Alcohol and Illicit Drug Abuse in Pregnancy

Alcohol and Illicit Drug Abuse in Pregnancy Amy Luman COM/220 February 10, 2010 Philip Fasso When a woman becomes pregnant, it is vital to her baby's health that she leads a healthy life. This includes eating plenty of nourishing food, fulfilling an adequate amount of rest, and exercising regularly. For a pregnant woman, pregnancy substance abuse is twice as dangerous. First, drugs may harm her own health, which interferes with her ability to support the pregnancy. Second, some drugs can directly impair prenatal development. During pregnancy, virtually all illegal drugs pose a danger. Even legal substances, such as alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drugs  are dangerous to expecting women. As many as one in 10 babies may be born to women who use illegal and prescription drugs during their pregnancies. While some prescription drugs may be necessary during pregnancy, alcohol consumption and illicit drug abuse is frightfully dangerous during pregnancy, and therefore pregnant women should value their value their babies and never misuse them. Healthy Lifestyle Pregnancy should be taken seriously and one should implement a healthy lifestyle to keep them and their unborn child safe. A pregnant woman’s lifestyle habits as well as her partner’s can gravely affect the health of their unborn baby. If the couple has already taken these precautions into action, it is encouraged and should be continued throughout the entire pregnancy. It is never too late for a pregnant woman to start thinking about making behavior changes, which in turn are good for her unborn child. Staying active during pregnancy is one stride closer to bearing a healthy child. Being active during pregnancy can have only positive effects on the expecting mother, with her feeling better and developing more energy. Physical activity can also help maintain muscle tone and strength for labor and birth. A great deal of benefits can come to a woman and her unborn by lightly exercising on a selected number of days a week. There are many types of physical activity and exercise, ranging from mild stretching to aerobic exercise. If an expecting mother is already involved in daily physical activities, there is no need for her to stop. If not, it is a good time for her to start doing something on a regular basis. Daily activities like walking up stairs, cleaning the house, and gardening are also good ways to keep active (Childbirth Connection, 2010). Making exercise an essential part of the day will in the end, only make a happy ending for both mother and her unborn. Being a healthy body weight is important before pregnancy. So eating a well balanced diet throughout pregnancy is very important to the health of oneself and child. Almost all pregnant women need to increase their intake of  protein, certain vitamins and minerals such as  folic acid  and  iron, and calories (for energy). Women who  eat  well and  avoid known risks  tend to have fewer complications during pregnancy and labor and are more likely to deliver larger, healthier babies. Eating a well-balanced diet, high in nutrients, is one of the most important things a woman can do to ensure the future  health  of both her and her baby (Isenberg, 2000-2009). Fetuses born to mothers who have unhealthy diets may be premature or have other problems at birth. In addition, recent research indicates that what a mother eats during the early months of pregnancy may determine her unborn child’s predisposition to certain diseases, such as diabetes  and cancer. Eating a balanced diet during pregnancy can help to  protect the health of both mother and baby. During pregnancy, a woman needs more of some nutrients, such as iron, calcium, and folic acid. For this reason, it is wise to start taking a multivitamin before pregnancy. Vitamins should be an essential part of every mother’s diet and daily routine when expecting. Prescribed multivitamins by one’s health care provider are very important to give the proper nutrients and prenatal care that an unborn child or fetus needs. It is proven that multivitamins, taken before one conceives, have a positive effect on the fetus’s chances of having birth defects. Although many drugs can potentially harm a pregnant woman’s fetus, some drugs are necessary for the wellbeing of both the woman and her fetus. Before making the decision to take any drug, whether it is prescription, over-the-counter, or a medicinal herb, a woman should always discuss both the hazards and advantages of the drug with her doctor to ensure the safety of both her and the fetus. A practitioner may suggest that a woman take certain vitamins and minerals during pregnancy (Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation, 2009). Alcohol Any type of alcoholic beverage can have many hazardous effects on the developing fetus. Consuming alcohol during pregnancy can cause a wide-range of physical and mental birth defects. When a pregnant woman drinks, alcohol passes through the placenta to her fetus. In the fetus’s immature body, alcohol is broken down much more slowly than in an adult's body. As a result, the alcohol level of the baby's blood can be higher and remain elevated longer than the level in the mother's blood. This sometimes causes the baby to suffer lifelong damage. Recent government surveys indicate that about 1 in 12 pregnant women drink during pregnancy and about 1 in 30 pregnant women report binge drinking† (March of Dimes Foundation, 2010, p. 3). FAS or otherwise known as feta alcohol syndrome is a dangerous condition that occurs when a fetus has been exposed to excessive amounts of alcohol prenatally. One of the most common defects is facial abnormalities, although other defects may have gr eater consequences on the individual's health. These defects occur as a result of exposure to alcohol  while in the uterus. An estimated one in 500 to one in 2,000 babies are born with FAS (Ladue, 2001). The common facial abnormalities of FAS include: short eye-slit fissures; a long, smooth upper lip groove; and a thin upper lip. The following picture represents a small child with these facial abnormalities. [pic] Other common physical problems include heart malformations and defects; a hollow at the lower part of the chest; permanent curving of one or more fingers; fusion of bones at the elbow; scoliosis; kidney malformations; and cleft lip and palate (abnormal openings in the lips or roof of the mouth). FAS affects children's height, weight, and head circumference. Many children with FAS are short and thin prior to puberty. As girls enter puberty, they remain short, but frequently gain weight and appear plump. Boys seem to remain fairly short and slender. So far, there has been no cure identified for FAS, but several treatment models are available. For the reason that CNS damage, symptoms, secondary disabilities, and requirements differ extensively there is no one treatment that works for everyone (Wikipedia, 2009). Although many women are aware that heavy drinking during pregnancy can cause birth defects, many do not realize that moderate or even light drinking also may harm the fetus. In fact, no level of alcohol use during pregnancy is safe. Therefore, pregnant women should by no means drink any alcohol, including beer, wine, wine coolers and liquor, throughout their pregnancy and while nursing. Also because women often do not know they are pregnant for a few months, women who may be pregnant or those who are attempting to become pregnant should not drink alcohol. Illicit Drug Use It should be obvious that Illicit and other prescription drugs are extremely harmful to the developing fetus, but disappointingly substance abuse  continues to be a problem worldwide and drug  abuse in pregnancy  is no longer uncommon. Nearly four percent of pregnant women in the United States use illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, and other amphetamines, and heroin and virtually 90% of women who abuse drugs are of childbearing age and consequently substance abuse in pregnancy is increasing (Ludlow, Christmas, Paech, & Orr, 2007). These and other illicit drugs may cause various risks for pregnant women and their babies. Some of these drugs can cause a baby to be born too small or  too soon, or to have withdrawal symptoms,  birth defects,  or learning and behavioral problems. Tolerance and addiction to drugs and alcohol in pregnancy creates many potential problems for the mother, her fetus, and the obstetricians, anesthetists, pain specialists, drug, and alcohol specialists and neonatologists involved in her care. Pregnant women who use these drugs may also engage in other unhealthy behaviors that place their pregnancy at risks. Women who use heroin during pregnancy greatly increase their risks of serious pregnancy complications. These risks include poor fetal growth, premature rupture of the membranes (the bag of waters that holds the fetus breaks too soon), premature birth and stillbirth. As many as half of all babies of heroin users are born with low birth weight, use of heroin in pregnancy may increase the risk of a variety of birth defects. Most babies of heroin users show withdrawal symptoms during the first three days after birth, including fever, sneezing, trembling, irritability, diarrhea, vomiting, continual crying, and seizures. While heroin is usually sniffed, snorted or smoked, most users inject the drug into a muscle or vein. Pregnant women who share needles are at risk of contracting HIV and the hepatitis C virus. Such infections are capable of being passed on to the infant during pregnancy or at birth. Between 20 and 40 million Americans have used cocaine and five to six million are regular users. One million women of child-bearing age use cocaine (Blatt, Meguid, & Church, 2000). Cocaine use during pregnancy can affect a pregnant woman and her baby in many ways. During the early months of pregnancy, cocaine may increase the risk of  miscarriage. Later in pregnancy, it may trigger  preterm labor or cause the baby to grow poorly. As a result, cocaine-exposed babies are more likely than unexposed babies to be born prematurely and with low birth weight. Premature and low-birth weight babies are at increased risk of health problems during the newborn period, lasting disabilities such as mental retardation and  cerebral palsy, and even death. Cocaine-exposed babies also tend to have smaller heads, which generally reflect smaller brains and an increased risk of learning problems. Cocaine use during pregnancy can cause placental problems, including placental abruption. In this condition, the placenta pulls away from the wall of the uterus before labor begins. This will lead to heavy bleeding that can be life threatening for both mother and baby. The baby may be deprived of oxygen and adequate blood flow when an abruption occurs. Prompt cesarean delivery, however; can prevent most deaths but may not prevent serious complications for the baby caused by lack of oxygen (March of Dimes Foundation, 2010). After birth, babies regularly exposed to cocaine before birth may have mild behavioral disturbances. As newborns, some are jittery and irritable, and they may startle and cry at the gentlest touch or sound. These babies may be difficult to comfort and may be withdrawn or unresponsive. Other cocaine-exposed babies â€Å"turn off† surrounding stimuli by going into a deep sleep for most of the day. Cocaine-exposed babies may be more likely than unexposed babies to die of SIDS. Avoidance Virtually all illegal drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, pose dangers to a pregnant woman. Legal substances, such as alcohol and tobacco, are also dangerous, and even medical drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter, can be harmful. For her own health and the health of her baby-to-be, a woman should avoid drugs and alcohol as much as possible; from the time she first plans to become pregnant or learns that she is pregnant. Alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs for pregnant women, especially in the early weeks. In the mother’s body, alcohol breaks down chemically to a cell damaging compound that is absorbed by the fetus. Heavy drinking during early pregnancy greatly increases the risk of a cluster of birth defects known as fetal alcohol syndrome. This cluster includes a small skull, abnormal facial features, and heart defects, often accompanied by impeded growth and mental retardation. Heavy drinking in later pregnancy may also impede growth (American Council for Drug Education, 1999). It is not known whether light to moderate drinking can produce these effects. However, even if the risk is low, the stakes are very high. Medical experts agree that a woman should avoid alcohol entirely when she decides to become pregnant, or at least when the first signs of pregnancy appear. Even such mild beverages as beer and wine coolers should be off limits. The Law Currently there is only one state, South Carolina that holds prenatal substance abuse as a criminal act of child abuse and neglect. Other states have laws that merely address prenatal substance abuse. Some of these states consider prenatal substance abuse as part of their child welfare laws. Therefore, prenatal drug exposure can provide foundation for terminating parental rights because of child abuse. Of these states include: Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. A number of states have policies that implement admission to an inpatient treatment program for pregnant women who use drugs. These states consist of: Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. In 2004, Texas made it a felony to smoke marijuana while pregnant, resulting in a prison sentence of 2-20 years (American Pregnancy Association, 2000-2010). Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a pregnant woman to become addicted to prescription medications and other illegal drugs. A mother who uses drugs during pregnancy risks her life and her baby’s life. Studies have shown that consumption of illegal drugs during pregnancy can result in miscarriage, low birth-weight, premature labor, placental abruption, fetal death, or even maternal death. While some prescription drugs may be necessary during pregnancy, alcohol consumption and illicit drug abuse is frightfully dangerous during pregnancy, therefore; pregnant women should value their babies and never misuse them.

