Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Bill Sikes in ‘Oliver Twist’ Essay

This device is important as it helps with the presentation of Bill Sikes, as it emphasises the different actions which he carries out when killing Nancy, it suggests how determined he is on expressing his anger and asserting his authority. One of the last lines which Sikes says to Nancy is â€Å"You know you she-devil†, this illustrates his anger and through the little words which he says, what Sikes does say is of importance, because it is spoken in such a concise manner. Dickens also presents in this extract, as Sikes walks into the room where Nancy is, Nancy who appears to be in a situation where, she is pleading him to spare her life. She says to Sikes â€Å"Then spare my life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  which implies how desperate she is, and how Sikes has the upper hand in this situation, in the text. The use of the word â€Å"cried† from the original extract further suggests the urgency in her voice as she tries to justify her actions to Sikes, who has already gone in to the room, with the intent to kill Nancy. Both the use of few lines and the pleading of Nancy are replicated somewhat in the film adaptation; however Nancy does not have the opportunity to explain and justify her actions in the film adaptation. The film uses various camera angles as a device, for example a low angle shot for Sikes, to make him appear more powerful in the situation, and the high angle shot for Nancy, suggesting she is vulnerable and weak. There is a point of view shot, immediately after Sikes has realised he has killed Nancy to suggest the realisation of his own actions, and it helps to see what has happened from the character’s viewpoint. The use of music is another device within the film adaptation used to present the character of Bill Sikes, which can clearly not be included in the original text. There is no initial audio, as the absence of music, the silence, suggests the great anger which Sikes is feeling. The music is mainly diegetic, quite silent, as it includes sounds of breathing and movement and so on. During the period after Nancy is killed, soft music is played, with no lyrics to suggest it is quite sad, and also implying there is very little to say as Nancy has been killed. Therefore there have been a number of devices which have been used with the character of Bill Sikes in ‘Oliver Twist’, some which have been included in both the original text and film adaptation, such as the choice of giving a small number of lines to Sikes. However there have been some devices, from the filmmaker’s craft, which can only be used in a film, which include the camera angles and music.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Universalism Versus Cultural Relativism

One of the most pertinent issues of the past twenty years has been the conflict between two different ideologies of human rights on a national scale, universalism, and cultural relativism. Universalism holds that more â€Å"primitive† cultures will eventually evolve to have the same system of law and rights as Western cultures. Cultural relativists hold an opposite, but similarly rigid viewpoint, that a traditional culture is unchangeable. In universalism, an individual is a social unit, possessing inalienable rights, and driven by the pursuit of self interest. In the cultural relativist model, a community is the basic social unit. Concepts such as individualism, freedom of choice, and equality are absent. It is recognized that the community always comes first. This doctrine has been exploited by many states, which decry any impositions of western rights as cultural imperialism. These states ignore that they have adopted the western nation state, and the goal of modernization and economic prosperity. Cultural relativism is in itself a very arbitrary idea, cultures are rarely unified in their viewpoints on different issues, it is always those â€Å"who hold the microphone [that] do not agree†(http://www. aasianst. rg/Viewpoints/Nathan. htm). Whenever one group denies rights to another group within a culture, it is usually for their own benefit. Therefore human rights cannot be truly universal unless they are not bound to cultural decisions that are often not made unanimously, and thus cannot represent every individual that these rights apply to. Even though cultural relativism has great problems and a potential for abuse, universalism in its current state is not the ideal solution. Universalism is used by many Western states to negate the validity of more ‘traditional’ systems of law. For example, if a tribe in Africa is ruled by a chieftain and advised by the twelve most senior villagers, is this system any less representative than the supposedly more liberal societies of the West?. It is not possible to impose a universal system of human rights if the effects of social change stemming from modernization are not understood or worse yet, ignored. In non-Western societies, industrialization, capitalism, and democracy might not have been the eventual outcome of the process of cultural evolution. These ideologies have been shaped and created by Western imperialism, the slave trade, colonialism, modernization, and consumerism. Today’s world shows signs of positive progress towards the universal system of human rights. The declaration of human rights occurred immediately after the atrocities committed during WWII. The globalization of human rights began when the world was awakened to the crimes committed under one government (Hitler), and the need for a more universal system of accountability and responsibility. Through a forum such as the United Nations, cultural differences are better able to be resolved, thereby paving the way for universalism while at the same time recognizing and compromising on the needs of certain cultures. The recent adoption of the International criminal court in June 1998 is an important step in enforcing and promoting the values agreed upon by the member nations. As the world becomes a smaller place with the advent of globalization, universalism makes more sense as a philosophy of human rights. In a world where many people might not be governed by national borders, having fundamental human rights instead of ones bound to certain cultures provides the best solution.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Automated Diabetic Retinopathy Detection System

Automated Diabetic Retinopathy Detection System ABSTRACT DETECTION OF EXUDATES USING GUI Automated diabetic retinopathy detection system is an essential requirement due to developing diabetic retinopathy patients around the globe. The primary intention of the research is to detect exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. In this particular study, we provide an efficient method for identifying and classifying the exudates as soft exudates and hard exudates. Apart from these, this study compares three methods namely Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization, Histogram Equalization and Mahalanobis Distance for enhancing a digital fundus image to detect and choose the best one to classify exudates in Retinal images by adopting graphical user interface with the help of MATLAB. From the findings of the study, in the image enhancement application of blood vessels, Mahalanobis distance is recognized as the best algorithm. It was evident from the analysis that the monitoring and detecting exudates in the f undus of the eye are essential for diabetic patients. Moreover, it shows that hard and soft exudates are a primary tool of diabetic retinopathy that can be quantified automatically. In addition to these, it appears that drawbacks must be resolved to predict an appropriate detection method for exudates in digital fundus images. From the findings, it was evident that suitable algorithm has to be selected and verified on several images which provide likely and excellent outcomes. LIST OF TABLES Comparison of Histogram Equalization (HE), Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) and Mahalanobis Distance(MD)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦14 LIST OF FIGURE Image before enhancement Histogram before enhancement Image after histogram equalization Histogram after HE Image after CLAHE Histogram after CLAHE Image after Mahalanobis distance enhancement Histogram after Mahalanobis distance enhancement Flow chart of the method CIELab color space Input image K- means clustered image Morphological image Dilated image Eroded image Optic disc detection Exudates image   Hard and soft exudates Input DFI   Enhancement methods of DFI Step-1 of exudate detection Step-2 by giving input image Step-3 enhancing input image Step-4 exudates image of abnormal eye Normal eye output displaying no exudates LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AHE Adaptive Histogram Equalization CIE Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage CLAHE Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization CMYK Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key DRD iabetic Retinopathy DFI Digital Fundus Image HE Histogram Equalization MD Mahalanobis Distance MM Mathematical Morphology RGB Red, Green, Blue RRGS Recursive Region Growing Segmentation Chapter 1 Introduction Research Background: Diabetic retinopathy is a common disease nowadays that can prevail in anyone having type 1 or type-2 diabetes. The opportunity of being influenced by this d isease relies on the time duration of a person having diabetes. Long-term diabetes leads to greater blood sugar level that causes harm by changing the flow of blood in retinal blood vessels. It is similar that in the previous stage DR shows no symptoms and hence without facing medical investigation it is not feasible to predict the existence of the disease. Exudative retinopathy is a condition referred by the occurrence of yellow or white mass that exists due to leakage of proteins and fats along with water from vessels of blood in the retina. It is important to predict the exudates occurrence in fundus oculi because the collection of these exudates may lead to complete loss of vision (Manpreetkaur, 2015). Walter et al. (2001) has mentioned that the disease of DR evolved exudates in eye fundus. The physicians regard exudates as one of the primary indicators of DR severity. Exudates are yellow spot resided in fundus. This disease of diabetes causes leakage of fluid from vessels of bl ood. For a long time, uncontrolled diabetes may evolve as exudates in eye fundus. The exudates initiate to develop in little number and size. If the diabetes is not monitored or controlled for a long time the number and size of exudates will grow. The exudates growth in eye fundus may cause blindness. Tasman and Jaeger (2001) have stated that exudates seem as bright deposits of yellow-white on the retina due to lipid leakage from abnormal vessels. Their size and shape differ with various stages of retinopathy. These lesions are related to many diseases of retinal vascular involving DME (diabetic macular edema), DR (diabetic retinopathy), retinal venous obstruction, hypertensive retinopathy, radiation retinopathy and retinal arterial microaneurysms, capillary hemangioma of retina and disease of the coat. Welfera et al. (2010) have stated that exudation is a hazardous case because it can lead to a loss of vision when existing in the central macular area. Thus such lesions must be pred icted, and appropriate medical intervention must be acquired to avoid damages to visual acuity of the patient. Automatic exudates detection in DR patients’ retinas could enhance early prediction of DR and could support doctors track the treatment progress over time. Thus it can be inferred that exudates detection by computer could provide a precise and rapid diagnosis to specialist examination and support the clinician to acquire timely decision to take proper treatment. Problem Statement: Diabetes is a rapidly developing common disease among people globally which causes various organs dysfunction. Diabetic retinopathy is the primary blindness cause in adults. Sometimes, due to long-term diabetes, the retinal blood vessels are harmed, this eye disease is known as diabetic retinopathy. It is essential to automatically predict the lesions of diabetic retinopathy at an early stage to hinder further loss of vision. Exudates are significant diabetic retinopathy symptoms. Exu dates are bright lesions that are an important sign of this disease. It is the major signs of DR a major vision loss cause in diabetic patients. Primary concern of the research Aim: The primary goal of the study is to analyze an automated way for exudates in eyes. Objectives: To examine the causes of exudates in diabetic retinopathy patients. To analyze the types of exudates used in digital fund images. To evaluate the different enhancement methods used to predict the exudates in fundus images. To determine the drawbacks of enhancement methods of exudates in digital fundus images. To propose a promising algorithm to detect the exudates in digital fundus images. Limitations of the study: This study is limited to diabetic retinopathy patients. This study is restricted to exudates detection only. This study evaluates an automated way for exudates in eyes. The structure of the thesis This argument is made up of the following five chapters: Chapter 1: This is the introduction section that gives the necessary research background andconcepts related to the research. Chapter 2 : This chapter is the review of literature that analyzes several existing worksrelated to finding an automated way for exudates in eyes. Chapter 3: This chapter describes the design of the system that explains in detailabout the enhancement methods applied in digital fundus image for detection of diabetic retinopathy. Chapter 4: This chapter discusses the implementation plan of digital fundus images and compares different researches done by authors and depicts the results of the proposed system. Chapter 5: This is the conclusion section that gives the outcome of the research byanswering the research questions and recommendations for future improvement. In addition to that, this thesis has bibliography containing the sources used in collecting secondary data in the study and an appendix that has tools like questionnaires are utili zed in the gathering primary data for the research. Chapter-2 Literature Review Introduction : This chapter provides an overview on the detection of exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. This chapter discusses in detail about the digital fundus image. In addition to these, this chapter discusses in detail about the classification of exudates in retinal images. Apart from these, this study provides the comparison of Histogram equalization (HE), contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) and Mahalanobis distance (MD) methods to enhance the digital fundus image for detection. Literature on Digital fundus images The benefits of digital imaging are rate of access to information (images), quick and accurate duplication, chronicling and transmission, and prompt access to the outcomes. The imaging technique can be rehashed if the nature of the underlying result is deficient. Despite the fact that film-based images can be digitized (to registe r macular color thickness conveyance from two different wavelength-based pictures or to evaluate the status of the optic nerve), quick access to the images is unrealistic, as it is important to build up the film first. This deferral keeps the picture from checking the outcomes and in this manner redressing any issue in the procurement procedure, which can be efficiently accomplished in digital imaging at no extra cost. The digitization of fundus photos was tended to by (Cideciyan et al., 1991) who proposed a nonlinear rebuilding model fusing four parts: the eye, the fundus camera, the film and the scanner. Scholl et al. (2004) observed digitized images to be valuable for evaluating age-connected maculopathy and age-connected macular degeneration. Comparison Table 1: Comparison of Histogram Equalization (HE), Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) and Mahalanobis Distance (MD) Histogram equalization Contrast limited adaptive histogram equalizatio n Mahalanobis distance This technique is based on the specification of the histogram. CLAHE is considered as the necessary preprocessing step, and it has the tendency to generate the images for extracting the features of a pixel in the classification process. This method has carried out by identifying the pixels of the background images only by leaving the foreground images. HE is relatively straightforward technique and an invertible operator. Indiscrimination is one of the biggest disadvantages of this method. CLAHE is also denoted as the automatic and efficient method to detect the exudates effectively. The selective enhancement of MD has created the fewer artifacts for further processing than HE and CLAHE. HE has used the neighborhood-based approach on the pixels, and it has the tendency to operate based on the modification of histogram to obtain the new images efficiently. The technique of CLAHE has the capabilit y to provide the green channel image enhancement with high quality. This method can produce the similar curve to the Gaussian-shaped curve ideally. HE has uniformly distributed the output histogram by using the cumulated histogram like the mapping function. CLAHE has limited the process of amplification by clipping the histogram at the predefined value. MD algorithm has given better histogram result when compared to HE and CLAHE Research gap : This study examines about the detection of exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. The research gap predicted in this study is that there are many studies on the detection of exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. But no studies have clearly determined the successful approaches towards the detection of diabetic retinopathy in fundus images. Detection and classification of diabetic retinopathy pathologies in fundus images have been investigated by Agurto (2012). He s tudied the effects of image compression and degradation on an automatic diabetic retinopathy screening algorithm. In addition to these, the Agurto et al. (2012) investigated the detection of hard exudates and red lesions in the macula using the multi-scale approach. Walter et al. (2002) carried out an investigation to contribute the image processing to the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy. Authors also focused on automatic detection of diabetic retinopathy from eye fundus images (Manpreetkaur, 2015). There are also studies that are focused on coarse-to-fine strategy for automatically identifying exudates in color eye fundus images. Chapter-3 Research Design Introduction: This part examines the design of the study to determine an automated way for finding exudates in eyes. This study compares three methods namely CLAHE (Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization), Histogram Equalization (HE) and Mahalanobis Distance (MD) for enhancing a digital fundus image to detect and choose the best one to classify exudates in Retinal images by adopting graphical user interface in MATLAB. Research design: The reason of the study is to detect exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. In this particular study, we provide an efficient method for identifying and classifying the exudates as soft exudates and hard exudates. The retinal image seen in the CIELab space of the color is pre-processed for eliminating noise. Further, a network of blood vessels is removed for facilitating detection and removing the optic disc. At the same time, optic disc is removed using the technique of Hough transform. Candidate exudates are identified using the method of k-means clustering. At last, exudates are categorized as the soft and hard one by their threshold and edge energy. Developed method has yielded better outcomes. Histogram Equalization: Histogram equalization is a technique for adjusting image intensities to enhance contrast. HE is an operatio n that is based on histogram specification or modification to obtain new pictures. The objective of this contrast enhancement technique is to get a new enhanced image that has a uniform histogram that only plots the frequency at each gray-level from 0 (black) to 255 (white). Each histogram represents the frequency of occurrence of all gray-level in the image. Figure 1: Image before enhancement Figure 2: Histogram before equalization Figure 3: Image after histogram equalization Figure 4: Histogram after histogram equalization Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization: CLAHE is considered as a locally adaptive method for contrast enhancement. CLAHE is an enhanced version of adaptive HE (AHE) method. The technique AHE has a realistic restriction that homogenous part in the image leads to over-amplification of noise due to thin series of pixels are plotted to a whole range of visualization. In the meantime, it was noticed that contrast limited AHE (CLAHE) was designed for preventing this noise over-amplification in homogenous regions. CLAHE restricts the sound amplification in the image in such a way that image looks like very real. Figure 5: Image after CLAHE Figure 6: Histogram after CLAHE Mahalanobis Distance: Image enhancement using the Mahalanobis distance method is performed by identifying the background image pixels and eliminating them, leaving only the foreground image. It is based on the assumption that in image neighborhood N, the background pixels has significantly different intensity value than those of the foreground pixels. For each pixel (x, y) in the picture, the mean  µn (x, y) and the standard deviation à Ã†â€™n (x, y) of the statistical distribution of intensities in N are estimated. The sample means;  µn is used as the estimator for  µn (x, y) and the e sample standard deviation; à Ã†â€™ n is the estimator for à Ã†â€™n (x, y). If the intensity of pixel (x, y) is close to the mea n intensity in N, it is considered to belong to the background set ÃŽÂ ². As defined mathematically in Eq. 1, the expression implies that pixel (x, y) belongs to ÃŽÂ ² if the stated condition is satisfied. Those images would later be combined to evaluate the MD image, which can be segmented using the threshold t to identify the background pixels. Figure 7: Image after MD enhancement Figure 8: Histogram after MD enhancement Summary: This research compares three methods namely CLAHE, HE, MD to enhance a digital fundus image to detect and choose the best one to classify exudates in Retinal images by adopting graphical user interface in MATLAB. It was evident from the above findings that candidate exudates are identified using the technique of Mahalanobis Distance enhancement.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

