Younger Generation Spending More Time Indoors

Children today seem to spend far too long inside with computer games, watching TV and videos. This is definitely bad in some ways because children should develop outdoor pursuits such as football, cricket and basketball that would make them healthy now and in their later lives. If they don? t learn to play sports when they? re young, it is unlikely that they will develop these healthy habits later in life and the results can be seen today in the higher levels of obesity and related illnesses such as diabetes.When I was young I had only sports to keep me occupied and I am grateful now that I still love and play the sports of my youth. On the other hand the world today is dominated by computers and electronics so it? s important that children learn to like and understand computers and technology early in life. The older generation didn? t have the opportunity to have this electronic entertainment and so don? t understand the attraction.In conclusion I would certainly agree that it is b ad and unhealthy for children to spend all their time indoors with electronic entertainment. I don? t think all children are too dependent on electronic entertainment but too many definitely are. We cannot expect though that children will totally ignore today? s technologies and it is important that they grow up with awareness and understanding of these things that will dominate their later lives. I believe it is up to parents to guide and encourage a reasonable mixture of both indoor and outdoor pursuits.

A Streetcar Named Desired

The Character of Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche, Stella's is by far the most complex character of the play. An intelligent and sensitive woman who values literature and the creativity of the human imagination, she is also emotionally traumatised and repressed. This gives license for her own imagination to become a haven for her pain. One senses that Blanches own view of her real self as opposed to her ideal self has been increasingly blurred over the years until it is sometimes difficult for her to tell the difference.It is a challenge to find the key to Blanche's melancholy but perhaps the roots of her trauma lie in her early marriage. She was haunted by her inability to help or understand her young, troubled husband and that she has tortured herself for it ever since. Her drive to lose herself in the â€Å"kindness of strangers† might also be understood from this period in that her sense of confidence in her own feminine attraction was shaken by the knowledge of her husband's homosexuality and she is driven to use her sexual charms to attract men over and over. Yet, beneath all this, there is a desire to find a companion, to find fulfilment in love.She is not successful because of her refusal or inability to face reality, in her circumstances and in herself. Blanche has a hard time confronting her mixed desires and therefore is never able to sort them out and deal with them. She wants a cultured man but is often subconsciously attracted to strong, basic male characters, perhaps a response to her marriage with a cultured, sensitive man which ended in disaster. So although Blanche dislikes Stanley as a person, she is drawn to him as a type of man who is resoundingly heterosexual and who is strong enough to protect her from an increasingly harsh world.This seems to be the reason for her brief relationship with Mitch, but it becomes clear to Blanche that Stanley is the dominant male here and she begins to acknowledge that fact. When Blanche te lls the operator in Scene Ten that she is caught in a trap, part of her realises she has set herself up via her desires. Stanley is the embodiment of what she needs, yet detests, and, because of her sister, can never have. After Stanley has stripped her of her self-respect in this scene, she becomes desperate, unable to retreat to her fantasies and so this deeper layer of her desires is revealed. You can read also  Similarities and Conflicts in † a Streetcar Named Desire†Yet, Blanche does not know how to face these feelings and she senses to give into them could be disastrous for her. As Stanley advances towards her, she tells him, â€Å"I warn you, don't, I'm in danger! † but Stanley has made sure that this time there is no where for her to hide. In her final act, she silently acknowledges that her own desires have also led to this date. It is interesting that neither Blanche nor Stanley seriously seem to consider Stella as Scene Ten reaches a climax. They both recognise that somehow they are drawn together and also repelled by forces that are directly between them and that have little to do with Stella.Things come to a head so quickly that it is as if tensions have been bubblingore emotionally and mentally crippled than before. Yet, Stanley and by extension Stella, are not clear victors. Like Blanche, Stanley is also revealed to be capable of deceit, he does not admit the truth of what happened between him and Blanche to his friends, to Stella, and maybe not even to himself. Stella makes a conscious decision to believe Stanley instead of her sister because to do otherwise would be both emotionally and economically difficult with a new baby so she, too, is engaging in a measure of self-deception.Stanley survives because of sheer physical presence, not because of any innate superiority. Blanche suffers overall on many fronts in her new environment, but in conclusion although one does feel pity for Blanche she has to a large extent with her own weaknesses brought her own downfall. Blanche can not compete in the new household she is placed in Stella has already claimed her territory and ultimately will choose her marriage over her sister.Blanches past erupts into the present and without at the forefront is the contradiction to the facade Blanche has put up over her sexual needs and desires. So confused is Blanche over sex the one weap on she has to gain a husband her sexuality she can no longer use. In the end Blanche is living in a era which was smashed a hundred years before this moment of time in the play. This era Blanche lameness in is the gentile society of Southern America with wealthy European colonials engaging politely in society. For Blanche this refusal to let go of the past and adjust to her new surroundings and the

Republic Day Essay

Republic Day is one of the three national holidays of India and the greatest festival celebrated in the country. It is celebrated every year on January 26, in New Delhi with great pomp, fanfare and pageant. While in the capitals of the States and other headquarters, it is marked with patriotic fervor. The most spectacular celebrations are marked by the Republic Day Parade that takes place in the capital of New Delhi at Rajpath. It includes march past of the three armed forces, massive parades, folk dances by tribal folk from different states in picturesque costumes marking the cultural unity of India. Further, the streak of jet planes of Indian Air Force, leaving a trial of colored smoke, marks the end of the festival. It was the Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress at midnight of December 31, 1929 – January 1, 1930, that the Tri-Color Flag was unfurled by the nationalists and a pledge was taken that on January 26 every year, â€Å"Republic Day† would be celebrated and that the people would unceasingly strive for the establishment of a Sovereign Democratic Republic India. The professed pledge was successfully redeemed on January 26, 1950, when the Constitution of India framed by the Constituent Assembly of India came into force, although the Independence from the British rule was already achieved on August 15, 1947. It is because of this fact that August 15 is celebrated as Independence Day, while January 26 as Republic Day. The festivity of Republic Day concludes officially with the intriguing Beating Retreat ceremony on the evening of 29th January. This enthralling ceremony is performed by the military, the Indian Air Force, India Navy and India Army in the Raisina Hills, New Delhi, in front of the President of India as the Chief Guest.

Project Plan for an Online Music Store Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Project Plan for an Online Music Store - Essay Example After the site is done, the clients will be able to purchase music gear like headphones and ipods, music magazines like Billboard magazine and Rolling stones magazine, as well as music compact discs and digital music. The site will also provide the facilitation of cart system of purchase, where the client can purchase the products directly, add them to the purchase cart, and then pay fro them online via credit cards and other arrangements. 2. Project Overview 2.1 Scope This online store will enable clients and other users to purchase digital music of their choice from a wide catalogue. It will also make them able to purchase compact discs, vintage vinyl, music instruments, music players, musical headgear, music and music related magazines and other music paraphernalia that may be related to these products like long life power batteries for music players. The online store will also feature a jam room where the sites clients will be offered music at dates, which are pre-decided. The on line site will thus have a jam room booking option where the clients and other users can hand in their details, for processing and thus book the jam room beforehand. Via adding products to cart, the clients can also purchase products online and then pay for them later online. 2.2 Details and Requirements Ear Lickers online music store aims to be a leading band in the buying of music and music related paraphernalia on the internet. To do this, the site, will have to be user friendly, efficient, and reliable (Reid, 2009 p56). For this to be values to be instituted, the online site will have these features: A log in section, which is aimed at enabling users to create accounts n the website and... This paper seeks to provide an outline of a project plan aimed at starting an online store for the sale of music. This project plans main purpose is to define tentatively the different iterations and phases for the lifecycle of the project. This plan could act as a guide for software development processes too. For software development, the professionals who could use this project plan include team leaders who would utilize it for planning sharing of resources and management of time. This project’s main objective is for the development of an online store, which is mainly aimed at live clients, and will be called Ear lickers music store. After the site is done, the clients will be able to purchase music gear like headphones and ipods, music magazines like Billboard magazine and Rolling stones magazine, as well as music compact discs and digital music. The site will also provide the facilitation of cart system of purchase, where the client can purchase the products directly, add them to the purchase cart, and then pay fro them online via credit cards and other arrangements. Since online music stores are a relatively new venture, it was important to come up first with a project plan before the actual setting up of the project. This helps in the systematic implementation of the project and its completion on schedule and within budget. The various members of the team are required to be aware of their specific tasks in order for them to be efficient and conclude their duties on time.

How Alberto Fujimori was able to maintain popular support after the Term Paper

How Alberto Fujimori was able to maintain popular support after the shock - Term Paper Example Garcia started well, but by 1989, things started going haywire. His leadership was riddled in corruption; hence, he started losing the popular support of his people. Furthermore, hyperinflation almost crippled the economy of Peru in 1989. All these culminated in the end of his leadership tenure in 1990 (Caretas 98). Next was the leadership of Alberto Fujimori in 1990. When Fujimori inherited the presidency, Peru was faced with various challenges; soaring unemployment rates, hyperinflation, high violence rates, and the public’s disillusionment with politicians and political parties. Fujimori implemented what is widely known as the ‘’shock therapy’’ which he felt was the best way that he would use to revive the country that was riddled with very many economic challenges and vices. Fujimori was able to maintain popular support even after the shock therapy, which many pundits deemed ineffective. This paper analyses the political tenures of Peru’s presidents since the 1980, including the tenure of Alberto Fujimori, the brainchild behind the shock therapy. The paper also analyses why Fujimori was able to maintain popular support even after the shock therapy, and the decline of his power in Peru. In order to understand what Fujimori encountered through his gove rnment and the decisions he made, we need to go back a decade before and follow the reasons that created and maintained a rolling snowball to this country’s most desperate times (Rousseau 118). Fernando Belaunde Terry, born October 7, 1912 was a politician, educator and architect, and twice served as president of Peru. Peru is known for stagnant dictatorship, but Belaunde sought to introduce a laissez-faire form of leadership that would ensure that events in his country were handled in a democratic manner. Belaunde was first elected to the presidency in 1963, but, he was overthrown and exiled in 1968 in a bloodless

The Attributes Of The Nurse Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Attributes Of The Nurse Leadership - Essay Example I have grown with my self-knowledge and this growth emanated from m interaction with other people. As a nurse, there was always the need to mingle with other officers to work together and in some cases take instructions from them. As all these interactions took place, there were avenues through which I easily pointed to some of my weaknesses and strengths and these generally make up for my self-knowledge. The lessons and topics have also gone a long way to teach me about differences in personalities and this has spiced up my self-knowledge. The class sections have really helped in shaping my interpersonal relationship with others. Before, I was the type who believed so much in my personhood and thus had very little time to pay attention to who other people were and what they did. Today, I have come to accept the need for social integration and the basic requirements for this; which includes the need to open up to other people and give them the chance to also express themselves freely. This has however not defeated the need for me to continue to be an active communicator instead of a passive one. As the topic areas in this course of leadership proofs to be more and beneficial to my studies and career as a nurse, it is important that I seek an avenue to continue to learn more topics regarding leadership. In this direction, some key topics I have penned down include but not limited to The knowledge they say is not vested in the head of one person alone. For this reason, I constantly feel the need to learn from other people to equip what I already know and have. For this reason, I pay particular attention to the attributes of other nurses and learn a lot from them during interactions with them. I am never shy to ask questions for clarity and ask for my mistakes to be corrected. Through such means, I am hoping to be a perfect nurse in the nearest future.