Ethical Dilemmas – Abortion

In our society, there are many ethical dilemmas that we are faced with that are virtually impossible to solve. One of the most difficult and controversial issues that we are faced with is abortion. There are many strong arguments both for and against the right to have an abortion which are so complicated that it becomes impossible to resolve. The complexity of this issue lies in the different aspects of the argument. The essence of a person, rights, and who is entitled to these rights, are a few of the many aspects which are very difficult to define. There are also issues of what circumstances would justify abortion. Because the issue of abortion is virtually impossible to solve, all one can hope to do is understand the different aspects of the argument so that if he or she is faced with that issue in their own lives, they would be able to make educated and thoughtful decisions in dealing with it. The definition of a person is an aspect of the abortion issue which raises some very difficult questions. Is an unborn baby a person When does the unborn baby become a person This is a difficult question because in order for one to answer it, he must define the essence of a person. When describing the essence of something, one needs to escribe the necessary and sufficient conditions of that thing. So how does one define the essence of a person Kant describes a person as a rational being. Some people define the essence of a person from more of a biological standpoint. Nevertheless, defining the essence of a person is a very difficult thing for a group of people to agree on. One own definition of a person would most likely greatly impact his opinion on whether abortion is morally justified or not. This becomes even more complicated when one takes into account potentiality. This raises the question of whether the fetus is an actual person r a potential person. Many would argue that a fetus is a potential person because it is has the potential to become what it is not yet. However, does a potential person have potential rights An example was used: does a potential doctor have the rights of a licensed doctor When one is describing potentiality, All he is really describing is what that thing is not. By declaring that a fetus is a potential person, one is also stating that a fetus is not a person. As one can see, this issue of the essence of a person and whether a fetus is a person is a very complicated one. This becomes seven more omplicated if one takes into account the issue of rights. Now, the concept of human rights, that is to say, what American society dictates as human rights, conflicts heavily with itself. On one hand, we form a deep and heavy opinion on one s right to life. On the other, we hold an equally strong opinion on one s freedom to live that life as they please. American society by and large has a firm belief in an individuals right to live. Therefore, if one comes to the conclusion that a fetus actually is a person, then that fetus should receive the protection to it s right to live, as much as you or I. This society also olds the firm belief in one s right to the sovereignty of his or her own body, equal to that of one s right to live. In this case, it is imperative that we understand what liberties we can and cannot take upon ourselves concerning our lives. Case in point, suicide. Society dictates what we are allowed to do, and how we are allowed to live, by law. Most of American laws are written to preserve one s rights to individuality, and one s right to take the liberty to live their lives as they see fit. However, laws are also written to undermine those who s actions compromise the liberties and freedoms of ther individuals, thus protecting the concepts and ideals of agency and liberty. Based on our society s laws, essentially, we believe that what you do to yourself is your choice, and is accepted by law, so long as it doesn stop or impede the lives and freedoms of others. The difficulty in this dilemma lies within the question of whether an abortion falls into a category of protection of a woman s right s over the sovereignty of her own body, or whether it falls into a different category of an action which is not permissible because, according to some people, the fetus is a person whose life and freedom is being ompromised. The question of rights is further complicated by the different circumstances where the abortion issue could be raised. Many people would argue that abortion should not be used as birth control or as a means to deal with the consequences of promiscuous sex. However, how does one address the abortion issue in the circumstance of rape or incest Many say that in these circumstances, abortion is justified. The confusing thing is that the outcome is the same in both circumstances. The fetus is being denied its right to live and grow to its potential as a human being. Where does one draw the line What about case where there is medical complications For example: a woman becomes pregnant and goes to the doctor for an examination. During the doctor visit, various tests are run and it is discovered that the baby will be born severely deformed and that its quality of life would be extremely substandard. If the woman were to have an abortion, would it be justified What about a situation where a woman becomes pregnant and she does to the doctor and is told that the baby is deformed and the birth would most likely kill the mother. The argument justifying abortion in this case goes back to the right to physical sovereignty ver one s own body. A person has the freedom to do what he or she wants to concerning their own body as long as it does not harm or compromise the freedom of another, except in self defense. Therefore, in the case of the mother who would most likely die in childbirth, an abortion could be justified because she is acting in self defense. And in the case of rape, many argue that an abortion is also justified because the woman s right to not conceive has been violated, therefore she should not be responsible for the consequences which came through no fault of her own. As on can see, the issue of abortion is on e that is xtremely complicated. The problem being that many of the ethical dilemmas involved in the abortion issue are so closely intertwined that they are difficult to distinguish from one another. There are some aspects of the issue that would convince most people that abortion is justified, however when those aspects are combined with other intertwining aspects and imperatives, justification oftentimes becomes impossible. In conclusion, the issue of abortion is so complicated and controversial that it is unlikely that a consensus could be reached by American society. There are too many aspects of he issue which peoples views vary to widely. Some of these issues could be things such as the definition of a person, is the fetus a person, and if so when does it officially become a person. There is also the issue of rights. Do the rights of a person outweigh the rights of a non person. Does the right of a mother s sovereignty over her body outweigh the right of an unborn child to live. The answers to these questions are very diverse as a result of the diversity of the American society. With the issue of abortion, one s attitude toward it is going to be based on many things such as religious background and ersonal morals. There is no black and white answer to the abortion issue. Luckily we live in a country where we are able to decide for ourselves whether something is morally right or wrong. Thus, ultimately, the choice is ours. As with the many other ethical issues which we are faced with in our society, it is hard to come to a concrete answer until we are personally faced with that issue. All we can do is make an effort to know all of the aspects which are involved so that we may be able to make a sound decision if we were faced with this problem in our own lives.

