to have a fair trial, as long as that child is not tried in an adult court. Societies understanding of childhood do not arise because of some innate nature of children childs rights. In particular, childrens competence, to what extent a child a child can assert their legal rights and to what extent do adults interpret a childs competence, with this political question proves the rights and policies for the child. The history of juvenile history reflects the influential portrayals of perceived child competence. The origins of juvenile justice along the welfare approach are based upon the belief that childrens incompetence and lack of criminal responsibility. This foundation lends itself to broad state authority to intervene in childrens lives, which in reality has often proven disastrous for children. In response to these problems, a shift in juvenile justice occurred towards the justice approach, which inevitably constructed a childhood based around the notion that children did have the mental capacity and competence to understand and have criminal responsibility The MACR notes the tipping point among tipping notions about childhood; competencies; liberty and protection rights; and the welfare justice continuum. However in the justice approach the notion of responsibility often, if not always, serves as a trap door rather than a safeguard, in which it was originally intended. Instead of ensuring freedom for the state intrusion, its meaning can become distorted and may legitimise social control over children whose true responsibility is questionable. The effects of moral condemnation and punishment follow even where underlying moral responsibility is missing. At the cost of individual liberly, moral legitimacy, and justice, the publics conscience is relieved and authorities effective social control is consolidated. Paradoxically, the welfare approach may appeal to different concepts of childrens rights, but neither communicates a clear role for society at large, and bother bring the weight of problems down upon individual children and families. Such inherent flaws leave both the justice approach and the welfare approach as problematic models. We also note, as did the UN Committee, that the Government has abolished the common law principle of doli incapax (the rebuttable presumption that children aged 10-13 years are incapable of criminal intent). The effect of this has been described as follows.This means that a 10 year old child, till in primary school is presumed to be as criminally responsible as a fully mature adult. This surely cannot be right. In the light of the removal of this safeguard, we recommend that the government review the effects of the low age of criminal responsibility on children and on crime. The criminalisation of young children has to be justified by very convincing evidence- it is not sufficient to assert that it is the best, or the only way to diverting them from a future of crime.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Changes in the Business Environment of Shell and Subsequent Strategy

Changes in the Business Environment of Shell and Subsequent Strategy The main objective of this assignment deals with business environmental changes of Shell Company (Petroleum Company) from last 5 years. PESTEL analysis was applied in the following assignment, in order to present Shell Companys present status in all aspects and the changes that have taken place in the company. Moreover, the various types of strategies formulated were outlined and discussed. Introduction An organization is an entity that provides goods and services to consumers who need or want them and it does not function in isolation. Therefore, it is imperative to identify and understand all the factors within its environment that could potentially affect it. The environment of a business is normally divided into two categories, the micro environment and the macro environment. Below we shall discuss in details what each category means. Micro-environment: Internal factors like suppliers, competitors and employees are volatile and influence transformation of a business process and often it leads to undermining the current balance within the system. Suppliers: A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. www.overstockuniverse.com http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/A_company%27s_supply_chain_%28en%29.png/300px-A_company%27s_supply_chain_%28en%29.png Company should have a social responsibility towards their suppliers, as they transform the natural resources and raw materials into finished goods which are delivered to the end consumers. They also play a vital role during product shortage. They are the combination of all types of business practice and ethics. www.overstockuniverse.com Customers: A  Client, buyer or purchaser, is usually used to refer to a current or potential buyer or user of the  products  of an individual or  organization, called the  supplier,  seller, or  vendor. Slogans for the Customer: the customer is king or the customer is god or the customer is always right. www.rajputbrotherhood.com Competitors: Competition  is a  contest  between individuals, groups, nations, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. Competition arises whenever two or more parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Humans compete for  wealth, prestige, and  fame so that they met deep rivalries often arises over the pursuit of. Business is often associated with competition as most companies are in competition with at least one other firm over the same group of customers. Macro-environment: Decision making by managers are influenced by many factors that constitutes the macro environment in a business. The examples for the macro environment are Tax changes, trade barriers, demographic change and government policy changes. http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199296378/01student/additional/page_12.htm The following factors are: Political factors: Political environment is an unpredictable element which effect specific organizations badly due to instability in government and rules passed by the political