There is no set topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

There is no set topic - Essay Example The little Paul is inspired to experiment his luck in gambling because of his mother’s opinion that â€Å"if you’re rich, you may lose your money. But if you’re lucky, you will always get more money†. Once, during the conversation between Paul and his uncle, he speaks about horse races and gambling explicitly and reveals that the gardener is his partner. When the uncle comes to know it instead of correcting Paul, he too becomes a partner. The central point of the story is a wooden horse which Paul believes has some magical effects to make him a winner. Paul gives five thousand pounds of his winnings to his uncle in order to arrange a birthday gift for his mother who always used to blame her misfortune. The story ends with the tragic death of the poor boy that always had a strong affection to his parents. When the uncle asks Paul what he would do with the winning money, he says that he needs to change his mother’s bad luck. This short story best illustrates, how or to what extent family environment affects a kid’s mind. He always hears the desperate words of his mother that can only imbue him with deceptive ideologies. The young boy was disturbed by the incessant whispering he heard even from vacuum; â€Å"there must be more money! There must be more money!† Even though he doesn’t know how to make money, this strong desire to acquire money is deep-rooted in his inner soul. This is the situation when the boy comes to know about horse gambling which gradually perverts him the whole way to the tragic end. The character of Paul’s mother also conveys a great message to the readers of this beautiful story. She is the image of people who always blame others or fate for their failure. They often think that money is the sole factor that brings happiness; and it usually comes due to one’s luck. She expresses this notion openly when Paul asks why they didn’t have a car. Her answer has an adverse effect on Paul as he begins to think that only money can

Engineers in the construction industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Engineers in the construction industry - Essay Example It is true that architects design for the safety of the building. Some architects even use previously used design specifications that have been observed to work. They simply copy and paste them in the new project. They see the design through the construction stage. They then walk home with the believe that the design shall work considering that it has been observed to work in the past. This is not necessarily true. Every building, even with the same design specifications, has its own individual challenges. There are no two geographical locations that are similar in all aspects. Each building has its own individual challenges during and after its construction. The architect ensures that all challenges and setbacks in construction are surmounted.   In this regard, buildings are not complete when the architect goes home.Buildings are consumed in two major ways; as residential premises or for commercial use. Residential buildings are designed to accommodate or house the owner of the bu ilding and his close associates. These associates might be family members, members of his work force or friends. The buildings could also be used to house the owner’s associates only. They do not attract any financial gain or profits directly.   The owner of the building just benefits from the fact that he gets sheltered with the building or at least his close associates or property does so. All buildings of this nature need to be designed in a way that human health is not compromised. They should be well ventilated, warm enough and well lit. Buildings can also be consumed for commercial gain. The owner of the building may or may not reside in it. Part or the whole of the building is intended for generating financial gain. The building might even house non living objects entirely. It is possible that no human being or even animal or plant

Saturday, July 27, 2019

RELATIONSHIPS & CULTURE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

RELATIONSHIPS & CULTURE - Essay Example Cultural distance and differences are widely used constructs in making international business relating to expansion of foreign investments, entry mode choice, and performance of affiliates (Shenkar, 2001). Likewise, relationship marketing emphasises on customer retention and satisfaction instead of focusing dominantly on transactions and sales. It is said that an organisation needs to improve its level of competitiveness in a globalised market in order to survive the competition if not to dominate it, and marketing tactics help tremendously in achieving this endeavor. Literatures say that among these tactics is the employment of relationship marketing that aids the firm to market internationally its product or service. A firm's external operations entail an understanding of how cultural differences affect international marketing decisions. This understanding can be utilised in predicting strategic movements and responses of competitors and thus enables the firm to design effective competitive strategies. International sales negotiations are the primary focal point of this understanding (Tse, et al., 1988, p. 81). The internal conduct of multinational firms also needs knowledge of the impact of culture on marketing decisions. ... For organisations with diverse cultural backgrounds, the interpretation of cues for standard operating procedures may vary because of these cultural backgrounds, imploring the need to understand cultural differences in international marketing. Another reason as to why a good understanding of cultural differences is important in international marketing is because this knowledge of cultural influences permits the firms to adapt to such differences, enabling it to reduce the so called 'noisy communications" as well as eliminate errors in decision-making. These are said to occur likely out of lack of common understanding, which stems from lack of understanding of cultural differences (Montgomery and Weinberg, 1979 in Tse, et al., 1988, p. 81). It is already a given knowledge that in the past, especially prior to the globalised era, Western managerial culture dominated multinational firms. However, this trail has changed a long way as shown by the recent trends' increase in international trade and foreign direct investment of Asian multinational firms and North American subsidiaries that operate in Asian countries. This implies furtherance of salient understanding of cultural impact on an organisation's internal operations (Tse , et al., 1988). This emphasis on cultural differences is exemplified by the case of China's businesses, which experience isolation from contacts with international markets for many years. Thus, their marketing decision processes have relatively represented pure form of cultural influence on business behavior caused by cultural impacts. It is suggested that an Oriental business community with strong and continuous interaction with the Western businesses is what

Friday, July 26, 2019

Broadcast news story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Broadcast news story - Essay Example Fox Sports 1 appears to have accepted the challenge and it aims to set new standards of sports telecast by introducing the newly emerging idea of â€Å"Jockularity† as part of their regular telecasts. The new channel aims to establish its reputation as a funny, irreverent and so called ‘less-serious’ sport channel. They say that they will engage the services of some really famous Canadian pranksters to anchor the network’s flagship programs. Regis Philbin is also expected to host a show at the new sports network. â€Å"What we are fighting is inertia. ESPN has a 30-year head start, and they are doing a remarkable job. We are very much the underdog, and we have to convince the sports-viewing public that what we have on offer is better—or as good as—what ESPN has been offering. We have to create a personality.† (Greenfeld) Greenfeld,  K.  T. (2013, July 18). Fox Sports 1s Strategy vs. ESPN: Jockularity - Businessweek. Retrieved  May  18, 2015, from