Interactive Behaviour at Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Interactive Behaviour at Work - Essay Example Poor communication in the organisation, lack of family-friendly policies, distressed interpersonal relationships, conflicting job expectations and career concerns are the issues that only add up to the degenerating spirit of the sales staff. The above listed internal issues of this organisation are becoming the root cause of declining revenue, which is one of the main corporate goals of this or any business. The sales staff is given sales targets that are unrealistically high, and the policies are such that upon failure to achieve these targets, the respective employee's job will be terminated. With such policies, employees are unable to work diligently and up to their optimum calibre. Instead, the staff is continuously on the outlook for other job opportunities, which steals their attention from their work even more. The dilemma of the situation is that the employees do not feel comfortable having a discussion with their management regarding such chronic work issues. High employee turnover results in a haphazard sort of scenario in the workplace. New employees that are recruited in place of the departing people are not properly oriented or introduced to the existing staff. There is no team building in result of such ma lpractice and work uncertainty and job insecurity is on the rise. The department of sales in any organisation has to have dynamic and outgoing human resources in order to function properly. For such a situation to exist, the managers and superiors of the department must adopt such strategies and policies that a free flow of communication be inherent. This flow of communication should be both upward and downward so that the right decisions are taken at the right time. The essence of such a system is in the involvement of employees in the work scheduling and goal setting process. In any organisation, the main corporate goal is achieved by setting and accomplishing middle and lower level goals and targets. These middle and lower level goals are achieved after proper planning, organising and controlling. If the goal itself is not set with the right vision, tasks are not organised in the proper well-chalked out manner, resources are not deployed in the most productive and effective way, then there is no way that the organisation will achieve its mission fruitfully. Such a mismanaged situation persists in the sales department of Business Plus TV channel. The goal setting process in any department of any organisation is a sensitive procedure requiring high level of expert and knowledgeable input. The department under study is engaged in the setting of targets that are neither smart nor realistic. These targets are overly demanding and instead of boosting efforts on the employees' end, these are putting unreasonable pressure on the staff. Besides, the designing of the task is such that the workers are over burdened with high levels of time pressures. Inflexible work schedules unpredictable and long hours are the results of the unorganised task design. The horror of losing jobs in case of failure to achieve the assigned targets are aggravating the pressure and strain amongst employees. The staff is dissatisfied and insecure with little hope of career development. The over all culture of the workplace is confined sort with poor communication, low level of support for problem solving and personal development and lack of definition of orga nisational objectives. This organisation faces the unsound and

Employee Re-sourcing & Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Employee Re-sourcing & Development - Essay Example Since January Safeway have refocused their activities on managing change and over 120 staff members have participated in these courses to date. Safeway's normal skills training for store staff, launching apprenticeship programmes for butchers, fishmongers and florists. Additionally, 210 bakers completed the craft baking NVQ, while over 7,000 of Safeway's people have now received craft skills and systems training at one of Safeway's three regional training centres. (Beardwell, 2001-58-62) Delivering the best customer service continues to be a high priority. During the year Safeway extended Safeway's Star Service programme to include a new initiative designed to help Safeway become the "friendliest store in town". Safeway's people in stores have been asked to concentrate on "smiling, greeting, helping and thanking" customers every time they have contact with them. High standards are expected and by the end of the year independent monitoring showed that over 90% of Safeway's stores were either meeting or close to meeting all of these targets. (Corbridge, 1998, 78-86) Safeway employs approximately 85,000 people in stores, depots and offices across the UK. Through Safeways employment policy Safeway aim to provide fair treatment for all colleagues, invest in their development, protect their well-being and keep them both informed and involved. In 2004/05 Safeway defined 12 employment and training targets to ensure that these aims were achieved. For example: Safeway encourages open and honest communication through a range of initiatives. Safeway conduct a 6-monthly survey of Safeways colleagues, "Survey for Everyone", which allows every individual to give feedback on their job, their manager, their location, Safeway as a place to work and their perception of the Company's performance. At local level, teams of colleagues are empowered to take action on anything arising from the survey results. Other initiatives such as focus groups and Safeways intranet facility ("Grapevine") are referred to in the Chief Executive's review. Safeway have established a Colleague Council for the Hayes site, with representatives elected from all Head Office divisions. The meetings have opened up a valuable channel for two-way communication with employees to discuss how Safeway can improve the way in which Safeway work together. Such has been their success that Safeway have already begun to roll this out to other areas of the business. Safeway's centralized recruitment centre at Warrington is now fully operational and receives an average of over 11,000 hotline calls per week. Safeway also receive over 800 job applications through Safeways website every week. Safeway have enjoyed ongoing success in working with the Investors in People framework, with several divisions achieving recognition and a significant proportion of Safeways store colleagues working towards accreditation. Storebrand Investment's assessment of 86 retailers worldwide in 2005, which included Safeway in the top 30% "best in class" of its sample. Safeway are pleased with these results and will continue to work with all these

MODERNITY VERSUS POSTMODERNITY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

MODERNITY VERSUS POSTMODERNITY - Essay Example The evolution of modern concrete and certain other building technologies have contributed to varied changes; thus design building has been and continues to be practiced in a more or less similar form in many states globally. Modernism architectures have become more coherent, a structured field containing a variety of equivalent strains and more pluralistic array of formal practices. Among the modern building design of the 20th century includes the MNCARS (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia), the Sistine chapel, St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, which is a revival of gothic architecture, mosques, parliamentary building and many others. The idea of the avant-garde is considered as the hallmark and the beginning for novelty, which was distinctive from postmodernism architecture. The avant-garde comprehends itself as attacking indefinite territory, exposing itself to the threats of sudden, shocking encounters; conquering and as yet unoccupied future; thus the avant-garde must find aw ay in a scene into which no one seems to have yet ventured. Sistine Chapel One of the structural buildings of the 20th century is Sistine chapel, which is among the best and advanced acknowledged structural buildings for the apostolic fortress. ... Some of the painting styles employed by Michelangelo, which are on the ceiling, are among the utmost and notable works of the modern creative style ever created (Norberg-Schulz, 2000, p. 81). The frescoes of the Sistine chapel, which are mainly on the upper parts of the buildings especially on the ceiling and accompanying lunettes by Michelangelo, have been the issue for varied aspect of refurbishments. Sistine chapel has created spontaneous and shocking encounters to most people because of varied features and paintings, as well as, decorations of the buildings. The mystery that was gathered to reveal the contemporary issue was at formerly viewed as timely and timeless. For the aspect of timely, scholars explain that the faithful have higher complexity in accomplishing prayerful reminiscence and a sense of the existence of God. This is seen as a complex issue and a predicament that surrounds the holy or sacred structural designs. For the case of timeless, God never ceased to call hum anity to himself; thus he interceded through human history. There are varied realistic and grounded guiding doctrines that reflects upon the concerning aspect of vocation and mission of the structural designers in the church history. The sacred or holy scripture confirms that the purpose of architects and artists arose from the very aspect of God’s plan during the creation of the world; therefore, scholars beliefs that from the very beginning, the talents of architectures and artists have been shaped through a distinctive relation to the plan of God. From the sacred scriptures, God is seen as the divine architect and the first mission of God was to create a suitable place for man to dwell in or live and that was the Garden of Eden. Therefore, Sistine chapel is one of the sacred

China Miville Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

China Miville - Essay Example Interrelations on all these aspects will enable us gain a new notion and perspective on various issues altogether. Human self-deception highly depends on one’s familiarity with something or someone.On the other hand, knowledge orients on aspects like education, experience, skills, descriptions, information and facts. Nonetheless, knowledge can either become explicit or implicit, systematic or less formal, while in other instances it may refer to the practical or theoretical understanding of a subject. To many, knowledge is merely the phenomenon behind belief in amalgamation with facts. Such kinds of interrelations within the idea behind knowledge raise unending controversies on facets orienting around a fact or a belief. The acquisition of knowledge depends on a complex learning process that depends on our memory, attention, learning, reasoning, decision making, problem solving and understanding of language. In learning, one has to admit that they do not know or they lack idea s about particular aspects. Knowing is the main facade behind knowledge but there arises four facets from knowing that include; known knowns, known unknowns, unknown unknowns and unknown knowns. The known knowns fall under the things that we know that we know, there again exits the known unknowns which fall under the things that we know but are unknown; we do not know them but we understand how to find them. The third aspect is the unknown unknowns which fall under the things that we are unaware about. The unknown unknowns remain a mystery to us as they fall under a very vast field beyond our investigation. On the other hand, unknown knowns are ideas that we do not know that we know. This phenomenon leads to the knowledge that does not know itself, it’s more like a dream; the unspeakable desires that we never talk about. These are the obvious things that we do in life that we pay little or no attention to in the perspective of relevance. Relevance determines the solution to p roblems through identifying relevant elements that lead to the development of anelucidation. This is in the same perspective as the notion behind method since they will always lead to results that they are designed to develop or generate. On the other hand, prejudice is the decision making prior to the availability of relevant facts in a case. The phenomenon refers to any negative or positive evaluation on other people based on ideas like nationality, language, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, disability, age, social class and gender among other personal traits.As a result prejudice leads to unreasonable attitudes that remain resistant to rational influence leading to unfavorable or favorable feelings towards a thing or person based on actual experience. Ideologies lead to the raising of prejudices from unknown knowns while challenge leads to overturning all the aspects taken for granted by human beings. Take for instance in schools, it is a major belief that particular subjects are well performed by particular genders. Incorporating the same idea leads to the same result unless one decides to challenge the latter idea. Most of the things around our lives are taken for granted just for our lives to become the way they are as per our invisibilities. These invisibilities are based on common sense as the prudent and sound judgment which relies on simple