parties. Factors like political stability in the country, party in power, ideology of government and foreign policy greatly influence the business in political environment of the country. Example: Indian Government restricted coca-cola sales during late seventies following policy of restricting the growth of multinationals in Indian markets. But coco-cola was allowed after some years under the New Industrial policy of 1991. Under this new policy, government liberalized licensing, imports and exports, inflow of foreign capital and technology on more liberal terms. www.rajputbrotherhood.com Economic forces: Interest rates, taxation changes, economic growth, inflation and exchange rates are all comes under economic forces. Foundations of Economics book economic change is a major impact on a firms behavior. Some of the examples are it has been difficult to export due to higher cost of raising finances, strong domestic currency makes it difficult to compete with that foreign prices. Social/cultural: The availability and willingness to work, and the demand of a product has lot to do with the social trends around which the firm is operating in. Cultures and attitudes towards work are varied from country to country. A firm may forced to wind up operation if it hurts intentionally or unintentionally the religious belief of a religion. http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199296378/01student/additional/page_12.htm Especially in Indian culture eating beef is against the religion they are e.g. When McDonalds opened their chain of restaurants in India; they were opposed by religious activists as McDonalds were serving beef in their menu which forced McDonalds to change their menu. Technological factors: Technology makes the human life simple; by using technology we can create new products and new services in the market like usage of Internet for online banking transactions and upgrade the old products. Technology helps firms to store customer data to their data base by using different data base tools like IBM data base software tool which helps for top brand companies to track their privileged customers and simultaneously it provides lot of employment opportunities for service based IT companies. http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199296378/01student/additional/page_12.htm Example: Few years back in India people were going to ICICI bank and had to fill the deposit form and they have to stand in line to deposit amount (its a time consuming process) but after up gradation of technology in ICICI everything changed no need of standing in line to deposit the amount, just deposit the amount directly in to automated teller machine and enter account number details. Environmental factors: It includes both weather and climatic change. Change in climatic conditions affects the farming and tourism industries directly. These climatic changes are mainly due to global warming .Firms should aware on environment changes , in fact people from different parts of the world are aware of the fact how important to preserve our planet and they shows more interest to minimize wastes and maintain healthy and hygienic environment. http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199296378/01student/additional/page_12.htm Example: Especially London government takes lot of care to maintain healthy and hygienic environment by creating recyclable products, using recycled materials and sustainable timber, minimize packaging, buying locally to save fuel costs, creating an efficient distribution network, working with suppliers and distributors who take steps to minimize environmental risk. Case Study The Royal Dutch Company was established in the year 1890 in the Netherlands, East Indies and after some years it abbreviated as Royal Dutch Petroleum Company in the year 1949. Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies. Its headquarters is located at Hague, Netherlands. Royal Dutch Shell plc is the parent company of the shell group, which is incorporated in England and Wales(www.shell.com). Shell is responsible for Manufacturing, Selling and distributing of oil products across the globe and is positioned as a global leader in oil and gas industry. Shell helps in meeting global energy demand economically, environmentally and socially responsible ways. www.shell.com Challenges that Shell has dealt with the last 5 years Political factor is one of the important factor which affect all types of business directly and indirectly because so many political party people keep on changing the rules and regulations, instability in the political power and the price of oil keeps on increasing its a major threat for oil and gas companies with international operations. The following are the political changes and threats which are faced by the shell in the last 5 years: Majority of shells operations is in Nigeria. Due to militant activities in Nigeria Shell is facing lot of political issues, which resulted in closure of 4 production facilities for the safety of their employees which resulted in loss of production by 400,000 BPD. In June 2008 there was a militant attack and Shell had to close their operations in Bonga field which resulted in reduction of production by 225,000 BPD. Shell has shutdown his Soku gas plant in Nigeria in November 2008 because thieves have damaged the gas pipelines at the Soku plant. Due to rise of illegal activities Shell was forced shut down of the gas plant which produced 40 percent of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for Nigeria and produced 10 percent LNG throughout the world. Shell published a warning to Nigerian government in the year 2009 as it helps by giving support to the local forces to lower the gas and oil prices. Shell lent $1.69 billion to the Nigerian government to solve the debts for the covered cost on gas project from 2009-2011.The source of income for shell investments in the Nigeria delta region depended on capability of controlling the violence by the Nigerian government in the delta region. Due to the continuous violence and explosions, Shell had to shutdown their pipe lines which were damaged. In 2009 5 