Thursday, July 25, 2019

HRM case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

HRM - Case Study Example addition to the communication techniques, a comprehensive HR plan for a proposed M & A strategy should include human resource counseling, establishment and reorganization processes. It may have some financial implications upon the senior management, but it greatly enhances the chances of successful merger and acquisition. To address the consequences, the HR professionals should make the plan and estimate the cost of implementation of these processes and gain senior management’s consent for its approval. 3. To predict and minimize the potentially adverse outcomes, AOL and Netscape should have paid due consideration towards the cultural implications before and after the merger. Before the merger, AOL should have conveyed the possible changes in the nature of work after merger to the workforce. Most likely, the workers would have revealed that the step is not worth taking until AOL brings a major change in its workforce to suit the needs of merger. After the merger, AOL had two options; either to recruit such employees that could also sell high-end wines in addition to the beer, or revert to the old business and retreat from the

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Health Promotion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Promotion - Essay Example First of all, each program should be described for the sake of clarity and specific goals thereof. In this vein, ACAP is well based on the provision of proper information on the issue and the way of emergency training (Asthma Australia, 2011). The main objective is to implement educational standards applied to the healthcare in the country. It is vital to note that the main parties concerning ACAP are education staff, parents, and adolescents (Asthma Australia, 2011). Thus, it is aimed at providing children with ultimate care so as to make sure their attitudes will be loyal toward the program itself. Triggered in November 2009, the program is advantageous for training more than 148 104 staff in schools and preschools providing 7 514 1 hour Asthma Australia training sessions across Australia (Asthma Australia, 2011). Thus, the program is aimed at making education staff aware of the problem itself and safety options required for keeping up a good job with children with asthma accordingly. Moreover, it is valuable in a hospital setting, involving children into a friendly atmosphere of understanding and counseling on the part of adults. Moreover, keeping in mind the fact that the rate of asthma prevalence in Australia is one of the highest in the world, the annual costs varies from $500 million to $1 billion (Mulberg, Silber, & Anker, 2010, p. 25). Definitely, ACAP is seen to have the largest amount of funding on the part of the government. Nevertheless, it needs more inclusion of additional directions aimed at the optimization of ACAP’s mission throughout different states in Australia. ACSP is another program included in the national program on community and hospital admission of asthma training in order to increase people’s awareness of the diseases while decreasing cases of emergency in the future. The program deals with both community and hospital awareness and is based on education, information, and support (Asthma Australia, 2011). In this respect the program is effective due to its widespread popularity a a host of positive feedbacks from all participants engaged in this program. The question is that ACSP is called to prevent Australians with asthma from lethal outcomes. It is all about the conclusions made by the Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring state that during the period of 2000-2005 there were 145 deaths per 100,000 patients with the highest rate of mortality among patients over 45 years old (Watson, Pharma, & Rabe, 2007). Thus, commenced in response to such a poor statistics in November 2009, ACSP provides the hospital staff al ong with the rest of population with proper training and assessment regarding asthma. To say more, 511 session were realized in the last year (Asthma Australia, 2011). However, the program lacks impact on the western states of Australia having less performance in there. Finally, AAP is the oldest health-promoting anti-asthma program commenced in Australia at the end of the 1980s in order to timely analyze and define the detrimental factors for and preventive measures against asthma. In this respect the first two programs seem to repeat the methods prescribed in AAP. It is all about the main benefits of AAP for Australians realized through the awareness of the symptoms, seeking medical attention, resources for better management of asthma, training community members with what they can do in cases of asthmatic manifestations in an individual, etc (Harver & Kotses,

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Analysis of civil rights in Hard Times Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis of civil rights in Hard Times - Essay Example However, an overview of human civilization would clearly show that people have always acted as the most important factors against ensuring equality to their counterparts and most of the time such deprivation of rights is done due to fulfillment of personalized interests. History of human civilization has witnessed brutal expressions of such deprivation. It is due to this reason, increasing amount of importance has been provided over protection of civil rights in modern times; however, the issue of protecting basic rights of common people received different manifestations in different periods of time. Charles Dickens’s famous novel Hard Times can be regarded as a brilliant example that encompassed within its scope the traits of violating what we call as civil rights in the recent times within the purview of Victorian Society. The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia defines civil rights as, â€Å"Civil rights are the basic freedoms and rights of people within a community. They are guaranteed by laws and customs that give everyone fair treatment† (446). Civil rights aims at ensuring fair and equal treatment of citizens, keeping aside the apparent religious, ethnic or gender differences. It also provides equal rights to all human beings regarding freedom of speech, expression, participation in social activities, development of community, participate in political aspects, right to fair trial and voting rights. Despite civil rights ensures complete enjoyment of all these rights to an individual but at the same time it also makes it clear that an individual should restrain himself from exercising any of these rights to such an extent so that other people’s freedom or liberty is hampered (The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia 446). Most of the democratic governmental structures provide a great deal of s tress on proper expression and protection of civil rights. Intellectual enlightenment during the

Conceptual Cognition and Problem Solving Styles Essay Example for Free

Conceptual Cognition and Problem Solving Styles Essay The article â€Å"Thinking† found in the Northeastern University Website presents insights regarding conceptual cognition and problem solving skills. It claims that although people may have similar concepts, we differ from each other by our conceptual cognition and problem solving styles. To elaborate, the author cites how people define concepts. It shows that people have similar concepts of things especially those perceived by sight. For instance, features including two eyes, four legs, two ears, one tail, barking, sharp teeth, etc., would definitely pertain to a dog. Likewise, a photo of a child smiling is an indication of a happy child, not a sad one. However, there are also some concepts in our society that have changed a bit but not entirely. Although they are modified through time, a certain degree of people’s cognition of the original concept remains the same. Take for example, marriage. In the past, the concept of marriage is limited to a man and a woman, but now the concept allows man to man marriage, so although the concept is altered a bit, the concept of togetherness and commitment still holds truth. Concepts are arranged into hierarchies. For instance, a bedroom is smaller than a house, and a block is smaller than a neighborhood. Applying it in the school context, there are students under one teacher, and there are teachers under one director, etc. Similarly, in the corporate scene, there are subordinates and supervisors. Moreover, concepts are formed by definition and prototype. We learn concepts as the environment define them for us. For instance as children, we were familiarized by our parents with the things in the house, such as a table and a chair. Later on when we went to our neighbor’s, we realized that tables can be in different forms or colors, but the role they play remains the same. Through definition and prototype, we obtain similar concepts of things around us. The issue of cognition is not much of a problem but problem solving styles are. The three methods to solve a problem include: trial and error, algorithms, and heuristics. In trial and error, one is bound to use more effort and time to arrive at the right answer. This method requires several trials and shortcuts, and does not guarantee giving the right answer. The second method is algorithm. An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure usually involving computations. Unlike trial and error, it is methodical and guarantees arriving at the correct answer. However, since it requires a procedure, it is more time consuming than the other. The third method used to solve a problem is heuristics. This method requires â€Å"speculative formulation†¦as a guide in the investigation or solution of a problem.† (Answers.com, n.d.). It posits that the background of the matter, ie religion, society be investigated upon in order to arrive at a conclusion. Although this method is not accurate and does not guarantee a definite answer, it leads to a certain conclusion or information related to the problem. Each of the methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. When combined, the three methods will help one arrive at a valid answer. For instance, when conducting research, it is not enough to present statistics of people experiencing a specific problem. One needs to dwell on observations, surveys, interviews, etc. to obtain a full view of the situation. Applying this to the classroom scenario, students should be taught how to apply and combine the three methods in order to facilitate problem solving tasks. Particularly, when teaching research, teachers should incorporate teaching and application of the three methods so that students will not only have options but arrive at definite and valid conclusions for their study. References Algorithm. Retrieved 5 August 2008, from http://www.answers.com/topic/algorithm Heuristic. Retrieved 5 August 2008, from http://www.answers.com/heuristic

Monday, July 22, 2019

Tyson’s Marketing Move Essay Example for Free

Tyson’s Marketing Move Essay An article in the Australian (31 January 2007) entitled â€Å"Ethanol boom fuels food prices: Tyson† talks about the Tyson’s view on boosting ethanol production. Tyson, the leading producer of meat and poultry products calls the attention of the US government as to the increasing cost of corn feeds due to booming production of ethanol. This article illustrates how an issue can affect the marketing activities of companies. The marketing plans of a company are affected by a dynamic marketing environment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The marketing environment of a company is composed of several forces. This includes competitive, economic, political, legal and regulatory, technological and socio-cultural forces (Pride Ferrell, 2006, p.8). These forces affect both the customers and the marketing mix of the company. Marketing mix is referred to as elements of marketing that will satisfy the customers. These elements are product, distribution, price and promotion. Product refers to a good, a service or an idea. Distribution deals with making the product conveniently available to the customers. The price variable relates to decisions and actions that will lead to determining product prices. Promotion refers to activities of the company that will inform customers about the organization and its products(Pride Ferrell, 2006, pp.6-7). A marketer mixes these elements and determines the right combination that will result to what customers would need and want. The Tyson-Ethanol article shows how the company used the booming ethanol issue as a marketing tool. The company president and chief executive gave the company’s stand on the food-vs-fuel debate by recognizing the effect of ethanol produced from corn crops to the global prices of food. By doing so, it is somehow promoting that Tyson wants its products to be affordable to the customers but because of this issue, prices may increase. This illustrates how economic and technological forces of the marketing environment can affect the element of pricing and promotion in the marketing mix.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Pride and Ferrell (2006) the effect of the forces of the marketing environment on both the company and the customer can be dramatic and unpredictable. It can either be a problem for the marketers or a great opportunity to generate new products or new ways of getting the customer’s attention. Companies who are alert to changes in the marketing environment can capitalize on these issues. Marketers can readily adapt to these changes and use them as opportunities that will be beneficial to the company. As Borden (1984, p.9) said â€Å"the skillful marketer is one who is a perceptive and practical psychologist and sociologist, who has keen insight into individual and group behavior, who can foresee changes in behavior that develop in a dynamic world, who has creative ability for building well-knot programs because he has the capacity to visualize the probable response of consumers, trade and competitors to his moves.† The marketing team of Tyson, through this article, shows that they are aware of an issue that they foresee would affect their business. That then shows how they adapt and plan accordingly their next move. References: BORDEN, N H. 1984. The Concept of Marketing Mix. Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 2, p. 9. CAMERON, D. Ethanol boom fuels food prices: Tyson. 2007. The Australian, 31 January. PRIDE, W M, and O C. FERRELL. 2006. Foundations of Marketing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin College Division