Political Science Essay Example for Free

Political Science Essay Non-governmental organizations and Inter-governmental organization are defined as actors in the international level which operate and they carry out their activities without any state control. Non-governmental organizations are formed voluntarily by citizens, with the aim of charitable participation within the organization. They are independent within the laws of society and are managed by those elected or the appointed board. Its legal status is based on freedom of association, one of the most basic human rights. This paper will focus on various aspects of these two kinds of organizations and their effects on the international relations of a state. NGOs are not established with the purpose of making profit rather they are engaged in revenue-generating activities. The revenue obtained is used in pursuit of the organization’s mission. Employees get the proper reward for relevant work done. Nevertheless, boards are not paid for the work they do but are reimbursed for any expense they incur in executing board duties. In addition, NGOs aims at improving the circumstances and prospects of people and to act on issues detrimental to the well being of the society as a whole (Ahmed Potter, 2008). There exists great diversification in terms of independence, size of business, source of funding, international reach and operating procedures. These organizations can execute projects, shield or promote specific causes and seek to manipulate policy. NGOs are not subject to international law and include organizations like Amnesty international, the International chamber of Commerce and International Red Cross. IGOs  Intergovernmental organizations, commonly abbreviated as IGOs, comprise of sovereign states that are positioned to carry out projects and plans in common interest. NGOs act in conjunction with IGOs by complimenting IGO- initiated and funded programmes, as operational partners. IGOs include organizations like the European Union and the international financial institutions, World Bank. Most of IGOs work for and are financed by rich corporations and some state governments (Beigbeder, 1991). They are important aspect of public international law and are formed by treaty that acts as a bond creating the group. IGOs plays a major role by providing means of cooperation and multiple channels of communication between and among states in fields which cooperation and communication provides advantages for almost all nations. With the major roles of IGOs as rule making, data collection and agenda setting, they decrease uncertainty between states and explore cooperative solution for international problems. IGOs may manipulate norms of international relations and preferences of nation-states; for instance, the United Nations Environment Program which played key role in the conception of regimes such as the protection of the Mediterranean Sea. A well known case is the International Atomic Energy Agency which evidenced that IGOs play a significant role in monitoring principles, norms and rules of international institutions and international regimes. Infrastructure has developed within states as IGOs are greatly concerned with technical issues like telecommunication, postal services, transportation and environmental management. Economic development has been witnessed with IMF and the World Bank being successful in money flowing, debt management and financing debt issues between rich and poor states. States are able to obtain information about the international society and politics. Decisions made by IGOs are as a result of negotiations among the governmental agents assigned to them. Activities of IGOs such as the UN and the IMF are seen to be more influential for most diminutive countries as compared with countries with very big powers as they are not constrained too much by their principles. NGOs exists in many kinds such as transnational, governmental organized, governmental regulated and initiated, business and industry, transnational social movements and anti-governmental. For the recent decade their effectiveness for transnational politics has become pertinent and their number increased. NGOs mobilize universal networks by creating transnational organizations, gathering data on local conditions through associates around the world, creating immediate response and drum up pressure from the outside states. NGOs work hand in hand with IGOs by participating in their conferences and engaging in social appointments, building communal coalitions, raising new agendas and addressing IGOs meetings (Beigbeder, 1991). They also maintain inter-state collaboration by preparing backing papers, reports and refining delegates of states to narrow technical gap, intensifying policy options and bringing delegates together. They carry out activities within states such as linking to local partners and transnational movements, providing humanitarian aid protecting persons in danger. NGOs promote public participation within states by bringing awareness to the government delegates that they are being watched. This is achieved through the endless effort in increasing transparency and honesty of international negotiations and public institutions and aggravating public protest. They do mobilization of international community to fight against oppression, afflict, group and personal rights. Effects of NGOs and NGOs on international relations of a state Non-state actors have caused great transformation in international relations as they have become the major determinants of foreign policies of nation states as they have remained active in playing their major roles in more than one state. They are involved in both domestic and international settings. Through their personal connection with their employees, they help nation states to solve problems such as climatological changes, shortage of food, poverty, and insufficient natural resources. In many cases of political conflicts like the cold war which resulted to tribalism and other cultural cleavages, many non-state actors have been involved to solve them and shape national, regional and international policies and thus their role has been widely accepted by many political scientists. However, these scientists only differed on the level of relevance and effectiveness of non-state actors. Intergovernmental organizations and Non-governmental organizations are included in the part of world system and are source of effectiveness in international politics. In today’s world, it has become quite difficult to evaluate international politics and pattern without attaching the great influence of non-state actors which are gaining position. Moreover, non-state actors have shown concern with the rural poor and have managed to maintain field presence in distant locations where it quite difficult to keep government staff in station. They have identified the needs of the rural poor in terms of agricultural developments. They have also implemented new systems for testing new technology such as soya production in Bangladesh (Ahmed Potter, 2008). In other cases, non-state actors have assisted to organize landless labourers to get and operate water pumping technology and irrigation schemes. Concisely, they have sustained joint efforts in soil and water conservation whether is on private land or on micro-watershed areas. Conclusion  In conclusion, increased transactions, awareness and common concern on regional and global problems require collaboration between states and non-state actors so as to maintain their welfare. These organizations will also require further cooperation and communication among themselves to strengthen their effectiveness as actors in the implementation of sustainable achievement. Nation-states including the most powerful one, the United States, have to attach great significance to non-state actors in order to improve and achieve their main interests.

Historical cost accounting Essay Example for Free

Historical cost accounting Essay Advantages †¢Historical cost accounts are straightforward to produce †¢Historical cost accounts do not record gains until they are realized †¢Historical cost accounts are still used in most accounting systems Disadvantages †¢Historical cost accounts give no indication of current values of the assets of a business †¢Historical cost accounts do not record the opportunity costs of the use of older assets, particularly property which may be recorded at a value based on costs incurred many years ago †¢Historical cost accounts do not measure the loss of value of monetary assets as a result of inflation. Current purchasing power accounting Advantages †¢CPP method adopts the same unit of measurement by taking into account the price changes. †¢Under CPP method, historical accounts continue to be maintained. CPP statements are prepared on supplementary basis. †¢ CPP method facilitates the calculation of gain or loss in purchasing power due to the holding of monetary items. †¢CPP method uses common purchasing power as measuring unit. So, the comparative study is easy. †¢ CPP method provides reliable financial information for taking management decision to formulate plans and policies. †¢CPP method ensures keeping intact the purchasing power of capital contributed by shareholders. So, this method is of great importance from the point of view of the shareholders. Disadvantages †¢CPP method considers only the changes in general purchasing power. It does not consider the changes in the value of individual items. †¢CPP method is based on statistical index number which cannot be used in an individual firm. †¢ It is very difficult to choose a suitable price index. †¢CPP method fails to remove all the defects of historical cost accounting system. †¢The use of general price index for CPP method is questioned. While general price index deals with consumer goods, business is interested in the price movement of producer goods. Current cost accounting Advantages †¢More relevant †¢Provides up to date information with financial markets †¢Takes inflationary adjustments into account. â€Å"Critics have argued market value(current cost) reveals economic realities that are hidden by historical cost accounting. †¢Investors and creditors also prefer the market value accounting. â€Å"the information about the market value at the reporting date, the changes in that value and the components of that change- all provide the investors the valuable information for his decision making.† †¢In F/S, easier to view and determine whether the asset or liability is at risk or not Disadvantages †¢Unreliable   Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Volatile, when market price of an asset and liability is not available, the value is estimated (inappropriate) Continuously contemporary accounting Strengths †¢CoCoA provides information about an entitys capacity to adapt. Chambers considers such information crucial for effective decision making †¢It solves the additivity problem-there is a common basis of valuation (net-market values) so it makes logical sense to add the various asset values together. †¢There is no need for arbitrary cost allocations through depreciation. Weaknesses †¢Not all assets will have a readily determined market price-hence a deal of subjectively will be involved. †¢Some assets can generate income within a particular entity, but have little or no value to anybody else (for example, the case of the blast furnace). The value in use of such assets is ignored. †¢It values assets on the basis of the separate disposal of the respective assets. The implication of this is that assets which cannot be separately sold are deemed to have no value-for example, goodwill. This attribute of CoCoA has attracted a great deal of criticism. †¢CoCoA has never had widespread acceptance within the business community and hence there would be numerous obstacles to its implementation. †¢Because CoCoA would represent a radical departure from current methods of accounting, its adoption could cause major social and economic implications. †¢People are used to preparing and reading historical cost accounting reports, hence there would be a need to re-educate them about the strengths and limitations of CoCoA-this might be costly. †¢If an entity does not expect to sell an asset, it is questionable whether the selling price is really that relevant. †¢Tied to the above point, valuing all assets on the basis of selling prices has been criticised if it is considered that the entity is a going concern. †¢Determining the market price of unique assets introduces a degree of subjectivity into the accounting process.