theft incidents were reported, they siphoned oil from oil wells in Niger delta, even fire incidents were also reported but production was not effected as those oil fields were already closed due to lack of security in that area. 100,000 barrels of crude used to get stolen almost every day which means that is equal to 5% of Shells production in Nigeria. Increase in violence lead to decline of oil production by 20%. Shell faced the problems with both the Nigeria and Iraq governments .Especially in the case of Iraq government said that they were not in a position of consuming or exporting the gas which lost $40 million in day but shell tried to change this, due to the Iraq war led to terror attacks and instability in the government. Even though Shell settled a deal with Iraq government in oil production share and owned 49% of its venture to obtain the natural gas during the production of oil. Even now also shell operating the same venture even it is dominating by the sectary violence. Technology is most powerful factor for any manufacturing and oil based companies to stabilize their products in the market and to compete with other company products. In fact many companies must maintain good relationship with the customers to know the basic needs of the customers and be proactive to volatile behaviour of customer which is at times caused by introduction of new technology and its market impact. The Technology used by shell is in situ process which is very expensive and environmentally troublesome mining operation and would create thousands of tons of waste in the form of spent shale, as the mining method does and process is complicated due to the usage of this process it prevents groundwater from flowing into production area and this leads to raising pollution and scatters the more heat in the underground. After some years around 2008 Shell start using advanced EP technology not only helps to reduce the cost on oil goods and services by producing maximum quality at the same time it shows that how an organisation can take advantage of new technology by creating innovative products. Shell not only using EP technology but also using three other more technologies to minimize the global warming effect on the environment even though it is inevitable. http://www.isa.org/InTechTemplate.cfm?Section=Automation_Update1template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfmContentID=72109 Out of those GTL (Gas to Liquid: produced a clean burning fuel from natural gas) is one of the best technology which is used by the shell to minimize the emission of gases .GTL technology had create a lot of demand in 2006 due to increase in transport in the world, pollution norms were becoming stricter and stricter and it demanded for clean burning transport fuel , this forced Shell to introduce GTL technology. With the use of this technology Audis diesel car became the first car to win the Le Mans 24 hour race. GTL technology was also successfully tested in buses and taxi fleets in highly polluted cities. Introduction of this GTL technology will increase in the air quality we breathe. http://www.faoi.shell.com/2008/reviewoftheyear/technology/downstreamtechnology.html http://www.faoi.shell.com/2008/alternativeenergy/biofuels.html Social factors: Shell uses different strategies to maintain healthy relationship with industry experts as well as focus on its people. Company wants to maintain a good relationship with the society to improve goodwill of the company. According to Haney, Shell has been working with other companies and institutions to improve the competitiveness of local industry and develop more competition in Brazil, which will bring more jobs to the country. The pressing challenge is recruiting talented people and Shell has been successful in this, as the industry is still attractive to new graduates worldwide. Finding experienced people is a challenge, Haney says. We have a mix of expats here who volunteered to fill these gaps. Thats primarily on the technical side. Shell does employ local Brazilians to staff its finance, legal and external Affairs departments among others. Shell attracts their local people by providing transport fuel to around 10 million customers each day through our 44,000 service stations worldwide. Environmental factors: This is the main factor which is faced by the shell at present environment. Environmental Challenges and problems faced by company: In 2006 Shell faced an environmental challenge which caused environmental damage and also financial damage to the company. This happened due to negligence by a contractor who forgot to tighten the bolts of oil supply pipe. Oil which was supposed to be in harbor containment system was leaked through pipeline, this wasnt discovered until oil started floating in water, though the refinery employees started taking action to stop the oil leak already much of damage was done to hull of 75 boats. The California Department fish and Games of spill prevention and Response team investigated the cause of oil leak and they also claimed that it didnt cause any damage to sea life. Shell worked with US Coast guard and cleaned the entire oil spill. Shell had paid 300,000 pounds as fine for the negligence of their contractor. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15202 A detailed study by PFC ( Trusted advisor for energy companies and government) showed that Shells carbon emissions was relatively higher than other oil companies, its report showed that it ranked high in carbon emission. This report was published in their annual report and was publicly available and which made stakeholders think about the companys performance and its position in the competitive market. Emissions disclosure study puts Shell bottom of the big oil class In 2010 Shell refineries reach Clean Air Act settlements; Shell companies are agreed to 6 million dollars for installing pollution reduction equipment at two oil refineries under clean Air Act settlement with the federal government to reduce harmful emissions. Shell Chemical LP and chemical Yabuco, units of Royal Dutch Shell PLC had installed new pollution control equipment at shell oil refineries. This settlement was announced by the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2010/03/31/3-3-million-penalty-imposed-on-shell-for-clean-air-act-violations/ http://www.shell.com/home/content/environment_society/environment/ http://www.shell.com/home/content/environment_society/environment/biodiversity/shell_biodiversity/ Conclusions: In this report we discussed some challenges faced by Shell these include Political, Social, Environmental, and Technological among others and how Shell dealt took pre-emptive actions. Shell has faced many penalty and criticism from various governments regarding various Shells activities including Extraction, Processing, Production, Handling, transportation, storage of hazardous petroleum and chemical products. Shell has been constantly working on technological advancements to reduce carbon emission to the environment; Shell came up with innovations that help produce more eco-friendly environment. One such example is GTL Technology Producing clean burning fuel from natural gas which greatly reduces the emissions of the pollutant gases and hydrocarbon in the air. Shell is working towards CSR to build relationships with the society its running its business in. Attracting talent industry experts, and encouraging local talent to join forces and providing employment to the local community. Recommendations: Due to negligence of an employee Shell had to pay huge amount in the form of fine this shows that they need to conduct frequent training on risk associated to safety, training on new technology when any up gradation is taking place. Give a brief idea of what climate risk is. Shell also needs to some in depth risk analysis before starting a new project in demographic location. They need to work more on Marine safety and hygiene near their oil fields.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

The Last of the Mohicans Essay -- essays research papers

The Last of the Mohicans   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In James Fenimore Coopers' book, The Last of the Mohicans, we find a classic story set in the 1700's. During this time, the war between the French and English is raging, complicated by an additional contention between the Mohican Indians and the Huron Indians. The location is in the area of Lake George in the Hudson Valley,somewhere between New York and Canada. The theme of this book is a conflict between civilization and savagery, each being personified in both the whites, the Indians, and in nature itself. The author seems to be showing the truth of human nature: that there is a fine line between acting in a civilized manner and giving in to the primitive urge to totally destroy other human beings. The ruggedness of the region provided a similar conflict with man. At times, it was beautiful, sheltering, protecting, and nourishing the characters with food and water. At other times, it was obviously wild and untamed bringing danger and aiding in destruction.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There were many prominent characters in the book. These include Chingachgook and his son, Uncas, who are the last remaining Mohicans and the protagonists of the story. Another was Hawk-eye, who is a white man raised from birth by Chingachgook. Major Duncan Hayward is an officer with the English military who is assigned to transport two sisters from Fort Edward to their father at Fort William Henry. The antagonist, or dominant enemy, of the story was Magua, a Huron Indian who was a leader of his people and was driven by the traditional savagery of his tribe.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story begins with Major Hayward preparing to carry out his orders to transport Alice and Cora Monroe to their father, General Monroe, at Fort William Henry. In order to make the journey safely he hired a guide familiar with the area to lead the party through the treacherous territory. Unknown to him, his guide, Mage, had a plan to entrap them by leading them to the Huron's where they would surely be killed. As they pressed on through thick forests and deep rivers, they came upon a psalmist named David Gumet sitting beside the path. Gumet was a pleasant person and a gifted singer who had lost his horse and his provisions. They encouraged him to join them for his own safety. Shortly down the path, the Mohicans ambushed them with th... ...e bargained with Magua, Uncas tried to sneak up on him. Magua saw him and killed Cora. Uncas leaped on Magua trying to pull him down, but Magua stabbed Uncas multiple times killing him. Hawk-eye took his gun and shot Magua, causing him to fall down the steep mountain cliff to his death. After joining back together for a ceremony, the story comes to an abrupt end as they all went their separate ways.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Overall, the book was enjoyable to read because there was constant adventure and it was full of surprises. Cooper seemed to highlight the strength of the friendships between the characters throughout the book and how they were able to overcome adversity. The only Christian character in the story was David Gumet, who played a minor part. The story portrayed a definite secular worldview, particularly with the constant violence and the spiritual practices of the Indians. The wording was, at times, difficult toread and the author had a tendency to jump back-and-forth between characters and situations. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to others because it was adventurous and not boring. I found it difficult to put down once I started reading it.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Mary Shellys Frankenstein - A Victim of Society Essay -- Frankenstein

