Current legislation Essay

Outline current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within own UK Home Nation affecting the safeguarding of children and young people Current legislation is the result of The Children Act 1989 in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland the children (Northern Ireland) order 1995 which was brought in to ensure that all people who work with children worked together and that they were clear about their responsibilities and knew how to act if allegations of child abuse were made. Following the death of Victoria Climbie in the year 2000 an independent inquiry highlighted many problems with how reports of neglect and child abuse were dealt with and found that vulnerable people in society were not being safeguarded. The laming report in 2003 resulted in a green paper, Every Child Matters , which in turn lead to the Children Act 2004. The Children Act 2004 was introduced to make changes to the way the child protection system is structured and organised in England and wales. The every child matters paper is aimed at ensuring every child should be helped to have positive outcomes in life . They should: stay safe, enjoy and achieve, have economic wellbeing and make a positive contribution. The main points of The Children act 2004 was that every local authority has a director of children’s services who is ultimately responsible for ensuring that children are safeguarded. Local safeguarding boards were set up and children’s wishes taken into account. Children’s services now have a duty to safeguard children and to work together with a multi- agency approach to promote their welfare. The common assessment framework was introduced to identify children’s needs. Working together to safeguard children 2006 in 2006 the document was revised. This document had now updated the safeguarding and the national framework to help agencies work individually and together promote the welfare of children. In October 2009 the vetting and barring scheme was introduced, anyone working with children and vulnerable adults needs to have their personal information checked to prevent unsuitable people working in these areas. The scheme is now called the disclosure and barring service. CYP CORE 3.3 (1.2) Explain child protection within the wider concept of safeguarding children and young people Child protection is part of the wider work to safeguard and  promote the welfare of children and young people. We as practitioners and people working with children have a much wider role to play to ensure the safe and wellbeing of the children in our care. This refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering from any form of abuse or neglect. It also involves protecting children and young people from maltreatment and preventing impairment of a child’s health and development by ensuring children are raised in positive circumstances by providing safe and caring environments. Parents or carers who fail to protect or care for their children could then be taken to court and the child be then removed from the home and placed into care. Assessing observations to identify additional support needed by a child or young person will be a (CAF) which is a common assessment framework, this system enables multi agencies to access and add information about children. You must be careful that parental consent has been gained before sending this information to any agencies. The EYFS also highlights that there must be a designated person who will take the lead for all safeguarding. They are responsible for liaising with the local statutory children services agencies and also with the Local Safeguarding Children Board. They must provide support , advice and guidance to other members of staff and must attend a child protection course. Analyse how national and local guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding affect day to day work with children and young people It is our duty as practitioners working with children and young people to understand that we need to be aware and recognise any child at risk of harm and in need or is very vulnerable and unsecured. This earlier this is dealt with the better the outcome will be. There are clear lines of responsibility to ensure that all children are protected. Department for education – they have the overall responsibility for safeguarding and child protection in England Issue statutory and non-statutory guidance to local authorities Local Authorities – the y use guidance to produce procedures for services and practitioners Services used as basic for their policies and procedures I am also aware of my own settings safeguarding policy that was developed  with the Children Act 1989 and 2004 in mind. These are the policies and procedures we need to follow whilst working with children within our setting; Within childcare practice we must be aware that we have a clear and defined role in relation to child protection. Professionals working with children/young people such as teaching assistants, volunteers, outside agencies are all DBS cleared. Adults working with children should also be fully trained in safeguarding children by a nominated safeguarding adviser and have the opportunity to receive training in order to develop their understanding of the signs and indicators of abuse or neglect, this training is offered every 3 years. In order for child protection to work effectively we must ensure we have good inter relationships with other agencies and good cooperation from professionals that are competent in responding to child protection situations. A procedure for recording concerns and incidents if a child discloses information that concerns his/her welfare; we must make a record of exactly what the child has said in their words and report it to a safeguarding officer, ensuring that these records are kept confidentially and separated from their own record. Explain when and why inquires and serious cases reviews are required and how sharing of the findings informs practice A Serious Case Reviews are held when a child dies, abuse or Neglect are known or suspected to be a factor in the death, local organisations should consider immediately whether there are other children at risk of harm who require safeguarding. Thereafter, organisations should consider whether there are any lessons to be learnt about the ways in which they work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Consequently, when a child dies in such circumstances, the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) should always conduct a Serious Case Review into the involvement with the child and family of organizations and professionals. The LSCB should always consider whether a Serious Case Review should be conducted: If a child sustains a potentially life-threatening injury or through abuse or neglect If a child has been subjected to Sexual Abuse If a child has been killed by a parent with a mental illness If they find  concerns about inter-agency working to protect children from harm The purpose of Serious Case Reviews carried out is to establish whether there are lessons to be learnt from the case about the way in which local professionals and organizations work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, identify clearly what those lessons are, how they will be acted on, and what is expected to change as a result. This will then improve inter-agency working and better safeguard and promote the welfare of the child. Where more than one LSCB has knowledge of a child, the LSCB for the area in which the child is or was normally resident should take lead responsibility for conducting any review. In the case of looked after children, the local authority which has responsibility for the child should take lead responsibility for conducting the review, again involving other LSCBs with an interest or involvement. Any professional may refer such a case to the LSCB if it is believed that there are important lessons for inter-agency working to be learned from the case. It would be the LSCB’s responsibility to take note of any referral and make a decision as to what if any action is needed. Explain how the processes used by own work setting or service comply with legislation that covers data protection, information handling and sharing In our setting all data for the children we look after is held in the main office. Only staff have access to this. The child’s personal information is stored away either on computer or on paper. The computers are all locked and you can only log on with a password which is unique to one person. All paper records are locked away in a cabinet. The information which we hold about the child includes the child’s name, date of birth, and contact number for parent/carer. In an event of a serious accident we would have this information available to us. In our own room the only information we hold about the child is their allergies information. We abide by the Data Protection Act as our setting also holds information about their staff and any safeguarding issues which we may be aware of. This information needs to be Acquired only when necessary Need to make sure that it is secure Make sure it is accurate All information is kept up to date We regularly remind parents to advise us of any changes such as address, telephone numbers or emergency contact details. We as staff are constantly reminded not to share any information on any child to another person or member of staff unless there is a safeguarding issue. We know who are safeguarding contact is and we should share any concerns straight away. We do not discuss any children’s matter outside of work with any one.