Coca Cola Management Strategy

Coca Cola Management Strategy The advent of Cola wars has drastically changed the entire scenario of this soft drink industry. There are different giants playing in this industry and Coca Cola is amongst them. The fierce competitors Pepsi and certain other brands are trying their level best to change the scenario of this industry by eating up market shares but Coca Colas management strategy is so updated and relevant that they are ahead of their competition. Originating from just one brand 125 years go the strategy of Coca Cola has strengthened so much that they have launched more than 500 brands. The company originated from selling 9 odd drinks in a day in 1886 to 1.8 billion a day in the current era. The company has grown at an enormous pace and starting from just a single city to expanding its operations to more than 200 countries of the world (Coca Cola , 2012). The product actually initiated from a pharmacy and gained so much success after a certain period of time that it is regarded as one of the biggest br and of the world. New brands were added by this organization in their company product line and after a certain period of time most of the brands flourished with time (Coca Cola, 2012). But Coke is considered as one of the biggest brand and flourished at an enormous pace. The brand has grown in such a way that a new terminology of Cola drinks actually came into existence because of this. Catering to the needs of the customer is the biggest success secret of this brand. They know what the customer is actually asking for and they provide the customer that in such a way that the needs are properly satisfied with it. The history of the organization is quite rich and they have travelled their way facing several leaps and bounds. Coca-Cola has the greatest appreciated product name globally and, as one of the greatest noticeable organizations globally, it has great prospect to outshine in every scope of corporate performance (Ferrell, Ferrell, Fraedrich, 2011, p. 308). The organization thou gh has been confronted by many ethical problems in respect with their shareholders. Uncertain about the companys widespread contributions to the society and educational aspects, numerous shareholders are losing faith in the 100 year old organization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . Limitations of research Every research has certain limitations and the introduction depicts that the core research would focus on the strategy management process of Coca Cola and discusses the scenario that are utilized by the organization. The limitations of research are initiated by the usage of secondary sources in the research. The information are taken from these sources and it cannot be properly commented that the information presented in these sources are hundred percent right. Moreover, another limitation of this research is that this research should solely be utilized for academic purposes and it should not be used for the decision making process for organizational purpose. In the similar manner it should be noted that this research is prepared by an individual and all rights are reserved. Organizational Strategy Reviewing the strategic planning process that keep this organization competitive in this industry are several factors that are associated with this organization. The biggest aspect is the fact the formation of a well established mission and vision. In the similar manner one can easily say that all the strategic decision taken by the management are aligned with the vision and mission of the organization (Hill Jones, 2012). The objectives are designed so professionally that they are achieved within the stipulated deadline in such a way that they organization achieves success in both the short and the long run. The mission of the organization revolves around the scenario that they should refresh the world in body, mind and spirit. In the similar manner their objectives focus on the scenario that they should create a difference in everywhere they engage (Sevenson, 2001). The values of this organization are based on leadership, diversity, passion, integrity, collaboration, quality etc. Strategists and decision makers usually claim that the global strategy of this organization is so enormous and gigantic because of the effective decision makers in the organization. Their strategy is up to the mark because the organization is responsive internally and externally. The achieve success in every form because they are aware about the culture of their organization and they generate an atmosphere in their organization which results in a win-win situation (Hill Jones, 2012). The collaboration of all the stakeholders that are internal and external generates and great fusion for Coca Cola and that is th e reason why it is regarded as the brand with the highest level of brand equity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The competition in the soft drink industry is quite fierce because of two giant brands which are Coke and Pepsi (Dana 1999). The competition between these two brands is termed as the Cola Wars. Coca Cola is considered to be the leader of this industry and Pepsi is usually criticized by the marketing strategists as the brand that utilizes the imitating strategy. The current scenario is so confusing for both the brands because in order to attack the market leader Pepsi should have a distinctive plan or a sustainable competitive advantage (Mazze Michman, 1998). The strategies with respect to target market and introduction of a sub brand in the market of both the organizations are relatively the same because both the organizations are striving hard to capture the market share so that they can become the leaders in the Cola indust ry. Pepsis market share in Asia is much more than Coke however, besides Asia Coke captures the entire world and this strategy of Coke has taken Pepsi by a storm. The Cola are virtually fought in nearly every country of the world and organization with an effective strategy wins the race (Boutzikas 2000). Each brand is fighting the battle with different brands and both possess several non-alcoholic brands to get a share in customers stomach. Since the competition is becoming more and more dynamic with the advent of time and that is the reason why the arena is become much fuzzier and because of this reason the rivals are much difficult to identify and anticipate (Day Reibstein, 2004). Organizations usually learn from their past mistakes and that is the reason why they develop a learning habit to face any external and internal issues (Vrontis, 2003). Coke made a marketing research blunder which dipped the competitive graph of their brand and they were sinking in the competitive battle with other brands. Coke, due to blind tests changed the taste of the Coke and developed a formula to make it sweeter. This strategy backfired quiet badly and people started to dislike the name new coke and after a certain period of time they started to dislike the taste too. About $ 4 billion were spent on this campaign and it came out to be a blunder for the company (Axson, 2011) Review of the Literature The current objectives of this organization are to use the formidable assets of the company that is their brands to its full potential and attain a sustainable competitive advantage through globally reaching the maximum customers. There are several different strategies that are opted by Coca Cola to attain sustainable growth. For analyzing the effectiveness of employed business strategies by the management at Coca Cola Company, critical analysis of current market status of the company has been discussed subsequently. SWOT Analysis of Coca Cola Company For strategic evaluation of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats which any organization, project, or a business venture comes up with, SWOT Analysis is commonly used. Primary aim behind the conduction of SWOT Analysis is to exhaustively identify what internal as well as external factors are favorably or unfavorably influencing the growth and development of any business (Champman, 2007). In this section, Coca Cola is the undertaken company for the description and evaluation of SWOT. Strengths Globally, the Coca Cola Company has following key aspects as its business strengths: The brand image and equity allied with the company is internationally recognized The brands and products of the company are strategically distributed all over the world by means of strong and efficient distribution network The overall financial performance of the company is relatively higher than its competitors Coke is globally recognized, acknowledged as well as the most preferred brand for soft-drink lovers. The product-line associated with the companys brand is extensively diversified Strong and reliable corporate identity. Continues innovation and improvisation in business plans and strategies Weaknesses Coca Cola has following weaknesses on international grounds: Despite of having tremendous financial performance of the company, it has high rank in credit ratings Continuously diverging customer concentrations due to other brands in competition, specifically in US. Customer loyalty towards Pepsi products, which is the biggest and the strongest contender of Coke around the world. In Asian countries, like India and Pakistan, Coke failed to acquire #1 position in soft-drink industry. Opportunities Coke Company has following significant opportunities world-wide: The tremendously escalating demand of soft drinks all over the world. As company has expanded its covered market areas by introducing brands of mineral water, juices, soft-drinks etc, it can reach almost every market segment. Increasing globalization will allow Coca Cola to have certainly globalized business operations Health Conscious People are being catered Drastic growth in mineral water demand Smaller market players acquisitions. Threats Following business threats are being faced by the company: Since soft-drinks are considered to be unhealthy; in such scenarios, healthy drinks usually manufactured by the Fruit Juice Companies are imposing business threats to the Coca Cola Company, worldwide. Customers increasing inclinations towards critical competitors (like Pepsi, etc) Growing financial crisis and thus, prices of products Biased image perceptions in different countries of the world. BCG Matrix for Coca Cola BCG Analysis is an acronym for Boston Consulting Group Analysis. The concept of BCG Matrix was firstly put forward during 1970 by Bruce Henderson for the Boston Consulting Group with the intentions of helping companies in their business evaluation practices on the basis of their business units or product lines (Middleton, 2003). BCG analysis is considered as an analytical tool for marketing of brands, product management, strategic management, and portfolio analysis. All in all, it helps organizations to allocate their business resources. Components of BCG Matrix: To better understand the analytical techniques used in BCG matrix, its core components are described in the segment below: 1. Stars Representing the highly developed business with strong market position and financial performance as compared to its competitors. Businesses rated under this category are considered to be ideal with high shares points. 2. Cash Businesses having low growth rates but higher point shares are recorded under this category of BCG Matrix. It is assumed that the businesses recorded in this category were initially stars but somehow failed to maintain their attractiveness over time. 3. Question Mark Businesses having high rates of growth and development but, their point shares are low, are recorded under this category of BCG Matrix. This category is the reflection of certain potentials that business has for future growth and development but, at the same time, indicates the requirement of extensive efforts to increase point shares. 4. Dogs In this category, businesses have both low point share as well as low rates of growth and development. A general representation of BCG Matrix is given in the figure below: Figure 1: The BCG Matrix (Source: Middleton, 2003) As far as Coca Cola Company is concerned, the BCG Matrix analysis for the company is based upon following statistics: Figure 2: Coca Colas Performance from all over the World (Source: Ahmad et al 2007) On the basis of afore-mentioned statistical analysis of Coca Cola Company, created BCG Matrix for the company is given below: Figure 3: BCG Matrix for Coca Cola Company (Source: Ahmad et al 2007) Porters Five Force Model for Coca Cola For carrying out industrial analysis, The Five Force Model presented by Michael Porter in 1979 is being used as the de facto framework since the time of its introduction. The competitiveness of market is analyzed by Porters five forces. The current or potential risks that a company can have from its associated industry are concluded by the experts after employing this model. Following five forces are included in Porters model (1) Threat of New Entrants, (2) Threat of Substitute Products or Services, (3) Bargaining Power of Buyers, (4) Bargaining Power of Suppliers, (5) Competitive Rivalry among Existing Firms. The industrial analysis of Coca Cola Company and its brands on the basis of this five-force model is discussed below: Threat of New Entrants/Potential Competitors: Median Pressure As far as beverage industry is concerned, the barriers to the new entrants are relatively low because the cost of consumer switching in this particular industry is approximately zero with quite low requirements for capital investments. A number of new products have been introduced in the market at relatively lower prices than that of the products and brands of the Coca Cola Company. Threat of Substitute Products: Median to high pressure The consumer markets have a range of alternative products for soft-drinks, energy-drinks, juices and mineral water. It is an open fact that Coke products lack any unique flavor because its flavor is 97% similar to that of Pepsi as concluded during a blind taste test, in which people failed to distinguish Coca-Cola coke and Pepsi coke. The Bargaining Power of Buyers: Low pressure As far as bargaining power of consumers is concerned, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, which is Coca-colas biggest rival, have almost same market price thus, it has very little or even 0 pressure on the company. However, newly introduced, low-priced beverages are available in markets which can be preferred by the consumers but at the risk of flavor and quality. Fruit juices are the most preferred drink for the consumers these days as most of the consumers have become health conscious and thus are aware about the adverse impacts of carbonated beverages. The Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Low pressure In case of Coca-Cola supplies all over the world, its suppliers are not concerned about the adverse impacts of such carbonated drinks as they cant afford losing Coca-Cola, which is considered as their fundamental client. Rivalry Among Existing Firms: High Pressure Pepsi is the biggest competitor of Coca Cola in recent times as it also has variety of beverage products with strong international network. More or less Pepsi and Coca Cola are rated similarly in all over the world. However, the target market of Coca-Cola, as per its classical brand image, is the adult community primarily; however, youngsters are being focused by the Pepsi group. Nonetheless, the share market of the US is slightly dominated by Coca-Cola rather than Pepsi due to its historical business setup. On the other hand, beverage brands, like Dr. Pepper, have also become popular in US for the reason of their unique flavors. Discussion If Coca Cola Company manages to make the most innovation for creating relations and gaining market reputation, the company can easily left all the competitors behind and can stay ahead of them in one way or other. Innovation can be the first and foremost option for the company to avoid severe market competition. By employing innovative ideas, the company is expected to have strong competitive advantage with respect to its rivals. As a matter of fact, Coca Cola has certain market reputation as well as strong brand image; so, with appropriate innovation in products by keeping customer needs at front, the company can generate certain curiosity among its potential consumers in such a way that people will definitely want to go for it. If Coca Cola comes up with innovative products, consumers will leave with no substitutes and thus, they will happily purchase the commodity even at higher prices. With this strategy, Coca Cola can create a range of loyal customers as well (Covering S1, S2, S4, S5, S7, T1, T2 and T3). After innovation, marketing is the most important factor to be mulled over by the administration of the company to maintain its prominence around the globe. Marketing is considered as the backbone for any business success and thus, is extremely significant factor for the company. Coca Cola can affirm its long-lasting market prominence and reputation by marinating strong brand image through strategic marketing and advertising of allied products. This strategy will also help the company in maintaining strong consumer loyalty towards its brands and can gain consumer preferences over its competitors (Covering W2, W3, W4, O1, O2, O3, and O4). Marketing in an environment friendly attitude can definitely help the company to impose certain barriers to the new market entrants and thus can decrease the risks and threats of growing competition in the relevant industry all over the world (Covering T1, T4, T5, S2, S4, S5, and S6). If Coca Cola brands manage to sustain their quality and taste in such a way that these two factors emerged as unmatchable for rival companies, Coca Cola will be able to reduce severe threats of being substituted (Covering S1, S4, S2, O1, O2, and O3). Coca Cola Company miss-utilized resources of rare water in various Asian countries, like India and Pakistan, which serve as the primary reason of companys declining market reputation in this particular region. This mis-utilization adversely impacted the brand image of the company, as the reducing water levels in cola plant are certainly making the lives of the natives miserable. To gain positive reputation in the Asian countries Cola Company can follow the measures listed below: Land inspection before starting any project Assessment of environmental impacts that the project can have prior to start up business operations The project should be compliant with environmental regulatory requirements Say NO to refrigeration equipments containing CFC Efficient treatment of waste water Adequate operations for bottling Commencement of certain programs for energy conservation Latest technologies for water recycling system should be used by the company for saving 50% of water requirements for the operations (Covering W3, W4, and T4) With recycling of plastic bottles, costs and resources could be saved. By employing various innovative recycling ideas in companys business along with appealing advertising of Coca Cola brands can open new market segments for the company. In due course, company will have higher revenues and improved credit rating (Covering W1, W4, T1, T3, and T4). Conclusion This paper attempted to analyze the strategic business planning of the Coca Cola Company exhaustively. The study affirms that company is in its booming stages and is enjoying profitable success and reputation all over the world. However, from a superficial overlook, the afore-mentioned fact might be considered as true; but, in-depth analysis of what business strategies the Coca Cola company has, evidently reflects the existence of certain loopholes due to which the company is exposed to certain risks and market threats. Even though company has god market reputation, but innovative and unique brand ideas are required to be practiced so that the credit rating of the company could be improvised. In addition, it was also concluded that owing to severe market competitions, the company should put much emphasis on its advertising techniques so as to make its market prominence even more visible. Last but not the least, Coca Cola company has failed to comply with the health requirement regula tions in specifically Asian countries which serve as the reason of its declined reputation in that particular area. Thus, company has to put much focus on this domain to reduce negative consumer perceptions and to make them loyal with the brand and products.