Sunday, July 21, 2019

UK Social Work Theories

UK Social Work Theories The essay is an analysis of theories underpinning and key elements of critical social work and its values. Furthermore I will explore Counselling as one of the areas of social work practice and how it is influenced by the critical social work approach in practice. I will include examples from practice experience and literature and also highlight the influence of inequalities, power and social divisions. The views of service users and their contribution towards the practice will also be taken into account in the essay. Social work in the UK dates back to the 19th as a community and charitable activity to support the disadvantaged and poor. From the charitable and community origins it developed in strength to a field that aims at challenging inequality, oppression; promote social inclusion/ social justice and independence Parrot (2002). Through these values and aims Social Work broadened its knowledge base and developed into Critical social work. Wooster (2002) supports the above origins when he mentions that Social work owes its origins to Christian morality than a commitment to social problems affecting individuals. Following the economic crisis in the UK in the 1970s due to escalating oil prices social issues like poor housing, unemployment, poverty and homelessness social work shifted and broadened its focus and tried to address social issues and problems. (Grimwood et al., (1995). Adams et al (2009) mentions that in attempting to address social problems, disadvantage and inequalities social work practitioners have drawn knowledge and ideas from various disciplines such as sociology, psychology, philosophy and politics. From this multi-disciplinary knowledge base the underpinning ideology was anti oppressive principle which provides theoretical tools to understand, intervene and respond to the complex experience of oppression. This means social work practitioners have a moral, ethical and legal responsibility to challenge inequalities and disadvantage. Critical practice can be traced and associated with radical social work in the 1960s-70s deriving ideas from Marxist theory Fook (1993). Radical social work upheld the following themes: structural analysis of personal problems, ongoing social critique mainly focusing on oppressive ideas/practice and goals of self emancipation and social change. Parallel to these traditions empowering and anti-oppressive practice to participation in research and community work. Several key principles were shared from radical critiques to present critical social work which are: challenging dominant forces and oppression in all forms, a critique of positivist ideas and the need to challenge dominant constructed ways of knowing by developing other ways of knowing. This would be achieved through recognising that knowledge may reflect reality but may also be socially constructed. In order to create more/new knowledge self reflection and interaction are essential tools using communication processes. Marx analysed the capital society he lived in Germany and argued that the structures within society derived from the economy and the changes in the industrial revolution influenced some people to be more powerful and others not. Individuals were restrained by the demands of Capitalism resulting in structure/agency problem at the expense of structure. Marx highlighted issues of class and class struggle where there is a struggle between powerful and powerless resulting in different societal classes. As such a situation prevails that those in power will seek to remain in power at whatever cost and means mostly exploitation of the powerless by depriving them of their opportunities and access to facilities. Rush (2004) further mentions that Marxist critical theory is not descriptive but a means of influencing social change by raising awareness of forces within society that brings inequality and highlighting how awareness can help individuals to overcome such forces and liberate themselves . Critical thinking is also linked to Marx and Socilogists from the Frankfurt School of Sociologists (Horkeimer (1979), Adorno (Adorno and Horkeimer, (1979) and Marcuse (1964) from the 1920s/30s and Habermas (1984, 1987) writing in the late twentieth century. These theorists held that social interpretation was based on assumptions of a fixed social order mainly derived from religion, politics and social beliefs. When this social order started being rejected and challenged. Sociologists argued that knowledge of the envinonment makes individuals more effective (Gerth and Mills (1948) and Durkeim (1972) established that if we understand how social relationships work we would be able to achieve our objectives in society. This is how critical thinking in modernist way is about and it was termed modernism but has expanded and embraced other theories concerned with transformation and social change. Gray and Webb (2008) argue that critical theory is shifting from the Frankfurt school but at th e same time it has not defined its critical base. (Allan et al 2003; Fook 2002; Healey 2000) acknowledge that there is tension in defining critical theory as it comprises different theories, some argue that it is an umbrella term that encompasses a range of theories and approaches including Marxist, radical, feminist, anti-racist, anti-oppressive, anti-discriminatory, post colonial , critical constructivist and structural perspectives. This suggests that there are many theories although different they all try to understand the relationship between an individual and society. For the purpose of clarity and continuity I will at this stage define critical social work practice and highlight its values. Adams et al (2009) view critical practice as involving exercising ones judgement in a reflective and diverse manner. It involves exploring different options in a situation or actions in judging the best way to address issues. The practitioner would review their ideas, perspectives and options of others before deciding a best way forward. This is underpinned by the fact of accepting change and continuity as practitioners encounter different situations and ideas. Payne et al (2002) further mentions that in order to fulfil the requirements of critical practice which include liberation and empowerment social workers need an open mind, reflective stance that encompasses diverse perspectives, experience and assumptions. This would result in acknowledging individual differences, equal opportunity and respect. Fook and Garner (2007) further identify three aspects of c ritical practice which are critical thinking, critical action and reflexivity as essential tools to apply when seeking social justice and change. In trying to address social injustices and inequality social work uses a variety of skills and knowledge based on theory perspective and methodology. This empowers social workers to put in place intervention which is appropriate to individual circumstances. This intervention empowers social workers with skills to engage service users to bring positive outcomes. Critical social work is also informed by values which overlap the traditional social work values. The value of social justice is upheld from the fact that critical practice is a moral activity and as such professionals are also moral agents. This is further supported by Thompson (2006) when he suggests that Society comprises of a diverse range of people in which social divisions emerge which in turn forms the societal structures which networks relationships, institutions and groupings. These groupings determine, control and regulate the distribution of power, privilege, status and opportunities resulting in social stratification and dimensions. From these groupings however it is important to mention that unfairness, inequality and oppression is witnessed in the group of people who are vulnerable and marginalised. From these theories we can trace the ideas of critical perspective and acknowledge that the powerless can influence policy society views from the oppressors. The theoretical development implemented by service users was the theorising of disability from the medicalised interpretation to social model of disability. This shift was championed by disabled peoples movements to express how they felt and were treated for more than a century. This shift and theory influenced societal attitudes, influenced policies and to some extent changed societal attitudes in UK and abroad. (Abberley,1998; Barnes, 1998). (Morris, 1993) supports this by mentioning that the disability movement has overhauled societal perceptions and upheld disabled peoples rights to live independently,promote anti discriminatory practice, fairness and equal opportunities. Harris and White (2009) further explored events and changes within the welfare state from administering to managing the welfare state. They observed that the Conservative 1979 -1997 and Labour 1997-2010 were influenced by neo-liberalist ideas. This idea upheld the belief that market was superior to the state and as such professionals including social workers were meant to implement competitive government policy and approaches to meet global standards. These changes affected the vulnerable people in society as well because managers had been given the powers to speak on their behalf. These changes, debates and contradictions have put Social Work practice into a contested dilema profession. Although this definition states that Social work is a profession that promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. (International Federation of Social Workers, 2000 p1). Fook (2002) also argues that critical social work practice should be concerned with promoting a society without domination, exploitation and oppression. In order to achieve this practitioners need to reflect, reconstruct and unpack more processes for change through careful negotiation within the dominant framework. Parton et al (1997) points out that the present political environment is dominantly global, modernized and authoritarian. As such policies are informed and regulated by market principles which prescribes and narrows professional boundaries which affects the rights of service users. In order to achieve their objectives social workers need to challenge and resist the authoritarian elements by employing critical practice. Adams et al (1998) further identifies that Systems theory is another major theoretical source underpinning social work. The systems theory emphasised that peoples existence is determined by the environment they live or grow in. It highlighted that peoples problems are a result of how they interact with their resource systems which are either formal or informal. The informal include friends, neighbours and colleagues. The formal include support groups/ social clubs and associations. The public/ societal include housing ,hospitals, work and school which provides certain structure or particular function in society. The system theory encourages growth and provides a wider range of solutions to problems by identifying areas of improvement or needing improvement. However it is said not to be acknowledging power differences within society and with different roles. Furthermore (Coulshed and Orme, 1998) pointed out that the nature of diversity in society makes it difficult to be entirely depe ndent on one theory or approach. Different situations and different circumstances entails different approaches through reflective practices and perspectives. Many critical social theorists have challenged the existence of a social order and have questioned social order as evidenced in the work of Habermas (1984, 1987) who distinguishes between the system and the lifeworld which interact and sometimes conflict with each other. The system represents the structures like the government departments, transnational companies emerging from globalisation, ideas promoted by communicative reasoning, education and media.All these structures are relaying a world view through different reasoning. aAs such Social work is not excluded as an agent of systematic managerialism in agencies. (Fook 2002 and Gardner 2007) further highlighted alternative forms of critical theory which are feminism and post modernism. They have different views from Marxist views and the Frankfurt sociologists in that they focus on the understanding that the world reflects personal experience and social historical context. They argue that personal experience constructs and is constructed by the world we live in. They advocate to listening to peoples experiences (narratives) seriously and from these we can hear how they view and experience the world in different ways. This is supported by the feminists when they highlight that the narration of experiences by individuals gives us a clue on how they construct the world and how they want to engage with their problems and situations. Thus postmodernists say there is an alternative way of viewing the world than what it seems to be. Postmodernity argue there is a different way of viewing the world and different ways to deal with societal prtoblemsa hence critical social work seeks for different options and take the best way forward. In order for all these theories to be implemented there should be contact with individuals in society who experience inequality and disadvantage. Furthermore it is also important to mention at this point that social work intervention and practice is broad and spreads into other disciplines. Groupwork, Counselling, Advocacy and Assessment are examples of different forms of practising social work. I will not focus on the broadness of disciplines but will focus on the aims of the essay which are to explore how the critical social work approach influences counselling. Counselling requires a lot of skills and approaches as it seeks to address and resolve individual dilemmas, decision making and resolving issues. According to BAC counselling is a more deliberate activity and in its definition of the term the British Association for Counselling spells out the distinction between a planned and a spontaneous event. People become engaged in counselling when a person, occupying regularly or temporarily the role of counsellor, offers or agrees explicitly to offer time, attention and respect to another person or persons temporarily in the role of client. According to Dryden (2004:40), it is described as principled relationship characteristics by the application of one or more psychological theories and a recognised set of communication skills, modified by experience, intuition and other interpersonal factors, to clients intimate concerns, problems or aspirations. Its predominant ethos is one of facilitation rather than of advice-giving or coercion. It may be of very brief or long duration, take place in an organisational or private practice setting and may or may not overlap with practical, medical and other matters of personal welfare. From the above definitions and tracing the historically it is evident social workers were /and are still engaged in counselling as highlighted by the Barclay report in the early 1980s which mentioned that it was essential for social workers to engage in counselling as it helped to engage with individuals to help them manage their problems, worries and anxieties. Barclay Committee, (1982). This is no longer the situation today as noted by Brearley (1995) political, administrative, legislative changes and ideologies have affected the relationship between counselling and social; work. Some social work practitioners are in dilemma as to when they can do counselling or not and where to start with counselling and when to stop. Because social workers operate in a legislative, organisational, ideological, value and ethical context it is becoming increasingly difficult to engage in counselling without pushing boundaries. Furthermore the economic environment, budget cuts and lack of resources makes it difficult to manoeuvre and employ uncontested interventions. However despite the above constraints social workers at some point carry out counselling as not carrying it out would render their job inadequate and inefficient. There are a number of Counselling theories which are Person centred, existential, Cognitive behavioural (CBT),motivational, humanistic, psychodynamic, Karpmans (1969) Drama triangle and eclectic and intergrative approaches. Some of the theories have been criticised as inadequate and resource straining. One approach that is complimentary to social work is the eclectic/ integrative approach. Integrative theory is a method of intervention that meets the needs presented by the client and specific circumstances. The benefits of this approach are that it is flexible and adoptable to client needs. McLeod (2003) supports this statement when he mentions theapproach enables the counsellor to choose the best option and techniques from a range of theories to meet the client needs. It can mean employing different elements from different theories to blend them into a new suitable model or theory.This compliments with one of the social work theories of eclecticism which seeks to intergrate different theories to intervene ( quote) It can be argued that the aims of social work and the aims of counselling are both focusing on individuals and their interaction with the society, problems they face and how they solve them. As Egan 2006 puts it and complimented by Coulshed and Orme 2006 social workers adopt skills that compliment counselling skills some of them are empathy or understanding,respect, self knowledge and acceptance and honest. Although there are criticisms on Egans work as being ignorant of psychodynamic ideas meaning it has limited application and effectiveness. A reflective practitioner would seek to promote social justice, anti -oppressive and anti-discvriminatory practice based on knowledge to promote inclusive practice. Both professions are being challenged by increasing literature developing and need to engage in best practice and critical practice to reach all individuals and communities. My privilege as a social worker working with clients is that I have acquired knowledge and on values of social work issues and intervention. I also have a black African background which has some conflicting values to social work. I will focus on the social work values to overcome any prejudices and biases which may jeopardise my work. I also have the law on my side which will give me power to intervene and practice. From my experience as a caseworker at RA I used counselling as a technique to working with clients. Clients from different background accessed the service to resolve their immigration matters. Mostly the approach we used was person centred approach which meant clients were treated as individuals and given advice relating to their immigration issues My identity gives me a privilege because I have my own values. I am black African student social worker. I nave my values, knowledge and prejudices which can impact on the way I will relate with clients when in practice. I will not allow my own values and prejudices influence my practice. I will engage in reflective practice and use the critical social work approach discussed in this essay. Clients have their own views, way of life and interpretation of the world. My role is to promote social justice to the people I work with in order for them to have choice and independence. . This is supported by Carrniol 2005 when they mention that it is important for social workers to deepen their conscience into their social location and privilege as the first step towards empowering clients and challenging oppression. In my previous role as caseworker for refugees and asylum seekers I worked and experienced that men from other cultures do not cry because of their religion. My belief values say if a person is hurting they cry. Also handshakes are part of my culture to greet but others do not handshake. Appointments with Muslims on Friday afternoon were not appropriate as they attend mosque. I would seek to give appointments on another day. Giving Muslims women make caseworkers to counsel they wont talk give them women? I will signpost people to their own community groups to give help and support. Once you listen to somebodys problems you are counselling. I overcame all these by putting the needs of clients first before my own. Privilege as described by Bailey (1998:109) is systemically, conferred advantages individuals enjoy for being members of a dominants few with access to resources and institutional power that are beyond the common advantages of marginalised citizens Sidanius and Pratto 1999 further suggest that an individuals privilege is derived from their membership or association to privileged groups rather than their personal achievement. According to Ixer 199 it is important to examine privilege critically in two ways i.e. how it benefits the privileged person and how it affects the individual who does not possess it. In critical social work practice social worker need to reflect upon what causes privilege and explore the socio political dimensions of an individuals problem than focus on their capability to cope. (Fook 1999 Morley 2004) Carniola (2005) observed that social workers is in the right direction of developing critical consciousness about the psychological impact of oppression on individuals. He further expressed that there is concern on the degree of awareness among social workers on the impact of privilege or dominant status on individuals subjectivities and world views. Rossitter (2000) echoes the same sentiments when he mentions that the position/ impact and ways in which professionals engage with clients is overlooked and underestimated as they possess a certain class in the form of gender, race, and sexual privilege. It is important to highlight at this stage the values of critical social work practice. It is important to mention that values are in different categories ranging from personal, organisational, ethical, institutional political and religious. Values can conflict each other as well and socially constructed. Traditional Social work values and critical social work values overlap and are based on Biestek 1961 and consists of the following: Individualism, non judgemental, self determination, purposeful expression and controlled emotional development. In post modernity terms these can be interpreted to promotion of social justice, emancipation, anti-oppressive, anti-discriminatory, empowerment, non judgemental and respect and dignity. As discussed these are values that underpi critical social work for it to exist. Critical social work as discussed explores the best way forward to individuals problems and seeks to listen and engage with the individual to tell their story and work in partnership to find the best way forward. The limitation is critical social work is surrounded by external forces which are beyond it control. For example resources in the current economic climate globally and at home. It is also criticised as its values and origins are Eurocentric and do not represent universal circumstances as what seems to work in UK might not necessarily work in Afro/ Asian communities. For example the issue of confidentiality is valued and essential in UK and Europe whereas in Afro Asian cultures they value kinship support in times of distress. However they would not want anyone else outside the kinship clique to know about their situation. This brings inrterpretation problems to confidentialtity. Having explored critical social work practice and theories underpinning it it is important to acknowledge that there is continuos transformation and contest within the academic field and socio-political arena. This is greatly impacting on vulnerable people and how they are treated and marginalised in issues affecting their lives. If the values of critical social work could bre fulfilled and the theories underpinning it are intergrated social work and counselling would be forces for change to promote social justice. Abberley, P. (1998), The Spectre At The Feast:Disabled people and social theory, in, Shakespeare, T., (editor), (1998), The Disability Reader: Social Science Perspectives, London, Cassell, pp79-93. Adams. R, Dominelli. L and Payne, M. (2009) Critical Practice in Social Work 2nd Edition Basingstoke,Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Barnes, C. (1998), The Social Model Of Disability: A sociological phenomenon ignored by sociologists?, in Shakespeare, T., (editor), (1998), The Disability Reader: Social Science Perspectives, London, Cassell, pp65-78. Barnes C and Mercer G. (1997), (editors), Doing Disability Research, Leeds, The Disability Press. (Fook, J, Gardner, F (2007) Practising Critical Reflection: A Resource Handbook, McGraw-Hill, Open University Press, New York). Harris, J. and White, V. (2009) Modernising Social Work Critical Considerations Bristol: Policy Press. Morris, J. (1993), Independent Lives: Community care and disabled people, Basingstoke, Macmillan. Beresford, P. (1997), The Last Social Division?: Revisiting the relationship between social policy, its producers and consumers, in, May, M., Brunsdon, E., Craig, G., (editors), Social Policy Review 9, London, Social Policy Association, pp203-226. Beresford P and Campbell J. (1994) Disabled People, Service Users, User Involvement And Representation, Disability And Society, Volume 9, No 3, pp315-325. Beresford, P. and Croft, S. (1993), Citizen Involvement: A practical guide for change, Basingstoke, Macmillan. Beresford, P., Stalker, K. and Wilson, A. (1997), Speaking For Ourselves: A bibliography, London, Open Services Project in association with the Social Work Research Centre, University of Stirling. Beresford, P. and Turner, M. (1997), Its Our Welfare, Report of the Citizens Commission on the Future of the Welfare State, London, National Institute for Social Work. Beresford, P. (1999) Storming The Millennium, Lawrence and Wishart, London, Campbell, P. (1996), The History Of The User Movement In The United Kingdom, in T Heller, J Reynolds, R Gomm, R Muston and S Pattison, (editors), Mental Health Matters, Basingstoke, Macmillan. Campbell, J. and M, Oliver, M. (1996), Disability Politics: Understanding our past, changing our future, Basingstoke, Macmillan. Coulshed, V. and Orme, J. (1998), Social Work Practice: An introduction, third edition, Basingstoke, Macmillan. (Rush, 2004:10) Rush, F. (Ed). (2004). The cambridge companion to critical theory. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Croft, S. and Beresford, P. (1993), Getting Involved: A practical manual for change, London, Open Services Project/Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Croft, S. and Beresford, P. (1998), Postmodernity And The Future Of Welfare: Whose critiques, whose social policy? in John Carter, (editor), (1998), Postmodernity And The Fragmentation Of Welfare, London, Routledge, pp103-120. Croft, S. and Beresford, P, (1996), The Politics Of Participation, in, Taylor, D. (editor), Critical Social Policy: A reader, London, Sage, pp175-198. Davies, M. (editor), (1997), The Blackwell Companion To Social Work, Oxford, Blackwell. Evans C and Fisher M, (1999), Collaborative Evaluation With Service Users: Moving towards user controlled research, in Shaw, I. and Lishman,J. (editors), Evaluation And Social Work Practice, London, Sage. Giddens, A. (1998), The Third Way: The renewal of social democracy, Cambridge, Polity Press. Harding, S. (1993), Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: What is strong objectivity?, in Alcoff, L. and Potter, E. (editors), Feminist Epistemologies, London, Routledge. Jones, C. (1996), Anti-Intellectualism And The Peculiarities Of British Social Work Education, in Parton, N. (editor), Social Theory, Social Change And Social Work, London, Routledge. Mayer, J.E. and Timms, N. (1970), The Client Speaks: Working class impressions of casework, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul. Oliver, M. (1996), Understanding Disability: From theory to practice, Basingstoke, Macmillan. Payne, M., (1997), Modern Social Work Theory: Second Edition, Basingstoke, Macmillan. Pembroke, L. R. (editor), (1994a), Eating Distress: Perspectives From Personal Experience, London, Survivors Speak Out. Pembroke, L. R. (editor), (1994b), Self Harm: Perspectives from personal experience, London, Survivors Speak Out. Priestley, M., (1999), Disability Politics And Community Care, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Read, J. and Reynolds, J. (editors), (1996), Speaking Our Minds: An anthology, Basingstoke, Macmillan. Oliver, M. and Barnes, C. (1998), Disabled People And Society: From exclusion to inclusion, London, Longman. Shakespeare, T., (editor), (1998), The Disability Reader: Social Science Perspectives, London, Cassell. Wiltshire and Swindon Users Network, (1996), I Am In Control, Devizes, Wiltshire and Swindon Users Network.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