Managing High Performance Work Teams

Relationship to ManagementIn order to facilitate optimal efficiency in an organization, there are a lot of factors to consider first like the financial stability, economic and market stability, and internal stability. As for the scope of this paper, all of the discussion will give emphasis on the role of internal stability on the success of an organization.  Internal stability may originate on how well the key persons of an organization work with respect to one another, like for instance, the organizational structure or the type of managerial strategy that is being implemented by the management.Actually, there are two approaches in managing an organization namely: first, letting the employees to use their creativity in handling various situations concerning the company without the supervision from the top officials; and the existence of a manager to supervise and delegate task to the employees. From the said two management approaches, it is the former which is more efficient and ef fective especially if the employees has enough skills and responsible enough to handle various tasks concerning the entire organization. In this regard, the idea of High Performance Work Teams arises.High Performance Work Team is basically comprises of two or more individuals working together in order to attain specific goals or objectives (Barkman, 1993). Oftentimes, this type of groups works independently without the need of supervision coming from any of the top officials for they have enough skills and talents to almost handle the tasks of a manager. Moreover, this kind of group has the ability to perform at the highest level even for an extended period of time.Most of the organization nowadays uses High Performance Work Team in order to manage an organizational conflict which concerns various department of an organization or just to maintain and develop good working relationship among members. Just like what has been discussed a while ago, High Performance Work Team can almost take the place of a manager since the group can even handle the facilitation of meetings and develop goals and plans. This is how flexible High Performance Work Team is.On the other hand, effective leadership also plays a vital role for the attainment of harmonious working environment and relationship among the members of the organization (Bolen, 2001). Leaders are the one responsible for delegating the task and solicit ideas from its members and collaborating those ideas into a more efficient and effective ideas. It is also the leaders who take the initiative to influence its members to perform their responsibilities and the one responsible for motivating all the members of the organization.Furthermore, one of the qualities that a leader must posses would be the ability to determine long term opportunities in order to provide the organization sustainable development (Clark, 2007). In other words, a leader must visualize the future of the organization and do not just focus on what i s currently at hand in the short run. Short run goals are being handled by a manager but when it comes to visualizing the long term welfare of the organization it is the job of a leader.In this regard, it is clear that a leader and a great manager, may it be an individual or a group of people like High Performance Work Team, plays a vital role on the stability and success of the organization at present and in the near future. This is the reason why they are very important key person in the management team of an organization for they are the one who drives the entire organization towards the attainment of their set goals and objectives.Pioneer Sector/sActually both private and government sector already implements High Performance Work Team; but it is the private sector that pioneered High Performance Work Place General Electric, Kraft Foods and Exelon. In the U.S. alone, High Performance Work Team gain acceptance in the corporate world during the 1980s when Boeing, Digital Equipment Corporation [presently known as HP] among others, adopted the said managerial strategy.With the said implementation of High Performance Work Team to the said identified organization, there exist major changes happened especially in organizational culture and merging of the goals of the organization with the social needs of the individuals. In just a few years after High Performance Work Team was presented to the corporate world, it already reached quantum leap in business result in the entire key success dimension together with the customer, employee, shareholder and operational value added dimensions.On the other hand, there is no exact date when effective leadership was really started entering into the idealism of the corporate world. But one thing is for sure, it is not only in the private sector where effective leadership is being implemented, even in the government sector it is also being widely used.Successful Company through HPWTOne of the possible organizations that successf ully mastered High Performance Work Team will be the Kraft Foods. At present, Kraft Foods leads the industry of branded foods and beverages locally and internationally. With its strategy of exploring the international market during the years wherein the domestic market was already becoming saturated, Kraft Foods was able to boost its profitability and market influence.Moreover, in order to successfully penetrate their target market, Kraft Foods entered merging, buy other food companies in the industry, and make partnership with other food companies from other countries. This market entrance strategy works well so far for the company based on their market position and influence.Because of the diversity caused by the identified market entry strategy of Kraft Foods can hinder the attainment of optimal efficiency and effectiveness of the entire personnel of the company, the Kraft Foods executives resulted to implementing High Performance Work Team which was comprised by representatives from different departments of a given branch of Kraft Foods to resolve diversity conflict and simplify the organizational structure in such a way wherein all of the employees of the company can work in harmony with one another.Diversity related issues and complexity of the organizational structure of Kraft Foods caused inefficiency in executing various operational procedures and strategies of the company as well as the depreciation of the performance of every employee due to their diversity (findarticles.com, 2005) and (Hopkins, 2005). The reason why the members of the High Performance Work Team of Kraft Foods came from the different departments of the company was to be able to have equal representation of voices of various groups of individual working in the company so that at the end of the day, whatever the solution will the High Performance Work Team arrive every welfare and interest was put into consideration.True enough, by the start of 2005, the efficiency and effectiveness o f Kraft Foods improved which can be seen on the profitability level of the company and the fact rate of its expansion in the market which made the company among the top multinational companies around the globe. With the simplification of the organizational structure and solving the diversity related problems of the company through the use of High Performance Work Team, business transaction has been executed faster and the harmonious working relationship among the members of the company provide enough motivation for every employee to perform their task to their full potential.On the other hand, the CEO of Kraft Foods, Irene Rosenfeld, was able to provide the company sustainable growth by the time the domestic market started to become saturated to their product line and visualizes the entry of the company to the international market. In this regard, the effective leadership comes into the picture of Kraft Foods’ success for the past years.Not only this, Rosenfeld was able to sp ot the diversity related issue problem and immediately find a solution to the said organizational conflict which is one of the tasks of a leader for an effective leadership of its members. With the existence of Rosenfeld to Kraft Foods, there is no doubt that the company successfully implemented not only High Performance Work Team but also the Effective Leadership.ReferencesBolen, M. (2001). Effective Leadership. Retrieved March 18, 2008, from http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex1334Clark, D. (2007). Concepts of Leadership. Retrieved March 18, 2008, from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadcon.htmlfindarticles.com (2005). Kraft Foods Announces Additional Simplification Initiatives. Retrieved March 18, 2008, from http://findarticles.com/?noadc=1

Effects of Cell Phone Essay

Small wireless device that has at least the same functions of a standard wired telephone but is smaller and more mobile. A cell phone requires a subscription to a service provider and requires either a prepaid or monthly billing setup. Generally, they have more functions than traditional land lines and need to be charged after a period of time. Also called mobile phone or mobile device.—BusinessDictionary.com A mobile phone (also known as a cellular phone, cell phone and a hand phone) is a device that can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link while moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile phone operator, allowing access to the public telephone network. By contrast, a cordless telephone is used only within the short range of a single, private base station.—Wikipedia A portable telephone that uses wireless cellular technology to send and receive phone signals. This technology works by dividing the Earth into small regions called cells. Within each cell the wireless telephone signal goes over its assigned bandwidth to a cell tower, which relays the signal to a telephone switching network, connecting the user to the desired party.—Dictionary.com Cell phone increase in the Philippines The use of mobile phones in the Philippines has brought better information access for farmers, broader citizen engagement and link to traffic data for taxi drivers, according to a new World Bank report. The country also witnessed one of the first uses of text messaging as a medium for social change during the EDSA II revolt in 2001 that led to the ouster of then President Joseph Estrada, the study cited. According to the report â€Å"Information and Communications for Development: Maximizing Mobile,† which was released on Monday, there were 101 mobile cellular subscriptions for every 100 people in the Philippines in 2011, a jump from 41 subscriptions for every 100 people in 2005. The report defined mobile cellular subscriptions as subscriptions to a public mobile telephone service using cellular technology, which provided access to the public switched telephone network. Postpaid and prepaid subscriptions were included. But it said that mobile subscriptions did not reflect actu al mobile phone ownership since there could be multiple subscriptions. Worldwide, the number of mobile subscriptions grew from one billion in 2000 to more than six billion in 2011, of which nearly five billion were in developing countries, the report said. In 2011, 96 percent of the total mobile cellular subscriptions in the Philippines were prepaid. In 2010, mobile cellular network in the Philippines covered 99 percent of the population and 80 percent of households reported ownership of a mobile telephone. The World Bank cited the Philippines as an example in using mobile’s potential to strengthen accountability and transparency in public services and processes. In particular, it said that the Department of Education has worked with the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific to set up a website that allowed the citizens to view significant statistics on local schools. The site, called checkmyschool.org, is a government-to-citizen online and mobile-based interactive tool that includes information such as budget allocations, teacher and textbook information and test scores for about a fifth of the 44,000 schools in the country, the report said. It is also an avenue for teachers and parents to express areas of concern that they feel should be addressed. The site, which seeks to improve education service delivery through transparent and accountable behavior by school staff, has improved community participation and vigilance and teacher behavior, the World Bank said. â€Å"These efforts are typically innovative because they often change the delivery or management of a conventional service or process,† the report said. Commercial farmers in the Philippines also benefited from accessing price information through mobile phones, reporting income gains and increase in trust of traders, the report cited. Prior to the expansion of mobile networks, agricultural producers were often unaware about prices and had to rely on information from traders and agents, the report said. â€Å"Delays in obtaining this data or misinterpretation of second-hand pricing information has serious consequences for agricultural producers, who may end up underselling their products, delivering too little or too much of the product, or having their products w ither away,† the World Bank said. The study also mentioned Cebu City where taxi drivers use mobile phones with global positioning systems to receive traffic data and dispatch information. The report added that social media, along with messages, videos and pictures sent from mobile phones, were useful tools for organizing protests and monitoring democracy and freedom. â€Å"Mobile communications offer major opportunities to advance human and economic development—from providing basic access to health information to making cash payments, spurring job creation, and stimulating citizen involvement in democratic processes,† said World Bank vice president for sustainable development Rachel Kyte. â€Å"The challenge now is to enable people, businesses and governments in developing countries to develop their own locally relevant mobile applications so they can take full advantage of these opportunities,† Kyte added. Positive Effects of Cell Phone The Positive Effects of Cell Phones on Society Written by chris joseph Cell phone can have positive effects on society. Ever since the early 1990s when cell phone use became widespread, the devices have had a major impact on society. While some effects have been negative, such as the practice of driving while talking on cell phones, they have also had many positive effects. Cell phones can facilitate communication and help family and friends keep in close contact. They have also played a positive role in the operation of businesses. Peace of Mind Cell phones offer parents the peace of mind that they can contact their kids at any time. They can also feel better knowing that their kids can either contact them or the authorities in the event of an emergency situation. People who travel for a living can feel better knowing that if their vehicle breaks down and they become stranded, help is just a quick phone call away. Keeping in Touch Friends and family members who live far apart can easily keep in touch via cell phone. You don’t have to worry about not being at home since the cell phone can go where you go. Kids who are away at college can keep their parents informed of their progress and spouses who are separated due to a lengthy business trip can stay in frequent contact. Business Cell phones can make a difference on how business is conducted. Salespeople can get back to customers more quickly and can conduct business from virtually anywhere. A manager of a fleet of commercial vehicles can easily stay in touch with his drivers and alert them to last-minute changes in a delivery schedule, even if they are in a hotel or have stopped for a bite to eat. Social Networking Cell phones can contribute to one’s ability to network and to broadcast a message to the masses. For example, you can use your cell phone’s text message feature to send and received messages via social networking websites such as Twitter, so you can communicate with large groups of people without the need to be near a computer. Information Exchange Much like the Internet, cell phones increase the ability to exchange and spread information. People with cell phones can spread the word about an important or newsworthy incident as it occurs, giving people the sense of always being â€Å"in the loop.† Camera phones can enhance this exchange of information by adding a visual element. Texting Although text messaging is potentially disruptive, it also contributes to positive changes in organizations. Clients can send quick updates while causing minimal distractions for your employees. As a business owner, cellphones allow you to communicate with employees without spending time talking on the phone, helping you and your employees to multitask with greater efficiency. If a reminder is particularly urgent, you can send your workers text messages along with the typical emails, increasing the chance they receive your message. On-Call Availability Employees who carry cellphones can be reached faster, improving your organization’s ability to respond to short-notice events. Without cellphones, you rely on your employees to be at home to receive messages. On-call availability is important particularly for employees with strict deadlines and unpredictable work schedules. In addition, employees who are on the road often can keep you up-to-date with greater ease. If you have a last-minute change of plans, you can call your employees’ cellphones to let them know. In this way, the on-call nature of cellphones helps your workers be more prepared for their jobs. More Direct Line of Communication The direct nature of cellphone communication provides convenience for your customers. Clients prefer calling a cellphone instead of navigating a front desk or automated answering system. Cellphones help your clients feel important because your employees are easily accessible. Frustrated clients may become angrier when they are forced to navigate a phone system. When your employees have cellphones, clients can reach them quickly, allowing conflict to be resolved faster. In addition, the lack of a middleman between your employees and clients may foster a more personal feeling toward your business. Multiple Lines Organizations lacking an expensive multiple-line phone system may find cellphones invaluable. Your employees receive voice messages from customers without needing a separate phone line at your office. They also don’t have to rely on front-desk notifications. This feature frees time for your front desk employees. At the same time, it decreases the risk of misunderstandings and lost messages as co-workers forward messages to one another.