Interview with a Massage Practitioner Essay -- Interview Essay

Many people pass this concrete stucco looking office on the strip mall. Most people who pass by may go to the bar next door to Dr. Mason’s chiropractic office. No one pays much attention to a place where all the windows are low tinted dark with a door that has the word doctor on it. People only look for doctors when they are injured or sick. I’m sure the lighted Budlight sign flashing and smell of food attract more people. It was different than what I expected from a doctor’s office. Surprisingly the roof was flat not pointed like most offices and not a very tall building. I expected lots of rocks, small bushes near the door, smooth concrete building with slight indentions for decoration, metal plaque inside the concrete and the area to be surrounded by other doctor offices. I was nervous as I stepped over the curb and onto the side walk to the entrance. â€Å"What if she is really busy or rude,† I thought, â€Å"But massage therapist are usually nice and calm.† The door was average height and swung open very easily. Inside the clinic it smelled crisp and was cool. The sun shined through the windows where the shade was raised. All the walls were painted in a slight off-white color. Instead of the typical tile or vinyl flooring carpet was used. The freestanding reception desk was in an open area with plants, filing cabinets, and a copy machine next to it. Behind the desk was a full height wall that changed to a chest height wall. In the open office there are two chiropractic tables, which were separated by a wall that is about chest height. On the other side of the room is a traction station, two stretching machines, a massage chair. In the lobby section of the open office there are two flat screen TVs and lots of children movies... ... people to unwind and relax. Mary entered the job knowing her skills and prepared to put them to work. A massage â€Å"is the manipulation of superficial layers of muscle and connective tissue to enhance the function and promote relaxation and well-being.† I asked Mary if she like her job. â€Å"I love my job it is never boring I treat people from ages ten to seventy-five. I love helping people and I find the human body fascinating. Today people are trying to live a long and health by taking care of their body, my job helps.† There are many schools that offer massage therapy. Anyone who would like to pursue it as a major should be comfortable with touching other people. Before leaving I told Mary I appreciated the time she took to allow me to interview her. I was satisfied overall with the interview. The environment made me happy that I chose a relaxing career to explore.

The Effects of Education on Fiscal Responsibility Essay -- Financial M

The world is recovering from financial crisis that started in 2007. The cause of the crisis was failure of American Mortgage Company. The effect has spread all over the world; however the world seems to be recovering. This is not the first time that the world has suffered such a crisis. There was the great depression of 1920s. The point that is in people’s mind; economists, politicians, and social scientist is how they can prevent the occurrence of such a crisis in future. Among the many recommendation brought out, there is the role that education can play. Our education system can be moulded to educate students and society in general on how they can prevent such an occurrence in the future. Secondary school life is the initial stage that a child moulding can start. It ensures that there is a base of a human being that can be shaped to influence the life of the child in future (Alloy & Ahrens, 2008). This paper will focus on how education can be used to combat future occurrenc e of such crisis. Development and enforcement of a money management principles The principle that human beings have are moulded by early life development. At high school a child is given some money to manage and spend. This is the period that they are given pocket money to spend at school and are allowed to make individual decisions toward things that affect their lives. In schools children should be taught on how to manage the finances they have, they should be trained on how to make decisions which have an impact on the finances they have. The little money they are given by their parents should be the one to start molding their behavior towards good financial management and making priorities. One of the most important things that people should aim at is t... ...simism for the future: Biased use of statistically relevant information in predictions for self versus others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(2), 366-378. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.52.2.366 Ambachtshee, K., Beartty, D. and Booth, L. (2008). The financial crisis and rescue. What went wrong? Why? What lesson can be learnt? Toronto: university of Toronto Melzert, H. (1995). Review of "Curriculum-adjustment in the Secondary School". Journal of Educational Psychology, 16(9), 638. doi:10.1037/h0068007. Morris, P. (1997). School knowledge, the state and the market: an analysis of the Hong Kong secondary school curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 29(3), 329-350. doi:10.1080/002202797184071. Park ,R. cona, K. and Fingess, M. (2008). The crisis of global environment governance: towards a new political economy of sustainability. New York: Prentice Hall

How The Movie A Few Good Men And The Play Antigone Found Honor In What

It is not uncommon for the Civil Law to conflict with Honor. This means that the laws of people, jobs, countries, and duties usually establish a problem with the glory, or respect of people and their self-will, because there are different views of something on each side. This statement is true because many aspects of life involve standing up for what you believe in, while going against the laws of what you have to follow, even though the civil people don’t have any patience for any excuses. In the play Antigone by Sophicles, and the movie A Few Good Men, by Aaron Sorkin, Antigone, Dawson and Downy stand up for what they think is right at that moment, and go against the laws they were to follow. The Greek Tragic Hero Antigone is characterized as a person with great honor and has a conflict with going against the civil law under Creon, and not burying Polynices. Polynices was a traitor to Thebes and was killed in war against his brother Eteocles. Antigone, Eteocles’s and Polynices’s sister wanted to give Polynices a proper burial. Antigone buried Polynices twice and was caught the second time due to her screaming and crying. â€Å"There is no shame in honoring my brother (Antigone line 430),† it is true that Antigone stood up for what she believed in, even though there were consequences of dying. Perhaps the honor that you have inside of you is more important than the laws that are created for you. Creon, the King of Thebes did not like the fact that Antigone, Creon’s own niece, w...