Mary Shelly's Frankenstein - A Victim of Society The creature Victor Frankenstein describes in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is far from a villain, at least in the traditional sense. This creature is a victim of circumstance, scarred by society, and scorned by its own creator. Contrary to the Christian belief in original sin, I sympathize with the monster's view on life when he states: "I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend" (Shelly 78). I disagree with the idea that all men are born sinners, I feel that all men are born pure and clean. It is only their future actions that make them imperfect. A true relationship between the monster and Victor never existed. Victor is similar to a man who fathers a child only for the pleasure of "doing it," ignoring the circumstances it may bring. Victor was so thrilled to see the components of his creation coming together - indeed it was truly a thing of beauty to him. But like the biological father, he is only excited over the thrill of "doing it." After the sensation and pleasure of creation ends responsibility begins and Victor, like our modern day deadbeat dads, refuses to face the consequences of his actions. Any relationship that existed between these two was simply that of usury - except the currency was not gold or silver, but fame and pride. Victor hoped to use his creation in a selfish manner, only to gain recognition for himself. So what did the creature gain from all of this? He certainly was not the recipient of any pleasure. And as far as exploitation, he never had a chance to exploit his creator, his creator only exploited and abandoned him. The monster is not merely a madman murdering random individuals; he is a creation of war, fightin... ...reature for his wrongs. Frankenstein should teach us an important lesson about our own society. We have to be careful not to assume everyone has had the same opportunity as the next man, or to assume a person is nothing more than a misfit because he stumbled into some trouble. When the creature mourns over Victor's dead body, we see he is human like anyone else. He cries, he apologizes, and he breaks down. Like going to jail . . . where a person is broke down and circumstance prompts them to ponder the situation they have fallen into. Most so-called criminals in America are not evil; they are victims of a society, situation, or lack of knowledge that has put them in that position - just like the monster. Work Cited Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited with an Introduction and notes by Maurice Hindle. Penguin books, 1992

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Cost of Quality and Trade-Offs Essay

The cost of quality in a manufacturing process and environment are many as you are aware. But the 3 primary costs that we should review on a more regular basis to assure we are creating the most cost effective and quality products are the following: Appraisal, Prevention and Failure, and failure costs should be looked at as internal failure and external failure. Appraisal costs can be defined as â€Å"The cost of activities designed to ensure quality or uncover defects† (Stevenson, 2008, p.421) Trade-offs of these appraisal costs are internal costs that are incurred when we stop production of a product to check for defects in production process, material, or any other item that causes defects. The cost associated with doing these inspections is looking for defects or issues during this part of the production cycle, other costs would be the cost of stopping the production line for a period of time, cost of additional inspectors and the testing equipment they will use for these tests. Prevention costs are another of the costs of quality and can be defined as â€Å"The cost of preventing defects from occurring† (Stevenson 2008, p.421) Prevention costs are the costs we pay to prevent defects during production of our products. Some of the ways we create these costs or trade-offs of having these within the manufacturing process is that we implement technology systems to help monitor the processes, working with our external material vendors to assure we are getting the best quality products to use and also by training our employees on how to properly use the material and machines to produce our products as well as paying more attention to detail during the design and production of our products. The final cost of quality that we need to look at is Failure Costs, and can be defined as â€Å" Caused by defective parts, products or by faulty services.† (Stevenson, 2008, p.421) These failure costs can also be split further out and looked at as Internal failure, or the failures that are discovered during the production process and are found by internal resources and External failures that are failures discovered after delivery  to the customers. Internal failures happen for a variety of reasons, defective materials, incorrect machine settings, faulty equipment, carelessness and others. The trade-off cost for fixing these types of failures would be cost of additional production time, scrap materials and rework of inadequate products, investigation costs into the root cause of the issues as well as workers’ salaries to not only do the investigation and rework if needed, but the salaries of the employees that are not able to run the production lines to produce items. The other failure cost is External and these are failures that are discovered by the consumer once they have purchased the product. These can carry a much higher cost when found by the consumers. These costs can include Warranty repairs or replacements, costs of having a customer care center or call center to deal with customer complaints, discounts to customers for current or future products and Legal action if the failure of a product caused some type of personal injury. Based on the 3 types of quality costs that have been discussed and reviewed above, I recommend that we look at doing more appraisals and inspections during the manufacturing process, this will limit the number of design changes that happen early in the process but it should help in cutting down our external failure costs and help limit any personal injury to our consumers. References Stevenson, W. (2008). Operations Management (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Peter Singer’s Solution to World Poverty