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 13

Assignment - Essay Example The source of light that is probably an electric bulb is coming from above the room. The picture has a foreground, middle ground, and a background. On the foreground, we can see the white frog sitting on its twos. The frog rests on the brown wooden floor. Moreover, I can see the shadow of the image. On the background, we see the image of a young woman standing on the brown wooden floor and leaning on the purple wall. We can also see the shadow of the image. The circular intersection line of the wall and the floor is visible on the background. The white veil is on the middle ground where it connects the foreground and the background. In my opinion, I feel the picture reflects a good piece of art where it has a good color mix and contrast, which is comfortable to the eyes of the audience. Indeed, the images and the wall have bright colors while the floor has a dull color. This photo shows the image of a person sitting on a chair. The person is seemingly a man. The image is resting on a white surface. However, the man sitting on the chair is seemingly bigger than the chair. The body material of the image is silver in color and represents the value of the image. We can also see a man standing on the background of the picture. The man is probably an artist who is making more pieces of art. There is a source of light in the picture as the shadows of the image and the man standing on the background are visible. The light is coming from above the room and this may represent the presence of an electric bulb in the room. We can see a brown cemented floor and a white cemented wall. The man in the picture is doing something on a black table. The represented in this picture depicts a museum. This picture has a foreground and a background. In the foreground, we can see the image and the white surface where the image rests. I can also see the shadow of the image. In my opinion, this picture represents a great piece of art. The use of the silver color

India Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

India - Assignment Example It becomes the crux of globalization phenomenon. In a globalised world, companies spread their businesses to other countries too. What are the key indicators of international business? A layman will list export and import as indicators of international business. Globalization, industrialization and urbanization will be the response of an environmentalist, but an economist’s answer will be FDI, GDP, GNI, GNP and HDI. In this content, let us take an outlook on the international business in relation to India. India, a country with diversity in culture and society, had made path breaking growth in international business. After the initiation of economic reforms in early 1990s, foreign investors are finding it easier to do business. Now, India exports software to around 90 countries. Historical background of the topic under study GDP and GNP are used in business and economic forecasting. Both measure the status of the economy, but calculations and applications are different. GDP st ands for gross domestic product, which can be defined as the estimated value of the country’s production and services, within its boundary, calculated during one fiscal year. The Bretton Woods conference held in 1944, promoted GDP as a standard tool in Economic analysis of a country. China re-designed this standard GDP in 2006 and created an index known as ‘Green GDP’, which also took environmental factors into consideration. In 1990, United Nations launched the Human Development index, which is the sum of human development factors such as education, life expectancy and health in a country. GNI (Gross national income) is similar to GNP, the only difference being indirect business taxes not deducted while calculating GNP. If an individual or company from one country invests in business of another country, it is called foreign direct investment. Every country has a different history in terms of FDI. This one index can be a paramount indicator to analyze the extent of international business in a country. In India, two attempts to liberalize economy were made in 1966 and 1985, but both resulted in vain. The first successful attempt was made in 1991 during a period of crisis. â€Å"In 1991, after India faced a balance of payments crisis, it had to pledge 20 tons of gold to Union Bank of Switzerland and 47 tons to Bank of England as part of a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund†(Wire Bureau, 2013). Current situation analysis The current situation in India needs a special mention. â€Å"CAD narrows to 1.2% of GDP, but India not out of woods as overseas loan repayments loom† (Gayatri, 2013).This was a very recent case, but India had survived many hardships in the recent past. When the US state financial crisis badly affected economies of world countries, India suffered only little due to its high internal domestic consumption and stability. Since 1991, India gradually transformed from closed door economy to open door eco nomy. In fiscal year 2011 to 2012, the country attracted US$46.8 billion as FDI in various sectors. There are few industries where foreign investment is prohibited, but these kinds of restrictions are gradually getting removed. The government recently cleared 20 proposals of foreign direct investment (FDI) worth Rs.916 crore, thus increasing FDI flow. †(Wire Bureau, 2013). India continues to be an attractive destination for business with large human resource base, favorable demographic profile and diversified natural resources. QFI’

Two essay questions Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Two questions - Essay Example I have chosen to discuss the moral dilemmas surrounding public policy for euthanasia. Currently there is much proposed legislation concerning euthanasia and these include the Svend Robinson's amendment to 2. 241 - on 'aiding suicide"; and a proposed Aid in Dying Act suggested by Russ Ogden1. The dilemma is more profound than the halo of morality prohibiting what can crudely be termed as "mercy killing" or suicide or even assisted suicide. Validating euthanasia may not only change the existing criminal laws on killings but the question we should be asking is whether such a law would be mentally acceptable to the society. The legislator and the policy maker is therefore faced with the moral and procedural dilemma of "undoing" what has been done before. Both the Svend Robinson's amendment to 2.241 - on 'aiding suicide"; and a proposed Aid in Dying Act suggested by Russ Ogden try to pose one form of answer to euthanasia debate , while are also not within current law in Canada. The two proposals, however are great manifestations of the government to have performing it's the roles to achieve resolution in these policy matters. ... for which the resolution would just be a question of what perspective is adopted in a given jurisdiction Canada is a free country which adopts the principle of democracy as a guide where the people must be consulted on what policy do they really want. Thus Chapter 11 has cited the growing public consensus on the issue which may help legislators in the future. It gave as example a case in Oregon that after two votes and judicial review all the way to the US Supreme Court, the country's first physician assisted suicide law was put in effect. (Greenhouse, 1997) and that under the Oregon's Death and Dignity Act, there is just a requirement of two doctors to agree that the patient has less than six months to live, and that the patiently has competently made a voluntary decision. In addition two other witnesses must agree that the request is voluntary.Chapter 11 explained that after the formalities, the doctor may then prescribe, but not administer, the lethal dose .It has been reported th at the US Attorney General Janet Reno agrees that US federal agents would not prosecute doctors following the law in Oregon - or any other jurisdiction that might adopt such a law. However, President Bill Clinton appeared to have opposed to the practice, hence he sighed a law barring any federal assistance for assisted suicide (Sniffen, 1998) (Chapter 11: Right to Life/Right to Die Justice Policy Dilemmas) Thus, the situation is back again to the unresolved dilemma. 2. The Recent Royal commission on Aboriginal Peoples has offered a series of recommendations which the Commissioners feel would serve to address the grievances of the aboriginal community in Canada. Do you feel that justice will be served if these recommendations are implemented Use historical and current