Environmental Protection and Sustainability

Introduction In the past 25 years, international passenger aviation has experienced a threefold increase. It is expected that the aviation sector will continue to see similar growth over the next 25 years (Walker & Cook, 2009). Due to the rapid expansion of the aviation sector, there has been a growing concern for environmental issues in airline operations, especially in terms of energy and environmental sustainability (Agarwal, 2010). The focus on sustainability and environmental protection is due to the environmental consequences of contemporary aviation, especially the contribution of aviation to global climate change (Upham, 2003). With the recognition of the harmful effects of aviation on the environment, experts predict that â€Å"environmental factors will increasingly limit the expansion of air travel and the social benefit that it brings† (Green, 2003, p.281). Meridiana concurs that it is important to consider sustainability and environmental protection in aviation. It recognises the importance of green aviation and puts a lot of value on protecting the environment. In line with this, the company manages its activities in compliance with national and EU environmental regulations. As proof of its commitment, it has been awarded certification of its Quality System in compliance with UNI EN ISO 9001:2008 regulation for air quality. SGS Italia SpA has certified the compliance of the company’s activities involving the design and supply of services on board of domestic, international, and intercontinental flights (Meridiana, 2009). Recently, Meridiana joined the Association of European Airlines (AEA), which represents Europe’s major airlines. The AEA influences its members at the industry and institutional level in order to achieve goals that benefit the airline industry. One of the main thrusts of the AEA is to shape a more sustainable and competitive arena (AEA, 2013). Meridiana’s membership in the AEA shows that it is committed towards achi eving sustainability in the aviation sector. Marketing Mix Despite its success in some areas of the domestic market, the company has experienced heavy losses in recent years. With its ageing fleet, subscale international network, and its dependence in the domestic market, the company is facing very stiff competition from some of Europe’s leading low cost carriers (CAPA, 2013). Taking these into consideration, Meridiana has to improve its current marketing mix in order to increase sales and remain competitive. Effective marketing strategies can have a significant influence on society; thus, it is important for the company to apply the appropriate marketing mix to achieve their objectives.ProductMeridiana’s major strength is its competitively priced business class seats for long haul destinations, targeted at leisure travellers. As a medium service carrier, it offers elements of both full service and low cost carrier. For example, it provides food and drinks like full service carriers but its price range is comparable to low cost airlines. Meridiana should utilise this mix and use it as a competitive advantage. The airline needs to focus on its domestic flights and its short/medium haul destinations in Europe. The current marketing strategy fails to reach out to the business community. Their marketing strategy should emphasise services for both holiday/leisure and business purposes. The company should target SMEs and become the airline of choice for small and medium-sized companies. This can be done by offering discounts and incentives for companies who want to purchase multiple seats or flights.PriceMeridiana needs to use a competitive pricing scheme to attract customers. Its price point should be not too high from low cost carriers, but lower than traditional networked airlines. Although low cost carriers have lower prices, Meridiana should differentiate its slightly higher price point by offering better customer service. The aim is to have a mid-range price point, which can attract middle class consumers and SMEs.PlaceMeridiana has been highly successful in Sardinia and Sicily. The company should replicate its success by building stronger presence in other parts of Italy and in key international airline hubs such as London, Dubai, Beijing, Singapore, Narita, Paris, and New York. This can be achieved by improving airport check-in services and making their internet reservations website more attractive and easy to use.PromotionAs a hybrid airline, Meridiana operates both as a low cost carrier and a network airline (Sansonetti, 2010). It needs to be highly competitive by keeping it unit costs down. This can be achieved by enhancing its internet and social media channels. Meridiana should upgrade its website to make it more attractive and user-friendly. It should improve its tie-ups with hotels, resorts, car rentals, and other tourist services to attract more customers.PeopleMeridiana should improve its services to customers in order to attract more consumers and gain more customer loya lty. Excellent customer service can be a competitive edge, especially when low cost carriers offer cheaper rates. Meridiana should also highlight their people and the value of customer service in their marketing strategies.ProcessMeridiana should ensure that its online reservations are always efficient and that customers can easily access the airline through phone or email. The airline’s systems should be designed for the benefit of customers. Physical Evidence Meridiana should also ensure that its flights are always on time; its planes are spotless; and its service crew are highly efficient. Its check-in and guest lounges in airports should be clean and the services of both ground crew and in-flight staff should be excellent.Promotional MixMeridiana should focus on tapping customers from the mid-market socio-economic segment and business people, especially from SMEs. The elements of the promotional mix must integrate different strategies. It should use a combination of vario us promotional strategies, particularly, advertising, public relations, sales promotions, and internet/online promotions. The integration of different promotional tactics will aid in achieving a more successful result. Advertising should be enhanced in traditional channels such as television, print, and radio in order to target domestic consumers in areas where Meridiana is not the market leader (i.e. Milan, Turin, Naples, Marconi, Rome, and Verona). To increase presence in international markets, the airline should advertise in popular travel magazines and international cable channels (i.e. BBC, CNN, NHK, etc.). In terms of public relations, the airline should improve its relationship with Italian businesses and local government. It should also improve its public image by doing CSR activities and being more active in environmental protection. The company should emphasise their support for green aviation and sustainability in the airline industry. Meridiana should also launch sales p romotions on its ticket prices. It should conduct seat sales in which the flight fare is a fraction of its original price but customers can avail of the ticket only for a limited period. For example, the seat sale gives an 80% discount on ticket prices for 50 seats in the plane and the sale will be ongoing for 3-5 days only. Meridiana should also prioritise internet/online promotions and strengthen its social media presence. The airline should improve its advertisement and tie-ups with online travel sites such as Expedia, Kayak, and Orbitz. It should also effectively make use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Meridiana should advertise in these sites and encourage customer feedback through social media. The company can also utilise viral advertising by putting very creative and highly memorable adverts in YouTube or other video sharing sites. References Agarwal, R. (2010). Sustainable (Green) Aviation: Challenges and Opportunities. SAE International Journal of Aerospace. 2(1), p.1-20. Anna Aero. (2013). Meridiana fly and Air Italy complete merger, as Meridiana turns 50 under new CEO; combined fleet shrinks for S13. Available: http://www.anna.aero/2013/06/19/meridiana-fly-and-air-italy-complete-merger-as-meridiana-turns-50-under-new-ceo/. Last accessed 12th January 2014. Association of European Airlines (AEA). 2013). AEA welcomes Meridiana as new airline member. Available: http://files.aea.be/News/PR/Pr13-036.pdf. Last accessed 15th January 2014. CAPA Centre for Aviation. (2013). Meridiana: how to escape the impact of loss-making Italian airlinesAvailable: http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/meridiana-how-to-escape-the-impact-of-loss-making-italian-airlines-120241. Last accessed 12th January 2014. Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). (2013). Marketing and the 7Ps: A brief summary of marketing and how it works. Available: http:// www.cim.co.uk/files/7ps.pdf. Last accessed 12th January 2014. Cooper. C et al. (2013). Tourism: Principles & Practice 5th edition. London: FT Prentiss Hall Denton, N & Dennis, N. (2000). Airline franchising in Europe: benefits and disbenefits to airlines and consumers. Journal of Air Transport Management. 6(4), p.179-190. Green, JE. (2003). Civil aviation and the environmental challenge. The Aeronautical Journal. p.281-299 McCabe, S. (2009). Marketing Communications in Tourism and Hospitality: Concepts, Strategies and Cases. Amsterdam: Butterworth Heinemann Meridiana. (2009). Meridiana Group Ethical Code. Available: https://www.meridiana.it/cms/deploy/1/IGGJ_Documenti/IT/Codiceetico/MeridianaGroupEthicalCode.pdf. Last accessed 12th January 2014. Meridiana. (2014). About us. Available: https://www.meridiana.it/en/company_informations/Company_AirItaly_quality.aspx. Last accessed 12th January 2014. Middleton, V. (2009). Marketing in travel and tourism. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann San sonetti, A. (2010). The European Airlines Transformation: Hypercompetitive and Long Tail Effects. MCIS Proceedings. Paper 76. http://aisel.aisnet.org/mcis2010/76 Upham, P. (2003). Towards Sustainable Aviation. London: Earthscan Publications Ltd Walker, S & Cook, M. (2009). The contested concept of sustainable aviation. Sustainable Development. 17(6), p.378-390