Different reasons why people communicate Essay

1.1 Identify the different reasons why people communicate Communication and relationships represent one of the most important characteristics of working with others, adults and children. There are a variety of reasons why people communicate, mainly: -Building relationships: the first thing that will happen when I first meet a new child, parent, colleagues, is some form of communication. This might be a smile, wave or a linguistic form of salutation. By those first form of communication I begin to build a relationship. -Maintaining relationship: I keep building relationships with children and adults to create a trusting relationship. -Gaining and sharing information: I need to gain and share info in work non only with children and their families, but also with colleagues and managers. This will help in the way that I work and problem solving -Expressing needs and feelings: we as human beings all need to express our needs and feelings and also be there to allow children to do the same. 1.2 Explain how communication affects relationship in the work setting it is essential to establish good relationships with all the people I daily deal with. Good communication skills are related to strong relationship with children, parents, colleagues and other adults. We need to communicate to share and gain information, like routine info about how a child is feeling, play interests or health and welfare. Communication is fundamental to gain parents confidence and trust in us and make them feeling comfortable with us. It’s hard but necessary to be able to quickly find ways of communicating with them and building relationship, for example in a settling in context. A good quality of communication, then, allow a child to feel relaxed and play and learn more effectively. When I can communicate effectively I’ll help to build vocabulary to allow expressing themselves. Communication it’s furthermore important in the case of a child transition to  another classroom or school: the main aim is trying to pass all the info related to the child so to allow other people to build relationship as quickly as possible. Communication, finally, is essential to my relationship with all my colleagues, to work well together it is essential to communicate in a strong and professional way. 2.2 Describe the factors to consider when promoting effective communication To promote effective communication it is essential to choose which communication method to use and the right style of communication: face to face interaction, phone conversation, sign language, written communication (emails, reports), gesture, picture of children in action. It’s useful to consider the environment in which the communication happen to be: it’s better to communicate with adults in a quiet place or create a cosy and homely place to establish relationship with children. Another important factor is represented by the distance between me and the person I’m communicating with. Being very close to a child can be very useful but not as much as if I don’t know the child of if he/she is shy. Posture is important as well (e.g. standing at the same level of a child while communicating with him). 3.1 Explain why people from different backgrounds may use  and/or interpret communication methods in different ways. When people share more or less the same cultural background and the more or less the same experiences, they interpret things in a similar way and this make communication much easier and avoid misunderstandings. This is easy and happen naturally in a family context, but normally the people I daily communicate with comes from a different culture, background and linguistic knowledge. In my Italian culture e.g. it’s important and natural to associate verbal communication with gesture, or in the Chinese culture eye contact is interpreted differently. We build our way of communicating by learning from our parents or family background so mine is culturally far from an English speaking family and far from a bilingual speaking family e.g.. this means that I have to be careful and cannot take for granted that my viewpoint of style of communication will always be effective. It’s important to consider different backgrounds, beliefs and individual values  and respect them so to develop the confidence to express themselves freely and make choices. 3.2/3.3 Identify barriers to effective communication and the ways you would overcome these. Language difficulties: different mother tongue represent an important barrier to effective communication, both in oral or written form. I personally try to study English every day and to learn how to communicate effectively in this language. I’m very interested in different culture and always try to learn some word of the other language a child can speak or being able to understand (French, Spanish, Japanese e.g.) Inappropriate method of communication: difficulties in choosing appropriate words or language, inappropriate style or tone, illegibly writing, choosing to write a letter instead of having a word†¦ I think it’s very important to consider each and every situation and the kind of relationship I might have with the people I’m dealing with so to choose the best method of communicate and make it effective. All the barriers related to the transfer of communication: background noise, unreceived mails†¦I make sure that the passage of a message to another adult or child is done in an effective way, checking feedbacks and if one of those condition  are  present: hearing impairment; visual impairment; disability/learning difficulties. 3.4 Demonstrate strategies  misunderstandings  that  can  be  used  to  clarify  paraphrasing and reflecting to check understanding; apologizing; simplifying language. 3.5 Explain how to access to extra support or services below to enable individuals to communicate effectively (translation  services, interpreting services, speech and language services, advocacy services) There are a number of services that can be accessed to support communication, including: Interpreters or Translators when we need to support foreigners; Signers to support deaf people; Advocators. These services can be utilized by educational and health services through a booking system. Local authorities also have access to a team of specialists, such as Speech and Language therapists. Support can also be found on the internet through various specialist websites, including The British Deaf Society and The National Blind Children’s Society. Information on how to access to help can be found on internet, but also in clinics and libraries. There is also a range of specialist equipment, like induction loops, Braille embossers and printers. As a nursery assistant, if I feel that a child is in need of extra support, I will refer him/her to my manager. Having explained my concerns, she may choose to observe the child herself. If she felt it was necessary she would then book any support services that may be required. 4.1 Explain the meaning of the term confidentiality Confidentiality means not sharing information about people without their knowledge and agreement, and ensuring that written and electronic information cannot be accessed or read by people who have no reason to see it (using a password protected computer which is only accessed by named staff members and viewed by appropriate officials like Ofsted and parents). So, you cannot tell anyone what you’ve been told by a teacher, a student or a parent unless you have their permission, knowledge or if you think that the child is going to be in danger.  Confidentiality includes respecting other people’s rights and keeping safe the information that they have provided. In such a workplace as a Nursery it is easy to come to know personal things we are not supposed to. For example, a child may tell us something private, not understanding we should not know it. It is our duty to keep the information for ourselves. However, in the setting there is a Policy about the privacy which is to be read and signed by all members of staff and, of course, respected too. 4.3 Describe the potential tension between maintaining an individual’s confidentiality and disclosing concerns While parents and children have the right to confidentiality there are occasion when the need to maintain confidentiality might be breached. If I have concerns that a child is being abused, I must disclose this information to the Manager, unless I think that by disclosing the information I will put the child in further danger. Being it very hard to work out such a decision, sharing the concerns with a trusted colleague could help a lot. In case the Manager doesn’t see any abuse where I clearly see it, I will continue to keep an eye on the child I think has been abused and whenever I feel the child is in significant danger, I will report immediately to the Manager again and, in case of necessity, to the owner of the setting. UNIT 068 1.1 Explain each of the terms: speech; language; communication; speech,  language and communication needs Speech is the vocalized form of human communication, based upon the syntactic combination of lexical and names that are drawn from very large vocabularies. Each spoken word is created out of the phonetic combination of a limited set of vowel and consonant speech sound units. These vocabularies differ creating the existence of many thousands of different types of languages. Most human speakers are able to communicate in two or more of them. The vocal abilities that enable humans to produce speech also  provide humans with the ability to sing. A gestural form of human communication exists for the deaf in the form of sign language. Speech in some cultures has become the basis of a written language. Language is the human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, and a language is any specific example of such a system. In addition to its strictly communicative uses, language also has many social and cultural uses, such as signifying group identity, social stratification, as well as for social grooming and entertainment. Communication is the activity of conveying information through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior. It is the meaningful exchange of information between two or a group of living creatures. Communication may be intentional or unintentional, may involve conventional or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or non-linguistic forms, and may occur through spoken or other modes. Speech, language and communication needs it’s a term used to refer to any difficulty that a child has in any of the three areas, e.g. difficulty in producing certain sounds (speech). 1.2 Explain how speech, language and communication skills support each of the following areas in children’s development: learning; emotional; behaviour; social. Speech, language and communication skills support: learning development because they help a child to understand what is being seen or provide a way for the child to communicate what he/she has seen. Babies use sounds and  facial expressions to communicate needs and express themselves. Toddlers use words and gestures to make connections and develop their knowledge and understanding. Pre-school children ask questions and make sense of the responses, they use words to express their ideas and develop their understanding; they support emotional development because controlling emotions is a large part of emotional development and if children become frustrated, angry or jealous and can’t communicate their feelings they may have a tantrum. But as their skills develop they can name their emotions and find other ways of expressing them, so babies use sounds and facial expressions to develop an attachment and relationship with their main carers, toddlers use words and body language to express their feelings and preschool children use speech and language to express their feelings and exert their independence; they support behaviour because once a child understands language they can begin to understand the consequences of their actions and start to think things through, becoming less impulsive and they support social development as children can start to recognise how others feel by watching their body language and listening to what they say and learn to adjust their behaviour accordingly. Children also start to understand social codes and how to behave appropriately. So, babies use sounds and facial expressions in responding to adult interactions, toddlers use words and gestures to interact with others and pre-school children use speech and language to interact with others and develop friendships. 1.3 Describe the potential impact of speech, language and communication difficulties on the development of a child, both currently and in the longer term.  Such difficulties may have an impact on a child overall development both currently and in  longer term. Currently, because a child may not follow the expected pattern of development for communication finding it difficult to communicate with carers and peers and causing him to become frustrated and show negative behaviour, anger, lack of confidence, find it difficult to form  relationships, to learn process and apply new information and find it hard to be understood by others. The children may have social problems struggling to communicate with peers leading them to avoid joining in with certain activities or leading them to play on their own affecting their social development. In the long term it can cause continued communication problems, low self-esteem, reduced life chances, finding it hard to make and maintain relationships, feeling isolated and excluded, not being able to be independent, develop antisocial behaviour. It is surely very important to be able as a carer to recognize as early as possible the presence of symptoms of such difficulties in order to intervene promptly and give more chances to the child. 2.1 Explain the ways in which adults can effectively support and extend the speech, language and communication development of children during the early years: – the words and levels of language adults use with children (including the use of questions) One of the skills to acquire is to quickly work out the level of language we need to use with children and also the style we need to adopt. Adults seem automatically to be able to change the structure of their language when working with babies in order to simplify it, this seems to be particularly important so that babies can focus on the key words in a sentence and so begin to associate these words with meaning. Questions play an important part in stimulating and extending children’s speech, they can show children that we are interested in what they are doing or thinking. Rhetorical questions are useful when working with babies and toddler, but are not helpful with children who already have speech as they simply deny children the opportunity to answer. – informations and activities used Planning activities or using books will prompt children speech, although it is always important for adults to build on children’s existing interests as well as providing new things for them. – their conversations/interaction with children  children who have speech need time to chat to adults, most children like to  be doing something or have something to show the adult for the conversation to take place. This often require the adult to sit down at their level. Good conversation do not work when the adult is moving and cannot make eye contact or is distracted. For babies and toddlers early interaction is often playful, including songs and rhymes. – work with parents/carers Parents/careres often have a strong relationship with their children and they’re able to tune into them and adapt their language. This means that parents have the potential to be brilliant language partners for their children, where a child has a specific speech and language need, both setting and parents will need to work together with a speech and language therapist. 2.2 Explain the relevant positive effects of adult support for the children and their carers: – speech, language and communication skills Children can show progress in their speech, language and communication skills if high quality support is given, working with them can be very rewarding and parents are often delight by the improvement that their children are showing. – social interaction positive support can make a child more outgoing ans also confident in their interactions. Once children have more speech and language they are able to play more easily with other children. – behaviour  many children who are finding it difficult to communicate and speak will show aggressive, uncooperative and frustrated behaviour. Being able to communicate effectively can make and enormous difference to children’s behaviour. – emotional development/self confidence positive aldult support also helps children’s emotional development. Not only do children become more confident, they also find through words ways of controlling their emotions and expressing their needs. 2.3 Explain how levels of speech and language development vary between children entering early years provision and need to be taken into account during settling in and planning. Every child is unique. It is obvious then that when they enter the nursery they will not be at the same level of development, not necessarily at least. We all know that some children start to speak at the age of 12 month while others will walk at 9 months, but others may take longer to start doing both activities. It is very important to help children settle in since their learning opportunities are amplified when children are confident, happy, motivated, engaged and supported in their play and exploration. For these reasons planning for children’s needs is a requirement of each setting and is an effective way to support children’s developing communication, speech and language needs. To help children settle in we need to take into account how much stimulation and encouragement they have experienced, what is their first language spoken at home, if there are any individual speech, language or communication needs/difficulties/gaps. That is why when entering the setting all parents are asked to fill in a form for their child where they have the opportunity to give us information about their child’s needs and requirements. To help a child settle in, it is also very important to be aware of his/her self-confidence, self-esteem, ability to settle. Moreover, facilitating communication between children helps with understanding each other, forming positive relationships, and demonstrates ways each can utilise negotiation and conflict resolution by waiting, listening and expression. 4.1 Explain the importance of the environment in supporting speech, language and communication development Communication friendly spaces are essential to help children develop their speech and language and these spaces should be made available both indoors and outdoors. Such spaces should be ideated thinking to reduce noise and distractions to a minimum otherwise the children cannot concentrate (for example the book area). The area should have sunlight to maximise the use of light and enable young babies or toddlers to see your face and how we use facial expression (particularly important if you have a child with an  hearing impairment or while working with babies that do not speak yet so that are not able to use language to communicate). You should consider the impact of the colour to reflect on a child’s emotions, a good colour is yellow since this colour is recognised faster than any other colour, evokes spontaneity, is joyful, optimistic, warm and signifies communication. Our rooms have a different colour each one and one has, as a dominant colour, red and I find it a bit ove rwhelming, while the other two rooms are light blue and light grey and you feel more relaxed in them. In the book corner we have a nice shelf with different age/stage books in; we also have some very nice musical stories that come with books with illustrations and that children really love a lot. We then have a soft box where we keep soft toys and puppets we use for singing time and to mime. All these materials are always kept at children’s keep so they can help themselves, this enables the area to be inviting for the children.