Xplain the benefits of special journals and subsidiary ledgers Essay

Xplain the benefits of special journals and subsidiary ledgers - Essay Example This statement is also used to show net profit or loss the company or business incurred after a given accounting period. Balance sheet also known as statement of financial position is a financial statement showing the summary of financial balance of a business. The statement also shows the company’s financial condition. The two financial statements have different accounting transactions presented in these statements (William et al, 2008). While income statement describes the performance of a business of the current year, balance sheet shows the company’s overall position as from the beginning of the year to the current year. The transactions posted on the balance sheet include assets, liabilities and equity, the balance sheet has three parts arranged in liquidity order, assets are followed by liabilities. The difference between assets and liabilities gives capital, in the balance sheet the records of each account is usually maintained using double entry book-keeping, which is an accounting system. The transactions posted on income statement include revenues and expenses, this statement is however, divided into two parts the operating and non-operating sections. The operating section shows information concerning the revenues and expenses of the business, which comes because of regular operations of a business. Non-operating section shows information not related to direct regular operations of the business (Dani els & Mortimer, 1980). Information from these financial statements is normally posted in different journals and ledgers. Transactions made on income statement affect it in different ways, for example, an increase in sales by a certain amount affect the income statement since it will provide an additional income thus increase in net profit and vice versa when income from sales reduces. These sales also have an effect of balance sheet. Employee’s transactions, which amount to

Busniess communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Busniess communication - Essay Example More importantly, however, women who are better educated have a better chance of supporting themselves and not relying on sex (either through prostitution or more informal relationships where one person supports the other in exchange for sexual favors). In fact, the ratio of girls to boys in elementary and secondary school in a country correlate incredibly highly with the prevalence of AIDS: in Chad and the Central African republic, for instance, only 4 girls are in school for every ten boys, and the AIDS rate is among the highest in the continent. Mouritania, however, with 20% better education numbers, is having the first steps of containing its AIDS outbreak (World Bank). In America, the ratio of girls to boys in education is actually higher than one because of better female attendance at the post-secondary level, and when this statistic is compared to the best countries in Africa, which have ratios of .6:1, it’s clear why Africa is

Colombian Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Colombian Entrepreneurial Ecosystem - Essay Example The armed conflict in Columbia had drastic effects on all sides: the government forces, the guerillas, and even the civilians. A large number of people, approximately 90,000, lost their lives with millions of people being forcibly displaced. Several other people were kidnapped with many being disabled by landmines and explosion of bombs. Properties such as buildings, roads, and other infrastructures were destroyed in the process of the soaring conflict, hence leading to massive physical destructions. The armed conflict started because of protest for the rights of the poor Columbians with the desire to be protected by government against social injustices and unequal distribution of resources including land and wealth, which made the people of Columbia dissatisfied. Out of these, there came up strategic protests to forcefully demand these rights by taking over governance by force and violence (Acs &Szerb 113). This struggle was undertaken by different groups at regional and subdivision levels through conflicts. Their anger was directed to state utilities, infrastructure and regions perceived to be beneficiaries of public resources, such as those in strategic routes of transportation of weapons, drugs and food. Other areas attacked are those seen to harbor state forces or those which provide them with resources. This Columbian conflict had far-reaching effects on the business sector in Columbia and its environments. It affected the entrepreneurial performance, which includes the regulatory framework, access to capital, access to R&D technology, entrepreneurial capabilities, market conditions and culture. By affecting these determinants, the conflict changed and determined how entrepreneurship is carried out in Columbia. Entrepreneurs were affected both directly and indirectly by the conflicts in Columbia. Entrepreneurs faced high transactional cost because of the unfavorable business climat e resulting from the conflicts. Merchandizing was spoiled due to the disrupted network and infrastructure since goods and services relying on them could not reach their destination. Businesspersons also lost international partners because the conditions were unfavorable for business. This led to loss of business opportunities, which made many companies close their business. Entrepreneurs could not invest freely for fear of being victimized and kidnapped, extorted or attacked. The room for expansion was limited by competition for territory, which was managed by guerilla groups. With high insecurity, finance meant to be used in business was invested to cover for security and insurance of their investments. Huge amounts of finances were spent in efforts to control conflicts with development projects and peace initiatives started in Columbia. This strained businesses and even led to closure of some. The entrepreneurship culture was eradicated and individuals were stopped from investing because of insecurity in the market. Prices of natural and industrial goods increased because of decreased production as demand increased; the low production was witnessed as a result of insecurity and instability in the country during the war. Regulatory Framework in Colombia Whereas laws have been enhanced, the implementation approaches in Colombia are weak because of mainly the idea that defense spending is exploiting the civilian economy and entrepreneurial growth. During the 1990s, defense budget averaged 1.36% of the total GDP. Even up to early 2000s, the

Microeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 12

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African film Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

African film - Assignment Example The first was to enforce the ban on drugs and alcohol within the group to weed out the weak members who could potentially become informants for their next dose or drink. The second strategic move was to create havoc and chaos in areas that would bring mass police force to protect the citizens, by planting bombs in specific locations. The third strategic move was to remove police officers with no witnesses and no traces that could point to any one person. The fourth strategic move was to organize a peaceful strike and find shelter for everyone. The fifth strategic move was to constantly move locations of the leaders of the rebellion. The final strategy was to take out as many police officers, paratroopers, or French military personnel without surrendering. As one tactic was tried, the outcome was evaluated and determined if the move was effective or new strategies were needed to continue the fight for freedom. The description of resistance and response was eloquently surmised in the q uote by Colonel Mathieu, â€Å"The FLN wants to remove the French from Algeria and the French want to stay† (Pontecorvo, 1966). Whenever one group tries to enforce their rules and beliefs on another group, there is bound to be some sort of social movement, once the oppressed group decides they are not willing to concede or assimilate into the forced requirements of the dominating group. The tactics that are used during wartimes are not considered humane from any side. Many of the strategies used by the police, paratroopers, or rebels were terrorist and violent actions toward the opposing side (Pontecorvo, 1966). Each side tries to act like the â€Å"good guys† and make the civilians believe that their way is the best choice. Any group that is being repressed or oppressed is going to have some individuals who will object to the treatment. The use of torture to gain information is a tactic used by every organization during wartimes. The extent of the torture

Industralization after Civil War Essay Example for Free

Industralization after Civil War Essay After the Civil War, the United States became much more industrialized society. Between 1865 and 1920, industrialization improved American life in many ways, transforming it into a modern industrial society but also created problems for the American people. Three major improvements that contributed to the United States economy were the railroads, factories and immigration. Railroads during the period of the industrial revolution were good throughout the north and were supported by the federal government to help build the north into achieving a prosperous economy. The railroads made transportation of goods and products easy, cheap and reliable. The steel industry made the expansion of the railroads possible and by the 1900’s, Carnegie made great contributions to the business world, enabling railroads to connect to seaports, cities and industrial centers. Urbanization and Immigration began around the 1870 and the 1920’s. Immigrants migrated to cities like New York, Chicago and Boston. Approximately 25 million people migrated to the U.S and they contributed to the growth of the cities and new technologies. They worked low- paying factory jobs and overcrowded neighborhoods, moving the middle class out of their communities (Shultz, 2014). While great accomplishments took place during this period, it also affected different people like African Americans, Farmers, Children, Women and Immigrants. African Americans faced many challenges in terms of freedom and acceptance from the old to the new south. In the old south, they were slaves working day and night with no rights. After the civil war, during the reconstruction their lives improved, being freed with rights such as the 14th- and 15th amendments that granted them citizenship and the right to vote. However in the â€Å"New South† their rights seemed meaningless because of the Jim Crow laws, violence and the lack of their voting rights. The Jim Crow laws they prohibited them from attending the same schools as whites and sitting in the same areas in restaurants, which increased the racism of  blacks and whites. Children were also affected while this time due to the high demand for them to work in factories was great. Many children started at the age 14, but would be hired form age 6, who usually worked tedious long hours. By the end of the 1800’s, child labor laws were passed, but employers ignored the laws, and the number of child factory workers increased (Shultz, 2014). Children were great at doing this task because they accepted low pay, didn’t complain about the wages, and were able to fit in small in cracks that the average man and women couldn’t do. The economy of the south wasn’t very strong due to the fact, profits were made because l abor was unpaid, and the limited crops planted were cotton, tobacco and sugar. Some of the natural resources of the south included farmland, water power, steam power coal, iron and oil. Agriculture was the primary source of employment; while textiles and steel industries became prosperous in the south after the civil war (Weightman, 2007). Many sharecroppers faced hardships and sharecropping became unprofitable for workers because they were uneducated, and cheated by the landowners that owned the supplies. Fresh produce began to be in great demand once refrigerated railcars were introduced. References Ashton, T.S. The Industrial Revolution: 1760-1830. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Schultz, Kevin: 2014 U.S History since 1865 Volume 11: pg. 291, 311-320 Weightman, Gavin. The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Making of the Modern World, 1776-1914. New York: Grove Press, 2007.