Healthcare Fraud Essay

On May 14, 2013 Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sibelius announced â€Å"nationwide takedown† by Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations, in eight cities that resulted in charges against 89 individuals, which included doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in Medicare fraud schemes involving approximately $223 million in false billings. In Chicago, seven individuals were charged, including two doctors, with a variety of health care fraud schemes. This (sixth) nationwide takedown targeted eight cities: Miami, Houston, Los Angles, Detroit, Tampa, Brooklyn N.Y, and Chicago. On April 16, 2013, the owner, senior executive of Sacred Heart Hospital, along with four physicians in the west side facility were arrested for conspiring to pay and receive illegal kickbacks. The kickbacks included more than $225,000 in cash, along with other forms of payment, in exchange for the referral of patients insured by Medicare and Medicaid to the hospital. On Oct 19, 2012, a west suburban dermatologist, Robert Kolbusz, was indicted in U.S. District Court on four counts of wire fraud and three counts of mail fraud. He was accused of submitting false claims for hundreds of patients, according to FBI officials. The Department of Health aand Human Services reported that in fiscal year 2011, in Illinois alone there were: 326 Medicaid fraud investigations, 48 were indicted on Medicaid fraud charges, 30 were convicted, 18 cases of civil settlements/judgments, and $47.8 million dollars was recovered in Medicare fraud cases. There are abundant news stories in the media today about the federal government enforcements against hospitals, laboratories, medical equipment suppliers, hospices, home health agencies, physicians and other health care service providers. Unfortunately, these cases are just the tip-of-the-iceberg with many health care fraud cases going undetected and or unreported. According to Black’s Law Dictionary fraud is defined as â€Å"some deceitful practice or willful device, resorted to with intent to deprive another of his/ her right, or in some manner to do him an injury. It is distinguished from negligence, and is always intentional†. Healthcare fraud is a white-collar crime that usually involves filing health care claims by healthcare service provider to turn a profit for the healthcare service providers. It involves â€Å"an unlawful act, generally deception for personal gain†, and encompasses a wide range of irregularities and illegal acts that  are characterized by intentional deception. (Pozgar, 2011) According to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations) healthcare fraud in our country costs an estimated $80 billion a year- making it one of the biggest â€Å"white-collar-crime†. Health care fraud is committed when a dishonest provider or consumer intentionally submits or causes someone else to submit false or misleading information for use in determining the amount of healthcare benefits payable. (Pozgar, 2011) Health care fraud usually includes insurance fraud, drug fraud and medical fraud. There are several ways by which the health care insurance fraud can be committed by fraudulent health care service providers: 1.) billing for services not rendered, 2.) up-coding of services which is billing the Medicare for services that were more expensive than the ones provided, 3.) up-coding of items which is billing for more expensive items than was provided, 4.) unbundling, wherein a corrupt healthcare service provides bills that stagger over time in order to claim more monies from Medicare, 5.) unnecessary services, 6.) duplicate claims- Medicare is charged twice for the same service and 7.) Kickbacks, which are rewards in cash or kind received by healthcare professionals for recommending or referring specific services for example referring a patient for an MRI even when it’s not required. The findings from the Office of Management and Budget’s fact sheet â€Å"Transforming and Modernizing America’s Health Care†, revealed that the United States spends approximately $8,000 per person on health care. This figure is expected to rise to approximately $4 trillion by 2017. Even the most conservative estimates of the cost of fraud abuse within our health care system range from between $66 billion and $220 billion per year. With the increasing cost of health care in America, the cost of health care fraud abuse could easily rise above $400 billion per year by the year 2017. (Office of Management and Budget’s fact sheet). Therefore, it is safe to say that health care fraud is not only an economic drain on our health care system, but costs our nation the health of its citizens (Semi-Annual Report to Congress, 2009) as it robs the system of the money that would be far better spent on making sick people healthy. Health care fraud not only costs our nation in terms of health care dollars and patient care. It is one of the important factors that has contributed to the increasing cost of the health care services. Due to the immense role played by the healthcare fraud on the economic drain on our health care system and  also on the health of the nation, it is receiving a tremendous attention from both the government and the people. Increasing cost of healthcare is a valid concern for American families and a primary concern for the American government. It affects all individuals, directly or indirectly as the billions of dollars that are lost to the healthcare fraud lead to increased health care costs and increasing the cost of potential coverage, which may further lead to loss of personal income savings leading to ruined credit. Health care fraud is not a victimless crime. (Price & Norris, 2009) The money lost due to fraud increases the costs of providing a full range of legitimate medical services tremendously. Physicians may perform unnecessary procedures to increase reimbursement, which may compromise the safety of the patient. Further, when medical providers bill for services that were never rendered, they end up creating a false medical history for patients which may hinder them from obtaining disability or life insurance policies, at a later date. An inaccurate medical history also influences treatment decisions and allows some third party insurance companies to deny coverage based on a previous medical condition. Health care fraud also tarnishes the reputation of the medical profession and other health care service providers. Additionally, the efforts by the federal and the state government cost taxpayers billions of dollars a year, thus diverting the scarce tax money from other essential services and meeting the needs of elderly and the poor. This diversion of the taxpayer’s money often results in reduced benefit coverage, changes in eligibility for programs such as Medicaid, higher premiums for individuals or their employers, or higher copays. Health care fraud has become a primary issue for people and the government. In the last ten or so years, the government has invested a lot of effort and time on investigating health care fraud with the goal of decreasing its occurrence, and the government continues to initiate new policies, and create investigative bodies to deal specifically with health care fraud. Health care fraud is a critical issue for the government for a variety of reasons. Firstly, given that the government is the principal payer of health care, it is obviously concerned about how that money is spent. Secondly, health care fraud is a waste of taxpayer money. Third, it is the government which is in charge of regulating the health care system. Last but not the least, it is the government that is entrusted with protecting its citizens  from all sorts of criminal and crimes. Health care fraud is a serious problem affecting every patient and consumer. The devastating situation is rooted not only in the excessive financial losses incurred, which often extends into the billions of dollars every year, but also in patient harm. The Department of Justice has declared health care fraud to be its second highest priority, following violent crimes (Kalb, 1999). In the past fifteen years the government has spent millions of dollars fighting health care fraud. In May 2009, the HHS and Department of Justice (DOJ) collaborated to create the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT). With the creation of HEAT, the battle against the healthcare fraud especially against Medicare and Medicaid fraud became a cabinet-level priority. The HEAT’S mission is to 1.) â€Å"Gather resources across the government to help prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. 2) Crack down on the people and organizations who abuse the system and cost Americans billions of dollars each year. 3) Reduce health care costs and improve quality of care by preventing fraudsters from preying on people with Medicare and Medicaid. 4) Highlight best practices by providers and organizations dedicated to ending waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare. 5.) Build upon the existing partnerships between HHS and DOJ to reduce fraud and recover taxpayer dollars.† (HEAT Task Force Mission) In addition, to creating a task force, the administration also encourages ordinary citizens to report against health care fraud. There are several ways to report a healthcare fraud – a patient or health care provider who may have witnessed a fraud, may report to FBI, at their local office, or telephone and or online forms. â€Å"Stop Medicare fraud† website also provides various tips to citizen to protect themselves from healthcare fraud. Understandably, to completely stop healthcare fraud is a difficult task, but â€Å"the more we know about it, the easier it is to stop† (Blue Cross Blue Shield) References Black’s free online law dictionary Definition of Fraud. (2nd Edition) Retrieved June 13, 2013 http://thelawdictionary.org/fraud/ Blue Cross Blue Shield. Healthcare Fraud Regence. Retrieved June 17, 2013 from htttp://www.regence.com/docs/legal/provider-fraud-brochure.pdf. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary. National Health Expenditure Projections 2007- 2017 Chicago Tribune, Featured Articles. Retrieved June 13, 2013 from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-10-19/news/ct-tl-downers-dermatologist-charged-20121019_1_medicare-fraud-fraud-cases-medicare-medicaid-services Federal Bureau of Investigations. Healthcare Fraud. Retrieved June 14, 2013 from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/white_collar/health-care-fraud Illinois Policy Institute. News & Blogs. Retrieved June 14, 2013 from http://illinoispolicy.org/blog/blog.asp?ArticleSource=5746 Kalb, Paul, E. â€Å"Health Care Fraud and Abuse†. Journal of American Medical Association 282 (1999): 1163-1168. Price. Marilyn & Norris, Donna. Health Care Fraud: Physicians as White collar criminals? Journal of American Academy Psychiatry Law 37:286–9, 2009 Pozgar, George. D (2011). Legal Aspects of Healthcare Administration (11th Edition) Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Lea rning. Semi-Annual Report to Congress October 1 2008-March 31-2009, Office of the Inspector General Stop Medicare Fraud. HEAT Task Force Mission. Retrieved June 17, 2013 from http://www.stopmedicarefraud.gov/index.html US Department of Health and Human Services. News and Press Release. Retrieved June 13, 2013 from http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2013pres/05/20130514a.html US Department of Justice. News and Press Release. Retrieved June 13, 2013 from http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2013/pr0416_01.html