Peter Singer’s argument reveals little new to the reader who has ever been thinking about poverty and difference in life standards in different nations.To the sophisticated reader, the main point of focus is the wording and how well the argument is presented, how effectively the author uses his persona, how effective his examples are, and how well he appeals to his target audience. The main weaknesses of his essay seem to be the example that is a little overdrawn, failure to account for some serious possible objections, and a somewhat problematic purpose.To evaluate if this is true, let us see first what the purpose of the essay is. Singer aims to persuade his readers that they need to donate whatever money they have to spend beyond basic necessities to charity because not doing so means killing poor children around the world much like Dora in the Brazilian movie almost kills the street boy by pushing him into the hands of the organ peddlers.This, as the title implies, would b e the â€Å"Solution to World Poverty†. Basically, the author argues for a redistribution of global GDP via private donations from richer to poorer nations.The purpose of the essay looks somewhat doubtful. One has to decide what Singer is in effect trying to do. As stated in the second paragraph, he seems to be persuading the audience to donate money to charity. Is he trying to end the world poverty? Or merely raise funds for charity organisations? The two things can be really different. No one is forbidden to think that the simplest way to end poverty is to redistribute funds through charity.However, this does not address the root causes of poverty – social inequality, underdevelopment of some nation's economies, political turmoil in weak democracies that blocks economic development, and so on.This pushes one into thinking that effective efforts on combating poverty should direct funds towards projects like infrastructure improvement, sounder governance policies, and so on. Charity means giving bread to the poor all the time without teaching them how to make bread. It might be wiser to call on professionals having important skills to sacrifice a year or two of their professional careers in order to go to another nation and share their knowledge with people there.For instance, a manager of the food processing factory would do better to go and help start a factory somewhere in Africa rather than keep sending them the greater part of his salary in those years. Singer, on the contrary, seems to see donations as the only viable means to end poverty. He does not take into account the efforts of people who work in development projects, and they may be contributing more to improving life quality of people in developing nations than they would if they stripped their life of TVs and new cars.With his example involving Bob and his car Singer alienates the audience rather than entices it into donating. Bob’s situation is indeed different than that of the average American who is ready to give $200 to charity funds. If Bugatti is his own investment, then his whole future depends upon it.He means it as an investment in his post-retirement future since â€Å"its rising market value means that he will always be able to sell it and live comfortably after retirement† (Singer 1999). A finance professional can debate the soundness of the decision to put all one’s retirement savings into one object as perishable as the car, especially driving it at the same time, but Bob seems determined to follow his strategy.His car is his only investment, his way to secure income after retirement. If he loses his car, he will have to live on Social Security benefits that are far from secure now with the reform looming and all the talk of the future depletion of funds, and if he can count on them, they can really be too small to pay even for necessities.The US is a rich nation, but the whole social setup encourages Americans to care for t hemselves on their own, including insurance schemes and retirement savings. For this reason, Bob may have not to give up luxuries – he deprives himself of necessities to save the child.The picture of an old man losing his retirement funds and favourite car is far too gloomy to allure those who are eager to share a portion of their pie with starving children. Singer could have made his demands on fellow citizens more realistic and less frightening if he had chosen an example more suitable to his thesis – keeping necessities but letting luxuries go in order to provide necessities to others.Another problem with Singer’s example is that Bob loses â€Å"His pride and joy† (Singer 1999). The car may be his only hobby, the pursuit in which he engages with great zest. This should alert the readers that following Singer’s strategy they will only be working day and night, using their high developed-nation income to help the poor in other countries. No more b irthday parties that cost over $200, no more trips to exciting places, and how should an avid photographer feel buying a new expensive camera?One would be forced to admit that all the progress of the world’s economy has only produced enough output so that all people can eat enough, and that’s it. Leonardo da Vinci probably didn’t have to paint his great works after all if nobody is going to travel to museums to see them. Museums and trips are definitely not on the list of necessities, and neither are CDs, books and computers that could store this information.Singer would have a hard time trying to implement his solution in reality since it feels like elimination of luxuries has the potential to stop all the cultural progress in world and, even more importantly, deny people the right to enjoy something other than simple meals. Implementation of the solution would force one to produce an exact definition of what is luxury and what is not, and this is not as easy a s it seems.Thus, Singer’s example is repelling rather than attractive to the audience. It tells readers in which situation they might end up donating everything above $20,000 per household to charity – stranded in retirement, with hapless lives in which joys are no more than they were in the Ice Age.Imagining that the targets are middle-class Americans, Singer is hardly ready to force them into paying for charity with these examples and his relentless claim to give up all beyond