Media Effects Theory Evaluation

Media Effects Theory Evaluation This chapter consists of two parts. In the first section I will critically review media effects theories and explore relevant theoretical approaches underpinning active audience studies. I will also discuss recent studies exploring media influence, delving into the methodological approaches as well as observing different ways that the media are claimed to have impact on peoples understanding. In particular, I will focus on literatures in areas of risks and health, as well as examining studies utilising creative methods for studying media influence, all which I will relate to my findings chapters. The way in which media influence is contextualised in this research however, should not be misunderstood as trying to prove any direct impact media have on people. Instead, my intention is to offer ways of thinking about media influence and hopefully this would help build a link between my findings and the theoretical body. I will reiterate my stance towards the end of the chapter whilst sit uating my research within literatures of media influence. In the second part of my literature, I will explore research conducted in areas of infant feeding, in particular to studies about breastfeeding and the media. This section will offer variety ways of exploring breastfeeding issues and how studying the media would fit into the social context and problems related to breastfeeding. I will also explore studies conducted in different cultural settings, which hopes to highlight the different ways culture and religion can influence infant feeding practices and their overall understanding of breastfeeding. What I hope to achieve by the end of this chapter is to give an idea of the different directions to studying breastfeeding in the media and defend my approach in this thesis. I then conclude this chapter by positioning my research within the theoretical, methodological and empirical framework that I have explored throughout. Media Effects, active audiences and beyond Review of Media effects theories Early works on media influence are focused on medias effects on human behaviours (ref). The idea that the media has powerful effects on people gained ground during the 1930s, in light of the elites fascist treatment towards society and dictators using the media as propaganda tool in countries like Germany and Russia. Research emphasis at the time was to find out what the media can do to people (ref) and this brought about the first theory of media effects (the hypodemic needle model), envisioned by scholars of the Frankfurt school in 1923 which suggests that media content are injected into audience thoughts and thus would influence their behaviours. Such studies assumed causal link between mass media and mass audience, suggesting that the media has a magic bullet effect that could result to media-inspired mass behavior (for example see works of Cantril et al., 1940; Lasswell 1927 and Lippman, 1922). Researchers at the time sought to link between media representations and mass behavio r, mostly were concerned over the (harmful) effects media has on society. This gave rise to studies supporting strong media effects and sets the parameter for most media research that took place between the 1940s to the 1960s (for example see Bandura and Walters, 1963; Lazarsfeld et al., 1944). It was one of the reasons why media effects studies was popular and gained much importance in the field of media studies at the time. However, hypodemic needle model or magic bullet theory is flawed in so many ways. The word media effects itself put much emphasis and power to the media that followers of hypodemic needle model / magic bullet theory often ignored the fact that audience themselves are active producers of meaning. Media and audience relationship does not exist in void but is involved and influenced by many things, among others, social context, culture and political-economy of a society. Audience consists of individuals who have different social and cultural backgrounds which makes it problematic if not impossible, to conceptualise one mass audience. It is then renders attempts to measure media effects difficult and complex. Researchers tried to improve this link by including additional stages/layers to media effects, such is done by Lazarsfeld and Katz (1955) when they introduced opinion leaders into the process a model which is also known as the two steps flow. What this model argues is that the effects of media on audience are mediated by different key individuals, who tends to be people with most access to the media and are assumed to be more media literate. These are opinion leaders who are sought to explain and diffuse media content to others. Although this model reduces the direct effects, it still simplifies the process involved between media and audience, and more importantly maintains audiences position at the receiving end of this relationship. This does not only sustain the idea that audiences are passive but also renders them incapable of producing their own interpretations. Another social theory which tries to explain media effects was developed by George Gebner in the 1960s, known as the Cultivation theory. The theory proposed that the media has long term effects on audiences, nurturing certain ideas through representations and media discourse. The cultivation theory springs from a large-scale research project called Cultural Indicators, a project that was aimed to explore media processes and track effects (particularly violent programming) on audiences (Miller, 2005, p.  281). A part of the study investigates the relationship between audience attention to media messages and their conceptions of social reality (Morgan, p;70 and Shanahan and Morgan p. 6-7). Findings suggest that exposure to television, over time subtly cultivates audiences perceptions of reality. This cultivation effects are claimed to affect light television viewers as well because the media (television) functions as a tool for socialisation and enculturation process (Gerbner an d Gross, 1976:175). Therefore, the theory suggests that any impact television has on heavy users will also, in time, impact on the entire culture. Gerbner et al (1986:23) later notes that this impact does not necessarily imply a unidirectional process but rather, it is a complex development built through subtle interactions between medium and its publics. Miller (2005:282) reiterates this point by explaining that the impetus of cultivation theory was not to prove specific media effects on behaviours, but to highlight medias overarching influence towards the way people think about the world. Gerbners idea was widely accepted however, similar to the previous media effects theories, it supports the notion that audience is vulnerable and easily manipulated. Cultivation theory asserts power to the media and regards audiences as subjects with limited interpretation, ignoring their social context and ability to generate own meanings. The many limitations of media effects theories have prompted researchers to switch focus. Following cluster of research in media studies question media power and shift emphasis towards studying audiences and their use of the media. Theorists such as Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., Gurevitch, M. (1974) argued for a model that acknowledges audience as powerful receivers. They proposed Uses and Gratification theory which challenged the traditional way of looking at media-audience relationship by asking what people do with the media rather than what the media does to people (Katz, 1959). This approach suggests that people have specific needs and use the media to satisfy them or gain specific gratifications. Blumler and Katz (1974) proposed four broad audience needs that are fulfilled by the media. These include diversions (a form of escapism from everyday life), Personal Relationships (where viewers build communities through conversations about television or how they relate to the characters) , Personal Identity (where audience explore, re-affirm or question their identity in regards to the characters identities) and Surveillance (where the media are referred for information about what is happening elsewhere). These four needs are argued to represent the ways audience establish their relationship with the media. While uses and gratification model provides a useful framework for thinking about audiences relationship with the media, critics question the fundamental structure of this theory. Researchers who are in support of media effects theories for example, questioned the notion of gratification itself, which in a way could be seen as a media effect. It was also argued that this approach focused heavily on audience use of the media, rather than how audiences make meanings of media content. Therefore, uses and gratification theory does not foregrounds itself in the theoretical debate, rather it focuses on the methodological approach of media studies, offering a way of doing media research, as opposed to contextualizing the relationship between media and audience (Littlejohn, 2002; Severin and Tankard, 1997; McQuail 1994). Therefore, studies adopting this approach were more focused on examining audience psychological needs and often overlook the importance of socio-cultural elements of audienc e needs. All the theoretical approaches discussed thus far have only allocated power to either the audience or the media. One of the pioneer works to break away from this over emphasis of unilateral power was established by Stuart Halls through his encoding/decoding model. Hall (1980) argues that media producers encode specific meanings in media text, which is distributed to audiences who will then decode and (re)produce these meanings through their own understanding (Hall, 1980:128). Hall suggests that the media (television) is an iconic sign because it possesses some of the qualities for the object in which they represent (Hall, 1980:131) and the process involved to produce and interpret these iconic signs is known as encoding/decoding. Hall does not just chart a middle ground between audience and the media but also introduced media producers into the equation and their roles in this relationship. Hall argues that producers agendas and assumptions are encoded in media text and that this shapes the preferred meanings of the text, albeit embedded in codes and convention of a particular medium to hide the text own ideological construction. Such meanings limit and guide audience interpretations, although specific frameworks outside the text such as socio-economic frameworks (for example gender, education and ethnicity), do play a role to influence