School Uniforms Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Schools today aren't in the best condition. There is teasing, violence, discrimination, cliques, and poverty. There is much to say about how having mandatory school uniforms will help these problems. My question is, will uniforms help these problems enough to dismiss the hurt that they would cause? I say the uniforms do little to help.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Having uniforms would stop the teasing and discrimination about clothing, but there is more to tease or discriminate someone about rather than just clothing. Such as hygiene, looks, personality, intelligence, race, and the list goes on. So unless people somehow find a way to be perfect in everyone's opinion, teasing and discrimination won't stop.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As for violence, it's the same story. Uniforms would only stop the smallest percentage. In some ways uniforms actually make violence less preventable by eliminating one major warning sign. For example the black trench coats that were worn in by the murderers at Colorado's Columbine High School shooting. Of course I'm not saying we should arrest anyone who wears a trench coat, but the way that someone dresses can say a lot about their personality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If you're thinking that uniforms will end symbols of being in a gang such as gang colors, think about how many other ways that a gang member could symbolize that they were in a gang such as rolling up your sleeve or leaving out the tag on y...

Nelson Mandela Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Men Of Aparthied From 1948 to 1994 apartheid was enforced in South Africa. Apartheid was the name given to a form of legal segregation is South Africa. Apartheid first came about in 1948 when South Africa’s National party took power. South Africa’s government broke the country’s population into four groups. Those groups were the whites, who consisted of approximately 13 percent of the population, Africans, who were 77 percent of the population, people who were of mixed descent comprised eight percent of the population, and Asians who were only 2 percent of the population. South Africa’s government set aside certain lands for each of the groups, and those groups were forced to live in those homelands. Besides residential segregation many other restrictions were placed on the black men and women of South Africa. For half of a century, these racist laws remained in place, completely unchanged. In the 1970’s and 1980’s the government in South Africa relaxed the laws slightly. Some of these changes included desegregating certain public facilities, lifting some occupational restriction, and repealing the law prohibiting intermarriage that had been in use since apartheid began. In 1983, the constitution allowed Asians and coloureds, but not blacks to have limited representation in the usually all white parliament. Thanks to the help of many people, apartheid was completely abolished in 1994. In 1990 President F.W. de Klerk committed himself to the abolition of apartheid. De...