The thought after read the economic book Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The thought after read the economic book - Essay Example Beside this book, Schafer has published other books on economics and culture. In this book, Schafer has primarily based on two major aspects, which he believed have a great influence on the world today. These are culture and economics. He therefore, has analyzed these two important factors and evaluated their influence on the world through the historical lenses. His main argument is that the world has been existing in the economic age, since Adam Smith’s work on the Wealth of Nations in 1776. Schafer argues that this economic age has had negative influence in society, and is the source of most of the economic and cultural problems experienced in the world today. Schafer however, makes it clear that the economic age has had considerable positive effects in society, but the negative influence supercedes its positive effects. Although the economic age has led to increased production, economic power, and wealth, to a greater extent, this has resulted in considerable social and eco nomic problems, as some of its effects. In addition, economics has failed to address these negative effects of the economic age. In this book, Schafer has explained the development of the economic age, tracing it from the 1776 work of Adam Smith on The Wealth of Nations to the present century. ... Nonetheless, this work of Schafer leads to the conclusion that the economic age has failed to realize the desired economic, social, and cultural development and sustainability. Therefore, Schafer recommends that society needs to shift from the economic age, and embrace culture as its main force and source of development and sustainability. Schafer, who is knowledgeable in economics, and author of this book, has his own personal views about this book, which he shared with different people in interviews, and other channels through which he was asked to comment on them. In August 2009, the Upper Case, of the University of Ottawa, held an interview with Schafer, about this book, and about what influenced him to write the book. Upper Case is affiliated with UOP, which publishes Canadian and other books by international scholars in both English and French languages, and these books are peer-reviewed. This has been publishing since 1936. However, Upper Case mainly performs interviews on aut hors, writing biographies of authors, writing book reviews, and posting notifications about book launches and related events (Upper Case WEB). During the interview with Upper Case, Schafer was expected to discuss his career, and how it influenced the ideas expressed in this book. He explained that he originally trained in economics and international development, before undertaking another different training in the field of culture. Therefore, his knowledge in these two areas of economics and culture, laid the foundation for the ideas in this book. He was particularly influenced by Adam Smith’s work of The Wealth of Nations, which made him study culture too. In economics, he had the conviction that it was wrong for society to base on economics and economies as

Petroleum Economic and Oil field management Essay - 1

Petroleum Economic and Oil field management - Essay Example The economics of non-OPEC supply, the economics of supply of other liquids and the investment and production decisions of OPEC countries will definitely influence the spot price over the next three months. For other liquids and petroleum, the main long-term prices and supply determinants can be summed up in four main categories that include other liquids supply economics, non-OPEC supply economics, global demand for other liquids and petroleum, and OPEC production and investment decisions (Elton, Gruber, Agrawal & Mann, 2004: 27247). Factors that should influence PMC while deciding on whether to enter into a forward or spot contract should include the consideration of the deference between the forward and spot prices in the sense that the two-price difference preferably should be equivalent to any earnings and finance charges that are due to the contract holder. In addition, opting for the forward contracts mainly would depend on factors like, festivity, season, and climate cycles that mostly affect the demands. A factor that would discourage the use of forward contracts is the lack of explicit mechanism for processing new information on the production costs and inventory surprises. Another factor to consider will be oil market participants who are a diverse group and trade at different maturities and objectives. The varying degrees in the involvement of major commercial oil producers will affect this decision. In terms of spot prices, supply and demand will influence such a decision. When demand goes up and sup ply decreases, the spot prices are automatically expected to go up. Likewise when demand decreases and supply goes up, the prices should go down. Spot prices for both crude oil and petroleum product prices are likely to be affected by events that disrupt the flow of these products in the market. This may include weather-related and geopolitical factors. These should be considered in the decision of whether to use spot prices or not. By taking

Case Study of Adesemi Communications International

Of Adesemi Communications International - Case Study Example In this case study, findings suggest that the reason behind the downfall is generally caused by the lack of experience. In particular, reasons of such failure are the cultural misunderstandings among the diverse workforce, the inexperienced and incompetent local business partners, the impatience of the quasi-governments who wanted to have their investments back, and the complete underestimation of the local government owning the national telephone company. Meanwhile, this analysis proposes that the impacts made by the country and market conditions were the most significant factor of the demise of Adesemi. Likewise, the case of Adesemi only shows that the company did not have a good pool of social networks and capitals that could have possibly helped save the company in those periods of crisis. From this experience, Monique Maddy, the CEO and founder of Adesemi, has learned the following insights. Firstly, cultural diversity must be transformed from a weakness to a strength through ap pointing an HR guru. Secondly, partnerships must be made not out of convenience. Thirdly, start-ups in developing countries should restrain from the type of investors who are just after the gains of the company. Fourthly, a patient and visionary investor with deep pockets willing to shell out money in times of financial crisis to save the company is needed in a third world start. Introduction Monique Maddy, a Harvard University graduate from Africa, dreams of being an entrepreneur. As a matter of fact, she happened to achieve her goal once, when she had established and run her own company in Tanzania, the Adesemi Communications International. Such dream had started when she wanted to set up her own company on an untapped market in a developing country in Africa. It had begun with an aim of transforming and modernizing the information technology sector in Africa. She had achieved this dream through Adesemi via making it possible for the thousands of lower and middle-class Tanzanian f amilies to gain access to affordable wireless communication services. Apart from that, as the company incorporated pagers, voice mails, and wireless pay phones, Adesemi had happened to launch the first fully integrated â€Å"virtual† phone system of the world in Tanzania. It is undeniable how successful Maddy was in establishing Adesemi. In addition to that success, the company was even financially successful and had $ 2 million annual revenue. Nonetheless, despite the case that it was on the verge of explosive growth, such success had come to an end when company was forced to shut down. In this regard, the focus of this analysis is mainly on the case of Adesemi Communications International. Specifically, it aims to answer four specific points. Firstly, its objective is to discuss the reason behind the failure of Monique Maddy’s Adesemi Communications International. Secondly, it targets to evaluate the impacts of the country and market conditions on the failure of laun ching a new innovation. Thirdly, using Adesemi’s case, it intends to understand the significance of social capital and network in entrepreneurship. Lastly, it points to identify what Maddy has essentially learned by the failure of her business venture. On the one hand, to examine Adesemi’s case is of significance for the reason that the learnings that can be obtained from this particular experience can aid the entrepreneurs as well as those who plan to set up their own business in the future,