audiences interpretations. Halls approach is in line with the social constructionists, where previous knowledge as well as experience of the media and the subject discussed played an important part to help construct peoples perception. While Halls notion of preferred meanings does not suggest that audience is homogenous, their interpretations will however, be consistent to producers intended idea. However, he suggests that audience can encode preferred meanings in a slightly different manner, in which Hall refers to as the margin of understanding. Halls encoding/decoding model suggests the meaning of a text lies somewhere between the producer and the reader. One of the reasons why encoding/decoding model is significant in media studies is because it balances the relationship between the media and audience, returning some power to the media while maintaining audience as active participants. This approach acknowledges both audience and the media as sites of meaning making. Hall further develops a model for the types of audience decoding. The four identified readings are (1)Dominant when audience recognise and agree with the preferred meaning offered by media text (2)Oppositional when audience understand the preferred meaning but disagree with it because it contradicts to their own set of beliefs and attitudes (3)Negotiated when audience opposes or adapts to the preferred meaning and (4)Aberrant decoding when audience gives meanings deviant to the preferred meaning. Morley however notes that this model is limited because preferred meaning is itself an unclear concept. This is because the model tends to overlap text and producers intention as preferred meaning, when they actually involve different processes and that preferred meaning may not always be embedded in text. It is therefore difficult to conceptualise preferred meaning, one which can be easily confused with something that is agreed by majority of the text audience. Kitzinger (1998) further argues that oppositional reading is sometimes a problematic term because people do not necessarily understand the preferred meaning. In her research she found out that peoples understanding sometimes intersect with pre-existing knowledge and mental pictures of other things, particularly when an issue is new and has not received much media attention. For example, in her research she found that some people do not understand the preferred meanings of HIV media awareness campaign and uses their pre-existing knowledge of AIDS as a way to understand and decode media messages about HIV. Nonetheless, despite limitations to Halls types of audience readings, encoding/decoding model continues to serve as an advantageous model in media studies. Among others, Halls encoding/decoding model has led to an increasing interest to explore media reception and audiences as active participants. A significant body of work developed in the UK focused on audience studies, but positioned within cultural framework (for example see Ang 1985; Morley, 1980; Radway, 1987). The foundations for this body of work is championed by Hall himself at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (BCCCS) and his colleagues such as David Morley (1980) who explored how people from different (sub)cultures responded to the same media output (the BBC channel current affairs programme Nationwide). His Nationwide Audience Research adopted a semiotic approach to understanding audience responses to media text. Morley compiled audience responses from various different class and social/cultural backgrounds after they watched an episode of the news/current affairs programme Nationwide. Through these interviews, Morley tried to observe whether participan ts obtained a preferred reading from the programme. In a way, Morleys work puts Halls Encoding/Decoding model to the test. From his findings, Morley argues that encoding/decoding model is insufficient because it underestimated the variety of determinants in decoding a reading (Fiske, 1989). Morley argues that people may decode according to Halls audiences decoding positions but this process intersects with sociological demographics such as age, gender and also the context for viewing the programme (Morley, 1980:26; 199299). What this propose is that the meaning of text is interpreted within audiences sociological and cultural framework which may influence their knowledge, prejudices and resistance towards a discourse. Members of a given sub-culture will tend to share a cultural orientation towards decoding messages in particular ways and that their individual readings, whether dominant, negotiated or oppositional are framed by shared cultural formations and practices (1981b, p. 51). This shared cultural interpretation may (or may not) cut across different groups from different economic backgrounds and social class (Morley 1980). In his body of work, audiences are seen to actively consume media for pleasure, reinforcement and identity construction, a framework that focuses on media consumption and the role media play in popular culture. By emphasising that the meaning is not in the text, but in the reading (siapa) it opens up possibilities for audience reception studies and looking at the relationship between media and audience, in relations to other social context. His study was therefore considered one of the major turn around point in the history of media studies. According to David Morley: Before Messages can have effects on audiences, they must be decoded. Effects is thus a shorthand, and inadequate, way of marking the point where audiences read and make sense of messages. (Morley 1978, p125 (emphasis added) He later adds Of course, there will always be individual private readings, but we need to investigate the extent to which these individual readings are patterned into cultural structures and clusters (Morley 1980) Researchers continued to explore reception studies and studying audience became a popular trend for media researchers in the 1990s. Expanding Morleys approach which looks at how people from different cultural backgrounds interpret representations in media, researchers were interested to explore peoples personal and socio-cultural context as an integral part for understanding the rich range of meanings decoded and understood by media audience. On the whole, these studies adopted a culturalist perspective and are concerned with exploring audience active choices, consumptions and interpretations of media materials. Such research emphasizes audience interpretations of the text based on their individual cultural background and life experiences. In essence, the meaning of a text is not inherent within the text itself, but is created within different processes involved in the relationship between the text and the reader. For example, Katz and Liebel (1985) conducted a cross-cultural study on television soap Dallas in Japan, Israel and Russia. They concluded that various ethnic groups differed in their interpretation of foreign television programme, in which they referred to as critical distance. From the research, Liebes (1988:281) suggested that different groups perceive selectively towards what they watch and that this played a part in the forms of retelling and the talk they generate about a television program. A basic acceptance of the meaning of a specific text tends to occur when audience share traits and cultural background, which then may lead to the text being interpreted in similar ways. Culture has an interpretative function for the members of a group which share that particular culture. Nonetheless, expressions of culture-resultant behaviour are modified by the individuals personality, upbringing and life-experience to a considerable degree. Developments in cross-cultural audience studies have deepened our understanding of media reception in different cultures and the different relationship audiences have with the media. This process plays a role in the development of other issues for example, production of identity and popular culture. Audience use existing cultural frameworks to (re)construct meaning from a media text, thus it is through audience interpretations that we are able to gain more comprehension towards the culture to which that audience belongs (Gauntlett). This new approach for looking at media-audiences relationship was coined New Audience Research (Ang 1996, Morley 1990, etc). Researchers such as Curran et. al. (1996) saw this as a revolutionary rethink of the dispersion of power within the media-audience relationship, while scholars such as Fiske (1987) proclaim power of the audience. As Fiske commented on Morleys Nationwide Study: Its value for us lies in its shift away of emphasis away from the textual and ideological construction of the subjects to socially and historically situated people. It reminds us that actual people in actual situations watch and enjoy actual television programmes. (Fiske 1989, p63) Indeed Fiske, ever enthusiastic of Morleys research, said that it established ethnographic research as a legitimate tool to understand audiences (Fiske 1989). The focus on human beings in their social settings seems to a contemporary reader to be quite an obvious component of audience research. The influential academic journal Screen began to take up the idea that the audience was made up of more meaning than that disseminated by the text (Fiske 1989). This led to a generation of media and cultural studies protagonists who turned their focus away from semiotic analysis of the text and the individual and tried to focus on the social background of the audiences and how they decode the text itself. Their work appeared from the early 70s to the mid 80s and mostly conducted qualitative field work on small groups from targeted socioeconomic backgrounds (Nightingale 1996). The idea of the audience being able to make their own readings and the move away from semiotics was given a more pluralistic (Morley 1990) element by cultural studies writer John Fiske. Fiske was influenced heavily by the French polymath Michel de Certeau (Underwood, 2008), who advocated that people were continuously trying to undermine the dominant culture by creating tactics of resistance within everyday life. Fiske incorporated this into the idea of the active audience (Fiske 1989, pp 62-83), believing that audiences constantly tried to find new meanings inside media and that it was programmes that were made by industry, not text. Fiske maintained that: Texts are the product of their readers. So a programme becomes a text at the moment of reading. (Fiske 1989, p 14) And that: Texts are the site of conflictà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦between production and reception. (Fiske 