Friday, July 19, 2019

Thatcher and Blair :: essays research papers

Introduction With the campaign ‘New Labour Because Britain Deserves Better’, it appeared that the new look of the Labour Party was so promising that most Britons have poured their votes for the Labour Party, and Tony Blair and his family moved to stay at the 10th Downing Street. It is said that the New Labour won the election, because they have tried to understand what British people wanted. Like it or not, the New Labour has simply followed Margaret Thatcher’s achievements. Moreover, Tony Blair and his aides have consistently used Thatcherite rhetoric to strengthen his ‘New’ credentials such as the use of ‘No turning back’ and ‘No, no, no.’ (The Guardian, April 20, 1999) Thus, based on the assumption that the Left Wing has adopted the Right Wing policies, this report attempts to find differences and similarities of Mrs. Margaret Thatcher’s and Mr. Tony Blair’s domestic and foreign affairs policies as well as the impacts on Britain. Background The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. Its constitution is partly unwritten and flexible. Also, politics in Britain is a two-party politics, and the system of British government is built around the existence of competing political parties, having distinctive policies and views, particularly The Conservative Party and the Labour Party, which are the dominant parties nowadays. To understand the management policies, it is worth looking into the political philosophy of both rival parties. The Conservative Party The Conservative Party or formally National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations is a right-of-centre political party. It is the heir and continuation of the old Tory Party, members of which began forming Conservation Association after Britain’s first Reform Act of 1832, extended electoral rights to the middle class. Formed by Sir Robert Peel in 1834, the first Conservative government announced the reform of abuse; the importance of law and order and of the police; orderly system of taxation, and the importance of both landed interests and of trade and industry. Among former Conservative Prime Ministers, there are two well-known persons, who shall be mentioned here. Firstly, during World War II, The Conservative Party dominated national office and Winston Churchill (later became Sir Winston) led Britain to victory in 1945. Secondly, Margaret Thatcher (b. 13 Oct 1925) and later being made as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven was the first European and British Prime Minister (1979-1990). Not only did she win three consecutive terms in the 20th century, but she also was Britain’s

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Kumdo in Korea

This martial art technique rooted way back 2000 years ago at the time of the early Three Kingdoms period – Shilla, Plahae, and Koryo.   In those times, sword bearing is a way of life, they follow every rules religiously and conduct their daily lives with strictly disciplined and moral manners. Through the use of sword the above dynasties have expanded their respective territories especially during the 7th to 15th century.   Specifically, the Palhae Dynasty was found and ruled by the ex-Koguryo warrior class after the fall of Koguryo in 668 A.D. After the fall of the unified three Kingdoms, the warrior class was just limited to state military who refined and developed the art under the name of â€Å"Ghihuck-Gum.† In 1896, Ghihuck-Gum was chosen to be the compulsory training requirement for the newly founded police academy.   From there on, Kumdo, the modern amalgamation of â€Å"the art of the sword† and â€Å"the way of righteousness† from the Taoist philosophy, was developed to be practiced by some as a sport and by others as a means of character development or spiritual refinement (U.S. Hwa Rang Kwan, 2006). In the 20th century, Kumdo used the bamboo sword and lightweight armor used in Japanese Kendo.   The population of people studying this technique grows very fast as the availability of the practice armor and sword made Kumdo flooded the market.   It made the technique more popular. What is Kumdo â€Å"Kumdo† means â€Å"sword way†.   It is the Korean counterpart of Japanese Kendo.   The current technique uses â€Å"juk do†(4 split bamboo sword) and the â€Å"ho goo†(the head and body gear), which began in 18th century. With â€Å"juk do† and â€Å"ho goo† the art of Kum Do took a surprising turn in its style. Allowing more experimentation without injury, the style became more effective by allowing stronger and deadlier blow without a considerable and extensive swing of the sword. The present form that combines of the inner strength (much signified by a scream from within â€Å"ki†), the absolute and unbounded swing of the sword(â€Å"kum†), and use of one's lower back and body(â€Å"chae†) was recently perfected. This is known as â€Å"ki-kum-chae.† Thus in tournaments one does not receive a point, although striking the opponent successfully, if the blow is not accompanied by all three components of â€Å"ki-kum-chae.†(Chang, 2006) The purpose of Kumdo can be summarized as: Mental and Physical Discipline Spiritual Discipline and Awakening Improved Technique Through Practice Discipline Based Upon the Spirit of Hwarang (Hwarang Ogae) Kundo practioners wear the same uniform as those who practice Kendo.   But there are many who are willing to use or vary the uniform including the color and accessories.   In Korea, practioner wear black trim and stripes on theur hakama instead of blue and this became popular in many dojos around the world. Like Kendo, Kundo has also 10 forms, removing sonkyo bow and using Korean names and terminologies instead.   Kumdo practitioners can compete in kendo tournaments.   There are a total of 400,000 practioners of Kumdo in Korea alone and is ranked as second most popular martial arts in Korea, next to Taekwondo. Origin Of Kumdo This technique originated in Korea but these art was admitted to be a direct interpretation of its Japanese counterpart – Kendo (â€Å"Ken† means sword and â€Å"do† means way) In fact, some of the early founders of this technique says that there is totally no difference between the two form of art. It should be understand that these similarities in technique in the two techniques can be rooted to the history of Korea. The annihilation of Japan to all the documents and historical artifacts of Korea including all the written documents about Korean Martial Arts have made it difficult for the Korean people and martial arts practioners to trace the original techniques of the Korean sword that originated way back in 4th century.  Ã‚   It is said to be composed of twenty-five poses and postures that would result in the immediate defeat of the opponent. Kumdo as an Art Just like any other martial arts techniques, Kumdo can be considered as an art because it has a very rich and deeply rooted technique that was developed because of the interesting classical traditional, religions, philosophies and meditation techniques from Korea. A martial art like Kumdo is an art but not an art form.   It is a skill acquired by experience, study and observation.   Also, it is something that can be enjoy and participate of any people from all walks of life.   But again, it is, first and foremost, an art of self defense. Although there are people that are motivated to study this because of the self-defense benefit of the technique but to appreciate the beauty and art that is inextricably intertwined in this (Orlando, 1997) It is an art because it has so many different artistic aspects. Just like dances, it has timing and rhythm. It has movements that can be used in dancing.   Just like in painting where artist mixed colors to produced art, it is the same thing with Kumdo, it is an infusion of classical traditional, religions, philosophies and meditation techniques. Spiritual Aspect of Kumdo Kumdo has three level of mastery and one of them is the spiritual alignment of a person.   Under this the limitations of physical body and mind merges through meditation techniques.   The mind is silenced through the refined focus and the sword is used solely as a tool to link the body and the mind with the infinite. (Shaw, 2000) It brings peace of mind and self-confidence and a disciplined and healthy mind. Through training, a person will have an honest self-examination or spiritual awakening. Ranking System and Ability Level Ranking in Kumdo Kyu from 10 to 1: jukyu, kukyu, hachikyu, nanakyu, rokyu, gokyu,yonkyu, sankyu, nikkyu, ikkyu.   Dan from 1 to 9: shodan, nidan, sandan, yondan, godan, rokudan,nanadan, hachidan, kudan.   Teaching certificates from lowest to highest: renshi, kyoshi, hanshi. The older schools (koryu) did not have dan ranks – they are a moderninvention. Instead, they used certificates ofmerit. There is virtually no standardization or commonality. Two common termsare menkyo-kaiden, referring to†graduates†, and kirigami for a first rank. Many ryu consider the ranks aslevels of initiation which have noparallel to dan and kyu. Still others broke the ranks down simply as studentand teacher, of possibly various levels. There are three levels in Kumdo 1.Physical Mastery – The students becomes expert in the physical aspect of the art.   These include understanding correct sword etiquette, mastery of the stances, and proper techniques in drawing and moving with the sword. 2.Mental Mastery –   The second level witnesses the Kumdo practitioner beginning to rise above the objective techniques of the sword. The Kumdo technician no longer needs to contemplate whether or not he is in the correct stance or unsheathing the sword efficiently. Through long periods of practice, all movements have become natural and there is no unnecessary thought given to them (Shaw, 2000) 3.Spiritual Alignment –   in this level the practitioner learn to make his physical body and mind work as one through the use of meditation technique. References Chang, Soon (2006) What is Kumdo?. U.S Hwa Rang Kwan. Retrieved on December 17, 2006 http://www.kumdo.com. Shaw, Scott (2000) Kumdo the Korean Art of Sword. Retrieved on December 17, 2006. http://www.scottshaw.com/kumdo.html Orlando, Bob (1997) Martial Arts America: A Western   Approach to Eastern Arts. California. Frog Ltd. ;

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Notes on Lecture Principles of Economics