The digital and online marketing strategies adopted by the main UK Essay

The digital and online marketing strategies adopted by the main UK grocery supermarkets - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that over time, aggregate demand generated for consumer use goods and services has substantially increased in major economies of the world. Higher demand has carved the way for increased production-oriented activities. Furthermore, higher production participation has enhanced the degree of market rivalry between profit-making commercial firms. At this juncture, without the essence of modern cost-efficient marketing activities, a company cannot achieve success in business. The researcher in this assignment is a marketing consultant, responsible for this report that summarizes online and digital marketing strategies implemented by grocery supermarkets of the U.K. The summary will include critical analysis of the strategies, based on a comparative analysis framework. In 2013, it was estimated that net worth of the U.K. grocery market was  £169.7 billion. The surplus value of the industry had increased by 3.7% from 2012 to 2013. It is forecas ted that by 2018, worth of the industry would be  £205.9 billion, along with an annual growth rate of 21.3%. Since the U.K. grocery supermarkets operate in an Oligopolistic market, they are exposed to cut-throat competition. Each profit making company undertakes decisions regarding price and output on the basis of strategic behavior. In the current epoch, the internet has helped in formulating new strategies and business models for firms across several industries. Online shopping or retailing approaches have substantially changed the U.K. supermarket retailing process. These changes are noted in channel coordination and development, business scope, central business model, core processes, buyers’ value creation and online partnerships related to firms. Tesco has started to conduct trade over digital marketplaces from 1994, which was named as â€Å"Tesco Direct†. Later in 2000, the company had launched its official website, Tesco.com. Tesco is considered to be the larg est online U.K. based grocery retailer in the world. The company had invested large sums of money for online marketing purposes. It had conducted advertisement campaigns for internet phones it had sold. The company promoted these internet phones by providing free call facility the owners. Tesco was also the first online grocery retailer, which had initiated home delivery facilities to customers. However, all activities of the company are highly sustainable to the environment.

Project Statistics Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Statistics Project Example When the organizations’ infrastructure or environment is organized aptly, it will positively influence the employees. Employees are the crucial â€Å"cog† for the organizational functioning and success. This significance of employees was put forward by Mayhew (2014) who stated that the objective of any organization is profitability; and that profitability and thereby organizations success depends on the employees performance, with poor performance by the employees being detrimental to the companys success. Employees work in an organization on full-time basis as well as short-term basis. Although, full-time employees are the majority in any organization, employment of short-term employees are also on the rise. â€Å"The use of temporary workers is growing rapidly, with the number of companies using temporary workers on the increase as global competition increased and the urge to cut down on costs of undertaking businesses in order to remain competitive rises† (Wan dera 2011). This role of both full-time and short-term workers brings in focus the number of hours they contribute to the organization (Simeon 2013). So, the report will focus on the data collected from 400 fashion stores located in the Netherlands thereby discussing those stores’ infrastructure, employees including full-timers and part-timers, the hours contributed by them and others. As above-mentioned, the data is regarding the study of direct annual sales of 400 Dutch fashion stores in the year 1990. The quantitative variables used are: Total Sales (tsales), Sales per square meter (sales), Number of full-times (nfull), Number of part-times (npart), Total number of hours worked (hoursw) and Sales floor space of the store in square metres (ssize). Since all of them are quantitative variables, the Karl Pearson correlation coefficient for continuous variables is calculated and tested for its significance. â€Å"Karl Pearson correlation coefficient measures quantitatively the extent to which two variables

Learning Needs Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Learning Needs Assessment - Essay Example For example, in areas involving complex surgical procedures, the volume of interventions and procedures is maintained at a high level in order to improve the outcome. In addition, it was observed that most of the activities are channeled towards the large units of the hospital in a bid to improve the quality of healthcare care. The following table shows the volume of activity and outcome. Number Percentage Surgical procedures 179 86.4% Cancer related procedures 84 40.3% Cardiovascular procedures 68 32.5% Orthopaedic procedures 19 8.7% others 11 4.9% In-patient 21 9.7% Traumatology 11 4.9% Cardiology 4 1.5% emergencies 3 1.0% Pneumology 3 0.5% Intensive care 2 0.5% Nephrology 2 0.5% Mixed (all types of care) 2 0.5% Obstetrics 6 2.4% Safe deliveries 2 0.5% High-risk births 1.0% neonatal intensive care 3 1.0% Outpatients 4 1.5% Total 206 100.0% d) Levels of nursing care staff employed Out of all the respondents that participated in the study, approximately 49% tendered their responses, excluding the wrong addresses. The total of the surveys that were completed was 65, which was 27% of the sample size. The survey revealed that the majority of the nurses worked in regular, full-time basis (60%) or regular and part-times basis (30%). The remaining 10% worked on casual contracts. Also, information was collected regarding the employment settings and status of respondents. Most of the nurses (70%) worked in a hospital setting. There was a good representation from other settings including nursing homes / Long Term Care (LTC) (16%), Home Care (14%), Community Health (8%) and other settings (14%). Most nurses worked in regular, full-time employment (67%) or regular, part-time employment (23%) compared to 10% who worked in casual positions. The level of education for the nursing staff that was interviewed was very diverse, of which 81 % of the staff held diplomas and 24 % held post diploma certification. Of these, 10% had oncology certification from different nursing associ ations, in addition to other oncology courses. Another 5% was found to have completed palliative care certificate courses (Bailey & Corner, 2009). More than 30% of the nurses were holding university degrees with specialization in different medical disciplines. Forty two percent were holders of bachelor degrees while 5% were holders of graduate degrees. Eighty one percent were working in the capacity of staff nursing role while another 7% worked in other roles such as nurse education, nurse consultation, nurse coordination, administration, family practice nursing, research coordination and executive directorship. When the level of nursing care was investigated, it was found that 69% cared for chronic patients, 70 % cared for palliative patients and 65% cared for acute patients. It was also found that a few of the nurses who were interviewed cared for emergency (21%), preventative (29%), and intensive care (16%). As shown in figure 2, these nurses were extensively experienced in cance r care. A good proportion (53%) of them had been employed in a cancer care environment for at least 11 years. Figure 2: The amount of cancer care experience A summary of the results of the educational needs assessment and analysis Identification of the highest priority educational need When the nurses were asked to rate their fields of experience in different fields classified into four types,

Technology management Blog Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Technology management Blog - Essay Example Money has a time value. This means the holder of the money has to make timely considerations when making financial decisions. This is used in our information technology sector. The information technology sector is a business and has to take into considerations the importance of making investment decisions. The time value of money is the fundamental mathematics that revolves around investing and it forms the basis of the financial calculations. Most significantly, it expounds on the concept of compound returns, which is the basic driving force of the investments growth overtime. There are several indicators of the time value of money. They include, net present value, present value, and future value. The present value is the current worth of future sum of money or cash inflows that are attained at a specific rate of return. Future cash flows are discounted at a certain discount rate. This means that the higher the discount rate, the lower the net present value of the future cash flows. The present value of an annuity is the sequence of equivalent payments that are paid at equal time intervals. An example of this is the lease and the rental payments made to house owners. Thirdly, there is the present value of perpetuity. This is an endless and a constant stream of identical cash flows. The last feature of time value of money is the future value. This is the future value of an asset or cash at a specified date that is to occur in the future that should be equal to the value of money at a specified sum now. This includes the future value of an annuity. This is the future value of a sequence of payments known as annuities that assumes the payments are invested at a given rate of interest (ROI). The importance of time value of money is that they provide an insight on the information on the risk of an investment. This helps the investor in being able to assess his business risks that faces him. Secondly, it provides a crude

Things to Know About Volleyball Essay Example for Free

Things to Know About Volleyball Essay One thing that I didn’t know about volleyball was that in 1895 William G. Morgan invented it. I also didn’t know that Volleyball has the skills of Baseball, Handball, and Tennis. Two things I already knew were how to spike and serve. Two things I already knew how to do were how to spike and serve. One more thing I didn’t know was how to jump serve. hits then without exercising. This book is based on both facts and how you would play the game. The way the author uses facts is by on page 54 it tells you step by step how to do a back set. The way I can tell the difference between the author’s presentation or fact and inference is by in all of chapter one it gives you some facts on how the game first started. One of the facts is that in 1895 William G. Morgan wanted to invent a game that had the skills of baseball, handball, and tennis. Thus inventing Volleyball. Five items you would put in a timecapsul would be: 1. A volleyball because that’s what the book is all about. 2. Tips on How to Play the game so that if someone in the future knew how to play already they could have tips to become better player’s. 3. A list of warm-ups and exercises to do to play the game better cause your have better 4.I would also put in a list of steps that you should do to know how to spike because bumping, setting, and spiking are the three main ways to get the ball over the net. 5.I would also put in a list of Volleyball Talk words because they would be good to have so when you play the game and use the words you will know what they mean and how to use them.