necessities. Intuitively, he would score higher with pictures of how charity actually works and how children are saved with the donations.This is exactly what his paper is missing. Singer makes a concession concerning â€Å"uncertainties about whether aid will really reach the people who need it† admitting that â€Å"nobody who knows the world of overseas aid can doubt that such uncertainties exist† that is hardly encouraging for anybody willing to give a part of hard-earned money to such organisations (Singer 1999).If $200 works after provisions are made for ‘uncertainties’, how much is really enough? $150? $100? And what exactly are the uncertainties? The first thing that comes to mind is corruption that is so prevalent in developing nations. Does Singer expect hard-working citizens to reduce themselves to a life consisting of bare necessities in order to feed immoral officials somewhere in Africa or Asia whose children are well off enough to pay their tuition at US universities?This is an important objection, and Singer skips it by implying: â€Å"Don’t care how much they steal, just keep paying them.† Singer’s main emphasis is that people should part with the money because it is wrong for them to have it when so many children are starving. He does not show that this parting actually contributes to lives saved. This, however, is the basic assumption of utilitarian ethics – one has to do what works well for other pe ople, not just what is right or moral to do.Singer also fails to account for objections concerning the economic effects of his proposal. One can object that the high life standards of the Western society are promoted by the high motivation of the people and ingenious system that rewards performance.Westerners are interested in the success of their companies thanks to profit-sharing plans, and they are aware that upgrading their education and learning new skills will result in higher salaries and better life standards. Human nature can be mean and unworthy, but so far financial reward has been an important stimulator. Singer is in fact suggesting that from now on everybody in the US should start living on $30,000 so that â€Å"a household making $100,000 could cut a yearly check for $70,000† (Singer 1999).All making different input, getting about the same salaries with the rest redistributed for public good (but also involving corruption) – this is something the Soviet Union tried to do, and as is known, they failed on the economic front. It might take a couple of generations before the West lapses into a similar economic crisis for want of motivation and will no longer be able to support anybody financially.Thus, Singer’s argument is failing on some points. First, his solution to world poverty is questionable and thus the purpose of the essay looks doubtful to those who support other solutions. Second, his example is not a good analogy since it differs from his stated thesis.In addition, the example paints too gloomy a picture to be attractive to the audience. Besides, despite the professed utilitarianism of the essay, Singer does not go very deep into the results of the actions he advocates. He also fails to account for objection concerning the so-called ‘uncertainties’ of overseas aid and economic effects of his proposal.BibliographySinger, Peter. â€Å"The Singer Solution to World Poverty.† The New York Times Sunday Magazine 5 September 1999: 60-63. 24 Oct. 05 .   

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Ethical Issues in the Social Worker’s Roles in Pas

Review and Critique of â€Å"Ethical Issues in the Social Worker’s Role in PAS (Ameda A. Manetta and Jancie G. Wells, 2001) Tracy S. Robinson September 2010 (Ameda A. Manetta and Jancie G. Wells, 2001). Ethical issues in the social worker’s role in pas. Health ;amp; Social Work/ Volume 26, pg 3 Introduction The author’s focus was on ethical issues in physician assisted suicide and the role it plays amongst social worker’s. The author’s presented results of an exploratory study of social workers views on physician assisted suicide (PAS).In which social workers favored or not favor PAS and whether there is a difference in education or training on mental health issues, ethics, or suicide that may influenced their views as well. The involvement with PAS presents an ethical dilemma, which in this article refers to a situation in which social workers think they have no definitive guidelines for professional behavior. The article has current interest beca use it is important that social workers have been properly prepare and train to work with clients making end of life decision.Summary of the author’s main points Purpose of the study. The purpose of the study was to determine social workers views on physician assisted suicide (PAS). The study involved participant from three separate workshops on suicide that were presented by the first author. The study subsamples sixty-six social workers. The social workers either had a South Carolina social work license or a bachelor’s or master’s degree in social work. The participants recruitment where given a questionnaire that contained twenty-six questions, most of which required yes or no responses.The study focus on how these different elements guide social workers in making ethical decisions regarding intervention with clients. There were areas in the articles that mention how social workers had difficulties in doing that. Summary of literature review as presented by t he author. The study found that physician assisted suicide is one of the most frequently debated issues in American Society (Bachman et al.. , 1996; Foley, 1997). The study found that people are divide on the issues.It has brought arguments about preservation of life, autonomy, and self-determination of individual. This gives ethical and moral complicity of end life decision making. The study found that most social worker agrees that PAS should be reserved for people who are dying from terminal illness. However the other percentage that opposes argue that underutilization of narcotics for pain control leaves terminally ill patient in pain during the end of life as well. The finding for the