Book Principles of Eco n nonpargonilics (N. Gregory Mankiw) http//admin. wadsworth. com/ pick_uploads/static_resources/0324168624/8413/Mankiw_decadePrinciple_Videos. html demonstration sparing Greek the ane who manages the kin s machinecity the limited nature of inns resources frugals the ponder of how proud club manages it? s s simple machinece resources deliverance a group of pot acting with ace nearly separate as they go slightlywhat their lives principal(prenominal) management of society? s resources resources atomic cast 18 scargon most societies, resources atomic number 18 every last(predicate)ocated non by a single household, scarcely through the combined legal fulfil of millions of households and rigids economist breeding how stack top decisions how rough(prenominal) they mustiness lean what they steal how oft they save how they invest their savings, how people move with separately some early(a) also contemplate forces and trends that matter the rescue as a undivided, including the makeset in average income and the send at which terminusss be rising Ten Principles of Economics How people piddle decisions 1 state role spate strikes There is no such thing as a free lunch. To choke one in penury(p) thing, ordinarily required giving up a nonher desired thing devising decisions ( trading forth one remainder once morest another e. How I transcend my silver (save/invest) The subject I want to subject ara The job I want to work in The meal I am going to put one over The place where I want to live or to take ap stratagem abroad classical championshipoffs guns & furtherter (e. g. trim down pollution vs. low affiances and high producing greets) competency & fair play conflicts when regime policies argon beingness designed efficiency the stead of society getting the most it move from its scarce sources (size of frugal pie) equity the property of distri notwithstandinging spari ngal prosperity jolly among the members of society (how the pie is divided) 2 The live of something is what you enforce up to get it because people face guileoffs, making decisions requires analyze the embodys and benefits of substitute(a) courses of action ( a lottimes apostrophize of some period not as obvious e. g. solely the incoming toll when decided to study property & time) chance make up some(prenominal) must be attached to triumph some circumstance (How much(prenominal)(prenominal) than do I feature to give up = prize for the tradeoff) e. g. embark on a archetypes Course or not alternatives ( hazard be working work & pass away another Bachelor Internship ( from each one decision causes tonic Costs. marginal greet? ) 3 judge fitted People think of the adjustment e. g. interrogative sentence not black & white extrusion of vs 24h studying ( decisions ar shades of gray-headed (air byplay) e. g. average cots of seat $500, marginal ground bag of peanuts & soda (e. g. $20) marginal trades downcast incremental (schrittweise, zunehmend) adjustments to a plan of action (adjustments around the edge of what you be doing) e. g. idea of the alternatives of not proceeding with a acquires course (opp. Cost), precisely start to work commitly after the B. A. ( marginal be bring down wage little c atomic number 18er possibilities marginal benefits a wage at solely in on the whole BUT besides profi fudge when marginal benefit of the action exceeds the marginal bes 4 People resolve to motivators although comparability costs & benefits (c & b) demeanor whitethorn deviate when costs or benefit substitute ( d. h. people respond to incentives effect of value on the behaviour of vendees & all toldoters is crucial e. g. bell of an apple matures vendee decide to buy pears fewer apples bec. cost of buying apple is higher shopers betroth more workers & harvest more apples bec. enefit of merchandising one i s higher e. g. indemnity transmutes tax income on gaso tenor encourage people to drive secondaryer, more fuel- cost-efficient cars or public transportation etc. ( when analyzing policy we must consider not lone(prenominal) the direct make moreover if also the confirmatory effect that work through incentives (e. g seat belt law) if the policy wobbles incentives, it volition cause people to alter their behaviour e. g. when receiving an income p arnts (money) for studying it might flip-flop the incentive to work and earn own money How people interact 5 trade enkindle make everyone damp off rade bw. Two countries empennage make each or spotlight better off e. g. each family in the deliverance is competing with all other families ( scorn comp family would not be better off isolating itself however gains a lot from its readiness to trade with others) ( trade allows each detail-by-item (coun reach) to specialize in the activities he or she does best by trading wit h others, people suffer buy a greater variety of effectuals and go at tear down costs e. g. 6 grudgeets are ordinarily a ethical way to invent economic performance . firms decide whom to learn & what to make ouseholds decide which firms to work for & what to buy with their incomes ( these firms & households interact in the foodstuffplace, where costs & self-interest be devoted decisions in a commercialize economic system nobody is counting put for economic scrape up-being society as a whole free securities industrys contain legion(predicate) buyers & sellers of numerous straightforwards & serv sparklers all to begin with own well-being ( yet despite decentralised decisionmaking and self-interested decisionmakers food market economies stick out prove successful in organizing economic activity in a way that promotes overall economic ell-being ( inconspicuous hand (Adam smith 1776) does not ensure that economic prosperity is distri plainlyed fairly ( sets are the instrument with which the invisible hand directs economic activity ( harm spend a penny to adjust vividly to come forth and adopt ( worths reflect both(prenominal) entertain of a untroubled to society & the cost to society of making the considerably ( bec. ouseholds & firms look at tolls when deciding what to buy & sell unknowingly consider the social benefits & costs of their own actions ( scathes guide these individual decisionmakers to oscilloscope outcomes that often maximize the welfare of society as a whole market economy an economy that allots (zuteilen) resources through the decentralized decisions of m whatever firms and households as they interact in markets for level-headeds and services (vs centrally planned economies, regard in communism) 7 governance can sometimes improve market outcomes or 2 broad reasons ( to promote efficiency and equity most policies aim both enlarge the economic pie, or to change how its devided invisible hand unr emarkably leads markets to allocate resources efficiently, but sometimes it does not work for various reasons ( market unsuccessful person a point in which a market unexpended on its own, fails to allocate resources efficiently (Marktversagen) one possible reason ( externality the impact of one persons actions on the well-being of a bystander (unbeteiligter Dritter e. g. pollution (external cost) or creation of fellowship (external benefit) (Externalitat) another possible reason arket role the powerfulness of a single economic actor (or small group of actors) to have a substantial influence on market determines (Marktmacht) (e. g. lonesome(prenominal) one well monopoly ( regulation of the wrong by the government can potentially enhance economic efficiency) How they economy as a whole plant life 8 A countrys standard of living attends on its ability to urinate pricys and services the branch rate of a countries productiveness determines the harvest-feast rate of its ave rage income productivity the tot up of dangerouss and services fetchs from each hour of a workers time undamental consanguinity bw. productivity & living standards is elementary, but its implications are far-reaching 9 harms betterment when the government prints to much money e. g. 1921 German newspaper 0,30 Mark 1923 70,000,000 Mark ( largeness inflation an increment in the overall level of outlays in the economy (Anstieg des Preisniveaus der Volkswirtschaft) reason ontogeny in the inwardness of the money centres care for of the money bec. high inflations imposes various costs on society, keeping inflation at a low level is a goal of economic policymakers around the arena 10. golf club faces a short-run trade-off among inflation and unemployment Phillips scent a writhe that shows the short-run trade-off amid inflation and unemployment trim an inflation is often thought to cause a temporary worker rise in unemployment over a period of a year or deuce, umteen e conomic policies push inflation and unemployment both start out at high levels short-time trade-off bec. some termss are slow to adjust ( determines are gluey in the short-run) ( various types of policy have short-run effects, that differ from their long-run effects when gov. educes the amount of money of money, it reduces the amount that people spend Lower spending in concert with scathes that are stuck too high reduces the amount of acceptables & services that firms sell Lower gross sales in turn, cause firms to lay off workers ( unemployment pic 1 People face tradeoffs 2 The cost of something is what you give up to get it 3 Rational People think of the Margin 4 People respond to incentives 5 transaction can make everyone better off 6 commercialises are ordinarily a better way to con aim economic activity 7 Government can sometimes improve market outcomes 8 A countrys standard of living depends on its ability to bring forth goods and services 9 Prices rise when the government prints to much money 10. Society faces a short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment Mon. 17/10/11 ride 2 THINK the likes of AN ECONOMIST Microeconomics the study of how households and firms make decisions & how they interact in markets Macroeconomics the study of economy-wide phenomena, including inflation, unemployment and economic growth (p. 7) ( since they address various questions, they sometimes take opposite approaches and are often taught in separate courses Two Functions of Economists 1. (try to explain the humans being) scientists engineer theories collect, evaluate & analyze information ( to put forward or refute theory have own terminology 2 policy adviser if Economists try to explain the orbit, they are scientists if economists try to change the knowledge domain they are advisers. (book) make positive statement (claim) describing literal serviceman, precedent, outcomewithout valuing claims that attempt to describe the human being a s it is are testable with data make normative statement (claim) about how the world should be (personal opinion) claims that attempt to prescribe how the world should be are not testable with only data (involves our views of religion, ethics, political philosphy) (may be tie in our positive views about how the world whole kit and caboodle affect our normative views about how the world should be essence of science scientific method the dispassionate development and examination of theories about how the world works scientific method observation, theory & more observation Ec. use theory & observation but face obstacles when it comes to experiments Substitute for laboratory charge on natural experiments offered by write up (e. g. the effect on the natural resource of cover during a war on the outlays all over the world and on policy makers, gives Ec. good opport social unity to study the effects of a key natural resource on the worlds economiesThe role of Assumptions can make the world easier to understand e. g. to study effect of global trade, we may assume the world consists of only deuce countries with each producing only two goods ( to focus our thinking ( helps understand the concrete more complex world the art is, which assumption to make different assumptions for different problems ( e. g. for studying the short-run and long-run effects of a change in the bill of money requires different assumptions (p. 22) 3 types of models abstract, formel, reducing of reality to understand basic correlativity if it does good model) 1. purly theoretical (statistical) 2. purly empirical (with data, data drift) 3. cabal of the two In the model own terminology is incorporated construct with assumptions (not judging on the assumptions realistic think of paper airplane judge by the railroad siding not by the input), unlike questions are sour away 1. prototypical type of model most simple model of market economy THE CIRCULAR-FLOW draw pic ( a visu al model of economy that shows how money leads through markets among households and firms 2 types of decisionmakers households & firms firms asseverate goods & services using inputs (labor, land, capital) ( factors of payoff (natural resources, land, knowledge, labor, human capital, machinery.. ) households own the factors of production & consume all the goods & services the firms issue households & firms interact in 2 types of market inner interlace confronts the straits of goods & services between households & firms households sell the use of their labor, land & capital to the firms in the market for the factors of production firms use these factors to induce goods and services, which in turn are sell to households in the market for g & s ( the factors of production flow from households to firms goods & services flow from firms to households outer loop represents the corresponding flow of money to buy g & s from the firms firms use some of the r pointue from these sa les to pay for the factors of production (e. . wages of workers) what is unexpended is the profit of the firm owners, who themselves are members of the households respect of factors of production is same as note esteem of g & s if that is true value of goods & services = value of factors of production (green is so called real economic activity) causality runs in both ways (no real root word or end ( circle) economic models are often composed of diagrams and equations - Why do economists disagree . Disagreement about severity of alternative theories about how the world works disagreement about positive statements (differences in scientific judgments) but also often about the data when no data exists that supports ones theory or when different data are used 2. Scientists have different values different normative statements about what policy should try to accomplish ( but choosing the positive statement and theory and specific type of date etc. s already bec. of normative r easons (sort of mixture exists) Lecture 3, Mon 24/10/11 2. endorse Type of Model THE PRODUCTION contingency FRONTIER (PPF) Fig. 1 pic ( shows the combination of output that economy can possibly have wedded the obtainable factors of production and the available production technology. The economy can get down whatsoever combination on or inside the frontier. Points outside the frontier are not feasibly given the economys resources e. g. n economy that aims only cars and computers if all resources were used in the car diligence ( economy would stimulate metre cars & 0 PCs if all resources were used in the PC industry ( economy would pay back 3000 PCs & 0 cars if economy were to divide its resources between the two industries ( 700 cars & 2000 PCs outcomes at capitulum D are not possible because of scarce resources economy does not have enough factors of production to support that level of output efficient outcome when economy is getting all it can get from its scarce resources that are available points ON the frontier represent efficient levels of production (rather than inside) when economy is producing at such a point (on the frontier) e. g. point A, thither is no way it could upraise more of one good, without producing slight(prenominal) of the other inefficient outcome all combination of outcomes inside the frontier, e. g. point B for some reasons e. g. idespread unemployment, the economy produces less than it could from the resources it has available (300 cars & 1000 PCs) if source of inefficiency were eliminated, economy could move from point B to A, add-on production of both cars & PCs ( People face tradeoffs PPF shows one tradeoff society faces once we have reached the frontier, the only way of getting more of one good is producing less of the other (e. g. producing more PCs at the expense of producing less cars) ( The cost of something is what you have to give up (opp. cost) PPF shows the opportunity cost of one good as measured as measured in term of the other good (e. g. the opportunity cost of producing 200 more PCs is a 100 cars) Fig. 2 pic ( A commute IN THE PPF an economic advance in the computer industry pouchs the PPF outward increasing the number of cars and computers the economy can produce Fig. PPF is bowed outward (can also be bowed inward) means the opportunity cost of cars in terms of computers depends on how much of each good the economy is producing When economy uses most of resources to produce cars ( PPF is sort of horrid Because even workers & machines best worthy to making PCs are being used to make cars, the economy gets a substantial development in the number of computers for each car it gives up By contrast when economy is using most of its resources to make computers the PPF is quite flat resource best suited to make PCs are already in the computer industry and each car the economy gives up yields only a small step-up in the number of PCs ( Slope of the PPF represents how much of one item you have to give up to produce the other item Videos for PPF http//www. youtube. com/watch? v=KPHyvOn8i6s&feature=related http//www. youtube. com/watch? v=a5rxIY46J7s TRADE No. 5 Trade can make everyone better off WHY ( We have specialization, which has a downside we are interdependent e. g. Im depending on someone who is making bread why should people be willing to depend on the behavior of others because. people favor freely to become dependent ( so there must be some sort of benefit from it e. g. 2 producers (agents) one producer stump spud sodbuster ( potatoes (2 goods) oxen rancher ( meat good Minutes/hours 8 hours/day Marginal opportunity cost of meat/potato Farmer content 60 min. = 1 oz = 1h for 1 oz nucleus = 8 oz - 4 oz of pot. = 32/8 Potatoes 15 min. = 1 oz = 1h for 4 oz Potatoes = 32 oz - 1/4 oz of meat = 8/32 Rancher total 20 min. = 1 oz = 1h for 3 oz message = 24 oz - 2 oz of pot. = 48/24 Potatoes 10 min. 1 oz = 1h for 6 oz Potat oes = 48 oz - 1/2 oz of meat = 24/48 unit of measurement oz of potato oz of potato oz of meat 8h (48/24) ( How do people decide on what to produce? more time for husbandman to produce meat ( rancher is better/more successful what are the marginal opportunity costs how much meat does a farmer have to give up i. o. to get 1 unit of potatoes by reducing production of potatoes he would have more time to produce meat but 1 oz meat requires. 4 oz of potatoes but its just a one-dimensional relation ship how much has the farmer to give up in collection to get 1 more unit of meat (what is opportunity cost)? rancher has a proportional emolument is less copious in producing potatoes but farmer is even less productive in producing meat derived from comparing the marginal opportunity cost ( proportional prefer the comparison among producers of a good concord to their opportunity cost (who has the lower one? ) ( or positive advantage for one product, when bot h produce more in time ( Absolute advantage the comparison among producers of a good according to their productivity 1. Marginal opportunity cost of meat for each person is the reverse of the marginal opportunity cost of potatoes ( try to measure one good in terms of the VALUE of the other good 2. Production & use are no more equal like in autarky Good Minutes 8 hours/day Marginal opportunity cost of meat/potatoes Farmer Meat 60 min. = 1 oz = 1h for 1 oz Meat = 8 oz - 6 oz pot. = 48/8 Potatoes 10 min. = 1 oz = 1h for 6 oz Potatoes = 48 oz - 0. 16 oz of meat = 8/48 Rancher Meat 20 min. = 1 oz = 1h for 3 oz Meat = 24 oz - 1 oz of pot. = 24/24 Potatoes 20 min. 1 oz = 1h for 3 oz Potatoes = 24 oz -1 oz of meat = 24/24 oz of potato Unit oz of pot oz of meat 8h (48/24) ( The rancher has an absolute advantage because he is more productive than the farmer Production Possibility verge (PPF) oz of meat 8 4 16 32 oz of pot ( p = c ( production = consumptio n) without trade (autarky) ( c big p (with trade consume more than can produce) if I already produce y meat, I can only produce y under the line is a waste of time and the line shows efficiency in terms of productivity and time, slope is opportunity cost usually slope changes depending on where I am already ( Overall conclusion farmer should produce potatoes while the farmer should produce meat Assuming each of persons would get out the time of production Farmer Rancher (without trade) p = c autarky meat prod. 4 oz 12 oz consumption 4 oz 12 oz potatoes prod. 16 oz 24 oz consumption 16 oz 24 oz meat pot. 0 oz = 30 oz (or changing the price 34 oz but relative price must be higher than opportunity cost to trade at all if he gets more from the trade than in the production, he would not produce and just trade) farmer rancher with trade meat prod. 0 oz 24 oz (18 oz) consumption 5 oz 19 oz (13 oz) potatoes prod. 32 oz 0 oz (12 oz) consumption 17 oz 15 oz (gives up 15 oz) (27 oz) alth ough the farmer has to give up something, he is a little bit better off with trade the rancher is not better of because he consumes less potatoes than in autarky ( (now the rancher gets more in term of meat AND in terms of potatoes) can be applied to countries as well rough explanation for international trade patterns (e. g when countries exporting cars and importing oil ( country has proportional advantage in producing cars) Questions to be answered so define what comparative & absolute advantage show in production possibility frontier who is producing what NOTES FOR EXERCISES FROM other E. G. CHAPTER 2 Demand How to define these linguistic communication properly (definition can only be appropriate or not not right or wrong) its not a question of personal relish What is a Market A group of people suppliers (sellers) and buyers ( pick up) of particular good or service (does not mean that its particularly defined or fantastic no general identification scheme competitive market each buyer and seller (individual) has a negligible effect on the market outcome (infinite no. of sellers and buyers) implications of perfect competitive markets buyers and sellers operate economically perfect (take price as given)? ( e. g. we have no influence over the price take the price as given in a supermarket (no bargaining no negotiation) ( buyers and sellers are both price takers in monopolies price taker vs. price setter correct Market and Competitive Market Monopoly, Oligopoly, Monopson, noncompetitive Competition beg sum Demanded is the amount of a good, that buyers are willing and able to purchase (now) honor of Demand States that, other things equal, the sum petitioned of a good move when price of the good rises (slopes downward) Demand record The prerequisite schedule is a table that shows the relationship between the price of the good and the measuring stick demanded. Demand Curve Q(p) = p ( function of p (y (x) = 2x) if price changes, the Qd chan ges commercialise DEMAND vs. INDIVIDUAL DEMAND ( everybody has a single demand the sum of it = market demand (for a special good demanded) ( demands are added horizontally pic Changes in Quantity Demanded ( result in an ordure ON the bending ball, caused by a change in the price of the product pic Examples for incentives that induce a changed Qd 1. PRICE (given as a covariant on the demand curve) 2.Consumer incomenormal good I profit ( Qd lessen I step-down ( Qd decrease inferior good I outgrowth ( Qd decrease I decrease ( Qd growing Normal Good a good for which, other things equal, an sum up in income leads to an addition in demand Inferior Good a good for which, other things equal, an increase in income leads to a decrease in demand 3. Price of related goods Substitutes two goods for which an increase in the price of one leads to an increase in the demand for the other (e. g. orange succus & apple juice) P increase ( Qd increase P decrease ( Qd decrease Complements two good for which an increase in the price of one leads to a decrease in the demand of the other (e. g.DVDs & DVD-Players) P increase ( Qd decrease P decrease ( Qd increase 4. Tastes (fashion, food) economists only examine what happens when tastes change 5. Expectations may affect demand of a good or service today 6. outlet of Buyers determines the Qd in a market nob increase ( Qd increase NoB decrease ( Qd decrease pic ( result in a shifts in the demand curve when Qd changes because of indisputable circumstances. But price doesnt change ( not only price can change demand a shift in the demand either to left wing (decrease) or the right (increase) ( caused by any change that alters the demand everything except the price pic SUPPLYQuantity supplied (Qs) is the amount of a good that sellers are willing or able to sell (now) Law of allow states that, other things equal, the step supplied of a good rises when the price of the other good rises (slopes up positively related) Supply sc hedule is a table that shows the relationship between the price of the good and the quantity supplied pic usually the small q refers to the individual go forth (a firm) and the Q refers to the market depict (all firms in the market market come forth refers to the sum of all individual supplies for all sellers of a particular good or service ( individual put out curves are summed horizontally to obtain the market impart curve ( S(p) = S1(p) + S2 (p) + Sm(p) pic the sum of 2 individual supplies ($2 ( 3 cones $ 2 ( 4 cones = $ 2 ( 7 cones in the market put up if the suppliers (sellers) drop out of the market, the give would increase with the price (the ply curve represents the set of profit maximizing quantities for firms) e. g supply function q(s) = -4 + 8p 0 = -4 + 8 8p = 4 p = ? ( is the minimum price required to get any firm to produce at all (within this given supply curve) ( if the price would be at a lower place ? the quantity supplied would be 0, so there would b e no firm to produce at all slope change in price divided by change in quantity e. g. 0 ? 4 0 = 1/8 (slope), which doesnt change when the function is unidimensional Change in the quantity supplied A rise in the price of ice cream results in a movement along the curve (law of supply), so when price changes nothing shifts Shifts of the upply curve Determinants of change in supply Any change that raises the quantity that sellers adjure to produce at a given price shifts the supply curve to the right. Any change that lowers the quantity that sellers wish to produce at a given price shifts the supply curve to the left pic 1. Input prices (labor, material, land, rent anything that goes into the manufacturing process of the item in question) Input Pr. increase ( S decrease Input Pr. decrease ( S increase 2. Technology Technology increase ( S increase Technology decrease ( S decrease Techn. In economic terms is the process by which inputs are converted to outputs 3.Expectations sup ply today depends on future expectations e. g. when higher price of ice-cream anticipate in future ( store some ice cream ( supply less today 4. Number of sellers (only relevant in market supply) pic Supply and Demand together Equilibrium a situation in which supply and demand have been brought into isotropy (quantity supplied equals quantity demanded Equilibrium Price the price that residuals quantity supplied and quantity demanded. On a graph it its the price, where demand and supply curves intersect Equilibrium Quantity the quantity supplied and the quantity demanded when the price has adjusted to balance supply and demand picCeterius Paribus other things being equal (latin) all variables other than the one being studied are assumed to be constant Markets Not in Equilibrium A)B) pic pic Surplus A situation in which the quantity supplied is greater than the quantity demanded Shortage A situation in which the quantity demanded is greater than the quantity supplied Law of supply and demand the claim that the price of any good adjusts to bring the supply and demand for that good into balance A) when price for ice cream is over the residual price ( quantity demanded is still 4, but the quantity supplied rises to 10 ( there are too many cones produced which cant be all sold (surplus) bec. f the low demand ( sellers have to reduce the price again (prices continues to fall until market reaches equlibrium) B) when price for ice cream is below the equalizer price ( quantity supplied 4 exceeds quantity demanded, which is now at 10 (shortage of the good) ( sellers can raise the prices without losing sales as prices are rising the market moves again toward the equilibrium market activity of many buyers & sellers automatically pushes prices toward equil. (law of s & d) Once equil. is reached all buyers & sellers are satisfied & no upwards or downward pressure on price Three Steps to Analyzing Changes in The Equilibrium analyzing the change in the market equili brium through comparative statistics comparing two statistics new and old equilibrium Three steps to decide 1. Does event shift the supply curve, the demand curve, or both? 2. Does the curve shifts to the left or the right side? 3. Using the supply-and-demand diagram to examine how the shift affects equilibrium price and quantity A) HOW AN INCREASE IN DEMAND AFFECTS THE EQUILIBRIUM. An event that raises quantity demanded at any given price shifts the demand curve to the right. The equilibrium price and the equilibrium quantity both rise. here, an abnormally hot summer causes buyers to demand more ice cream.The demand curve shifts from D1 to D2, which causes the equilibrium price to rise from $2. 00 to $2. 50 and the equilibrium quantity to rise from 7 to 10 cones. A)B) picpic B) HOW A drop-off IN SUPPLY AFFECTS THE EQUILIBRIUM. An event that reduces quantity supplied at any given price shifts the supply curve to the left. The equilibrium price rises, and the equilibrium quan tity fall. Here, an earthquake causes sellers to supply less ice cream. The supply curve shifts from S1 to S2, which causes the equilibrium price to rise from $2. 00 to $2. 50 and the equilibrium quantity to fall from 7 to 4 cones. Shifts in the Curve vs. Movements along the CurveNotice that when hot brook drives up the price of ice cream, the quantity of ice cream that firms supply rises, even though the supply curve cadaver the same. In this case, economists say there has been an increase in quantity supplied but no change in supply. Supply refers to the position of the supply curve, whereas the quantity sup- plied refers to the amount suppliers wish to sell. To summarize, a shift in the supply curve is called a change in supply, and a shift in the demand curve is called a change in demand. A movement along a furbish up supply curve is called a change in the quantity supplied, and a movement along a fixed demand curve is called a change in the quantity demanded. picpic A l ean IN BOTH SUPPLY AND DEMAND.Here we observe a simultaneous increase in demand and decrease in supply. Two outcomes are possible. In plug-in (a), the equilibrium price rises from P1 to P2, and the equilibrium quantity rises from Q1 to Q2. (bec. large increase in demand and small decrease in supply) In panel (b), the equilibrium price again rises from P1 to P2, but the equilibrium quantity falls from Q1 to Q2. (because small increase in demand and large decrease in supply) pic pic NOTES centering measures the responsivness for to the quantity demanded and the quantity supplied to a change in the market price by 1 % measures piece change in the quantity to a percentage change in price (or other determinants)Price picnic of Demand a measure of how much the quantity demanded of a good responds to a change in the price of that good, computed as the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price. Determinants of Price Elasticity of Demand (How do w e react to price changes? ) 1. Necessities vs. Luxury goods (depends on personal perception but in general terms inelastic vs. elastic) e. g. Food, shelter, clothes vs. diamonds, sailboats etc 2. Availability of sloshed substitute (few vs. less = inelastic vs. elastic) 3. Market Definition (broad vs. narrowed e. g. Cars vs. Ford tension Food vs. Bread) 4. Time position (short vs. long e. g. the adjustment over a short period of time to throttle price changes vs. long period of time)