Social Work Essay Example for Free

Social Work Essay Question 1 In the prefatory statement of Chapter 2, Bradford, Sheafor and Scott, says that â€Å"the main focus of social work, promoting general welfare† (p. 15), has become more difficult to achieve after the events of September 11 and the war on Iraq and Afghanistan. But what is social welfare? Bradford, Sheafor and Scott attempted to shed some light on the concept by first, dissecting its composite words, then, by providing a functional definition. They said that â€Å"society’s efforts to meet some human needs are labeled social welfare† (Bradford et. al. , p. 16). They said that â€Å"social† pertains to individual and groups interactions, while â€Å"welfare† implies concern for human well-being (Bradford et. al. , p. 16). For them, the useful definition of social welfare is as follows: Social Welfare is the translation of society’s dominant social philosophies into social policies, to be carried out by a system of human services agencies and delivered by human services professionals, in order to meet socially related needs of individuals, families and other households, groups and/or communities through programs offering social provisions, personal services and/or social actions (Bradford et. l. , p. 17) This definition seems to agree with how Reamer presented his own discussion on the philosophical basis of social work. But later discussions of Bradford, Sheaford and Scott on social welfare veered off from the â€Å"translation of philosophies to social policies† to a critique of social policies in the United States in the past and present administrations. This is a marked departure from Reamer’s academic and objective approached in discussing the philosophical basis of social work. In his book, Reamer presented the different models with respect to welfare state’s philosophical foundations. They are the conservative, liberal and radical. The conservatives believe that welfare state would encourage personal and social irresponsibility more than it provides a measure of defense against poverty, unemployment, sickness and so on. The welfare state â€Å"encourages sloth, teenage pregnancy and other forms of dependence† (Reamer, p. 15). The conservatives see welfare as a charity organized by the State. It is not a right to which the members of society are entitled to (Reamer, p. 0). The liberals, on the other hand, believe that social welfare spending in the country has been insufficient. They see that insufficiency in social welfare spending as the cause of current vexing social problems. (Reamer, p. 15) The liberals see welfare as a fundamental right to which the individuals in society are entitled to (Reamer, p. 30). The radicals present a complex viewpoint. They believe that â€Å"conservatives are correct that liberals demand too much from welfare state and liberals are correct that the welfare state has not done enough† (Reamer, p. 15). They also believe that the fiscal policies of welfare states contradict their own purpose. The definition provided by Bradford, Sheamor and Scott appears to be neutral of these philosophical foundations since it uses the phrase â€Å"translation of the society’s dominant social philosophies into social policies. † However, the discussion in the later part of the chapter provides a different viewpoint altogether. Chapter 2 shows as a liberal viewpoint. This is particularly demonstrated by the many criticisms on several past administrations’ social welfare policies. The chapter also compared the defense spending with spending on human services in several administrations, and seemed to be against the trend towards less spending on human services and more defense spending. The authors showed a mark preference to increase human services spending. As a prelude to the authors’ subjective discussion of welfare in the United States, they said that the â€Å"index of a nation’s continued commitment to its people is its investment in social programs. † The book provides an enumeration of the main purpose of social programs. First, remediation of social problem which pertains to programs that are created to provide services intended to help people who experience difficulty in a particular aspect of social functioning. The second is the enhancement of social functioning which pertains to programs which emphasize the growth and development of clients in a specific area of functioning. The third is the prevention of social problems which pertains to programs that identifies the basic causes of difficulty in social functioning and seek to stimulate changes that will keep the problems from developing (Bradford, et al. , 25-26) The book also provides the four specific goals of social program. They are as follows: (1) socialization of people to the accepted norms and behaviors in society, (2) social integration where people are helped to become more successful in interacting with the world around them, (3) social control by removing people from situations when they may place themselves or others at risk and (4) social changes by stimulating changes that will enhance the overall quality of life. (Bradford, et al. , 26) There are two social programs conceptions, the safety net approach and the social utilities approach. The safety net approach pertains to programs that are planned as a way for society to assist people when other social institutions, such as family and community, fail to do so. The net safety approach is considered residual, selective and time-limited. (Bradford, et al. , p. 26) The social utilities approach pertains to programs with a view that â€Å"human services is society’s frontline manner in addressing common needs† (Bradford, et al. , p. 26). This approach is considered universal. It also calls for the institutionalization of social welfare (Bradford, et al. , p. 27) The book provides for three categories of welfare. They are enumerated, as follows: (1) social provisions or those which are designed to meet fundamental needs, (2) personal services or those which provides problem-solving and enhancement programs and intangible services that help people resolve their social functioning, and (3) social action which help change conditions that create difficulties in social functioning. (Bradford, et al. , p. 27) Bradford, Sheaford and Scott says that â€Å"poverty is the single most revealing indicator of success or failure of social programs† (p. 0). Poverty data shows some disturbing patterns. Gender-based data shows that there are more females living in poverty than male. Poverty data also show that there are more poor people in highly urbanized cities than there are in rural areas. The authors attribute this to the movement of wealthy people to the suburbs. The data also shows that white people are the least likely to be poor that other ethnic groups. Lastly, the data shows that more single parents are poor than married ones. In relation, single mothers are more likely to be poor than single fathers. The authors urge social workers to examine the patterns and their causes so that the can effect change in the society. (Bradford, et al. , p. 30) However we must look at the data presented above as one of the interpretation of existing information regarding poverty. Because of the discrepancy between the numbers between male and female, young and old and white and other ethnic groups, the authors concluded that there is still discrimination in society in terms of race, gender or other factors, and seems to look at this as evidence of the need for more or better social welfare programs in the United States. Bradford, Sheamor and Scott presented the continuing bias against certain members of the population through the available data on poverty in the United States, they called it â€Å"racism, sexism and other isms†. They focused on social factors and politics as the guiding staff as to direction or trend of social welfare in the country (p. 30). This is a marked departure from Reamer’s presentation. Reamer focused on the dominant philosophical ideas of the day and its effect on social welfare. An example of this is his discussion on how the ideas of John Meynard Keynes on the need for the government’s increased involvements in social welfare has influenced the welfare policies of nations in contemporary times. He also said that Beveridge’s concerns that social welfare may suppress incentive and responsibility also affected the United States’ welfare policies. â€Å"Social work has complex ties with the state† (Reamer, p. 1). According to Reamer, all across history is the debate over who is in-charge of social welfare (p. 0), the private or public sector. â€Å"Debate over private or public welfare has an ancient history† (Reamer, p. 10). Of publicly-sponsored welfare, he said that: Publicly-sponsored welfare is tied to deep-seated beliefs about the goals of government and the right of citizens in relation to the states, the obligation of the state towards its citizens, the nature of political and civil liberty and the nature of social jus tice (Reamer, 2). In fact he said that the advancement of publicly sponsored welfare in the eighteenth and nineteenth century was less for altruism and more for the necessity to preserve the existing social order. It was during these times that social programs devised in contemporary time have their roots. Reamer’s subsequent discussion on the history of welfare focused on philosophical antecedents. As an example he attributes social programs such as the welfare state to come from eighteen century Prussia and the civil code of 1974. Meanwhile, Bradford, Sheamor and Scott focused on the events and situation of the country that brought about the social programs. Based on their recounting of the history of social welfare in the United States, the authors focused on the social situation at that time and how it affected the ruling administration’s policy on social welfare as well as the opinion of the majority of the population on publicly-sponsored welfare. As an example of this differing presentation is the two works’ discussion on the social welfare programs during the Depression. As presented by Bradford, Sheamor and Scott, before this period in history, social problems are concentrated on other ethnic groups, such as the new freed black slaves or the displaced Mexican or Native Americans. During the Depression, poverty knew no color or race, everyone was hungry and out of work. For Bradford, Sheamor and Scott, the change in the policy on social welfare at this period of history was caused by the acknowledgement of the predominant white ruling class of the United States that factors outside the individuals can place him in a situation of poverty. Reamer’s presentation, on the other hand, detailed the birth and rise in popularity of the â€Å"free market† philosophy of Adam Smith, then, its fall from grace during the Depression. For Reamer, the shift in welfare programs during the Great Depression was because of the loss of confidence in the â€Å"free market† philosophy that was very popular in prior years before the Depression. Question 2 Based on the classroom discussion, social welfare has two primary categories. They are as follows: (1) transactions that occur outside of the market system and (2) those that are designed to bring about a minimum level of care. The first category considers those transactions that allow a person to acquire goods or services for free or cheaper than the prevailing market price as welfare. Reamer does not distinguish between these two categories in his discussion on the political philosophies of social welfare. In his discussion of the development of Adam Smith’s â€Å"laissez faire,† Reamer talked about the viewpoint of that philosophy that welfare distorts market forces. For example, the philosophy believes that labor should be free to name its price based on market forces, free from outside interference. Since the regulation of the price of labor by the state is included by Reamer in his discussion of laissez faire, it is seen by him as an example of social welfare. This example, however, falls into both categories of social welfare. State’s regulation of the price of labor is part of labor legislation that provides for minimum standards for conditions of work. Hence, it is included in category two. But at the same time, we are talking about fixing of a price outside of the market, although in this situation it is presumed that the price set is above what the market dictates. One way of viewing it, in terms of the first category, the receipt of wages in excess of the market is welfare. Reamer had his own discussion as to the two aspects of professional service. First, he said that social welfare is aimed at the enhancement of the quality of life. It is a concept that is often anchored in the common good and public interest. (Reamer, p. 34) Common good is based on the idea that society is a community where members contribute in the pursuit of common goals and the good of the individual depend on the good of the community. It is a concept that is inherently communal. (Reamer, p. 34) Public interest, on the other hand, pertains to any goals that a legitimate government may pursue to bring about their economic and foreign policies. Unlike common good, it is not inherently communal and encourages the promotion or pursuit of individual interests. (Reamer, p. 35) Based on these two anchors comes the two aspects of professional service, one which focuses on the common weal and another that focuses on individual interests. These two aspects represent the two extremes, and Reamer considers these two aspects as the central debate on social welfare today. There are many differences between the two aspects. The former believes in combining providing assistance to those in need with structural change. The latter, on the other hand, believes in providing clinical services. The primary purpose of those who focus on the common weal is the individual well-being, community intervention, organization change, legislative lobbying and other forms of intervention. The primary purpose of those who focus on individual interests is the enhancement of individual functioning. (Reamer, p. 36) Most of Reamer’s discussion focused on the extent of government’s intervention in social welfare. There was a detailed history of the growth of public-sponsored welfare and a discussion on the ongoing debate of when public sponsored welfare is too much. In relation to publicly sponsored welfare, he discussed the concept of distributive justice. He believes that the central theme to the philosophical materials on social welfare is the redistribution of wealth (Reamer, p. 5). The concentration of the society’s wealth in a few members of the population is seen as a cause of social problems. However, distributive justice has had different connotations across time, and is not always seen as evil or wrong by some schools of thoughts (p. 26). Another philosophical theme that Reamer discussed is the concept of welfare as a right or a privilege. There are philosophers who believe that welfare is a fundamental right of a person. This belief is composed of two traditions, the liberal and the radical. The liberal viewpoint believes that welfare is a right that arises out of or by virtue of the financial stake of person in society. It is necessarily connected to concept of property rights and the right of the person to protect his property from state intervention. The radical viewpoint sees welfare as the protection of people from both the power of government and private property. It sees welfare as a right that is absolute and unconditional and spouses a communal vision of property rights. (Reamer, p. 30) On the flip side of the coin are those who believe that welfare is a matter of privilege. The conservative viewpoint, for example, sees welfare as a charity not a right. This means that the members of the society cannot demand it of the state. It is only through the benevolence of the state that welfare is given. (Reamer, p. 30) Welfare as right or privilege only looks at the extreme sides of the issue, there are those who look welfare as not as a right or as a charity. This is called the intermediate view. This viewpoint believes that welfare should be balanced against competing claims, such as political, social and economic ones. (Reamer, p. 30)