arguments had little research conducted on the etiology of actual cases of PAS.Most of the available data is on suicide among individuals who acted alone. It has found that when people are experiencing personal difficulties or have lowered coping capacity, they are at risk of suicide. However term inally ill people are rarely suicidal, the author’s have shown studies that the main difference between terminally ill patient who become suicidal and those who don’t is the presence of clinical depression in the patients who are suicidal. Summary of ethical issues.There are some ethical dilemmas that occur when there is a lack of knowledge about state and federal legislation governing practice are sufficiently prepared to work responsibly with clients and family considering PAS. Some ethical issues arise when the lack of knowledge may have produced biased thinking in social workers projecting what they want in a situation onto their clients or client’s family. The instruments. The researchers used a questionnaire as their instrument in the study. The survey instrument contained twenty-six questions.The questions included demographic information on age, race, religion, and educational degree. Sampling techniques. There were a total of ninety-eight participants, including physician, psychologists, nurses, and social workers complete the questionnaire. The finding reported here based on a subsample of sixty-six social workers who either had a South Carolina social work license or a bachelor’s or master’s degree in social work. Methods of data analysis. The researchers used the statistical program for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyze the data.Descriptive statistics were calculated on demographic information. A chi-square analysis was used to determine if there were any statistical relationships between social workers who agreed and those who disagreed with PAS by whether they had universal courses, additional training, and knowledge of the PAS law of South Carolina. Data collection techniques. Participant’s recruitment occurred at three separate workshops on suicide. As attendees enter the workshop a questionnaire was administrated to ninety-eight participants. Summary of study findings.The author’s of this ar ticle had the following major findings: (a) that social workers in South Carolina are evenly divided about who supported PAS and who did not support it. (b) circumstances under PAS would be favored for reasons other than terminal illness, were two-thirds agreed with PAS if a person had terminal illness, compared with thirty-seven percentage. (c) majority of respondents stated that they had taken university courses or had additional training in the field of mental health, ethics and suicide. Relevance of the article to social work profession.Resolving ethical problems. The authors suggest obtaining information from social worker who works with a broad spectrum of clients would help in formulating policy. Since PAS and legacy of PAS are applicable to all populations. The authors in the article also suggest that legislation should set up some type of ethical practice by requiring that social workers be licensed in one of the three levels. And social workers only should practice in area s in which they have expertise and license in. Benefits of the article to social workers.The social workers may benefits from this article because it makes them more aware about PAS. It also benefits by informing social workers of the accountability of their action when assist clients and their families who request information about PAS. The article helps social workers want to get more inform about the policies related to PAS and how it would affect them has social workers. The article gave them a broader view of end of life decision from the narrow biomedical and single focus on self-determination to one that incorporates the core value of human rights. Critique and Personal Opinions.Critique. The article was relevant to social work practice. The article focused on the issues that needed to be address toward social workers roles in PAS. The authors identify the ethical dilemmas that social workers have been avoiding conflicts in the view of PAS. The research that was conducted was limited due to the fact of its small sample size, but the results of it confirm the need for more extensive research in the area of social work with PAS. Personal opinions. In my opinion I would have liked for the study to have been broader in their selection of participants.I think that there should have been a state wide study done. South Caroline shouldn’t have been the only sate involved in their study. I believe if they had more statistics it would have capture a broader view of what they were trying to get cross. I wonder if they had given the questionnaires at the end of the workshop they would have gotten a better response in data. Improving the study. In order to improve the study what would have been done differently? I think I would have included more workshops of suicide to pull more research from the study.The study was conducted with limitations in it. Those limitations of study did affect the calculation and results of the study. I would have liked the authors to have gone farther into the dilemmas that social workers have with avoidance of conflict. Conclusion. The article included valuable but limited information. The authors of this wanted to focus on the ethical dilemma that surrounded social workers with (PAS). The authors study did point out issues that needed to be address to help social worker want to make better ethical decision when it comes to dealing with end of life decision.This decision should be consistence with social worker values of protection of vulnerable populations in today’s society. The study also identifies the need for NASW to disseminate its professional policy statement to the profession and to broaden their views of end of life decision. I believe this is a great start that the authors brought forth in helping social workers down the path to end the ethical dilemma presented toward PAS.References (Ameda A. Manetta and Jancie G. Wells, 2001)