1989, p14). From this freedom of meaning and conflict, audiences are capable of creating all sorts of resistance readings to the preferred dominant culture, constantly changing it in the process as elites try to catch up and encircle the masses into its fold once more. Fiske (1990) takes the example of jeans as fashion items they produce jeans and we alter them to look more trendy, so they react again. Creating a cycle of resistance by the active audiences/consumers and the dominant classes. Fiske continues, maintaining that there is no such thing as a homogenised audience, but rather a collection of pluralised audiences that are created from a multiplicity of backgrounds. Fiske maintained that this multiplicity of meaning amounts to a semiotic democracy (Fiske 1989, p95) where people are culturally competent enough to not need media experts to help them. This goes much further, it could be argued, than Morley, as Fiske seems to be saying that the actual meaning of any programme could be completely different, not just oppositional, negotiated, or dominant. Fiskes argument causes problems for many media researchers as it means that they are almost incapable of discovering how audiences think and behave. Indeed, Fiske often cites the fact that 80-90 per cent of all advertising strategies fail to succeed in bringing in an increase in sales (Fiske 1990), which has led to many people to question the usefulness of New Audience Research. First, there seems to be a great deal of backtracking and shifting over how much meaning should be assigned by the audience and how much on the text amongst its protagonists with disagreements as to how far audiences were interpreting texts through their social backgrounds with Nightingale (1996) pointing out that many later research studies backtracked into textual analysis. Morley (1990) decided to distanc e himself from Fiskes ideas of a semiotic democracy despite the latters praise of his Nationwide study. In his article printed in Curran et al (1990), he criticises the lack of power in Fiskes beliefs, stating that it had become too disseminated and lacked ideology. He also commented on the fact that reading texts is not the same as changing the text itself. Morley (ibid) himself had an argument with his contemporary James Curran, who questions the novelty of New Audience Research and therefore how much it had to add to the discourse. For instance, he cited work completed by a large number of media effects researchers from the 1940s and 1950s, who studied reception analysis whilst taking into account sociological backgrounds. For New Audience researchers, he argues: year AD starts with textual analysis (ibid p266) in the cultural/literary effects tradition and ignores what went before it. Of Fiske he argues that his ideas were old pluralism re-heated (ibid p267) that simply played into the hands of neo-liberal America, that wanted to deny any sort of hegemonic power in the media. Nightingale (1996) takes this further and comments that news and current affairs programmes and the ideology politics that surrounded them were dropped soon after the Nationwide study for more identity-orientated politics within soap operas making the research f ar more populist. The fact that the research turned the idea of power and ideology away from the media itself is something that Nightingale and many others criticise. Even Morley (1990) acknowledged that it is very well to rip ones jeans as a sign of resistance; however this is at best a micro-political move of resistance and not one that makes people think twice about buying designer jeans. Despite these valid criticisms, this essay still maintains that New Audience Research still was revolutionary as it helped a discourse that was very much removed from focusing on the audience as individuals able to make a resistance or re-interpret the media in any way. Morley (cited in Curran et al, 1990) replied to Currans argument by saying that he criticised the new research with the gift of hindsight given to him by new audience researchs work, and that none of the previous authors whose work focused on the audience would have been brought to light if it was not for new audience research raising the audience as an issue once again. In this way, a once marginalised area of research reasserted itself into the mainstream. It was, as Morley (1980) said a paradigm shift in every sense of the word. Sympathy, too, has to be given to Fiske for his pluralistic vision of semiotics. It could be argued that he was merely taking Halls original challenge to its logical conclusion that it cou ld be hypothesised that Audiences could actually hold a great deal of power. Curran (1990), Nightingale (1996), Eco (1974 cited in Nightingale 1996)) and others all agree that Fiske through his ideas on the active audience and plurality of meaning brought the idea of semiotics to a new generation of researchers, especially in America. Nightingale (1996, p 58) goes further and argues that New Audience Research was the point where sociology and semiotics meet in a globally unifying approach to the study of mass communications. Nightingale herself argues that despite the shortcomings, the new wave of Audience research was indeed paradigm shift and created a profound reorientation in cultural studies (ibid, p 60). Her reasoning for this was that studies such as Morleys Nationwide forced researchers to look beyond the passivity of audiences, beyond psychology and/or effects and root the debate within political and sociological discourse. It allowed researchers to look beyond the mass and see the inherent stratification in society (ibid, p 69). Furthermore, the emphasis on ethnography and qualitative research helped to bridge the gap between researcher and subject (ibid, p 68). In this way researchers now had to acknowledge this dimension of the audience as a major factor in audience research. In conclusion, despite new audience researchs critics saying that that it dissolves the meaning of the text, is not anything new, and individualises and pluralises audience research to a point to where meaning almost evaporates (Curran p 260), the concept behind it has still proved to be revolutionary. First, it took the discourse of audience studies away from the pessimistic and almost patronising beliefs of Marxists, Leavisites and media affects theorists that saw the audience as a single, passive mass. Instead it made them into active forces of meaning as Hall maintained. As Morley discovered in his experiment, they did not have to agree with the way mass media encoded the text, they could take various meanings from it depending on a host of background factors. They were an active audience, according to Fiske, who could resist the hegemony of media and create their own readings. It has had a lasting effect on audience research globally, whilst the discourse has moved on, the soci al, cultural and economic etc background of an audience is seen as a major component of audience studies research (Jensen et al, 1991). Active audience studies New Influence Research The evolution of media studies reviewed thus far reveals the distinctions, if not contradictions to the approaches between media effects research and studies exploring active audiences / reception studies. Kitzinger (2004:24) notes that the polarity between these two media scholarships has split media researchers into two sides, moreover with the existing geographical and cultural borders between which historically underpins media studies framework. Studies emphasising media effects and media power over audiences are more popular in the United States, whereas researchers in the Western Europe are more interested with the way audience use and meanings of media messages. At some point, this gap continues to widen as researchers focused on the difference, rather than finding a way to bridge media effects and audience studies (Morley, 1998). Nonetheless, a group of scholars have attempted to revitalise Halls encoding/decoding theory and try to (re)connect reception studies with media effects studies (for example see reception work conducted by the Glasgow Media Unit, Kitzinger, 2004; and Miller et. al., 1998). These studies revive the approach of Morleys Nationwide research and differentiate themselves from the over-emphasis of audience power in most active audience studies. This approach, also referred as the new influence research acknowledges that the media has some influence towards people and that the focus is to identify what and how audiences interact with these influences. Kitzinger (2002:276) asserts that the new influence studies has little connection with the hypodemic needle theory and that exploring into the ways audiences interpret media messages will help reveal ways in which media effects actually operates. The new influence research therefore acknowledges some media effects on audiences by theorizing way s in which audience interpret media representations and construct meanings. Although the impetus of new influence research is to bridge the gap between two major approaches of media research, most empirical work do not necessarily concern to find a link between media and behaviour in any context. In fact studies consistently fail to find a link between these two (Barker and Petley, 1996; Norris et. Al, 1999), and any research hoping to prove such link is doomed to failure (Gauntlett, 1998). On the other hand, the new influence research embraces the different ways audience may interpret what they see/hear/read in the media and acknowledges the limits of these interpretations, as well as the possibilities for shared mainstream interpretation particularly when dealing with repetitive and relatively closed text (Kitzinger, 1999; Livingstone, 1999). What this suggests is that although people can individually respond actively to the media, their predisposed collective needs, beliefs and interests may influence their response. Media reporting of health and perception of risks Seale (220:25) argues that the ways in which audience understand health issues is complex and involves a process of selecting and constructing unique composition of different health stories through media usage and experience. This process, or intertextual experience as he describes it, should not be overlooked in studies of media and health as audience are not only exposed to a single health story, but interactions of various different health issues across different media. As a result, audience understanding of a particular health issue may (or may not) overlap or influenced by their interpretation of other health stories in the media. Seale therefore believes that when analysing any forms of media