Communication and Professional Skills

Unit 5 Communication and professional skills within child care and education D1/ D2 Select four aspects of professional practice and give reasons why each chosen aspect is essential and who this may affect. There are many aspects of professional practice, these aspects are very important to be followed. Working in partnership with health care and other professionals: working closely with the other professionals in the setting is important for the safety of the children. Communicating about the needs of the children will help us to help the children with their development and help us to keep track of their development’s stage. Also working as a team being consistent about the decisions made will give the children a good role model and routine, otherwise children can get very confuses and lost. Respecting confidentiality policy is very important to keep children safe, passing information to the right person, keeping information safe/locked, using it only when necessary, and aiming to help the child. Information misused can cause a great trouble to the child and the adult; therefore, we practitioners need to make sure all information are kept safe and confidential. Attitudes to work is about being a good role model, it is a big part of educating children, we must always remember that, children will repeat everything that we do or say. As adults and practitioners it is important to be a good role model, children also learn copying us, learn to talk, to posture their selves, to dress up, to eat, to express their selves. Being a good role model is about dressing up appropriately for the job, having a good posture, speaking clear (not swearing, not shouting), respecting the children and the team we work with. Good time keeping and attendance is very important for the smooth running in the setting, also to keep children’s routine and follow the plans for activities. To be on time, it is important to make sure you live home with time enough to be at work on time, if necessary live five minutes earlier. It is better to be earlier than later. D3 – Include examples of how you are developing the knowledge or skills that will improve each selected aspect of professional practice During lunch time children are very likely to hurt their selves, knowing who the first-aider person are and where they are is very useful and helpful, because whenever there is a child with problem I can go straight to them and help the child. I have being learning to observe the children and to communicate with health carers and other professionals, how to posture myself and how to respond to children’s misbehave. There are some children with learning difficulties in my classroom, and to protect them the school has a system, which separates the children by table colours and we know that, there is an specific colour for that special needs table and it is done this way to protect the children from being bullied by other children or abused in any way. It is a way of keeping information about them confidential, while acknowledging their needs. So I have learned different ways of dealing with information and still keeping it confidential. I have being learning how to posture myself around the children and how to respond to them when they misbehave. At this stage I have learned how to listen to them, the importance of PIN No: 10/681015 them listening to me, the use of appropriate language, to look at after my posture when I talk to them. They look at me and they may want to be like me, for that reason it is important that I am a good role model for them, having a good attitude to work. During my work placement I have learned to be a good time keeper, I have improved my time, waking up earlier, going to bed as earlier as possible to get a good rest, to prepare my lunch the night before, to organise what I am earing the night before. Children do notice when we are late and it can affect them, as the other professionals in the setting. There are always ways of making sure we are on time. D4 – Include examples of your effective communication with children and with parents I have helped a child to do her maths exercise, she didn’t want to do it, so I told her that her parents would not be very happy if she didn’t do her work and that she would want to see them happy. She thought for a moment and finished her exercise in two minutes. When communicating with parents I know that I must be respectful, sensitive to their feelings, because some parents may be more difficult to deal with and it is difficult for them to hear that their children is not doing as good as the other children or have some learning difficulties or are special needs children. In the nursery before there was an 18 months little girl, she was really good, helpful, smart, friendly; she was always playing nicely with the other children and smiling. One day on the way out I’ve met her mum and told her that her child was really good and that she was very kind, smart, and helpful. I told her about her development and how good she was; her mum was very happy and was very thankful to me and proud of her daughter. When I communicate with children I get down to their level, look at them in the eyes, listen to them carefully, speak slowly and clear, give them the chance to talk and I am very patient with them. D5 – Provide evidence to show how you maintain confidentiality in work with children and parents The way we maintain confidentiality in the present setting, where I work at the moment, is following the school’s policies and procedures. All the confidential information about the children/ families are kept/ locked in the main office and only authorised persons can have access to it and only if necessary, to help the children. If there is a need to talk to the family or another professional about a child’s problem, it is crucial that the persons involved go to a private room, where they can speak privately, keeping the conversation confidential. All observations that are written about the children must be kept safe/ locked and only shared with parents/ families, supervisors, or health care professionals (if needed). To protect the children, I shall always refer to my supervisor and ask how to proceed if there is any sign of abuse or if I notice any unusual behave about the children. D6 – Provide evidence of ways that you are preparing for employment and finding information about professional development The way I am preparing for employment is developing my skills in child care through out the course, learning and developing my knowledge, also acquiring experience at the work placement. I am working on my Curriculum Vitae, making it presentable, and putting all the information about my experience. I am looking on the internet to find out about agencies and job offers, to find out about settings, salary rate, opportunities. I am doing researches about the settings, the history of the setting, how they work, if it is registered with offstead, to make sure I will be working within a good practice. I am also looking at news papers and magazines. We had an employment agency, specialised in child care, which came to the college to talk to us about the opportunities and offered us to register with them and they will help us to find a job in child care, I will be registering myself with this agency, as they seem to be really good and have good job offers. To increase my career opportunities I am intending to continue my studies in child care, I am looking into studying level 3 in child care, because I know it will help me to enhance my opportunities. D7 – Show an understanding of diversity and inclusive practice An inclusive approach to work with children means that you are able to meet and understand the needs of each child. Every child needs some individual time and attention, and no child should become a favourite within the setting. An inclusive approach involves thinking about the way in which each child feels valued and has a feeling of belonging. You will need to make sure that your interactions with every child are positive and that you consciously think about each child to make sure that they are not left out. † (Cache level 2, Child care and education, Tassoni. P, page 216). When working in partnership with health care and other professionals, to respect diversity and follow inclusive practice it is very important to respect the child and the family’s background; it is very important to be fair and non judgemental and to keep information confidential. If a child has any kind of illness, special needs, suffering any kind of abuse, to protect the child this information must be shared only with the people involved to help the child and nobody else, it is also important to treat the child as much as normal as possible, so the child will not feel left out. In the case of having problematic parents/ families, we need to be very discreet and if needed talk to the parents/families, making sure we go to a private place, where the conversation can be private. It is very important to follow the policies and procedures equally with all children and parents/ families to make sure they feel treated the same and hopefully be able to help them. It is very important to make sure that children with disabilities or learning difficulties are involved in the activities, providing suitable resources for their needs and treating them as equally as possible to the other children. It is important to make sure that settings will provide diverse equipment, materials, to reflect all religions, cultures and backgrounds, to make all children and family feel comfortable when coming to the settings. Another way to show good practice is being a good role model, treating all the other professionals with respect and equally; treating children and families all the same, despite their background, religion, culture, wealth or health. To be a good role model we should not discriminate anyone, children will copy us and hopefully learn to not discriminate anyone. C1- Explain how your developing knowledge or skills in each selected aspect will improve your professional practice I have being learning throughout this course the importance of working in partnership with health care, parents and other professionals. Developing this knowledge helps me to improve my professional practice in communicating well with children, parents and staff, building a good relationship with them based on respect within the setting and professionalism. Having acquired the knowledge about confidentiality, I now understand how to maintain confidentiality and why it is important. I have learned about my setting’s confidentiality policy and I observe the other staff, so I know what to do and I am improving myself more and more. Respecting the policies and following the procedures of the setting make me aware of my responsibilities for protecting children, parents and other team members, improving in this way my professional practice. Learning about been a good role model helps me to be a positive role model around the children, because they will learn from the things I say and do. When they see me being polite, they may want to behave the same way, so this way I will be helping them to learn about manners and being good. Time keeping is very important in every moment of our lives, but when working with children it is essential to be a good time keeper, this way the children’s routine won’t be disturbed. Been on time is also related to be a good role model. B1 – Explain why the examples of communication with children and parents were effective – When I started to do an exercise with the child I wasn’t sure of what to do and I was getting very frustrated because she wouldn’t do it. When I had the idea of talking about her parents been proud of her it made her do the exercises very quick and for that reason I believe my communication was very effective and gave me a result, which was to get the child to do her work. In this case my communication was very effective because I’ve managed to get the child to do her work. I believe that the child’s mother was very pleased to hear how well her child was doing and she felt very positive about her child’s development and also felt that she could count on us at the nursery to share information about her child’s development. For that reason I am confident about the effectiveness of my communication with this mother. In this case It was very ef fective, because I communicated to the child’s mother, giving her information and making her aware of her child’s development. B2 – Explain the importance of maintaining confidentiality when working with children and parents It is very important to maintain confidentiality to protect children and keep them safe and their families. As a practitioner I have the responsibility to keep the information safe/ confidential, it is important to build a trustworthy relationship with the family, it shows that I am respecting the policies and procedures of the setting. It is also important to maintain the rights of the children and the family. Disclosure of confidential information can cause lots of distress to the child, family, myself and other team worker. Confidentiality is important because in the setting we may have access to some personal information related to families, which if disclosed may put the child in danger, causing harm or cause distress to the family. A – Explain the reasons for preparing for employment and for finding information about professional development The way I am preparing for employment is making sure that I am learning as much as I can throughout my course and looking into further development, as in going to level 3 in child care. I am working on my CV, to make it presentable and to give the right information to the employers. I am researching the internet to find out what employers are looking for, to make sure I will have the right answer when going for an interview. It is important to prepare myself, because on this way I will have the right tools to go for an interview and a better chance to get a good/ suitable job. It is important to keep myself informed about new policies or any changes that may happen within the early years foundation guide to make sure I am not staying behind as a professional as it may also affect the children and the setting, where I am working. I want to do level 3 in child care, so it will help me to further develop my skills about child care, giving me the ability to better help children with their development and give my best to them as a professional and also to enhance my job opportunities. Once I am employed I intend to look into other courses as first aid, children’s safeguard, health and safety, aiming to improve and get confidence to deal with any unexpected situation. â€Å"Professional development is the process by which a person maintains the quality and relevance of professional services throughout his/her working life. It has been defined by the Institute for Continuing Professional Development as: ‘The systematic maintenance, improvement and broadening of knowledge and the development of personal qualities necessary for the education of professional and technical duties throughout the practitioner's working life. ‘ It follows that we have an ethical responsibility as professiona to continue our professional development throughout our careers. Professional development is not a product, devised by training providers and academic institutions. It is a mindset, a habit to acquire. Professional development requires self-directed, independent learning. It also demands an active rather than passive approach to learning. It differs from other forms of learning because it requires us to decide that needs to be learned or un-learned, how to learn it, and how to test and assess our learning. † (http://www. materials. ac. uk/guides/developing. asp) A* – Reflect on why it is important to review your communication and professional skills. In my opinion it is important to be a reflective practitioner to be able to offer a good care for children, keeping them safe, giving them suitable resources for their development on this way improving education. A good way to follow this route is to continuously review and evaluate my skills, improving my knowledge, reading, studying, and learning about new challenges and ways of helping children’s development. Reviewing the way I communicate is important to make sure I am giving the right message and listening to others clearly, because if I don’t communicate properly it may cause lots of distress. Consulting other professionals, sharing experience will help us all to improve the quality of the setting and the way children are learning and also help us to improve ourselves. It is important to review my actions, when good, how I made it good and what were the results; if bad, what did I do wrong, how can I improve, always aiming to further develop my skills to benefit children. I am aware of the aspects that I need to improve and I must keep studying to improve this aspects as English and maths and I will further develop this skills to be able to better help children. When setting targets and plans it is important to be realistic about my capacities and knowledge, otherwise I may end up not doing my work properly and getting frustrated, which can seriously affect my work, children and other professionals. Unit 2 Relate to D1/D2 and D3 *Equality and diversity †¢ All children have a need to develop, which is helped by exploring and discovering the people and things around them. †¢ Some children's development may be at risk, for example: o children who are disabled and those with special educational needs o those from socially excluded families, such as the homeless or those who live with a parent who is disabled or has a mental illness o Children from traveler communities, refugees or asylum seekers and those from diverse linguistic backgrounds. All children are entitled to enjoy a full life in conditions which will help them take part in society and develop as an individual, with their own cultural and spiritual beliefs. †¢ Practitioners ensure that their own knowledge about different cultural groups is up-to-date and consider their own attitudes to people who are different from themselves. †¢ All children have an equal right to be listened to and valued in the sett ing. Diversity is the difference between cultures, religion, and background. It is important to look at it in a positive way to help children to understand equality, to avoid discrimination and to allow every child’s development. It is very important that every setting provides a non stereotypical, anti-bias environment, with equipments, material, books, dressing up clothes, food, posters, all from different religions, culture, and color and positively promote diversity. Where, every child can see a bit of their selves, culture and feel welcomed and not discriminated. PIN No: 10/681015 Centre No: 383. 000 Unit 5 Communication and professional skills within child care and education D8 – References and Bibliography Bibliography: Child care and Education Tassoni Penny Heinamman, 2007 Harlow Website: http://www. nidos. org. uk/downloads/Confidentialitypolicy. pdf http://www. materials. ac. uk/guides/developing. asp [pic]