Punishment And Rehabilitation In The Community Criminology Essay

Punishment And Rehabilitation In The Community Criminology Essay Critically evaluate the use of the prison as a sentence of the court in England and Wales over the last 20 years. The 1990s witnessed a sharp rise in the politicization and in the severity of sentencing policy (Maguire et al, 2007). Since the 1990s legislation has been heavily criticised, this saw the abandonment of key pillars, yet the rise of others. Therefore, The Criminal Justice Act as somewhat revolutionised bringing forward newer legislation over the years that have impacted on the way sentences are used. The change in government from Conservative to New Labour also saw a bewildered mixture of new polices, which have contributed and influenced the use of the prison. Since the post war years the prison population began to expand, which led to a sense of crisis for the government from two perspectives. The first was in terms of social control. The significant and rapidly rising prison population had the potential to be perceived as a breakdown in social order. The other area of concern was due to the expanding prison population and the increase in expenditure. At the time the government were trying to reduce expenditure and instigate new community sentences to limit the number of offenders who actually went to prison. Consequently, there have been many theorists who have attempted to structure the criminal justice system. There have also been new ideologies for how the prison should be used as a sentence. By analysing the use of the prison it will help to define contemporary prisons in western societies, not least since there is considerable consensus that the penal system in England and Wales has been in a state of ever deepening crisis since the 1960s (Maguire et al, 2007). Statistics show a major increase in the prison population. In 1989 the prison population was 48,600 throughout the year and in 2008 the prison population increased to 83,190. Crime measured by the British Crime Survey (BCS) fell from 18.5 million offences in 1993 to 11.7 million by 2003/04. BCS crime fell by around a third in England and Wales at the same time as the prison population increased by two-thirds (Home Office 2008). These statistics suggest that the use of the prison has been very effective by how recorded crime rates have fell over the years and that the number of offenders going to prison as increased. However, it strikes controversy due to the increase in prison populations. In 1997, Labour had created 16,000 more prison places when the Government were trying to reduce expenditure in that area. The lead up to the 1991 Criminal Justice Act witnessed a shift in penal policy. The ongoing concerns of ever growing prison numbers accompanied a widespread disenchantment with the rehabilitative ideal and concerns were raised about the matching of sentences to offenders rather than the crime (Brownlee 1998). The conservative government had issued major changes to the sentencing framework influenced by retributivist theory and the concept of just deserts where offenders were punished in proportion to the crimes they had committed. Also the 1990 white paper, Crime, Justice and Protecting the Public introduced new legislation in the criminal justice system. Now, Community sentences could be used as alternatives rather than the use of imprisonment. Home Office (1990) also claimed a more consistent approach to sentencing so that criminals get there just deserts. The central aims of sentencing were just desserts and proportional sentences; however, deterrence was demoted as a sentence. This criticism was made of the 1991 Act and 1993 Act as there was an unworkable hybrid sentencing framework. The Criminal Justice Act 1991 was clear that the main sentencing decision was to calculate offence seriousness and a proportionate (commensurate) sentence. Prison therefore, was used to keep people in custody by the seriousness of the offence (Easton et al, 2005). Consequently, the use of the prison had changed by acknowledging the seriousness of the offence, whereas before anybody who committed a crime would just go to prison. Thus, somebody convicted with murder would go to prison, whereas somebody who was vandalising would more likely pay a fine or have a community sentence depending on the circumstances. This significant piece of legislation appeared to pave the way for community sentences, and indeed the Probation Service to play a central role in criminal justice policy. Courts were now guided by seriousness thresholds, which required them to justify why a sentence was either serious enough for a community penalty, or so serious that only a custodial sentence could be warranted (Cavadino Dignan 2002). By 1993 however the incoming Home Secretary made it clear that he was an advocate of custodial measures for offenders in his statement Prison Works. The 1993 Criminal Justice Act rescinded on some of the positive aspects of the earlier 1991 Act, and marked a resurrection of law and order rhetoric in determining criminal justice policy. By 1995 in the Green Paper Strengthening Punishment in the Community, despite the considerable changes brought about to community sentences by the 1991 Criminal Justice Act, the claim was made that probation supervision was still regarded as a soft option. The subsequent White Paper Protecting the Public clearly emphasised the need for community sentences to have a punitive rather than rehabilitative focus, and called upon these sentences to be physically, mentally or emotionally challenging with a stress on personal responsibility and discipline. The rapid increase in the prison population and the numbers sent to prison represented a radical break with the virtual stability of previous decades. Even so, two considerations should be borne in mind before attributing the total responsibility for the increase in prison population solely to Michael Howard. First there is some evidence that public opinion took a more punitive turn in the 1990s, which might explain why the anticipated public outcry against Howards policies was so muted, and why the mass media were largely supportive of these policies (Hough, 1996). Ryan (2002) also argued that a series of moral panics was manipulated by politicians to win the support of voters for a tougher law and order platform. Populist Punitiveness had a major effect on legislation because it became central to the concerns of the general public and there responses to crime. A synopsis of the 1991 and 1993 Criminal Justice Act highlight the use of the prison by how serious the crime is. The prison is used to confiscate liberty and by 1993 and the use of community sentences made it more definable by the level of crime committed by using seriousness thresholds. However, by 1995 they recognised that the probation service was to soft and needed amendments. The use of the prison was now seen as a last resort or for very serious offences. In addition, public opinion had a major influence on crime, which is argued one of the reasons why the prison population is said to be so high due to the publics view and fear of crime. In May 1997, the Conservative Party was ejected from power as Labour; Led by Tony Blair enjoyed a landslide victory. Tony Blair, thought to alter Labour to New Labour, and one of the ways he did this was through public image by becoming tough on crime (Mathews 1999). Labour introduced a various amount of legislation, which led to the circulation of community penalties. This was evident in the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act, which created the Drug Treatment Testing Order, and the 2000 Criminal Justice and Court Services Act. This brought about the Probation Order, Community Service Order and the Combination Order. Two further sentences were also created that are the Exclusion Order and the Drug Abstinence Order. However, the Drug Abstinence Order was later abandoned as it was proved unworkable; this could be due to Populist Punitivism. The conservative government have a right wing approach, whereas New Labour comes from the left. This however, had little effect for the use of the prison as labour emphasised on the conservative approach to crime and made it stronger. Although there was new legislation that gave the court more power and options over the offender, prison numbers continued to rise. This was also apparent when David Blunkett became Home Secretary as the prison population started to rapidly grow months after (Guardian 2001). In 2001, the prison crisis of over crowding, and the fiscal problems were highlighted again, which resulted in new legislation from results drawn from the Halliday Report. The review was born out of a belief that the present sentencing framework suffers from serious deficiencies that reduce its contributions to crime reduction and public confidence (Halliday 2001). The report highlighted key limitations and suggested new approaches to strengthen the criminal justice system. One of the highlighted problems was the short prison sentences of less than 12 months and that they had no effect on the offender. It was also noted that persistent offenders do not appear to receive significantly longer prison sentences. Halliday (2001) shows that in a sample of male offenders aged over 18 and sentenced in1998, the average sentence for burglary for an offender with 10 or more previous convictions was only 4 months more than somebody with no convictions. The Halliday Report led to the White Paper in 2002, Justice For All, which sets out the Governments far reaching proposals for the reform of the criminal justice system and resulted in the 2003 Criminal Justice Act. The Halliday Report noted that just deserts and the punishment fitting the crime are key features of the statutory framework set up in 1991 and that there is nothing wrong with this in itself. However the report now focuses on three tiers of seriousness established by the Act: fines, community punishment and custody (Easton, 2005). This created a new framework and therefore saw the collapse of just deserts. Instead of focusing on just how serious the crime was for punishment, the court now had power to punish the offender in many of different ways depending on the offence. From the 2001 Halliday Report and the 2002 White Paper the new findings created a new framework to sentences. The Act clearly sets out the purposes of sentencing, which include retributive, deterrence and reductive, reform rehabilitation, public protection, and reparation, (Criminal Justice Act 2003). The Halliday Report also influenced the new legislation in 2003 by identifying a gap in the sentencing framework. The Act replaced all the adult community sentences with a generic community sentence. This allowed the courts to attach requirements to this community sentence from a number of options; supervision, unpaid work, activities, prohibited activities, accredited programmes, curfew, exclusion, residence, mental health treatment, drug rehabilitation, alcohol treatment, attendance centre (for under 25 yr olds) (Criminal Justice Act 2003). The Criminal Justice Act 2003 also introduced a number of other measures such as Conditional Cautions, Strengthened deferment of sentence to include an element of probation supervision, Custody Plus, Intermittent Custody, new Suspended Sentence Order; however, these measures show unclear boundaries between community and custodial penalties. Thus, the argument against this is whether the courts will favour a custody followed by a rehabilitative sentence and that they will become more popular, which will help reduce overcrowding. Faulkner (2002) prior to the 2003 Criminal Justice Act urged caution in seeing the introduction of a new sentencing framework as the answer to addressing crime. He states that: If the new sentences are to contribute to reduced rates of crime or re-offending, they will at the very least have to be applied in the context of a prison system which is no longer distracted by overcrowding, of a well-resourced and innovative National Probation Service. This may sugge st that there is a covert meaning under the new framework for the use of imprisonment. By utilising community sentences it is thought that this will free prison space, which will stop over crowding and make punishment worth while. However, statistics show far greater use is being made of the prison and probation service because in 1996, 85,000 offenders were given a custodial sentence and 133,000 were given a community sentence. By 2001, both had increased by 25 per cent, with 107,000 offenders given a custodial sentence and 166,000 offenders receiving a community sentence (reference). The use of the prison as changed significantly over the years, with a major influence from the change in government and the change in the sentencing framework. Originally, the prison was used for any type of crime but due to over crowding the government came to recognise that the prison should be used for the more serious offences and introduced the community service for petty crimes. Community service was perceived to free up prison space and the fiscal crisis, however the prison population kept expanding over the years. This could be due to the numbers of offenders caught and sentenced as police powers had expanded or the increase in the overall seriousness of the crimes brought to justice or the increase in the sentence severity for specific offences. New legislation allowed the courts to have an option, however, this soon expanded focusing more on community services using the prison as the last resort. Nobody wants to go to prison; therefore by issuing a community service it is g iving them a strong warning using the prison as the most feared punishment. Individuals who then break the community service punishment will then be sent to prison. A new Act came Criminal justice and immigration act 2008 brought forward the release date of prisoners serving sentences greater than 4 years imposed before 4 April 2005. It did not apply to prisoners serving life sentences or serving sentences for violent or sexual offences. This section came into force on 9 June 2008. This was in order to alleviate prison overcrowding. prisons are for suspects refused bail and detained before trial, or convicted but not yet sentenced, are held in custody to ensure that the course of justice proceeds to its conclusion and that everyone concerned is protected against the likelihood of harm in the interim. The system needs to ensure that the increased investment in prison and probation is targeted effectively to reduce crime and maintain public confidence. The use of prison and probation has increased by over a quarter since 1996, even though the number of people arrested and sentenced has remained broadly constant. The growth is due to the increased severity of sentences, which is linked to the fall in the use of fines. terrorists #3 strikes mandatory life sentence 2003