Health Policy Regarding To Smoking Health And Social Care Essay

Health Policy Regarding To Smoking Health And Social Care Essay This essay will demonstrate the government health policies regarding to smoking including with changes in health care field from the development of NHS with current scenario. It is important to know what is policy. Policy is a collection of different ideas and methods which is used for the improvement in any field including health care and on the other hand, health policy is a practical device, or advantageous procedure and political course of action [ Hennessy, D. Spurgeon, P., 2000]. Health policies may be explained as the strategies methods adopted as being advantageous, measure to provide within the recourses available from health systems that, at least maintain and preferably improves health. As time is changed there is changed in people thinking, behavior and their lifestyle due to this reason the consumption of cigarette smoking in society is increased from last few decades. Smoking has been recognized as one of the most considerable causes of avoidable death and disease. Smoking alone is the supreme cause of preventable illness and premature death in UK and smoking is responsible for 23 Percent in males and 12 Percent in female deaths. There is more than 106,500 deaths are due to cigarette smoking (Wilkinson S. et al, 2004). Smoking is defined as the inhalation and exhalation of smoke from flaming tobacco in cigarettes, cigars and pipes etc. Historically smoking put into practice, was followed by inhabitants of western hemisphere, in spiritual rituals and for therapeutic purposes. Smoking has a history preliminary from the late 1500s.Cigarette smoking is a serious health hazard. Tobacco contains nicotine a toxic substance named alkaloid -and some others dangerous stuff like carbon monoxide, prussic acid, and ammonia etc which are very harmful for the health. The current scenario of smoking in England have fallen from 28 percent in 1998 to 25 percent in 2003-means approximately 1.2 million smaller numbers of smokers (Department of health,2003). Due to smoking , one in five deaths held in UK and smokers lose, Tobacco smoke can causes the 90 percent of lung cancer then non smokers(Peterson and Peto,2004) [Neubeck, L., 2006]. It is anticipated that about 120,000 young men who aged between 30 and 50 years in the United kingdom are impotent as a consequence of smoking [British Medical Association(BMA)] , 2004]. The main aim and purposes for choosing this topic is to study smoking policy in united kingdom and to improve knowledge about current health policies on local level or at national level and to see the statistical data of smoking cessation and what are the government policies regarding the smoking cessation in the society for different age groups and to discuss the need, origination and operation of policies in health care. To develop the understanding about health care system in the United Kingdom and to improve knowledge about NHS as an organization and its role and policies in health care system. Smoking is considered very dangerous for health not only for an individual but for the nation also because many billion pounds every year spend by NHS for prevention. Smoking is a causing factor of many diseases which is related to our health and environment directly or indirectly such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart diseases lifestyle related problems and behavioral problems. Due to smoking, people become habitual and then it is hard to come out from this situation or if a person suddenly quit then it gives some harmful effect to our body. Smoking affects the person and it effects others through second hand smoking and passive smoking. if a pregnant women involves in any kind of smoking during pregnancy then, this is not only harmful to her but also to her baby too and the results are baby deliver with some congenital anomalies. In the UK (Department of health, 1998) illustrates that, approximately 23% in 1995 and 15% in 2009 babies were born with disabilities who were delivered from smoker mothers. So the government introduced new health policy on smoking ,Choosing health (Department of Health, 2007) introduced the smoke free public policy which says that no is allowed to do smoking in public place such as malls, buses and railway station etc.. This policy included with, to regulate the way of smoking is portrayed on television and on advertisement in newspapers and mark health warning notice on tobacco products. There are some causing factors which enhance or encourage youth to involve in smoking such as now a days it shows as a symbol of prestige and personality which effects the youth and children. Specially children are more prone to be affected by smoking directly or indirectly because they learn from elders and they are more curious to learn and try everything and on health effect their lungs are smal l compare to adults and their immunity is low and they are more prone to get and harmful effect of cigarette smoke. According to human anatomy children breaths faster than the adults and hence they inhale more toxins and harmful chemicals as compare to adults. Smoking can cause many diseases it affects the respiratory system and can lead to diseases like cancer, bronchitis etc. .It also causes the headache and poor circulation, bad breath and stomach cancer and cancer of the pancreas ( Peterson and Peto,2004).According to Department of health (2005) in the general adult population for 2001 still shows that approximately 28 percent of men and 25 percent of women smoke (Department of health 2005). There are some other effects of smoking cessation like restlessness, waking up at night, increased appetite, Depression, Mouth ulcers and cancers, with poor concentration on work (smoking and health, 2005). There are some other risk factors associated with the second-hand smoking. In adults it causes coughing, feeling sick and breathing problems and in babies and children much higher rate of cot death as compared to the children of non smokers. Higher chances of ear infection, complaints of coughs, sneezing and cold and flu (Source Jamrozik, 2005). Nowadays due to change in the disease pattern people are thinking about their health .They want to have smoking policies which reduces the rate of smoking. Thinking of people Behavior and life style is changed. The disease rate of lung cancer, cardiovascular system and respiratory problems are increased due to smoking. In UK 12000 people are die in every year due to second-hand smoke (Jamerozik, 2005). In addition to this, smoking affects in a loss of productivity among workers, and ill health. A smoke free policy needs to be practical and impartial. Second-hand smoke is of two types: Main stream and Side stream smoke. The Residential and Commercial Services (RCS) introduce that all public places including residential areas, offices areas will be smoke free. This policy comes into progress on Sunday 1st July 2007.Smoking Is prohibited in all enclosed premises i.e. university buildings, covered walk ways. This policy applies to all university employees, students, residents and visitors etc. NHS Direct has a duty to promote and maintain the health of the community. It extends to the work environment, and thus help in promotion of general well being of all people. The NHS Direct policies not worried with people who smoke but with where they smoke and to prevent effects of smoking on visitors, and non smoking colleagues. It is also alarmed with the presence of carcinogenic substances in the vicinity of NHS Direct sites. From 1st July 2007, practically all enclosed places including work places in England will become smoke free, which will make sure a better and healthy environment, so that everyone can relax, travel and work free from second-hand smoke ( NHS Direct,2008 ).According to this policy smoking is prohibited in all working areas, such as centers and offices surroundings at all times, it will also includes after working hours periods and shifts as well as evenings and weekends and will also in the following ordinary areas: meeting Room, kitchen areas, Store Room reception Areas. According to Health and Safety at work etc Act, 1974). In UK the Department of Health (NHS Direct, 2008) has taken achievement to increase the general awareness of the risks concerned with the second-hand smoke through the following: countries first ever multimedia and education campaign. Funding to facilitate smoke free cities network and to help cities move towards smoke free on a voluntary basis. Almost all 50 percent in UK (there are 60,000 in the UK) and half of the Restaurants Association (10,500 group and individual restaurants). Benefits of Action and Second-Hand smoke: Environment and Economic benefits for society individual and industries includes: The NHS expenditures is reduced through smoking prevalence. The costs from the sickness absence are reduced. It enhances safety benefits (such as reduced fire risks).The cleanliness and maintenance costs are reduced. The Action on smoking and health report relates to strategy of tobacco control for England and recommendations which reflects the current balance and reserved powers in England. By helping smokers to quit, harm of tobacco can be reduced. All health professionals should have the skills to provide basics to stop smoking advice to the persons who smokes including the provision of treatment and referral to specialist stop smoking services. There are medicinal products on the market to help the smoker to quit and they also provide substitutes of Nicotine products. The tobacco control community looks ahead to working with the government in shaping the new strategy and new era in tobacco control. The Department of Health, 2004 has set a further public sector agreement(PSA) targeted as to reduce the rate of smoking to 21 percent or less by 2010( 26 percent in 2002). According to a Report of Smoking in public places on 15th December 2005 was published by the House of Commons Health Committee. They command paper sets out the government response in the report. The aim of government to achieve reduction in smoking frequency through along with combination of policies, which will help 70 percent of smokers who they want to quit. Smoking in pregnant women remains and issue of public health because the women who continued smoking during pregnancy, the infant born were hospitalized for a considerably more number of days (Petrou etal, 2005)[ ]{midwives attitude to smoking and smoking cessation in pregnancy}. The other national services highlights the danger of smoking like National Services Framework for heart diseases, cancer and children, young person and maternity services they highlights of the danger of smoking . The Health Action Zone in England, April 1999 to March 2000. The White paper Smoking Kills announced the new money for setting up the cessation services over a three year period. The NHS smoking cessation services will provide a new move towards help the people who want to quit smoking. They provide specialist and intermediate services. In specialist smoking cessation services they provide intensive treatment, usually clinics, run by smoking cessation specialists, usually in form of group over the course period of 5-6 weeks. It also includes Nicotine Replacement Therapy. In intermediate services provided by the other health practitioners who have taken some kind of recognized training usually they provided on a one to one basis, their services also include Nicotine Replacement Therapy. The new evidences has made by committee in 2004 , which has based on the report of Scientific Committee On Tobacco and Health [SCOTH],1998.They pay attention to the new organization between the secondhand smoke and lung disease. They have published their latest report from SCOTH was along with the Choosing Health White Paper.[Department of Health,2009]. The carpool vehicles should need to display the No smoking signs (NHS, smoking in workplace.2009). The cost effectiveness for government like NHS cost in overall smoking is estimated approximately 1.5 billion pounds a year. This cost will be reduced by decreasing the rate of smoking, about 1.7 percentage rate of smoking is reduced from 25 percent, then it means that about 100 million pounds are saved annually( ). The development of a smoke-free policy needs to be a practical and impartial. These policies are created to give staff guidance, patient and visitor clear guidance on what is acceptable. The government policy for smoking in the work places is that to reduced passive smoking all employers have to provide designated smoking areas outside the organization (Department of Health, 2009). Nowadays, the lifestyle of people has been changed the smoking rate is increased in both men and women. Parents smoke in front of their children this leads to affects the children because the children are more curious to learn and they want to trial and experiment of smoking in their peer groups. In pubs and discos youth enjoying their parties with wine, alcohol and smoking. They start due to their peer pressure and thereafter they become habitual of smoking. People spend most of times outside from their homes and they live alone so they start drinking alcohol and smoking to reduce their boredom and tensions. Due to this kind of social impact on the people the rate of smoking is increased. Nurses play an significant role for delivering health policies in the society through the use of education program for on individual and to the community. Encourage people to attend workshop for the cessation of smoking provide them support to come out of this .Use the opportunities to explain the relationship between changes in health status and smoking. They assess the smoking status of patients and to give advice all smokers to stop. They assist the people who interested in doing so. Health care practioners offer follow up and refer them to specialist stop smoking services if they required. For heavily addicted smokers who are currently unable or to quit, there is also the possibility of switching to pure Nicotine products (which like the current medicinal products on the market, contain Nicotine only and other tobacco derivates).Smokers are addicted to Nicotine but they are harmed by the tar and toxins in tobacco. Now there is more than ever a need for increased efforts to promot e tobacco education and the intervention amongst nurses in order for them to have the prospective to be credible and successful advisers to patients and the public. The community healths nurses are in very good position interfere with smokers. Many who want to give up smoking do so as a result of the health problem. So the problems in community in those nurses have a significant role to help them and community and community people to quit from this lethal problem. People who are habitual to smoke of if they want to quit from it then and nurses and government have to prepare policies to available to them substitute of smoking for example Nicotine Replacement therapy such as chewing gums. Asses the smokers to and help them to quit the smoking give them proper advice and suggestions and help them to take classes and join workshops to the smoking in the society. Advice them that take proper substitute of smoking instead of taking tobacco instance they may consume nicotine substances or the cigarettes and they also take some medical subanstances to reduce their smoking habit. the community health nurse should health to stop smoking . And there are fa ster acting NRT produce Department of Health, 2000ts available and are being developed in the current scenario. There are more and more treatments are becoming available for smoking cessation. It is a rapidly developing field in the society and there are some others methods like Hypnotherapy is suggested and Acupuncture therapy is beneficial. The care which is offered to the pregnant women would impact on society. In conclusion, many government policies have been implemented in local and national level for the development of people and encourage them to adopt healthy life style and stop smoking although the government gets several incomes from the sale of tobacco products. These policies and recommendations are taken from NHS and the department of health and implemented in the society. The harmful effects of smoking not only affect to the mother but also their baby in the womb and the impact of health care policies in health care system. It starts with the effects on the fetus and carries on throughout childhood.