Stylistic Features in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay examples --

Stylistic Features in â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚         Henry Seidel Canby in â€Å"A Skeptic Incompatible with His Time and His Past† states: â€Å"And indeed there is a lack of consistence between the scorn that our younger critics shower upon Hawthorne’s moral creations and their respect for his style. They admit a dignity in the expression that they will not allow to the thing expressed† (62). The style found in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† has not only a â€Å"dignity in the expression† as stated above, but also many other interesting aspects, discussed in the following essay.    Canby continues:    Hawthorne’style has a mellow beauty; it is sometimes dull, sometimes prim, but it is never for an instant cheap, never, like our later American styles, deficient in tone and unity. It is a style with a patina that may or may not accord with current tastes, yet, as with Browne, Addison, Lamb, Thoreau, is undoubtedly a style. Such styles spring only from rich ground, long cultivated, and such a soil was Hawthorne’s. . . . Holding back from the new life of America into which Whitman was to plunge with such exuberance, he kept his style, like himself, unsullied by the prosaic world of industrial revolution, and chose, for his reality, the workings of the moral will. You can scarcely praise his style and condemn his subjects. Even romantic themes that would have been absurd in lesser hands get dignity from his purpose. . . . As Shakespeare, the Renaissance man, gave feudalism its final lift into the imagination, so Hawthorne, the skeptic with a moral obsession, raised New En gland Puritanism – not the theory, but the practice and still more the results in mind and spirit – into art. This lies behind his style (63). .. ...: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.    Fuller, Edmund and B. Jo Kinnick in â€Å"Stories Derived from New England Living.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Hawthorne, Nathaniel. â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† 1835. http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~daniel/amlit/goodman/goodmantext.html    James, Henry. Hawthorne. http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/nhhj1.html    Kaul, A.N. â€Å"Introduction.† In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.    Swisher, Clarice. â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.   

Some Problems With Ecofeminism :: Karen Warren Essays

Some Problems With Ecofeminism ABSTRACT: Karen Warren presents and defends the ecofeminist position that people are wrong in dominating nature as a whole or in part (individual animals, species, ecosystems, mountains), for the same reason that subordinating women to the will and purposes of men is wrong. She claims that all feminists must object to both types of domination because both are expressions of the same "logic of domination." Yet, problems arise with her claim of twin dominations. The enlightenment tradition gave rise to influential versions of feminism and provided a framework which explains the wrongness of the domination of women by men as a form of injustice. Yet on this account, the domination of nature cannot be assimilated to the domination of women. Worse, on the enlightenment framework, the claim that the domination of nature is wrong in the same way that the domination of women is wrong makes no sense, since (according to this framework) domination can only be considered to be unjust when the o bject dominated has a will. While ecofeminism rejects the enlightenment view, it cannot simply write off enlightenment feminism as non-feminist. It must show that enlightenment feminism is either inauthentic or conceptually unstable. Karen Warren claims that there is an interconnection between the domination of nature by humans and the domination of women by men. She uses the following argument schemas to set out the 'logic of domination'. A1. Humans do, and plants and rocks do not, have the capacity to consciously and radically change the community in which they live. A2. Whatever has the capacity to consciously and radically change the community in which it lives is morally superior to whatever lacks this capacity. A3. Thus, humans are morally superior to plants and rocks. A4. For any X and Y, if X is morally superior to Y, then X is morally justified in subordinating Y. A5. Thus, humans are morally justified in subordinating plants and rocks. (1) She points out that the assumptions A2 and A4 are critical, since without them, all that can be shown is that people are different from plants and rocks.A4 in particular expresses the logic of domination.(269) This key assumption recurs in the reasoning justifying male domination of females: B1. Women are identified with nature and the realm of the physical; men are identified with the "human" and the realm of the mental. B2. Whatever is identified with nature and realm of the physical is inferior to ("below") whatever is identified with the "human" and the realm of the mental; or conversely, the latter is superior to ("above") the former.